An idea on how to help develope new motoGP and Superbike/ AMA racers.

The ama branch of the red bull rookies cup looked like it would be able to deliver a talent development model similar to what you propose. It is a real shame that it it got cut from red bull and ktm's racing program. Once the manufacturers are announced for Moto3 I think it would be great idea to start either a moto3 type AMA class, or a rookies academy like you describe, and perhaps both.



The part about developing positions for the other industry related jobs that you bring up is intriguing. A key to finding the next Valentino could be intertwined with finding the next Jeremy Burgess first. Any program that could offer internships and training to the next line of other personnel in a racer's garage would be beneficial.



On a tangential note, I always thought it would be a grand coup for racing of any type--two wheels, four wheels, open-wheel, stock car, whatever--to partner with various university engineering schools to develop a collegiate racing competition. Why rely on obscure college rankings like USA today and world news report to rank the best engineering schools in the country when we can just have the colleges and universities put their money where their mouth is and race in house designed cars or bikes. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome.

It's a great idea, but I don't know that it would actually improve things b/c the problems in motoracing are top down not bottom up, imo. Motoracing is more revs all the time with little or no thought to the formula. It's 16,000rpm 250 Moto3 bikes, 16,000rpm Moto2 bikes, 16,000rpm 1000cc MotoGP bikes, 14,000rpm SBKs, 16,000rpm WSS, 13,000rpm Superstock 1000s and 600s. In some places it's still 125s and 250s that need frequent (but cheaper than 4-stroke) engine rebuilds.



Completely senseless, disorganized, and expensive. Pick your poison. Bankruptcy via whatever horsepower level your skill will allow.



Car racing is the exact opposite once the drivers get out of karting which I've heard can be quite expensive b/c they use moto style engines. Take the Super 2000 FIA format which powers a score of serious professional national and international racing series including WTCC. It's NA 2.0L 4-bangers (mostly) that spin at 8500rpm. The engines have long service intervals (10,000km) and the FIA work very hard to maintain standards for compression, build materials, and so on via homologation procedures. It's basically a 250hp engine with comparable bore figures to 990 MotoGP bikes that can run for months b/c they operate at half the revs (1/4 the internal engine force) and lower temperatures. The end result is a manufacturer supported professional class that serves as a launching pad (or a destination) for racers who want to move up within the touring car ranks to DTM or sideways into the sports car GT ranks and ultimately to LMP. Formula racing also has a similar structure with F3, F3000, GP2, and then F1.



The FIM have not organized anything. The national series are a discombobulated mess and the riders in each national series are at the mercy of their FIM sponsored series (e.g. AMA or BSB). The scores of rulebooks and different standards means that it is impossible for the manufacturers to support anything from HQ so most racing parts and prep work must be handled by the national distributor unless it is part of the FIM WSBK or WSS preparation. Basically, the manufacturers just import the bikes and then the distributors throw contingency money around. It's very nice, but you can't teach a kid how to ride when his only funding is contingency. All the training in the world can't help a kid transcend the disorganization of the motorcycle racing world.



If the FIM standardize engine specs for various bikes that already exist, the manufacturers could actually centralize the production of racing parts and utilize economies of scale. The bikes could be prepped by national racing companies like Graves or GSE and then sold for a set price around the country. The national distributors could hire dealerships or use their own racing programs to scout kids and put them on development programs. This already happens around the world, but not until they think you're good enough to ride in a factory supported class. In other words, they don't take an interest until you're already good enough to ride a 150hp 600.



I don't fault the manufacturers b/c there isn't enough gold on earth to build 20 different versions of the same 600cc SS bike to suit the various national rulebooks. The failure to create a stratified set of international standards for horsepower and tuning sophistication is the FIM's fault, imo.

yello13 said:

On a tangential note, I always thought it would be a grand coup for racing of any type--two wheels, four wheels, open-wheel, stock car, whatever--to partner with various university engineering schools to develop a collegiate racing competition. Why rely on obscure college rankings like USA today and world news report to rank the best engineering schools in the country when we can just have the colleges and universities put their money where their mouth is and race in house designed cars or bikes. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome.

Click to expand...

What you've just described is called Formula SAE.