Holy Crap Batman! Wait 'Til You see this.

[DarthRider]

Will emailed the other day with this. I'd heard the rumor a couple of times but this is the first thing that's started to look real.

Be sure to watch the vid.
http://www.motorcycle.com/events/world-moto-clash-preannounced-90224.html

"What is it?
According to Stanford W. Crane, Jr., CEO for NewGuard Entertainment and head of the project, “It is the richest motorcycle race in history. The purse for the event will be $1 million; $300,000 for the winner, and $5000 for the last-place finisher of 30.”
Yes, that’s a $300,000 check for the first-place finisher of a single motorcycle road race – not the culmination of a series – with only a few planned per year, each with the same prize money. Second place will garner $250,000, and third will get $125,000. Win four of them, and you’re a millionaire.
What kind of bikes will teams be riding?
What ever kind they want. Think 300-plus hp, 300-lb large-displacement tuner specials. Or maybe a lighter bike would make a better weapon for a tight track? Think also superchargers, turbochargers, nitrous-oxide injection. If racers want to bring it, no problem. And don’t rule out 2-strokes; maybe lightweight, or as large as 1000cc or larger. Exotic fuels are also allowed."

About Stanford Crane.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stanford-crane/5/aab/208

[Deans BMW]

Now that should be one hell of a race..........think Mad Max.

Thanks Dave.

[Donson]

A Super Charged Bronson Bike, thats the ticket! Ought to be REAL interesting!

[Sir Limpsalot]

Any who can say a Moto-GP bike is "not fast enough" shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the subject.

[panthercity]

“You simply show up. There are no equipment rules whatsoever in World Moto Clash,” Crane said, “It’s not like going to an AMA race. It’s not like going to a World Superbike or MotoGP race. It‘s like going to the biggest race you’ve ever been to in your life.”

So, no safety wire? No catch cans? No tech inspection?

Count me out.

[DarthRider]

So, no safety wire? No catch cans? No tech inspection?

Count me out.
Bob, somewhere in all that they emphasized extreme safety rules would apply and be rigidly enforced. I would take that to mean ultra-stiff tech requirements & inspections. I think that's a given and there he's talking about engine config, chassis, fuel, etc.
I'm getting hyped about it, but I also think it holds a higher than normal likelihood of bad crashes and even fatalities.
They did use the term "Gladiators".

[Sir Limpsalot]

I'm getting hyped about it, but I also think it holds a higher than normal likelihood of bad crashes and even fatalities.
They did use the term "Gladiators".

I'm with Bob. Count me so far out you'd need a telescope..

[JCsman]

I'm in the count me out crowd too. While I'm a race novice in the pack here, it seems to me that this invites trouble.

Tech inspections are built around pretty strict/uniform criteria. In other words, these one-off hyper bikes may have safety wires, etc, but that unknowns will there be? Blown Chrysler hemi in a KLR chassis? Nothing in the (one-page) rule book. Well, he's got safety wires... OK, pass. I'll bet the legal disclaimer form is HUGE.

How much development time will go into these things? The top flight bikes are at the long end of an evolutionary chain and have a fair amount of developmental/trial work even then. Guys that think for $100k they can out perform the current top flight bikes make me pretty skeptical. I admit you could likely pare down some weight on bikes IF current rules lead to (in effect) "ballast" and perhaps tweek them a bit outside of current rules. But that's not the vibe I get from the develop for < $100k.

How many guys will take a top notch/kitted up bike and place a blower on it, or some other form of instant "performance"?

Who is going to ride in this thing? I'll take bets that Vale, Nickie, Ben and the rest will NOT be present. Not that there isn't a lot of talent outside of that group. But I suspect you'll get more daredevil than professional rider.

$300,000 top prize sounds like a bunch. But (even assuming you are VERY confident of a win) that's not much to develop a bike. Or risk a life.

[DarthRider]

You guys raise some good & valid points, for sure. My initial reaction was even more negative.
But there are some really experienced, smart guys that have been working on this for quite a while and I have to think they've anticipated - and hopefully addressed - these things, and probably a lot more. We may be jumping to some incorrect conclusions...damn, I hope so! And nobody will have a gun to their head.
It still "looks & feels" like a hyperbolized, over-hyped, Hollywoodish cartoon. But that's the look & feel they are looking for to pay for all this. One of them said "Think of the X Games times 10!" How many guys our age think the X Games are just a bunch o' gol-durned foolishness?
Miguel Du Hamel seemed to think it was pretty cool. Jaimie James must be a total wildman...Bob, do you know him?
I'm going to withhold my judgement until I know a LOT more, we actually know very little at this point.
But regardless, I bet all of us tune in to watch!

[panthercity]

There's been a brief discussion over on the WERA board.

http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t=276153&highlight=Moto+Clash

I remember the old WERA Formula Extreme as one bad-ass, run-what-you-brung class.

[DarthRider]

I remember the old WERA Formula Extreme as one bad-ass, run-what-you-brung class.
Bob,what were the basic "rules" for that series as relates to tech inspection, safety, not letting over-powered / under developed bikes compete?
What was the safety record? Was it good racing?
I read of it but never saw it or knew much about it.

[Gord]

There is no doubt in my mind that over-regulation of some sports has done much to homogenize the competition. F-1 is the prime example to me where the product has become bland and boring because of the technical restrictions (and the fact that many of the courses can't support the performance levels of the newer technologies). So I find a challenge to the nanny-statism to be refreshing. Having said that, I can't see any rider signing up without having some level of protection built around their participation. Similarly, owners clearly want some level of protection from liability. So despite all of the talk about being a less restrained, more open competition, I think that survival instinct and legal realities will still come into play to provide some level of assurance for the competitors. I don't think this will be a revolutionary as the hype suggests, but I think it will challenge the current norms currently prevalent in motorsports (and other sports).

Of course I could be dead wrong and this is just a disaster waiting to happen!

[panthercity]

Dave,Under WERA it was Formula USA. Later it became a stand-alone series as Formula USA (F-USA).

IIRC, no more nor less than two wheels, in line one ahead of the other. No minimum weight nor maximum engine size as long as it was a production-style motorcycle block.

Standard safety inspection, safety wire all 'critical' components and all fluid accesses (drain bolts, coolent and oil lines).

A few of the better known ones were Team Suzuki's Methanol Monster, Dutchman Racing's Yamamonster, Team LaBelle's CBR and the Twin Turbo CBR900s. Roberts Senior even brought one of his 500Gp bikes over to play!

Yosh, Graves, Erion, FBF, Attack and others were involved and made the most of the run-what-you-brung idea. Track-side tire sellers had a field day!

The racing was insane!

A Twin Turbo raced at TWS in one of the old CRRC solo 20s. It would storm down the front straight then smoke the brake pads and tires to get through turns one and two. Seems they'd spent much more engineering on the engine than the rest of the bike. Butt, DAMN did it sound s-w-e-e-t honkin' down the straight!

[DarthRider]

A few of the better known ones were Team Suzuki's Methanol Monster, Dutchman Racing's Yamamonster, Team LaBelle's CBR and the Twin Turbo CBR900s. Roberts Senior even brought one of his 500Gp bikes over to play!


Thanks Bob.
Sounds somewhat encouraging, re who some players might be...and one would expect at these stakes that they might spend as much effort & $$$ engineering the rest of the bike as the motors.
Count me "in"...at this point at least.