2009 race calendar miles
 

I have just worked out using google maps that I will have to drive 3700 miles this year to travel to and from all the races thats about £1000 in diesel! the worst news for me is the race in Anglesey 5½ hours from Brands Hatch, which is where I live, oh and were not racing there :( I am new to racing and this year is to be my first, I am really looking forward to it, but I was really looking forward to Brands, Just round the corner from home and my favourite circuit as well.
Matt

Be glad we're not doing Assen then, that was 1000 miles for me just on it's own, plus the ferry of course!
I'm sure we'd all love to be doing Brands too, shame it's not on the calender!

Yeah we cancelled Brands this year cos we didn't want any locals cleaning up! :lol:

Travel is one of my biggest expenses too, proably works out about £700 in van fuel last year.

Is there anyway some of you guys (and ladies) could team up and share transport costs ???

I would be willing to team up, I have a van but not a big one, Can fit two bikes and a bit of kit, extra people is the problem, unless they can hitch a ride with someone else as well, it would be a good idea on some of the further ones, Have fun, Matt

Try asking someone with a business if they will let you buy the fuel thro them so saving the VAT, a kind of sponsorhip ? :)

Hmmmm, that works out at about 17 MPG :eek: :confused:

I'd be looking for the hole in the bottom of the fuel tank or putting some money into a locking fuel cap.

Ray.

Even my 1990 six Cylinder Turbo Diesel VW does more than that, not a lot more but granted, but it does manage to creep above 20mpg if I keep the speed down.

Since 1998 I have been traveling on average 2500 miles a year for club racing, without counting taking the bikes to the TT or to Assen.
So with 11 years of doing that I don't even want to add up my total fuel bill from racing.

whatever it is, it pales into insignificance compared to the joy you've had :)

and that has to be the way to look at it ;)

Not to mention the Friends I have made :)

optimistic
 

You lot are an optimistic bunch, looking on the bright side of life, but you are right, I have a N reg vw transporter 2.4 diesel that returns about 28/30 mpg, I think without working it out too much I estimated about £700, but some of the more local events I will travel home at night which will double the mileage for those and of coarse leaving room for inflation, who knows how much it go up this year and a healthy dose of rounding up, I came to the £1000 figure (it sounds better, or worse, as well) :)
Matt , Sorry, :(

no reason to be sorry....save that for when others are putting your bike back together in the paddock!! :lol: :lol:





alas speaking from personal; experience!!

on reflection.....
 

On reflection, I have decided to drive 10mph slower (in the van, Not the bike!) which should use less fuel and put the money saved into repairs,, of which hopfully I won't need too many., I think booking the fuel as a business expence is probably an illegal tax dodge! err? not sure. :)

as one who lives in the extreme east, it's also been a big expense for me. it might be essex but no, it's not near london :lol:

i don't begrudge any of it either, i knew what i was getting into before i went for it and budgeted for it all based at a higher fuel price.

doing Oulton at the height of the petrol/diesel prices was a sorry time on the pocket, but unless you live in peterborough then you have to trek a fair bit to at least one of the circuits no matter where you live, it's just part of it all :)

it's the same for most of us tbh

at 20mpg (we wish!!) it would cost us £623 in fuel to get to the races. Considering we live just 2 miles from one of the tracks it's still pretty good going!

Local, from Maidstone????????

But seriously, travelling home at night would mean you miss the best part of DD. It's not about the racing really, it's weekends away camping with your mates and the riding round a circuit is just a bonus :)

As far away as that :o

How far as the crow flies

Did someone mention me!

Remind us who are you again











#75

local.... ?
 

Well, mallory, snetterton, donington, are not too far, cadwell park is quite a long way, castle combe is a not that far really. oulton park, pembrey, anglesey are too far to come home, but I do like my own bed. and err, cant think of any other reasons really, but thats the plan at the moment. I'm not really complaining, obviously I have but I was looking forward to Brands.

you are joking right?

you have a van yet you are going to drive home from Donington to Kent???

You are bonkers and must be rich!!

I can understand what you are saying:)

That's why I take my home with me;)

42mpg with a trailer on my 406 and room to sleep in it too. :D

If I left the beer and bike at home I reckon I'd save more money too :lol:

Mat2hew, I think every racer in the world is reading your thread and politely suggesting you have a re-think on your travelling home plan. One or two go home if they are VERY local, eg Lil and JPM at Oulton, some do a B&B, but 95% stay in the paddock in caravans, mobile homes, tents and the back of the van - I've seen some sleeping in the back of cars, but don't recommend it for a comfy nights sleep. My first year of racing we bought a caravan for £150 and three of us stayed in it for the whole season, nice and dry and warm and comfy and we sold it for £80 at the end of the year. The ‘Loveshack’, ah the memories

Looking at the circuits, most of your 'close' ones are still 3 hours away if we're generous. So your Saturday race is towards the end of the day, maybe even last race, so you finish at 5.00pm let's say. Are you going to pack up all your gear or chance leaving it unattended whilst you are 100 miles away? Let’s say you pack it away again and you are off at 6.00pm, (which for most of us is past beer o'clock). Let's say it takes you 3 hours to get home. Can you park the van safely with all your gear or do you have to unload into the garage? In any case, it's 9.00pm and you want something to eat and an early night because you have to be up at 5.00am for your 3 hour drive to get there for 8.00am to get set up and ready for 9.00am practice session. In the meantime, everyone else has shared a load of banter and beers and had a good nights sleep. Racing is knackering in any case, so I think you might try it once and realise you can't concentrate and are therefore not safe to be around on the race track on a Sunday, let alone driving home (again) on Sunday night. Good luck getting up for work on Monday morning. Plus you will have saved a stack of dosh over the season if you stay. Also, what if you want to repair or make adjustments to your bike, when are you going to do it? Also, even although the paddocks are a bit quieter these days, if you arrive on Sunday, you are unlikely to get your old space back as someone will have parked in it and you’ll be on the fringe of the paddock on your own unable to hear the tannoy and a long walk to the loos etc.

All I do it take my pillow and spare duvet and a roll up mattress and sleep in the back of the van. Have just enough beer to take the cold off, iPod on and that's me for the night. Luvvly jubbly.

As said above, the paddock banter can be better than the racing itself. A weekend away with a load of mates around bikes and watching racing close up. Doesn’t get much better. I reckon you’ll either change your mind or try it once and never do it again.

WeeJohnyB

I did the travel home thing from Brands to south hants after a fri test day and sat night after the racing, back for the sun races, so 3 round trips and tbh lots of hassle and not much rest! also missed paddock talk, circuit walk and getting the bike totally ready for the next day...only reason I did it was I fell off on the fri and wanted SWMBO to see I was ok...and I ached like fcuk and needed a bed not a tent!!

as said above, unless round the corner, I'd always stay over

If some of you guys want to do Brands, could you not do the odd mtg with another club who are racing there?

As for the going home.... I have done that in the past and ended up totally exhausted.

I am going to count all the miles I do this year and the cost, just out of interest. I love helping out at race meets.

Has everyone gone soft since I packed in racing 17 years ago? Getting there was all part of the fun and everyone slept in their vans or campers at a 2-day meeting. Facilities at the circuits weren't exactly lush then either.

Pompey to Snetterton was always a good one as we'd get to the Red Lodge transport cafe around midnight to find it crammed with other bleary-eyed racers and crews having a fortifying fry-up before tackling the final stultifyingly dull miles of the old A11 to the circuit. Anyone know if the cafe's still there?