The 250GP class has been around in Australia for many, many years and quite a few high profile riders have learnt their trade in this class. We all know that Casey Stoner and Anthony West have competed at the World level at recent times, but there are a whole host of other riders that have come through this class. The likes of Russel Holland in World Supersport and Shaun Geronomi in the ASC are past Australian 250GP Champions. The further we go back in time more high profile racers can be found. The riders that race these bikes here in Australia are true 2 stroke enthusiasts. These guys genuinely love riding their bikes. There are a lot of myths about GP bikes. Hopefully, I can explain a bit more about them. Following are some of my thoughts and are based on my experiences with Honda GP bike.

 

Essentially, it is a purpose built 2 cylinder, 2 stroke racer. They weigh roughly 100kg and have a power output in excess of 85 horsepower at the rear wheel; they have fantastic brakes and generally hold exceptional corner speed. This power output is typical for a domestic bike with some making substantially more. A factory world level bike will make about 110 horsepower.

 

I suppose this comes down to how much you want to spend. Older model bikes come up for sale for as little as $5000 or $6000.  Whilst these bikes might not be the latest and greatest, in the right hands they can give some of the newer bikes a real hurry up.  There are some very good, higher spec local bikes that do come up for sale (usually more $ required), most are sold before they get advertised, so it pays to get yourself known if you are looking for one. You can also find bikes overseas for substantially more than that, but they will be a later model and probably have some up spec or “kit” parts. There are a number of local importers that can arrange this for you. Honda and Yamaha produce new bikes each year but these are only made on demand, so you will need to place your order and pay you money before they are manufactured.

 

All forms of motor sport is expensive. The 250GP bikes are no exception to this. Because they have a high performance motor, they do require regular maintenance. They will require pistons at intervals of 500km and crankshafts at 2000km (That is what the Honda manual says). A Honda crankshaft will cost about $2000, depending on how the Aussie dollar is tracking with the Japanese yen. A normal 2 day race meeting will see most riders do about 200km of practice, qualifying and racing, so a crankshaft should last about 10 race meetings. Things like tyres, brakes etc are the same price as those used by many of the other classes. If you happen to crash one, then they are generally not too expensive to repair. Because of their light weight, the amount of structural damage is fairly minimal, most of the usual things like footpegs, levers and handlebars will probably need replacing. The golden rule being if you don’t do your regular maintenance then it will more than likely get very expensive if they do have an engine failure.

 

As I said they do need to be maintained as these bikes make considerable horsepower out of a relatively small engine. Many bikes will have their pistons checked at some stage throughout a race meeting, usually at the end of the practice day and this takes around about an hour to do. Also, these bikes need to have the carburettor jetted to suit the climatic conditions. This can change throughout the day and the jetting needs to be adjusted to ensure the engine is running at optimal performance but not unsafe.  Jet changes only take a few minutes to do. Various things such as suspension, radiator tape etc need to be adjusted as needed.

 

If you know someone that understands these bikes then you are well ahead of the game. If you are like most people and don’t then a little bit of experience on your behalf should get you through most things. The secret to these bikes is the amount of preparation you do beforehand and how much you understand your bike and your spares.   If you have a certain amount of aptitude for mechanics then there is no reason why you can’t do most things yourself. If you can get a mate or family member to help out at the track it will make your life a whole lot easier.  The beauty of these bikes is the way they are built makes them extremely easy to work on. Here are a few ideas that might help.   You should be able to get some information from whom ever you buy your bike from, this experience with the particular bike in invaluable. The Honda and Yamaha bikes come with very comprehensive manuals and you should be very familiar with these. Another invaluable source of info is other riders, most of these guys will be only too happy to help you out, but you need to get to know these people. There are also a number of people that can provide bike prep and on track services, it will however cost you for this service. Many of the parts suppliers will give a certain amount of advice. Another golden rule – if you are not sure of something - ask- someone will know the answer.

 

A kit is basically an up spec cylinders, exhaust and ignition system designed to produce more horsepower. The last time I looked at these in the US they were about $12,000 US dollars for a Honda. The typical power increase can be about 10-20% depending on the kit. Do I need one? A tricky question. It depends on each individual on what they are trying to achieve and how deep their pockets are in my opinion. But I would suggest at a local meeting, it is probably more about the rider and suspension setup than outright power that makes the difference. I would suggest getting as much reliable advice as possible on this before parting with your hard earned.

 

Now we are getting into personal preferences. The 600 bikes these days are brilliant machines and have come a long way in a very short period of time – they go, stop and turn reasonably well. The 250GP bike can teach riders so much. In particular in bike set up. Whilst they might cost a bit more to maintain they are usually a bit easier on tyres and if you happen to crash one, they generally don’t destruct as much and usually can be fixed and ready to go for the next race. Also, to be on the pace you will need to have the latest model 600 each year, whereas with the 250 you can upgrade parts ie kit if you want to or simply keep it the same.

 

The riders are many and varied. There are some red hot A graders down to very competent C graders. Pretty much no matter what your skill level there will be someone to race with. The ages of the riders is also quite varied, I think it would be fair to say many are on the mature side.

 

You probably know the class is being dropped from the Motogp (very sad I say) but the class still runs at a National Championship level in the US and UK as well as here in Aust. The only good thing about the class no longer being at Motogp is that quite a few good bikes will become available. The bad thing is the development of the bike will stop. The MRRDA will be hosting the 2009 250GP National Championships at Phillip Island, so we still have a presence here.  At just about every Club level meeting is Aust you will probably find atleast one and in some states quite a few. So there are plenty about.

 

A couple of different ways. You can contact me. peter.brown@mrrda.com or on 0447 616 061 (after hours please). I have a pretty wide ranging circle of contacts so if I can’t sort you out, I probably know someone who can. You can talk to your Club, they should be able to put you on contact with a few riders or simply turn up to a race meeting and check out the bikes and have a chat with the riders, most of the time they will be only too happy to talk to you. 

 

Peter Brown

250 Class Rep