We are in a time of declining entries, there are many reasons for this, almost as many reasons as there are excuses for not riding. IHRO needs to do something to try to ensure our future.

At Mettet it was suggested that in the light of this situation, and to avoid IHRO going the way of other series, we have to adapt and move on. There is nothing new in suggestions of this nature, mostly they come from people who want to have their own particular machine or pet theory adopted, regardless of the overall effect on IHRO.

This one, however, was different, it was by far the most balanced and constructive yet put forward, I thought about it and then suggested it at the social on Saturday evening where it received an overall favourable response. Inevitably it will not suit everyone, but think about it and put forward your view.

I must stress that this is not a ‘done deal’ it is something I am putting forward for discussion, it will obviously need to be refined and there will be areas which will need to be changed, but as a general proposal, I feel it is perhaps the right way to go to forward. We have to do something or IHRO will die out.

In essence what is proposed is that we combine the existing 250, 350 and 500 cc classes into one race for single cylinder machines. We then have a second class for multicylinder machines which we open up to allow any 500cc Grand Prix machine up to 1972.

The single cylinder class would not have any rule changes from what is currently in force, this would make for a full grid which always looks better. Although I do realise that there are some single cylinder machine riders who would loose their second ride, but I would see no reason why people who wished to race twice could not enter their single cylinder machines in the multis class. This would ensure fuller grids at the start of this new venture. Hopefully the single cylinder only class might encourage people who claim to have left the existing class because of multi cylinder domination to return, or was that just hot air?!.

This multis class obviously allows in two stroke twins and multis but we would make it the same as is now, for GP machines or good replicas only, not just a road T500 with a fairing and expansion boxes, it would have to be a good replica of a TR500. The class would allow aircooled, twin shock, drum braked machines only, if you look at what was running in the GPs in 1972, that would certainly cover most of the bikes out there, there would be odd exceptions such as the Konig but IHRO has always had an exception policy for worthwhile machines, I would envisage that this would continue to apply in this class. The essential thing is that they would have to be machines which genuinely raced in GPs as with the current class eligibility rules. The class bikes could be Paton, Honda 450 (any chassis used in a GP or accurate copy of it) , MV 3/4 cylinder replicas, TR2, TR3 real or good replicas, seeley chassis or any that were used at the time, TR2 and TR3 must be 354cc or larger, its easy to check and easy to get the parts to do it, people have to make an effort, not just use a 350 Yamaha. Then you have TR500 Suzukis, any chassis that was used in a GP, Kawasaki 500 3 cylinder, Husqvarnas, Eric Offenstadt even cut a cylinder off a 750 H2R and used that!, it would be a class where people can look at the history books and buy a machine or make a good replica.

OK over to you, I need your feedback and ideas please, try to make them constructive, let us really get a discussion going and move forward for 2010.


This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 9:16 am and is filed under IHRO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.