- 797
- PA
- attilag78
- TheHun99
I'm a big fan of endurance racing, not just for cars but for bikes, too. While I'm not a rider - let's just say that my better half wouldn't appreciate me buying a motorcycle -, I'm also fascinated with bikes and even have a limited motorcycle drivers' license. I remember getting up around 4-5AM on Sundays when the 125cc race started on a MotoGP weekend to watch it live on Eurosport. Hereby I also date myself, I watched as Valentino Rossi won his first world championship (125cc) but I also saw live on TV when Wayne Rainey had his famous accident in 1993…
So, while endurance or endurance-style racing (driver changes, longer distances) is all the rage in sports car racing with IMSA, ACO-sanctioned racing (WEC, ELMS, AsLMS) or SRO championships, bikes seem to be all about sprint races (MotoGP, SBK with all their support categories) which is odd as endurance racing on bikes is just as hard, if not harder than in cars and you have the same elements of the sport like strategy, fuel, tires etc. (obviously, rider changes can be done significantly faster than diver changes
).
Of course, we do have the Endurance World Championship (EWC) that has classics like Bol d'Or, 24 Heures Motos and the Suzuka 8H and has factory or factory-supported teams, its presence is negligible, at least from what I can gather from the internets. Their web presence leaves a lot to desire, starting with their website and their YouTube channel isn't particularly great either with those 3 minute summaries from a 24 hour race… I'm not against pay-per-view and subscription by any means but they don't make it easy unlike the Dorna-run MotoGP and WorldSBK. I'm located in the US and apparently Motortrend On Demand carries EWC but I haven't found any trace of that…
As I was searching for endurance racing I stumbled upon the FreetechUK (in the UK obviously) and the N2/WERA (US) endurance series and some random races etc. It seems that endurance definitely lives in the club racing scene, however, I haven't found anything really between club racing and the EWC.
FWIW even the FIM Sidecar World Championship, a rather wonderful oddity, has a better YouTube coverage with enjoyable 26 minute long summaries from the races - and then we haven't even mentioned that you can watch the Sidecross world championship races in their entirety on YT…
So, am I the only one who would love to see more coverage from the world of motorcycle endurance racing?
So, while endurance or endurance-style racing (driver changes, longer distances) is all the rage in sports car racing with IMSA, ACO-sanctioned racing (WEC, ELMS, AsLMS) or SRO championships, bikes seem to be all about sprint races (MotoGP, SBK with all their support categories) which is odd as endurance racing on bikes is just as hard, if not harder than in cars and you have the same elements of the sport like strategy, fuel, tires etc. (obviously, rider changes can be done significantly faster than diver changes
).Of course, we do have the Endurance World Championship (EWC) that has classics like Bol d'Or, 24 Heures Motos and the Suzuka 8H and has factory or factory-supported teams, its presence is negligible, at least from what I can gather from the internets. Their web presence leaves a lot to desire, starting with their website and their YouTube channel isn't particularly great either with those 3 minute summaries from a 24 hour race… I'm not against pay-per-view and subscription by any means but they don't make it easy unlike the Dorna-run MotoGP and WorldSBK. I'm located in the US and apparently Motortrend On Demand carries EWC but I haven't found any trace of that…
As I was searching for endurance racing I stumbled upon the FreetechUK (in the UK obviously) and the N2/WERA (US) endurance series and some random races etc. It seems that endurance definitely lives in the club racing scene, however, I haven't found anything really between club racing and the EWC.
FWIW even the FIM Sidecar World Championship, a rather wonderful oddity, has a better YouTube coverage with enjoyable 26 minute long summaries from the races - and then we haven't even mentioned that you can watch the Sidecross world championship races in their entirety on YT…
So, am I the only one who would love to see more coverage from the world of motorcycle endurance racing?
