Road racing series makes radical safety shift

[cirian75]

"Road racing series makes radical safety shift with class change"

"The organisers for the International Road Racing Championship have announced its Superbike class will be replaced by Supertwins from 2026 on safety grounds.

The IRRC, which has been in operation since 2003 when it was known as the 3 Nations Cup, is a road racing series that takes place across Europe."

https://www.crash.net/rr/news/1078932/1/road-racin...


Hummmmm, wrong choice in my opinion, it should have been the New era Supersports as they are capped at 140hp

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

Agree, if it's safety based then Dunlop's average lap of the TT on a Paton SuperTwin at 123mph...suggests his Vmax is much higher. Crashing into the trees at that speed is still pretty unsafe. Although if thousands are now getting too fast for amateur riders to handle that's maybe a different point.

If it's on costs grounds then SuperTwins are very expensive as the fastest ones at the TT don't always hang together all that long! Supersport is a better option, I agree.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Does the IRRC already include supersport and supertwins class? i.e. is not that Superbike is being replaced by Supertwins, but instead superbikes are being dropped and supertwins are being added?

[cirian75]

2ndclasscitizen said:

Does the IRRC already include supersport and supertwins class? i.e. is not that Superbike is being replaced by Supertwins, but instead superbikes are being dropped and supertwins are being added?

Their website suggests SBK and SSP

This new class/rule looks a weird choice to me

[Alex@POD]

I guess it's hard to define the top class when the speeds are close but the slowest bike has a bigger engine?

Also, costwise, weren't they all saying you need a while load of money to build a competitive super twin for the TT?

[slopes]

I guess it's a speed thing, even the SSP bikes are doing the better part of 175mph now on long straights, SuperTwins will be slower so i can see the idea behind it.

[srob]

I think it's a very odd decision. I can understand that if they feel it needs to be slowed down on safety grounds then they know more about that than me so I'd have to agree.

But to replace it with Supertwins is odd. They're not a particularly common or cheap (I think it's one of the more expensive classes?) bike, and with very limited options.

If it's to reduce speed and cost it would make more sense to run something like the Roadsports series;

"New for the 2024 season, eligible machines include the Yamaha R7, Aprilia RS660, Kawasaki Ninja 650, Honda Hornet 750 as well as others believed to be entering the sector. Machines will run on Mektronic ECU platform with BoP formula to manage model parity and slick tyres".

I think that would be a more sensible class and more relevant?

[bergclimber34]

Probably and possibly linked to event insurance demands