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Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:19 pm
by tekguyonroad
Daydreaming here in California and was wondering if two strokes are allowed in competition in the U.K.? I've got the Windle tubular F1 with the Arctic Cat 2 stroke in it and was wondering if it would be allowed and if so, at what displacement? Cheers.

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:28 pm
by tekguyonroad
I just found the engine regs for the B.A. series and see that only 4 strokes are allowed to run. How about local clubs?

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:17 am
by steve-e
Depends whether the club runs open or f1 . a few do still run open.

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 9:18 am
by Richard Rollings
Are you thinking of entering the British Championship? Be good to have a few from across the pond :mrgreen:

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:08 am
by steve-e
Eastern Airways BTW not British, but British championship. :-)

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:25 pm
by Kickaha
tekguyonroad wrote:Daydreaming here in California and was wondering if two strokes are allowed in competition in the U.K.? I've got the Windle tubular F1 with the Arctic Cat 2 stroke in it and was wondering if it would be allowed and if so, at what displacement? Cheers.
Move to NZ, you can run up to 1300cc two stroke or four stroke :twisted:

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:50 pm
by steve-e
a grid of 1300cc 2 strokes, can you imagine the cloud of smoke off the line? :D

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 9:18 am
by David Stewart
Now THAT would be something worth promoting!

I wonder how many 500-750cc 2-stroke powered sidecars there are still in existence?

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:33 pm
by steve-e
can we up the limit? how about this TZ1500?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9OirwZ3Uro


Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:34 pm
by mervnoble
tekguyonroad wrote:Daydreaming here in California and was wondering if two strokes are allowed in competition in the U.K.? I've got the Windle tubular F1 with the Arctic Cat 2 stroke in it and was wondering if it would be allowed and if so, at what displacement? Cheers.
I believe that you can compete on a 2 stroke, 1000cc max engine size.

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:30 pm
by tonybsa2008
Dave we are still running the 750 Tz,in the post classics.I know where there is a few others,but they are not being raced at the moment.

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:23 pm
by wingnut
13. ENGINE TECHNICAL REGULATIONS
(These are based on the 2014 FIM Sidecar World Championship Regulations)
Displacement capacities: Over 740 cc up to 1000 cc 4 stroke only 4 cylinders max or
Over 1000 cc up to 1200 cc 4 stroke twin cylinder.

Taken from the regs as printed on BEMSEE website

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:41 am
by David Stewart
tonybsa2008 wrote:Dave we are still running the 750 Tz,in the post classics.I know where there is a few others,but they are not being raced at the moment.
Yes I knew there were a couple there, but I wondered how many others were really still about (and more importantly in a raceable condition). The 2-stroke era was the absolute best in my opinion. I remember running a Sidecar Burn-Up meeting with about 22 of the top teams all on 2-strokes and it was fantastic racing with the best soundtrack you could imagine.**
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** Actually it might have been the Gerald Gadsden Trophy that we ran within a Lord of Lydden meeting in the mid-90s. Tim Reeves (who was still a passenger back then) encouraged a dozen or so Belgian, Dutch and German teams to come across and they all came purely because they badly wanted to win that Trophy - a mark of real respect IMO.
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We had to run 3 heats and a final in the end. It was really something and it helped the venue out too because a big crowd came to see it as Darren was still World Champion and he was a big draw in that area. (remember this was only just after the Maltese debacle had almost bankrupted the club and the circuit)

I'd love to see a grid of these bikes out there again, very similar to what we have with the Golden Era Superbike series. I must be getting old, as nostalgia keeps creeping in.

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:40 pm
by mervnoble
David Stewart wrote:
tonybsa2008 wrote:Dave we are still running the 750 Tz,in the post classics.I know where there is a few others,but they are not being raced at the moment.
Yes I knew there were a couple there, but I wondered how many others were really still about (and more importantly in a raceable condition). The 2-stroke era was the absolute best in my opinion. I remember running a Sidecar Burn-Up meeting with about 22 of the top teams all on 2-strokes and it was fantastic racing with the best soundtrack you could imagine.**
---------------
** Actually it might have been the Gerald Gadsden Trophy that we ran within a Lord of Lydden meeting in the mid-90s. Tim Reeves (who was still a passenger back then) encouraged a dozen or so Belgian, Dutch and German teams to come across and they all came purely because they badly wanted to win that Trophy - a mark of real respect IMO.
--------------
We had to run 3 heats and a final in the end. It was really something and it helped the venue out too because a big crowd came to see it as Darren was still World Champion and he was a big draw in that area. (remember this was only just after the Maltese debacle had almost bankrupted the club and the circuit)

I'd love to see a grid of these bikes out there again, very similar to what we have with the Golden Era Superbike series. I must be getting old, as nostalgia keeps creeping in.
Dave,

I know of a few that are ready to go but not competing this season for varying reasons (that's what you call being diplomatic).

Regards,

Merv

Re: Are 2 Strokes Allowed in British Airways F1?

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:50 am
by David Stewart
I also know of one or two, but not in the numbers I was thinking of.

In my experience, if you want 20 on the grid - you need to find 40 that are out there and say they want to race.

If you want 15 you need to find 30 etc etc. I think the only way to find the kind of numbers I had in mind would be to create a kind of periodic movement table to find out where they all went and how many of them were later converted to 4-stroke power (most of them I would think). Some of those would still have the original engines sitting around obviously, but I'm not sure how you would convince them that reinstating the original layout was viable/worth the effort.

All I know is that it would be something that could reinvigorate a lot of interest in sidecar racing.