Spa 2022 Bikers Classic

SteveBorland

VIP MEMBER
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
773
Country flag
This is really only applicable to those of us In Europe, but anyway..
Is there anybody here going to the Bikers Classic track days at Spa? It’s the first weekend in July, 2-3 July.
I was intending to take the Norton, but I’ve still not sorted out this strange clonking sound, and I really don’t want to discover the root cause when cranked over in a flat out corner , so the Ducati has been resurrected for the occasion.
If anybody is going, either as participants or as spectators, give me a shout and we can meet for a coffee (or a beer in the evening).
 
I guess not many Brits will be going due to the ridiculous complexity and cost of getting a bike there and back home Steve.
 
I guess not many Brits will be going due to the ridiculous complexity and cost of getting a bike there and back home Steve.
Not Brits or Irish I suspect....
All the UK people I know have decided to skip this year at least. Question is, are they ever going to return?

Still there are others who may be going, which is what I was wondering about...
 
I’m sure there’ll be plenty there Steve.

However… one thing for sure… if the Brits and Irish aren’t there… alcohol sales will be way down…!
 
Hi Steve
What did it cost to ride & how much time do you get on track?
Eu has released a document which allows you to travel in Europe with your bikes etc to use for personal use without a carnet.
 
Hi Steve
What did it cost to ride & how much time do you get on track?
Eu has released a document which allows you to travel in Europe with your bikes etc to use for personal use without a carnet.
Chris, is that confirmed as true? Can you share the doc or a source please ??
 
Hi Steve
What did it cost to ride & how much time do you get on track?
Eu has released a document which allows you to travel in Europe with your bikes etc to use for personal use without a carnet.
This year its only 2 days, Sat & Sunday, for €500 (+€25 for a Vintage Card if you don't have a racing license). in Pre-Corona days, it was Friday - Sunday for €350, but they seem to be feeling the pinch.
Assuming you are doing the track day event rather than one of the classic races, it's usually 4 sessions per day of 20 min each.
This year as something new, they are supposed to be using transponders to allow them to group riders together on the basis of their times, previously the grouping has been done by bike type.
the website is https://bikersclassics.be/en/
 
Thanks for that Steve's. I've not been able to book anything this year due to my mums health.
But I keep looking!

Nige
This was posted by Andy Wilson Wiz Norton
Hello again everyone. Following my discussions with the very helpful Jonathan Crosbie of the Birmingham Chamber Of Commerce, he has kindly sent the following information with his permission to reproduce it on here.

Following on from our call, the guidance we have received from our governing body is as follows:



1)Hand carried goods (goods in baggage or driven in the trader’s own car) do not need a Carnet. This includes musicians carrying individual music instruments, athletes or sportspersons carrying their own sports equipment, professionals carrying their own tools of trade etc). High value items carried in baggage may still require a Carnet (i.e. jewellery etc)
2)Personal vehcles transported to the EU by the owner (either for personal, recreational use or for racing) do not need a Carnet. The same applies to personal vehicles being towed or transported by the owner (i.e. motorbike transported to EU in a van by the owner; car being towed behind a motorhome vehicle driven by the owner etc). The bottom line is that if the owner is transporting their personal vehicle across the border, it doesn’t matter how that vehicle is going to be used (racing purposes etc) – ATA Carnet is not required.


As mentioned, even though this is “guidance” that we have received, it is not official and there is nothing in writing on the gov.uk website or EU websites to confirm this.



Our understanding of carnets and customs procedures, as well as the vagueness makes us wary of dishing this out as a definitive information as we are certain, and have feedback presented back to us that EU customs are not entirely operating under this basis We have had people stopped at customs, people being pulled over on the motorway and escorted back to Calais, people given fines etc



We also know that customs like to make sure that everything imported either has duty/taxes charged against them or are guaranteed to leave the country. Without a carnet or customs procedures, if people are just let in then no such guarantee exists and there is no stopping someone just driving in and selling a £100k car and never declaring it. This is why it is hard for us to believe and why we are letting people know the above guidance, letting them know our view on carnets and how customs operate and also letting them know real world experiences that people have had. It is then for the individual to decide right now whether they want to chance and drive out without anything (which in all likelihood wont create any issues, but you could be the 1 in however many that are stopped and turned round) or pay the several hundred pounds for a carnet and then find out overseas customs don’t care, and then they are out of pocket.



All we can say is that if you have problems with customs then the carnet will ensure you aren’t kicked out, fined etc.



Sorry for the general vagueness and inability to give a definitive answer at the moment, I imagine as the year progresses we will get more feedback and updated guidance, but right now it’s still very much up in the air, and a lottery as to whether you have issues with customs or not.



Kind Regards,



Jonathan Crosbie

Further to this was an article saying that the eu had drafted a letter for you to show if you are stopped. I didnt copy this!!! I will go looking when I have more time.
 
Thanks Chris, I’ve tried Googling this topic and got no where.

Please do let us know if you hear or find out more regarding this carnet BS !
 
For the few who are interested in these events, here's a few words about this year's Bikers Classic event at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, due to problems with the Commando I ended up taking my bevel Ducati Sport (aka Splot). It's been to Spa perhaps 7-8 times now, always starts first time, runs perfectly even when being hammered up the Kemmel straight. This year though, it developed a persistent misfire at high revs (5500 and upwards), so I spent most of the 2 days peering at various bits to try to fix the problem.
At first I thought the ignition timing had slipped, then I changed the plugs, coils and HT leads, then checked the fuel filters in the petcocks & the carbs, then checked the carbs, tested the fuel cap vent, made the sign of the cross and blew smoke over the tank, finally put vaccum gauges on and checked the carb sync. Bugger all difference any of this made, so I ended up parking it.
The current suspicion is that the Rita ignition box is having heat problems, so I'm looking at ways of fixing this.

However, the event itself was quite good, albeit with several changes from the pre-covid format.

Instead of being spread over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, this years event was cut to 2 days and the price raised from EUR340 to EUR500. I think this put a lot of people off, since instead of the around 600
riders we saw iup to 2019, there were only about 320 this year. There was nowhere near as many paying spectators either, which also raises a question about the wisdom of the new format.

On the other hand, there were 10 track sessions of 20 min available for the 4 groups (normally 6 groups), plus sidecars and a GP parade event.
No Superbikes, no HIRO race or Belgium Classic championship event, no 4 hr Classic Endurance either, which all take track time away from the Series classes. This is both good and bad, good in that we get more track time, bad because there's less time between sessions to fix things (!) or sightsee or socialise with the other riders, and of course, less interesting hardware to look at.
There's also a big classic Enduro event and a classic Trials event going on over the two day though, but they tend to live in their separate worlds, and not have much contact with the Series riders.

The track itself has been reworked and altered to allow the MotoGP bikes to run on it. Most of the changes are in the runoff areas - changed from asphalt to gravel, so stay well clear of these! There's a couple of
corners that have been changed as well, which made for some, shall we say, interesting moments, when you discover that the corner is a bit sharper then what you remembered - I ended up outside the rumble strip, very close to the AstroTurf strip separating the gravel from the hard stuff, cranked all the way over, boot tips scraping and still doing well over 160 km/h....

The other big change was the use of transponders to regroup riders to get a better mix of bikes. Previously this was seemingly done be a combination of looking at the description of the bike, casting of bones
and reading tealeaves, which sometimes produced a great variation in lap times. This year though, the initial grouping was even more random, but after the regroup based on transponder times, it improved greatly. At least I think it did, because I only managed one lap before the bike misbehaved again, but it was a good lap. It's very good for one's ego to pass assorted CBX's, 900 Hondas, and assorted larger, more modern bikes on my 50 year old hack :cool:

As I suspected, there were not many UK riders, I think I say 3 or 4 UK registered vans, but didnt have the time or energy to actually chat to them, so I've no idea how they dealt with the Carnet issue. None of the Irish mob turned up either.

The other highlight of the meeting was a German bloke who came up to me on Sunday as we were packing the van, asking me if I wanted to sell the Ducati. No, actually I'm not interested, but he continued to press me, asking what I would sell it for, so I replied "100 000 euros and you can take it away" - he looked a bit offended, and mentioned a price of between EUR25,000 - EUR30,000, which is probably quite realistic.
Then he started to tell me all the faults and non original bits on the bike, saying that the tank was 1000% not original, definitely from a 900SS, and that he had been personal friends with people at the factory, had an intimate knowledge of real Sport tanks etc. etc.
All very well, except for the fact that I'm the 2nd owner of the bike, and a good friend of the original owner, and I know for a fact that the tank is original!
He was also telling me that I must check the play on the crank since this was almost certainly the reason for the misfire, which is a _very_ odd statement.

All in all, a bit of a strange experience, left me wondering what he actually wanted. I think I will have to put an extra chain on the bike in the future....
 
Your German fan is quite typical of a certain kind of person that’s common in the bike world. They come up to you asking questions but aren’t actually interested in hearing your answers and instead just want to tell you stuff that you never asked and provide opinions that were never invited !

Nowt so strange as folk eh !?
 
It sounds like they have cut the balls off the event which is a shame. For me although I enjoy riding the track, the rest of what the event used to be was just as important. I think when they get it to the point where I would be happy to come along and spectate, that will be when I consider doing it again.

SteveA told me about one in France that sounded good, might try that next.
 
I was there with my Seeley 7R, but had an engine problem late on Saturday, so weekend over... VERY expensive track day...
 
I was there with my Seeley 7R, but had an engine problem late on Saturday, so weekend over... VERY expensive track day...
My sympathies, it's a bugger when that sort of thing happens.
Any gory details?

My Ducati problems eventually turned out to be due to the Rita ignition rotor having snagged of the wires to the pickup. When I removed the ignition unit, the pickup cable had been cut in two places. Most odd, I've not been in there since fitting the ignition something like 20 years ago. Perhaps it was eating one strand at a time?

On a different note though, it's been announced that next year's event will be on 25-26-26 August, instead of the first weekend in July which has been a fixed date for yonks.
Hopefully it also means a return to the traditional format, and if the UK & EU can get their acts sorted out as well, perhaps the UK & Irish contingents will also be back?
One can hope....
 
Hi Steve,

Not exactly sure yet what the extent of the damage is. We immediately found out that the exhaust rocker roller was defunct, it has now been replaced, but no cigar, so we will remove the top end to investigate further, maybe already this week. I will keep you posted.

About your Ducati, that is excellent news as it is very easy to fix... and cheap!

I hadn't heard about the August new dates for the Biker's Classics, it might indeed be a good thing.

Cheers!
 
A note on the Spa Bikers Classic date for 2023, it is now 12th/13th of August.

Which makes it the weekend before racing at Gedinne, which will cost less than half to enter!
 
Back
Top