From a hobby to a racing career
Your young rider now has the equipment and has been practicing indoors and outdoors. They are getting faster and their confidence is good, the next step is to go racing!
This may sound like a “big step” but actually it isn’t. Junior Racing has come a long way in recent years and there’s now a focus on ‘novice’ classes to make it much easier for kids to start racing.
An introduction to Cool-FAB British Championship
The club we would recommend racing with is the Cool-FAB British Championship. They run the British Championship classes on UK go-kart circuits for kids aged between 6 and 16 years old.
The Cool-FAB Racing Championship was created in 2004 to help young British Riders reach professional and world level. It is the best starting point for young riders and parents as there are no application or qualification requirements other than the rider has bike control and has their own bike and riding gear. Applications can be made over the phone or online and you can either apply for entire season or just round by round.
The atmosphere is relaxed and sociable which makes it great for parents and kids make friends and enjoy the weekend more. The championship has a strong emphasis on family fun and track time which gives youngsters the ability to start racing mini-motos and move up to geared racing bikes in a structured way.
Take a look at the table below to see how the Cool-FAB team works…
| Age | Bike Class | Power and Top Speed |
| 6-8 | MiniMoto Novice Class (10mm restricted) | 4bhp – 30mph |
| 7-10 | MiniMoto Pro Class (14mm restricted) | 8bhp – 50mph |
| 9-13 | MiniMoto Production Class (unrestricted) | 12bhp – 60mph |
| 9-11 | MetraKit 50cc Geared Race Bike | 11bhp – 60mph |
| 11-14 | MetraKit 70cc Geared Race Bike | 17bhp – 80mph |
The championship is also affiliated with British Superbike Championship (BSB) and is professionally run with a structure very similar to BSB with Practice on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday and Races on Sunday. The season normally runs from April to November with approx. 8 rounds per year. This is the cheapest form of road racing in the UK and you can typically expect to spend anything between £300 – £600 per round which covers everything from entry fees, bike preparation, travel, accommodation, tyres, fuel etc.
The paddock at this level is very friendly and everyone is prepared to help each other out, even to the extent of dads being on circuit to help marshal and re-start/recover broken down bikes to help the kids get as much track time as possible.
The Cool-FAB British Championship has been going for many years and is the proven training ground that has produced top GP riders such as Scott Redding and Danny Kent, plus top Superbike riders such as Luke Mossey and Brad Ray.
One comment on “From a Hobby to Racing”
Hi. Interested in getting my son involved. Signed up for racing events. He is 9 and currently rides a 110cc pit bike off road. Massively into bikes!!!