All rules governing machine specification and or restrictions and rider requirements are set out in Motorcycling Australia Rule Book obtainable from Motorcycling SA and online. A special section deals exclusively with matters relating to Historic Machines. Intended riders in any competitive event must first obtain a Competition License which is issued by Motorcycling SA. Application for such license must first be authorised and signed by the Secretary of the Register.
What is “Historic” motorcycle racing all about?
It is really directed at preserving the heritage of motorcycle racing from days gone by. To ensure that Historic motorcycle racing remains visually identifiable for spectators and representative of particular era’s of racing from earlier times, the competition is divided into machine age brackets or “period” categories for both solo machines and sidecars.
The period categories are determined as follows:
Machines built prior to December 1919 and referred to as veteran machines. Unfortunately, this group of machines is exceedingly rare and not often seen at race meetings.
This category is for machines produced between 1st January 1920 and 31st December 1945; more generally referred to as “Vintage” or Pre-War bikes and are predominantly single cylinder 4 stroke machines of British or European manufacture. They are characterised by the “girder” fork front suspension systems and “primitive” or non-existent rear suspension.
For machines built between 1st January 1946 and 31st December 1962 which are commonly referred to as “Classics”. These bikes are representative of the post war era when motorcycle racing was largely dominated by British and European “factory” machines in single, twin or up to 4 cylinder engine configurations. The latter part of this period also saw the emergence of the Japanese manufacturers in the smaller capacity classes.
This category is for machines produced between 1st January 1963 and 31st December 1972, known as “Post Classics” and largely dominated by Japanese machines in both 2 stroke and 4 stroke multi cylinder engine configurations.
This category is for machines built between 1st January 1973 and 31st December 1982 referred to as “Forgotten Era”. It reflects the period of domination of Yamaha’s ‘TZ’ 2 strokes and the emergence of Ducati big twins and other Italian machines to do battle with big 4 cylinder bikes from Japan.
This category is for machines built between 1st January 1983 and 31st December 1990 referred to as “New Era”. This period attracts bikes such as Suzuki GSX1100/750, Yamaha FZR1000, Honda VFR750 Kawasaki GPX750 and a host of smaller class machines both four stroke and two stroke race machines from Japan and Europe.
This category is for machines built between 1st January 1991 and 31st December 1999, referred to as “Golden Era”. This period consists of 250cc Production based machines, 600cc Supersport Production based machines consisting of 4 cylinder 600 and 750cc 2 cylinder machines, Superbike Production based machines consisting 600 to 750cc 4 cylinder, 600 to 900cc 3 cylinder and 1000 2 cylinder machines. In addition, there is a Production Superbikes 4 stroke class for 700cc to 1000cc machines.
PLEASE NOTE: Refer to the most current Motorcycling Australia Manual of Motorcycle Sport for details of Historic Road Race Australian Championship and Competition Classes.
