The GP Originals plan
2024 has been a challenging year for racing across both short circuits and real road racing. After much consideration it has been decided that GP Originals has reached its peak and is now at the point where it would require considerable compromise to continue.
The decision to draw the Series to a close has not come easily. Alternatives already exist elsewhere for riders that are happy to race on a mixed grid, where prize money and high profile circuits are not the focus. We recognise that riders who want to be part of a competitive race need much more, however without the support of the entire field of available machines we are not able to deliver the essential ingredients.
The GP Originals essentials
- A dedicated grid is a fundamental part of GP Originals
- Decent length races
- Premier, efficient clubs and circuits
- Strong grids to make the organisational effort worthwhile
- Competitive close racing – this means clear rules, focussed on period spec
Your questions
Go full time with NG Road Racing… we enjoy a close relationship with NG Road Racing, who in our opinion are the most suitable two-stroke friendly national club. They offer an excellent National Championship and NG Cup which already accommodates our machines. For us to achieve our required dedicated grid we would need to deliver a minimum of 20 bikes but with a goal of 25-30. This is simply not currently achievable. Should there be a desire to run a championship, their current offer is that we run on their Super Twin grid.
Go full time with CRMC… we must emphasise that this option has not been offered by the CRMC. However, it has been suggested by the few invested in both that we provide them with our assets. The CRMC has not offered a consistent dedicated grid even prior to GP Originals, this was the case when their own two-stroke numbers were fairly strong. Understandably, the CRMC have moved their date categories onwards and relaxed the wheels and tyre regulations beyond the post-classic period. This means there’s no requirement for our separate GP Originals championship within their timetable.
Elsewhere… We have previously enjoyed excellent meetings hosted by No Limits, BSB, Portimao Classic Festival, Endurance Legends, Thundersport GB, Wirral 100, NG Road Racing and Bemsee. Only a few of these are still operating therefore options are extremely limited. Of these few, none are able to offer the benefits we need to continue GP Originals whilst keeping it true to its proven strengths, unless we can provide a guarantee of large grid numbers.
Pay up front… We very seriously considered the option of taking all the entry fees up-front as happens at KlassGP. To do this we would need a minimum of 25 fully reserved seats with no option to cancel. We did not feel that this was achievable or fair to those willing to put their money down.
Expand the machine range… we are very keen to avoid simply repeating the pattern of other series that have predated GP Originals – this has all be tried before and proven to lose more riders than can be gained. To include later machines, slacken the rules, include 125, 500 or 750 machines is simply delaying the inevitable whilst creating an intense amount of work for those tasked with implementing it.
What more can be offered?… With over £25,000 per season of cash, product support and vouchers available to every rider throughout the field we feel there is no more that can be offered that would bring in the 10-15 additional fully invested riders needed.
All in the numbers
By 2019 we recorded 95 full members and six supporter members – an increase of 68% from 2018. This level remained fairly consistent until 2023 where we saw a still buoyant 96 total membership, however 23 of those were now supporters rather than riders – an indication that our cohort were enjoying the series but the average age and appetite for racing was shifting.
Only SIX riders entered every round this season – this is less than half the number of previous seasons. Our experience proves that to achieve 30+ riders on the grid the series needs approximately 60 active riders on the books.
In 2019 we began recording the amount of race entries in addition to riders making the race starts – often we had excellent paid entry figures but people were failing to make it to the grid. You can also see the challenges people are facing to run a competitive and reliable post-classic, two-stroke. 2020 would surely have seen the peak but Covid arrived and we rolled over our prize money to 2021. Entry figures remained comfortable into the early part of 2023 however you can see the pattern developing.
Despite maintaining an excellent prize fund, exerting a large promotional effort and offering the only competitive dedicated grid anywhere, the figures in 2024 were consistently too low. The result was the mixed grid experienced in the final round – our first since 2017.
Have we been proactive?
Below is a summary of our promotional activity:
Throughout the lifetime of GP Originals we have focussed heavily on the strategic goal of getting as many riders and sponsors involved in the Series as possible. Please visit the links below to understand the volume of effort over the years. We‘ve never taken our hand off the throttle in this respect and this is an important factor in understanding the appetite for racing going forward.
The following summarises the professional services donated to GP Originals. We have consistently made gains in reach, impressions and engagement.
- New for 2024: we ran three paid quarter page advertisements in Classic Racer magazine with two editorial pieces. These ads included mechanisms to track response rates.
- Expanded in 2024: social media commitment with posts on more channels including LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube.
- Expanded in 2024: video effort extended into reels. Filmed and compiled by Carys Linton – a genuine reflection of our friendly paddock atmosphere.
- Ongoing: Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram.
- Social media: our own posts plus daily interaction with sponsors’ pages and other mutually receptive pages (likes, comments, shares). We have achieved many Top Fan badges to validate this activity.
- Email: GDPR compliant newsletters and race reports to over 350 racing focussed subscribers. These include current, lapsed and prospective riders, sponsors, supporters and other interested parties.
- Website: professionally designed and built site, thorough ongoing search engine optimisation. Page one positions achieved for many relevant key phrases for post-classic, two-stroke racing. Plus, many branded first page positions achieved for our sponsors often out performing their own websites.
The conclusion
- Maximum, professional effort has been exerted to promote the series.
- We have maintained arguably the largest and most accessible prize fund for one series in amateur racing – there is no more to be offered financially.
- The age of riders and machines means the desire to commit is very different to modern racing with a very limited refresh rate for incoming riders.
- Competitive racing appeals to half the grid but not to the other half, making it impossible to pool all the riders into one place.
We urge those that would like to continue racing their post-classic 250 or 350 to promptly contact us at GP Originals. Ian Longstaff and Mark Linton are willing to work with Steve Bostock to help build out Championship status should there be enough riders open to sharing the grid with the Super Twins. You may also continue to ride at NG Road Racing in their own dedicated two-stroke race, Open 500 or Open classes.
Thank you!
We have had the pleasure of presenting one of the very best and most successful post-classic, two-stroke motorcycle racing series around. It has been extremely hard work that has drawn on the passion and skills of a very small, dedicated team but the rewards have been worthwhile. We wish to sincerely thank all our riders, sponsors and supporters for taking part, without the collaboration of every person GP Originals could not have delivered the memories it has.
