So I'm looking over the WERA rulebook, and one thing I've noticed is that Honda doesn't have any contingencies listed. Why is that? I see the other big 3, I wonder why Honda doesn't seem to support "amatuer" level road racing.

Anyone know why? Or maybe I am mistaken... I'm sure this has been discussed to length but I keep finding questions about Hondas not pertaining to their supporting private racing.

Any help?

 

Honda is spread out a bit more than the others are.Honda makes over 150 different motors worldwide.Besides,Hondas are the most expensive build for racing,unless you race V7 like I do .

 

I've seen some contingency money for Honda here in the States. I think it was WERA. The "trouble" is that the performance standard is higher. Whereas Suzuki pays back to 10th place, Honda may only pay to 4th or some crap like that.

I don't get it either. Seems like they've all but abandoned AMA supersport and the privateer and amatuer stuff in the US.

 

Honda has been like that for a long time. Hondas are known for being great race bikes... for factory/huge budget teams.
Suzuki is the bike to be on in club racing imo. Contingency is awesome and then you have the Suzuki Cup stuff that can actually get you on TV and has a great purse in itself (plus the winner gets a new model of that classes bike)
Suzuki also actually gives a crap about their club racers as well. They have an actual stepping stone approach from club racer to factory rider if your good enough. Club racers/new AMA racerson Suzukis get good shots at the lower tier Suzuki AMA teams (Hooters, Safety first, etc), those riders get shots at the next tier suzuki teams (Jordan, M4/EMGO, etc) and then up the the factory team. Kawi and Yamaha are somewhat similar but there isn't as much of a direct connection from the riders to the manufacturer. Honda has nothing like that really other than Rockwall. The Honda teams are the ones that have been known for choosing foreign riders and veterans over upcoming talent and are far from providing a clear path from new racer to pro talent. They would much rather bring in established racers from other brands/series for some reason. At least thats how it is with American Honda.

Its also a good bit about marketing. Honda doesn't really see club racing as a primary market, they try to appeal to the old school riders. Those that like roadracing but don't actually compete, veteran street riders, former racers, crossovers from Honda dirtbikes/cars, etc. Some of it also has to do with how much they spend on their pro racing programs and how spread out their recourses are in so many different areas as a freakishly huge company.

I love Hondas and the 07 600RR would be an awesome trackday or street bike but I'm not even considering buying one for racing.

I don't see any of it changing. They don't seem to want to change it, racers are always going to gravitate towards the contingency $$$ and at this point GSX-Rs are so popular I'm not even sure Honda could change it if they wanted to. The good thing about the GSX-Rs is that they have been making a lot of the parts pretty standard across the different models/years of GSX-Rs so its extremely easy to find spare parts in the paddock. Aftermarket parts are popular because GSX-Rs are popular with the racers/stunters/squids which happen to be the demographics that spend money on upgrades a lot more than the more conservative demographic that Honda markets to.

 

Actually this year they paid pretty good, for honda.
Here is the 07' Road racing payout list from Honda. http://www.ccsracing.us/forms/2007/c...ogram_road.pdf

 

Yeah, but in everything except AMA they only pay back to 5th place and it's paltry compared to other brands.

 

yeah imo its sub par compared to Suzuki and Yamaha (don't remember what all Kawi has)
they were better this year than in the past but its gonna take a little bit more than being last but not too far behind Kawi to make Honda's a good choice for club racers. Honestly Honda's contingency is a little better than what you would expect from a company a fraction of the size like Ducati or Aprilia

 

If I were entering racing, I'd def. run a Suzuki. Probably up until I got consistent top 5 finishes. Then it's a gamble to go with Honda and try for the podium.

 

I said it was pretty good for Honda, In past years it's been significantly less, paying out less money and it use to be only pay back to 3rd. So it was a big jump this year in my opinion, but it sure could be a hell of a lot better.

Suzuki, Yamaha & Kawasaki's contigencey programs aren't all they're cracked up to be either once you get outside of the AMA, most only pay back to 5th as well, with exceptions back to 10th, depending on class, grid size, etc... and then you'll be luckly if it's even a "factory money weekend" becuse most of the time it's not. Then if it is a factory money weekend, then you have to deal with bounty hunters (Robert Jenson comes to mind). Personally before this seaon started I sat down with the date list, payout sechdule, and rules for each (of the big 4) and compared them side by side. For CCS they were all pretty close, one manufacturer would be better than the other depending on class, date, placement required, $ payout.

Now if I was running to make contigencey money, Buell has by far the best program - They may payout less money, but they pay it out every weekend which adds up to the chance to make far mor money than the big 4, and they support the racers very well. But you have to race a Buell - everything has it's downside.

 

Guess they'd never pay that out