What is Flat Track racing?

For those of you not immediately familiar with the concept of flat track motorcycle racing, let us divulge…

The goal for flat-track racers is to muscle their heavy, 300-pound bikes around a flat (see where this is going?) oval racetrack as fast as possible, leaning their two-wheeled machines into the 180 degree corners at speeds of 120mph plus. It’s a bonkers, exciting, and yes, dangerous form of motorsport, less about straight-line speed and more about finesse, commitment, aggression and timing.

The name of the game is corner-speed, the tracks are so short, racing is essentially one big loop, with the bikes skipping, sliding and bucking against the centrifugal forces, the same forces that are constantly wanting to throw riders off the bikes, which would result in dramatic and born-cracking high-sided accidents. All considered, to succeed in this sport, flat track racers need nerve, and lots of it.

‘Sounds like speedway…’ we hear you exclaim. And from a distance, these two sports do share common themes, but when you dig into the details, flat track racing is an altogether different beast, and something our American cousins from across the pond are fiercely proud and protective of.

The most obvious difference can be found on the bikes themselves. Speedway bikes famously run with no brakes, whereas flat trackers have the luxury of a rear anchor which explains the disparities in cornering style. (Don’t get confused when you see them on the hill running front disc brakes, they’ve had to fit them at FOS to pass scrutineering.)

Flat track bikes are bigger, heavier and more powerful compared to the light and spritely speedway machines, and most importantly, flat track bikes look and sound the absolute business too. They have the cool factor. A burly, confident, all-American spirit which turns heads for all the right reasons. When you see them, you want to sit on one, you want to own one, and you want to race one. Something you won’t find many people saying about the awkward looking speedway bikes.

Identifying the flat trackers is simple once you know what to look for. There are two main classes, or divisions as the Americans call it. There are the Singles, made from smaller, lighter 450cc bikes which resemble modified motocross bikes, and then there is the Twins division, dominated by large, four-stroke 750cc bikes, often designed from the ground-up specifically for flat track competition. When speeds can reach 140mph, and races are decided by photo-finishes of four or five bikes abreast, it’s not a surprise that this style of motorcycle racing is enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity around the world.

As a sport, flat track racing originated in the United States, and in fact, it’s the only type of motorcycle racing which did. From the early 1900s, young American men would come together and construct oval circuits, cobbled together from oiled wooden planks. Not something you’d ever consider riding a motorcycle on now, but back when men were men, these weekend events would regularly attract 80,000 to 100,000 fans.

It took organisers until after the second world war, incredibly, and surely hundreds of horrible accidents later, to consider a track made from greasy slabs of wood a slightly ill-advised surface for racing motorcycles on. Sensible heads prevailed and organisers settled instead on the more forgiving dirt we associate with the sport today.

Home-grown, American manufacturers including the Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycle companies jumped at the chance to compete at these events, and they naturally dominated the sport from the outset, as they continue to do in 2018. The Brits followed in the 1960s, with BSA, Triumph and Norton, soon to be joined by the Japanese in the 1970s with Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha. However, it wasn’t all plain-sailing for the discipline and following the emergence of 200mph sport bikes and MotoGP in the 1980s, dirt track racing experienced its first real slump in support. 

It was at this point that many of the sport’s top racers would pack up their immense bike-handling skills, and move to pastures new, following the money to the world of Grand Prix circuit racing. In fact, Kenny Roberts, the first American to win a MotoGP championship graduated from the flat track world in exactly this way. Roberts enjoyed huge success on the asphalt circuits by deploying a new technique of sliding his bike’s rear wheel round corners whilst maintaining incredible corner speeds, propping himself and his machine up with a hanging knee. It’s a style which defines MotoGP today, and it can trace its roots right back to good old, wholesome, all-American flat track racing.

Happily, with the resurgence of custom motorcycles, and a whole new generation of two-wheeled fanatics building bobbers and café-racers, flat track racing has begun to carve out its own passionate following once more. Manufacturers and fans from across the world are showing a growing appetite for the American Flat Track Series and with viewing figures and sponsorship soaring, the days of manufacturers and competitors looking for more lucrative alternatives to bike racing are gone for now.  

At Goodwood, we’re thrilled to have a contingent of American Flat Track competitors and their motorcycles with us for the 2018 Festival of Speed including Indian Motorcycle factory team riders Jared Mees (2017 AFT Champion), Bryan Smith (2017 AFT Championship runner-up), and Brad Baker, all riding their impressive and Championship leading Scout FTR750s. 

We’ve also got Singles overall championship contender Shayna Texter and her Husqvarna FC 450, who in 2017 won more races than anyone else in the sport.

To round off the impressive field Stevie Bonsey is riding the beautiful Ducati 821 with Jeffrey Carver Jr. and four-time Daytona 200 winner Danny Eslick both riding the legendary Harley-Davidson XR750s. If there’s a set of riders and bikes more qualified to introduce the sport of flat track motorcycle racing to Goodwood and the Sussex countryside, we’d like to see it.

There’s no-one more excited to be here than the flat track teams, riders and families this year, so if you find yourself in the bike paddocks, make sure you go and make the most of the opportunity and get an intoxicating dose of American motorcycling history, culture and adrenaline right from the source. They’re a friendly bunch too, so give them a proper Goodwood welcome when they blast up the hill. 

Photography by James Lynch.