Go drag racing ...on your stock road bike

The banter started the instant we booked our places on Santa Pod’s famous ¼ mile strip. Back and forth across the office psyching-out comments about botched clutch starts, acceleration, wind resistance and reflexes. Excuses were made, bike selection justified and the tension mounted.

But right now, with my right foot sticking to the rubber on Santa Pod’s tyre-scarred straight, eyes focused on the traffic lights none of that bullshit counted, all that mattered was that green bulb. When would it light up?

Drag racing is the epitome of all things manly. It’s primeval, basic and, above all, the cheapest and easiest form of motorsport to get involved in. All you need is a mate, a bike, a set of leathers, bike licence and £30. I laid down the gauntlet to the Visordown office and designer Barry happily accepted the challenge. My Triumph Street Triple would take on his KTM 990SM at Santa Pod’s first Run What Ya Brung of the year.

Having filtered past the queue of cars waiting to enter the circuit (can it be called a circuit?) we knew we were in a different world. It was bumper to bumper chav chariots as ‘pimped’ up Novas tried to out-do other various hot-hatch backs with their own terrible selection of music, all egged on by girlfriends with acne, scragged back hair and those horrible furry boots. I’ve never seen a crowd like it before, or am likely to again.

Signing on simply consisted of filling in a form and handing over £30. That’s it, from then on in we simply joined a queue, lined up and raced down the strip.

You may look at it and think, ‘it’s just a straight line race, where is the fun in that?’ but drag racing is more than a simple race. You try getting everything together to get that perfect launch. It won’t happen. The start could have been better, reflexes faster or that gear change was slightly botched. Add a mate on a similar bike into the equation and you have a fantastic and very addictive day out. Myself and Barry found ourselves doing a run then rushing to join the back of the queue again for another go, gibbering like monkeys due to the hit of adrenalin all the time.

After each run you get a print out of your results, top speed, reaction time, quarter mile time etc, which only adds to the competitiveness as you have proof of your contest. There’s no lying in drag racing.

The racing starts at 9:30 and runs until 5pm, with no limit on the number of runs you can do. As long as your clutch can take it. For the minimal entry fee drag racing is something you really must have a go at, it’s brilliant fun, great for spectators and a perfect way of settling old scores.  

Check out www.rwyb.co.uk or www.santapod.co.uk or call (01234) 782828 for Run What Ya Brung dates.