Bucket racing
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Bucket Racing is a discipline of motorcycle sport, which is very popular in Australia and New Zealand due to the low cost of competing.
[edit] Origins
Bucket racing was originally started by motorcycling enthusiasts in New Zealand, around 1980. It quickly became very popular, and spread to Australia by 1988. The name derives from the slang phrase `bucket of shit', or similar Bowdlerised terms; rather than the usual finely-tuned racing machines that traditionally graced racing circuits, these bikes were often recycled ex-road machines that had been crashed or fallen into disrepair.
The original idea was to take a low powered commuter motorcycle with a maximum capacity of 150cc and remove the entire road going gear, thus creating absolutely the cheapest form of motorcycle racing in the country.
And so began one of the most enduring forms of motorcycle racing that New South Wales and Australia has seen in the post war period. At its height in the mid 90’s, NSW race meetings enjoyed up to 60 competitors at every meeting, divided into Amateur and Pro classes – essentially, junior and senior riders based on experience and ability.
As a form of inexpensive racing the class has seen participation from teenagers to retirees, attracted to the sport by its low cost and accessibility. Bikes prepared for bucket racing still sell for as little as $500 still making it the cheapest form of amateur racing available to anyone who can ride a bike
[edit] Bucket Racing Develops
As bucket racing matured it bred a group of ‘Garagists’, enthusiasts who developed their racing bikes into highly crafted and very speedy racing machines. The addition of racing seats, fiberglass fairings, rear set footrests and gear changes and racing handlebars made some these machines replicas of more modern production racing machines
In addition, home developers engineered the motors of these machines and dramatically increased power outputs from the normal road going power of around 8–12 horse power to outputs often in excess of 20 horse power. It is a tribute to home developers that they were able to create motors that produced power outputs that are directly proportional to factory made GP production race machines
A good example of a well developed bucket racer is on display at the National Motor Museum at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, NSW Australia and there is also a Honda H100 machine with the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney
