Who are GM Racing?

George Phillips and Mike James.

Why have you decided to stop racing now?

A number of conspiring factors have led to this point, mainly:
1) a realisation that more track time and greater outlay would be necessary to make further progress
2) funding of daughters' University courses from Autumn 2011.

George and Mike will undoubtedly continue to maintain a close interest in the future of bikesport.

How was this season in the MRO Stock 1000 class?

We'd competed in only 7 of the available 18 races so far this season. A clutch failure during qualifying at Snetterton in March led to missing Cadwell Park, then a crash in qualifying at Silverstone meant we didn't race that weekend either. But we've completed all races at two new tracks for us, Brands GP and Snetterton 300, so more consistent there.

Obviously there's some immense talent in the class and the gap to the leaders widens on the longer circuits, but we're seeing improvements in lap times at each circuit we revisit.

We set out to go racing without any previous experience or support, so we've had to learn a lot in the last couple of years. We've become increasingly better organised in our preparation before and at race meetings, have stayed consistent enough to finish most races and now have baseline times for 8 UK circuits.

What experience did you have before your first race?

One track day and a race school day at Brands Hatch. Mike had no previous racing experience and last rode a Suzuki GS750 road bike 28 years ago.

Why did you choose a 2005 R1?

We were looking at any of the Japanese 1000s and about 3-4 years old seemed a good compromise between spec and outlay. Looking back, a 600 could have been more suitable machine to start out on, as they're equally competitive and more agile around these circuits but for a rider of 6 ft 3in over 14 stones a 1000 seemed a better match.

How much did it cost you?

After the initial outlay, it's tyres, race fees, fuel and any bike improvements or repairs, plus time spent on preparation and race weekends.

What were the greatest challenges?

Changing tyres in rain, with no shelter or light, at the end of a Brands testing day was not our finest hour. And we'd made our fair share of Rookie errors. But we've been good at seeing the funny side of any mishaps.

What changes did you make along the way?

Improving track knowledge from each meeting and taking advice from more experienced racers. The bike's suspension was upgraded to WP from stock in July 2009, which has improved handling and tyre wear. In 2010, we added a Power Commander, 520 chain and sprockets, clip-on bars, folding levers and iridium plugs. In 2011, we've replaced the clutch, added a de-cat pipe to improve power output, upgraded the rearsets and added a GPS lap timer.

What were your aims?

Initially, it was about enjoying the experience, learning the circuits and finishing each race. Although much of that remained our main goal, 2011 was about improving our 2010 lap times for each track in the 2011 calendar.

By keeping the bike running to stock rules we kept our costs down and competed in the MRO Stock 1000 and BMCRC Clubman 1000 championships.

Did you get any support from friends or family?

Some friends were quite interested. :-)