For many years the British biking public has asked: "When will we produce someone good enough to go and beat the rest of the world?"
This is a sport that is given very little coverage in the national press today. However, go back to 1976, 1977 and 1978 and one man completely changed the face of not only British racing but racing on the world stage. That man was the one and only charismatic Barry Sheene. He glamorized it, brought it to the forefront of our national press so that, on the eve of winning the championship, there were printed pages, yes pages of motorcycle racing coverage to a point that every single person in this country at that time knew his name and what he was good at.
He gave us a sense of national & international pride that is sadly missing from bike racing today and gave every policeman an excuse: "Who do you think you are then? Barry bloody Sheene?" It is the intention of the £1 Future Stars Fund to change this and turn the clocks back, if you like, to that bygone era and produce a host of young talented riders capable of taking on and beating the best of what the rest of the world has to offer. You’re now probably thinking we’ve lost the plot but bear with us a little longer. Let us give you some background and vision as to what this fund is all about and how it is designed to achieve the goals mentioned above. Many of these talented youngsters are more than qualified to further their careers as racers. However, the majority will get so far only to find a huge stumbling block at a critical part of their development: FINANCE! So often, riders have huge talent but not bottomless pockets to fund (just from family, friends and local small businesses) the astronomical and ever-increasing costs involved in making the necessary step even to BSB. So the dream ends, leaving them to seek everyday employment and spend their working lives dreaming what might have been.

The £1 Future Stars Fund

The £1 future stars fund is solely designed to ensure they do have the finance to take the next all important steps. By which time teams and manufacturers alike will be offering them lucrative contracts which in turn would promote the fund further by the successful candidates promoting the very fund that gave them that all important backing.

How the fund will work

If everyone who is passionate about motorcycles and motorcycle racing donated just one pound (potentially 10 to 15 million people), it would enable the fund to finance potentially the top 50-100 talented youngsters to experience essential testing and development skills, thus enhancing their ability, ultimately resulting in a full time racing contract. Other fund raising areas include:

• Adding £1 to the price of a track day which would go directly to the fund.
• £1 on the price of show and race day tickets that would go directly to the fund.
• Potentially we would pursue the option of increasing the price of every new motorcycle sold in the country by one pound.

The aim of this would be to fund our youngsters year on year. The fund would be proportionally divided between the prospective candidates, to ensure a level and consistent fairness and so no single candidate received preferential treatment. All the racing clubs in the country would be asked to nominate their five most talented riders for assessment. Successful applicants would receive necessary funds to reach the next step of their career ladder. The aim is to maintain the momentum year on year (by virtue of the continuing additions to the fund as described above). Imagine in 5 years time how many potential stars we might have in the top flight. Please Please Please..... give this fund your support. One day you can stand up bursting with pride and say, "We made this champion and it's down to us that they got to stand on that all important top step." Thank you for taking the time to support what we feel is essential to ensure the growth and security of what we consider one of this country’s national treasures. If you would like to give us your thoughts or suggestions on the schem, please contact us via futurefund@gpfuture.com .