On Track Off Road No. 194

work as a Grand Prix rider and find a level
needed to compete with the Herlings, Cairo-
lis, Prados, Desalles, Febvres, Seewers but
also manage the intricacies and demands of
organising a supplied and viable structure
ready to travel the world. There is no other
venture quite like it in MXGP, and although
it means the window for risk is that much
wider for the veteran, it also places him in
control and potentially at the beginning of a
whole new chapter in what has been a life-
time invested in the sport.
With only days remaining until the end of
the calendar year, Simpson insists he is
close to the mark for SS24 KTM MXGP to
throw the covers away. So we spent a good
half-an-hour talking to the former British
Champion, asking for insight to the process
and the means to forge a motorcycle capable
of competing in the FIM World Championship
as well as fighting for domestic hon-
ours…
In previous years I’d already been
quite hands-on…
…with things like doing emails, talking to
sponsors and helping the team. The two
years at Wilvo Yamaha meant I stepped right
back from that role but I was doing it again
with RFX and had a lot of input. The differ-
ence now is instead of me saying “I think we
should do this and that…” and someone go-
ing-out and doing it for me, I’m the one that
has to come up with the ideas and see eve-
rything through; trying to get people signed
up to different types of deals and cope with
product delivery, numbers and supply. There
are other important ‘new’ things like the
details of working out how the set-up will be
and opting to go for something different to a
truck and then deciding how it will look.
Organisationally I have a pretty good
idea of what numbers of parts are
necessary to do a full season…
…for example, it will take around 40 sets of
grips. Sprockets: you’ll need one for every
weekend and then there are different sizes.
Then I’m working with Renthal and R Tech
for the plastics and Enjoy from America with
the stickers – which has to be planned in ad-
vance as they need to be shipped over. I’m
trying to set time frames and get designs
made. There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing
MAKING AN MXGP TEAM: SS24 KTM