Get the inside line on the official British Gravel Championships route with expert insight from Vittoria Tyre Expert Jake Law, Pro Gravel Racer Lewis Martin, and Red On Sports Co-Founder Malcolm Smith.
🎥 In this exclusive preview, we ride the full championship course and break down everything you need to know ahead of race day:
– Key sections and tactical hotspots
– Surface types and how they’ll affect your race
– The perfect tyre choice for Dalby Forest
-Vittoria’s pro-level tyre advice for grip, speed, and durability
Whether you’re racing for the stripes or just curious about what it takes to conquer one of the UK’s biggest gravel races, this video gives you the knowledge to race smarter and ride faster.
👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more British Gravel Champs content – and let us know your tyre setup below!
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[Music] Hi, I’m Jake from Victoria and we’re at Dolby Forest today to do a course preview of the British Gravel Champs and also to test the terrain to see which tire would be most suitable for the racing conditions. [Music] So guys, we’re heading out on a wrecky of the British Gravel Champs race route today here in uh Derby Forest in the North Yorkshire National Park. Um it’s a really undulating course. Hope you’ll appreciate that. And um it’s it’s often this sort of width which is nice. So this is fundamentally different course to the previous two venues we’ve used for the British gravel champs. So in in Suffukk it was pan flat. Um a lot of sharp turns. Uh so it was quite and the surface was a mixture of hard pack like this sand in places in the middle of the forest and uh Land Rover tracks with a grassy surface. The finishing strike was in a field. So um so that was just pure grass but fundamentally pan flat. Scotland was on the growlet course. So loose chippings. I mean how how would you describe those chippings compared with this Lewis? Yeah. Pretty brutal. They’re big chunky sharp stones. Really loose turns. Speed limits on descents as much as you would like to go fast. But this is fast. Pretty smooth. It’s a bit bumpy, but there’s no big stones anywhere.
I think that’s the big the big difference, isn’t it? No big stones. More of a firm
surface that’s probably more predictable.
More predictable. Yeah, [Music] we certainly saw a lot of tire casualties at the Raiders Gravel and Growlock last year on that course because of the uh the surface being so rocky in places.
Yes,
a lot of people were cutting their tire casings. I would argue that that course is
it’s fundamental to get your tire casing and your tire pressures right and absolutely the airliner definitely helps in that setting as well. Um, I mean, I’m almost tempted to think that that one of the uh the light tires will be suitable for this on a dry day. What do you think?
I think so. Yeah, I think as long as you manage your your tire pressures correctly, you certainly wouldn’t be able to run the same lower pressures on the lighter casing as you could on a reinforced casing. So, there’s always that tradeoff. Um, personally I would argue though that we are definitely seeing a move across the board in gravel where the tires are getting wider, the rims are getting wider, the tire pressures are dropping and similar to what we see in cross country racing, people don’t really mind carrying an extra 50 g or so of weight if they’re going to have a more robust
tire to get them through a race situation. I mean, people always ask us what’s the fastest tire and my answer normally is the one that doesn’t puncture.
Yeah.
Not the one that’s the lightest. That is a bit rougher here. It
is very rough. Yeah, this is exactly the type of terrain with those rougher sections there where the ainers that all three of us are riding definitely become something that’s worth having because the speeds that you’ll be carrying on a race situation is so much quicker than what we’re doing now, of course. So, you are going to hit those obstacles at a much faster pace and that’s when you pinch cut your tire casing.
You also have the being behind somebody. Exactly.
From experience, you don’t you can’t see anything coming. You’ve got a split second to react to a stone or a hole. And certainly on this stretch, because it’s very close to the beginning, people will be fighting for position still. You won’t see these until you’re in them. No, exactly.
It’ll be so fast, too. I mean, we’re rolling along easily, going pretty fast. So when you’re in a race situation, this could be 30 m an hour, 50k an hour along here.
So we’re a couple of K in now. So we’ve had uh we’ve had a very fast start. I think that descent is going to with the right hand turn that’s going to be long and fast. And as we were saying, there be features on the on the road there that will um that will require lots of tire maintenance and taking a lot of care despite not being able to see because there’ll no doubt be a lot of dust kicking up. I’m taking a left hand turn there at the bottom and come up this climb now for about 600 700 m on a surface that seems to be hard packed but uh but it it was breaking in places. I mean from a from a tire perspective what do you think um
it it’s definitely looking for here?
I mean this is exactly what we would kind of call like a mixed condition you know where you’ve got a really hard base compound but these pine needles are actually really slippy. So definitely I found around some of those sharper corners when you’re coming in at speed, you absolutely need a defined side knob to be able to catch that and just not roll away from that. And I definitely think that’s going to be critical in the race. Lewis, what tires would you run for this course at the minute? I’d be looking at terrain dry on the front and then potentially depending on how dry it was terrain zero maybe on the back.
Yeah, nice.
If I felt confident enough for it. See, for me, I think that the T50 is perfect for the type of riding that I do. And I quite like the fact that it’s going to be a nice fast riding tire, but if it does get wet that day, I reckon I’ll just have a little bit more grip than what you’ll have on the dryer, the Zero or even a bit looser cuz it’s so dry. You’re going to have a bit more grip. Exactly. For 2025, Victoria’s decided to introduce what we call the terrain score. uh where we all of our cut tires will be renamed in what we call a T-core from T0 to T 100. So if you imagine zero being very far smooth tarmac and 100 being the muddiest conditions you can possibly think about. The naming of the tires will make it clear what the intended usage for every model. So, the first tire that was introduced with this new naming score was the Torino T50 that was launched in 2024. And that is right in the middle of this terrain score. And all of the current tires will be renamed with this new score, which will hopefully make it easier for you guys to figure out which tire is best for the intended usage and the intended track you’re riding on. So, for instance, Torino Zero will become Torino T10. Torino Drive becomes Torino T30. 50 is new. The Mezcow will turn into Torino T70. Torino mix will become Torino T80. And finally, Torino Wet is being renamed as Torino T90. I think at this point in the race, the bunch will be so so tight together still. It’s going to be so hard to see those obstacles
until you’re right on top of them.
So, the the uh airliners are going to be crucial part of the kit for survival, I’d say.
I think so. To optimize your racing performance off-road and especially on your gravel bike, um we would absolutely recommend to consider Victorious Airliner Light Gravel tire inserts. And what these will allow you to do is to run a much lower tire pressure to optimize your grip, your comfort, and your braking performance without worrying about damaging your rims and more importantly worrying about cutting the tire casings. So when you look at the cut through, it makes it very clear the amount of run flat protection and sidewall protection you will get from the airline light gravel. And it only weighs 45 g. So it’s an absolute no-brainer to put one of these inside your tires front and rear to give you that comfort, grip, and support you need to be able to complete the race. I mean, this event has been designed to be laps rather than the huge single loop that we do for the Gallet, for example, because we want it to be more spectator friendly. We want it to be um we want to be able to offer um a zone where team support can be provided. That’s going to be by the by the um event village. So it it it will play out fundamentally differently to the um to to the way the grow does. So I mean how what are your thoughts about about about those differences then Lewis and uh how they would uh impact from a from a racing at the sharp end point of view? Yeah, I mean it totally changes the race um as far as the grow which is basically you have to be self supported the whole way. you have obviously pet boxes and feed stations, but you’re having to stop at the feed stations if you want anything. So, you’re with the lead group, you stop, you might not get back in. Whereas, if you can come around the lap later, pick up a bottle, pick up a gel, whatever. Um, that’s always going to be better. Obviously, mechanicals are mechanicals, there’s not much of that. But then also from the side of if you did have a mechanical that was game over, you’ve you’ve not got like miles of walking. You have a couple of miles of walking which would probably be okay. It’ be nice enough.
Um well, it would be nice enough because we are in a beautiful area.
Beautiful situation here. Little bit overcast today, but uh but yeah, I mean this this area is absolutely an area of astonishing natural beauty. Fundamentally different to Galloway. This is this has got a feels more compact, bit more rolling as opposed to the expansive wilderness that we that we have up there that does feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s nice cuz it kind of showcases the different elements that you get in gravel racing and how completely different one course can be to another. And something like this is probably definitely better, like you say, from a spectator perspective where that is more of that adventurous in the middle of nowhere self-sufficient race, you know. I think it’ll be a very very different kind of race,
but not in a bad way. And it’s just different.
Just different. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And and that that’s very much what what we’re hoping for. [Music] Hey guys. So, we’ve ridden around the race route for the British Gravel Championships. Um, it’s taken us a little while. We’ve been stopping and considering and reflecting and analyzing. So, um, what Lewis, from an elite rider point of view, um, are your thoughts about the route? Good fast course, going to be a racing course. It’s not going to end up being a time trial by yourself or anything. Good mix for everybody. it won’t suit one individual type of rider. Yeah. So, I think I’ll be good.
Great. Because it’s it’s great to hear that that that that that comes across as as a as as a um more of a of a road race type event off-road, which is what we’re aspiring to do. Would you say that the terrain does lend itself to that? Then
I would say with the condition of the roads and whatever, it’s going to be more road racy because it’s a lot less technical under the wheels the whole time as opposed to other courses that you’re getting rattled the whole time. So yeah, no, I think good bunch racing because you can confidently sit behind people.
Fantastic. Which we which is what we have that’s been our ethos in terms of the gravel races that we’ve been trying to put on. So that’s really great great to hear. But then also from a technical point point of view got a lot of corners in this that we’re approaching at speed which means tire selection is going to be absolutely critical to the to to success or just finishing. Um do you want to just share some thoughts having experienced those corners now
there’s definitely like Lewis is saying it’s not as technical as Growlock. So there’s definitely not going to be as many issues in terms of pinch flats as you would get on the Growlock course. But definitely I will say that tire choice is critical in terms of getting something with a nice defined side knock. That’s the one thing I will definitely stress. Those 90 degree turns we took, you know, a lot of them are quite loose with a kind of like pie needles on the ground and they were definitely a few corners that could get quite slippy if we do get a bit of moisture on that track. So you definitely want something that’s going to roll quick but has a nice defined side knob just to catch you around those 90° turns.
Fantastic. But the the the rolling quick also therefore means that you don’t need knobbles in the middle of the tire for the majority of the um of the straight relentless.
Exactly. Exactly. For me definitely not having the same bike skills as what Lewis has. I definitely felt really comfortable on the Tino T50 and I would definitely feel that a lot of maybe first time gravel riders or somebody just here for their own enjoyment might find that a really predictable tire. Whereas I think Lewis would probably agree that he’d be leaning more towards the faster rolling Torino Drive/ Torino T30.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
And maybe even like you said a Torino Zero on the
But then as you said about the turns, they’re all flat. None of them are banking you in. There’s no there’s nothing to catch you on the tire and your body position to get you around the turns. So just a couple of other features I think having ridden around it again in in in in dry drier conditions there there’s the early stages of the race are are littered with descents and climbs each of which probably a couple of kilometers long s something something like that. How would you um think that riders should be approaching in the first instance those those descents if they’re riding in a in a in a bunch Lewis?
Probably if you haven’t rolled the course, you’re going to need to be cautious. I mean, everything’s fairly straight here. It’s fairly straight into then a 90° turn and then straight into a 90° turn. There’s nothing really turns wise like the Growlock where you have twisted descents, but the 90° turns can come out and over if you weren’t paying attention and you were stuck just concentrating on the person in front of you.
So I I suppose that’s a crucial thing then, isn’t it? Is making sure you look look ahead and not just focused on that on that wheel in front because bends can come up. There’s coming a was one of those early descents that we we went down and there there is a there is a a sharp right on it that will catch you out if you were not looking ahead. You just focus on on the rider in front and then of course with every descent we’ve got a climb and um and and certainly I mean I I I struggled on the the initial element of the climb which tend to be quite steep then it was flattening out. I mean what was your view of of the impact of of of the clims and and uh how people might might approach those on this route.
So there was to three kind of climbs and the first one was steeper and then slackened off and then the middle one was quite consistent and then the last one was fairly consistent and then got a little bit steeper to the end. So I would say again given the length of the race and how hard it’ll be conservatively cuz they’re you’ve got there three climbs four climbs a lap roughly. So it’s just going to get hard and relentless and wear you down eventually.
Yes. It’s going to be a war of attrition out there, isn’t it? Yeah. So it’s unlikely we’re going to see groups getting away through through attacking early doors. It’s going to be a steady erosion of the of the pelaton.
Yeah, I would have said so.
Very good. Very good. And and and then finally then any other um technical thoughts about about about setup, tire pressure, and and an airliners of course.
Exactly. So So Lewis made a really good point while we’re riding around. He said because it’s not as rocky as Growlock, you could actually run much lower tire pressure than you would normally run. And I definitely feel that’s beneficial to give you that grip around the corners. I would definitely urge people to come and speak to us over the weekend to try and discuss the tire pressure. But I think the worst thing you can do here is ride a really high tire pressure cuz you’re going to lose so much traction.
So definitely that airliner will help you because there are a few bits where you can get into a choppy situation and if you were running the tire pressure too low,
of course you run the risk of damaging the tire and your wheel. So the ainers absolutely help with that. But that was interesting today, you know, for you to say and you’re already running pretty low tire pressure already, but you could go even lower because it’s that type of track that’s for the most part quite smooth.
1 Comment
You will see me at the back 😂