NP Racing: The Independent BSB Team Taking on the Factory Giants

Following on from our visit to Brands Hatch last month for the BSB Grand Finale, we recieved a number of positive messages and invitations. One such invite came from photographer Gary Smith, who encouraged us to reach out to NP Racing directly and learn more about their story. Soon, we were able to speak directly with Neil Pearson, team owner and boss of the Taunton-based workshop. However, this was more than a standard post-season interview.

What followed was a deep dive into the story of the team, the challenges and positives of being an independent outfit vs a factory setup, the targets for NP Racing as we move forward into next year's regulation changes, along with Neil's unique approach to welcoming in new partners and sponsors for the team.

While the team itself has been active since 2004, the story begins even earlier than that. Neil explains how his upbringing and military background led him to experimenting with motorcycles and ultimately deciding to found his own workshop:

"I wasn't really allowed to have bikes as a kid, coming from a 'Forces' family." He said, "Obviously, we went down that path and I joined the Army myself at 16. Did 10 years doing that, and then started riding bikes while I was over in Germany, doing bikes and track days, and this, that, and the other. Then, obviously, came back to the UK, carried on riding bikes and thought, I'll have a go with racing. Obviously, did a few mechanics jobs while I was out there, did a bit of racing, hurt myself a little bit - then realised I was better at building them than I was at riding them, to be honest."

So from there he began making and selling his own motorcycles, and with quite a lot of success. Neil recalls how he "couldn't build them fast enough to sell." but it was never money and riches that motivated him. True to his own journey, his fascination with all aspects of motorcycle racing was the real driver behind the team's success, with the boss being involved at all levels of the team:

Since 2004, the team has worked its way up through the ranks of Britain's difficult motorcycle race divisions, eventually landing in the premier class, the BSB (British Superbike) Championship, in the year 2020.

"The old aim was to be in BSB, and I think I proved it to the organisers that I could run the team." said Neil. A statement which has certainly proved true as the team recently announced their continuation in the championship for 2027.

While race wins and podiums have eluded the team thus far, there is still substantial progress being made behind the scenes. 2026 marked the beginning of a new partnership with Australian Supersport champion Brayden Elliot. The Aussie is a previous winner in the British Superstock 1000 category, so is no stranger to the quirky tracks of the British isles.

"I've known Brayden for a long time." Neil explained, "I first met him when he came over and stayed with Ben Godfrey. So, I've known him for a long time and just messaged him while he was in Japan on holiday, believe it or not. And he wasn't even going to ring me back, but his mum told him to.

"We had a phone call and we thought, we'll do a test at Donnington. We all sat there, it was miserable, raining. But he seemed to gel with us. We put the bike out there, went out on the track, and he seemed happy, which was good. He came back with a list of stuff, which is what I want from my rider, to give me a list of stuff to work from. After the test, we were all happy, and we sat down and had a chat, and we agreed to carry on."

However, it was not simply the off-track relationship that made the partnership work. Elliot certainly did his part by delivering personal bests at several tracks throughout the year:

"Our goal was basically to do personal best at every track, and enjoy the racing again. If you don't enjoy it, you spend a lot of time with these people and it's pointless doing it. So, the old philosophy was just to get the love of racing back for him, and the love of it back for me as well, to a certain extent."

The team's focus on reliability and efficiency also paid off with an exceptionally high finish rate, which will be a relief to those back in the garage:

"We didn't have many mechanicals [failures], and basically finished about 95% of all the races we finished, which I thought was pretty good." said Neil.

"We had a good fight at Donnington and Sprint races, then moved on to Brands Hatch for the finale, and had a really good Brands, to be honest. At times, we did lap times that were very good. If you go back a couple of years, that would have put us top 10, top 15, you know what I mean? So it's not bad. It's just the fact that all the machinery moves the goalposts again, which leads us on to next year when they're gonna change everything, which will bring us back into the fight, I think."

Next year marks the dawn of a new era in BSB. While the championship has long been viewed as a 'purists' class, with no rider aids or electronic gimmicks, next season that is all set to change. Rider aids such as anti-wheelie and launch control will be added, along with a power cap of 200 bhp. However, most teams have reacted positively to the proposed changes and Neil, in particular, believes that it will favour the smaller independent teams:

"It's always been a chequebook class, unfortunately. So once you've written off the first 10 riders that are in factory teams, then you're always working on the next five that you want to beat and be there, but everyone's always got more money." he said,"But when they're capping the price of everything now, and the horsepower, it's gonna bring the smaller teams further into it and make it a bigger depth of field for people to race in."

"If you're gonna restrict people to the horsepower and torque numbers that you can have on that bike, then it's more down to the chassis and the rider, which I think is good. At the minute, you could buy a Ducati - Brayden could probably get on a Ducati and go do top ten. I fully believe that, because, obviously, the packages are better, because it has the torque out the corners and everything, and it's got the top end speed. And I think when you're levelling that, and it's gonna be limited to 200 horsepower per bike, that will be controlled, and we can't even touch the electronics that they're talking about. So, it's gonna be a good leveller, I think. I'm positive about it, and I think it's gonna be good for the championship."

As for the team's 2027 target, claiming some points is the next logical step for NP Racing to aim for:

"I think next year, we want to be going for points regularly in a points fight, that is our target for next year. Because there's a lot of teams coming in, and obviously, we see ourselves further up the grid from them now, because obviously they're going to be the new people. Braden's not a new person now. He's done a year, full year with us, under his belt and our target will be getting points. You never know until testing's done, and then it's going to be where the pecking order comes in, so the first round is always going to be a good one."

The pre-season tests are set to take place at Donnington and Oulton Park on the 26-27th of March and 20-21st April respectively. The opening round will then take place at Oulton Park on 1-3 May. Full season calendar available here.

While independent teams may be at a financial disadvantage compared to those with larger deals, Neil certainly sees the positive side for NP Racing. However, he would like to see more recognition for the independent teams in the class:

"I enjoy being an independent person because it does give you freedom, and I think it's a bit more of a pat on the back for the whole team, because they've all seen the vision of what we're trying to do. We want to be independent, and go for an independent title if they did it. Yeah, which I will be putting to Higgsy [Stuart Higgs] to try and do an independent title."

In addition to having more freedom in the day-to-day running of the team, there is an extra satisfaction that comes with achieving a good result:

"I enjoy the challenge, as well, of actually turning up there, and sometimes not having a lot of money for everything else, it's a bit more of a club level sort of feel about it, but we're at the top level in the UK." said Neil, "It's all good for your mental strength as well. Anyone can fold with a bit too much pressure, but if you try and take that pressure away from them, I think they spread their wings and actually do a lot better."

On top of that, maintaining a positive atmosphere with everyone involved is key to running the team, but he is in no hurry to abandon the traditional roots of the team any time soon:

"You have a bit more freedom and possibly even sort of a closer feel within the team. Because you know that we've basically come from nothing. It's not as corporate as well. When it gets too corporate, I tend to enjoy it less."

As for the corporate side, which is impossible to ignore completely in modern racing, Neil has a slightly more grounded approach when it comes to accepting new partners:

"When we do have sponsors turn up, I love them being part of it, but even I say to them, I want you to be partners, not just dictators, as it were. So we just, we want people to join in and enjoy the fun that we have doing it. Putting a bike that's built in a little workshop in Somerset, and going hitting against these boys, these factory boys, and we're not that far off." He explained.

Inevitably, to keep NP Racing competitive among an increasingly stacked BSB field is still a costly endeavour. As a result, I asked Neil if the team are looking for any new sponsorship deals moving forward:

"I work two other jobs as well as in my workshop, just to pay for stuff and keep afloat, sort of thing, because it is a full time job doing this. But yeah, we are looking for title sponsors or round sponsors. People can do that, contact us directly through the website, all the email addresses are on there, and then they can talk again and see what they want to get."

Contact details and the latest news for NP Racing can be found on their website: www.npracingbsb.co.uk