This page explains where BSB Mecca’s data comes from, how we verify it, and what the known gaps are. If you use our numbers in your own work, this is the page to read first.
Sources by era
2022 to today. Race classifications and championship standings come from the championship’s official timing feeds. This is the same data published by the series itself, and it includes every class on the BSB programme: Superbike, Supersport, Superstock, Sportbike, Junior Sportbike, Moto4 and the BMW F900R Cup.
2001 to 2021. Championship standings are the official final tables for each season, cross-checked against at least two independent published sources. We store official points totals as published. That matters because the Showdown format (2010 to 2021) reset points before the final rounds, so a table recomputed from race results would be wrong. We never recompute; we record.
1988 to 2000. Champions for every season, including the parallel TT Formula 1 and Superbike titles that ran from 1989 to 1992. Full season tables from this era have not survived in digital form, so these seasons currently show the champion only. We are working on race-level records for this era from period sources.
Known gaps
We would rather show a gap than an invented number. The current gaps: race-by-race results before 2020 (championship tables are complete from 2001), the 2003 season table, and support class results before 2022. As historical sources are digitised and verified, these will fill in.
Verification
New results are checked against the official timing record. Historical entries are cross-checked against contemporary reporting from at least two outlets before they go live. One example: our 2022 final standings were verified line by line against two independent published tables before import.
Rankings and ratings
The Power Rankings use an ELO rating computed from every race result in the database. Beating strong fields moves a rating more than beating weak ones, and support classes carry half weight. ELO is a modelled number, useful for comparing riders across eras, and it sits a level below the raw results: the results are the record, the rating is our reading of it.
Corrections
Every page carries a report tool. Tell us what is wrong and we will check it against source data, usually within a day. The archive gets better because people who know the sport point at the weak spots.