IN a discreet building in an outwardly unremarkable North Yorkshire town, a championship victory is being plotted. Hidden from view, the Guisborough headquarters of the Swan Yamaha motorcycle team is a hive of activity.

People in shirts and ties scurry up and down stairs, computers flash away and phones ring constantly.

Bikes are being stripped down by men whose hands have clearly seen better days, engine parts are meticulously cleaned and all around there’s a smell of oil and rubber. There are bits of bikes stored in orderly fashion, the inevitable Pirelli calendar on the wall and half-drunk cups of tea.

It’s less than two weeks until the next round of the MCE British Superbike Championship visits Croft Circuit, near Darlington and the Shaun Muir Racing hierarchy are planning on how best to get riders Tommy Hill and Michael Laverty onto the podium. Hill, who at the time of writing was facing a race against time to be fit after damaging ligaments in his shoulder at the previous round at Oulton Park, is currently fifth, with Laverty hot on his heels in sixth. Both are trying to usurp current championship leader, Shane “Shakey” Byrne.

To say the journey to this point has been an interesting one would be an understatement.

At the end of last season, the outfit switched from Honda to Yamaha and so began the off-season with a completely blank sheet of paper.

“There’s been a lot of work involved with the conversion from Honda to Yamaha,” said SMR’s chief engineer, Mick Shanley.

“Everything is different, every last nut and bolt. We had to get measured up, new wheels made, new suspension, machine parts moulded – and that’s before we learn how the bike works.”

This has been no nine to five job.

“It’s not really a job at all, it’s a way of life,” says Shanley by way of correction.

A love affair? I suggest.

“That’s one way of putting it,” a mechanic replies.

Teamwork clearly plays a big part at Swan, and if the banter around the building is anything to go by, this is a happy ship.

But when success happens on the track, how much of that is down to the rider and how much to the men, and women, behind the scenes?

“It’s a combination of everything,” says Shanley.

“You can’t just say it’s down to a rider or down to a bike. It is very much down to a big team effort, with everybody involved. If there is any one bit that is missing, it is not going to work.

“We are a very close-knit team here and everyone plays their part. During the season we all work very closely together, so you learn to put up with everyone’s foibles. You have to work as a team and here we have a very good one.

There are people who are (technically) competent, but don’t have the team ethic and we wouldn’t have them on board.”

If a race goes to plan, Shanley and his colleagues are happy for the riders to get the adulation, preferring to take pride in a job well done.

“The sense of personal achievement seeing your bike finish first and on the rostrum is massive,” he said.

“It takes all the pain away from the late nights, working into the early hours of the morning and repairing crashed bikes. When that bike finishes first, it makes you feel good, having delivered a package that has enabled a rider to do his job.”

Those bikes are now mere skeletons on their stands in the workshop. Looking at them, it is hard to believe they are worth a small fortune.

“A standard road-going bike is approximately £10,000. These are around £200,000,” says Shanley.

“It’s all about individual components really. The gold front forks are MotoGP factory specials and they come with development prices attached to them – they are £20,000 a set. Wheels are lightweight magnesium, they are £2,000 a set. The electronics on them, which carry everything from launch control to traction control to everything else, you are looking at about 50 grand. When you start to put them together it all adds up.”

With all that investment tied up in something capable of mind blowing speeds in such close proximity to other pieces of high value machinery, crashing must be a headache both literally and metaphorically.

“It is an occupational hazard. But in most instances, your main worry is the rider, if I am being honest,” says Shanley. “You need your rider to be fit for him to do his job. If he is hurt it can massively set back your season.

“Once you know he is all right you are obviously concerned about the bike, because you need to get it repaired 100 per cent so he can get back out there.

“Compared to a road bike, they are built to be raced and built to be worked on. A lot of things are a lot simpler. We also build sub assemblies of spares, so there’ll be a whole handlebar set up, or a whole seat unit set up with a fuel tank and electronics.

You bolt them on as big installations rather than separate individual parts. It’s all in the preparation.”

If that last word is anything to go by, Swan Yamaha should have more than a fighting chance of lifting some silverware come the end of the season.

Shanley certainly thinks so.

“We were looking to be in contention for the championship last year,” he says. “But unfortunately, after winning at the first round, our rider broke his femur at the second and that really put our hopes on hold.

“This year, again, we are going out there with the sole aim of winning the championship. We have been fastest all the way through testing, we won at Brands, qualified pole and were fastest at Oulton Park.

“Unfortunately, Tommy got knocked out there and his injury will hold him back a little bit – he won’t be 100 per cent at Croft, that’s for sure – but we should still be able to push forward and with both he and Michael – a strong rider in his own right – they should both be fighting as hard as each other for that title.”