Innholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2025 i Classic Racer

No other motorcycle race-track is quite like the Isle of Man TT, and therefore it stands to reason that the course has inspired some unique features of its own. Even before the current 37.73 mile course was fully established, the need for a different breed of ‘marshal’ around the course was recognised. Therefore, in 1935, the organisers of the Isle of Man TT races established the ‘Travelling Marshals’. This was a time when the lap record stood at around 86mph – today Peter Hickman holds the record at 136.358mph… Back in 1935 there were only two travelling marshals, one based at the start, the other in Ramsey. While the telephone had been on the Island since 1889, this was still some time before efficient two-way radio communication was commonplace. Instead…

IN DETAIL: Motorcycle racing pits man against man, manufacturer against manufacturer, and often, culture against culture. As we’ve seen in recent years, the pendulum swings back and forth between riders, manufacturers and cultures. Currently we are in the ‘European rider, manufacturer and culture era.’ Back in the 1960s most GP classes were in the ‘European rider and Japanese manufacturer era,’ with one exception: the 500cc GP class. This ‘blue ribband’ of the sport had been dominated by MV Agusta for eight years. In 1965, Honda launched their largest street bike, the CB450. This machine had to compete with the well-established British 650cc twins in dealerships. To change people’s perception of Honda only making smaller machines, Honda decided to enter the 1966 500cc GP class with a new race bike. All…

Phil ‘Mez’ Mellor was one of the most popular riders in Britain in the 1980s. The loveable Yorkshireman would rack up nine British Championship titles, three TT wins, two Ulster Grand Prix wins, and a Manx Grand Prix win before his untimely death in 1989. His versatility was incredible, and it allowed him to win everything from 125cc two-stroke titles to 1100cc Production bike championships and everything in between. But, while his racing skills were undoubted, it was Mellor’s character that made him so popular. “Mez was so funny,” says his 1989 Durex Suzuki team-mate Ian Simpson. “He had absolutely no filter and just didn’t care a monkey’s what he said. To people who deserved it, he could be so rude, but it was always in a funny way. I…

Barry’s second big crash… Having commentated at every British Grand Prix from 1977 to 2019, I am oft-times asked what are my memories of certain happenings that occurred during those years. One of the most frequently raised questions refers to the major accident that involved Barry Sheene at Silverstone. So, to answer this one, we need to go back to the Northamptonshire circuit and the British Grand Prix of 1982, or to be precise the Wednesday before the Grand Prix. For the first time that year, ‘Bazza’ would be armed with an OW61 V4 Yamaha, thus putting him on equal terms with the similarly mounted Kenny Roberts and world championship leader Franco Uncini, riding the Galina Suzuki. It was a mouth-watering prospect and the battle to come was keenly anticipated…

It could well be argued that – 50 years ago in 1975 – things were finally coming together for the 25-year-old Barry Sheene, but his most successful year to date wouldn’t come without cost… Barry was one of the favourites for the Daytona 200 held in Florida, in March: a race that was a traditional precursor to the main Grand Prix season and a rather prestigious one at that. It was here that – perhaps – good and bad luck combined to send Sheene’s popularity into the stratosphere. Bad luck, because Barry’s Suzuki TR750 would suffer the lock-up of the rear wheel at an estimated speed of 178mph: the bike was geared for around 180 up on the Daytona circuit’s notorious banking. Initially the thought was that the rear tyre…

I’d wager the following tale is not your archetypal barn find or atypical classic bike project, but like many restorations, it is indeed a labour of love. Singles racing was booming in the early/mid 1990s. Predominantly bearded race engineers chucked old Enduro bike motors in frames from the likes of brothers Steve and Lester of Harris Performance (unbearded), Spondon Engineering (Bob Stevenson) and crazy innovator Derek Chittenden of Hejira (both bearded). Even rough and ready Tigcraft (Dave Pearce, heavily bearded) threw a welding torch at a few chassis for some eager privateers. After simmering below British Championship status for a few years, the Singles finally got a shot at the big time in 1994. They were given high status in the British Supercup series at all of the UK’s best…

Think of a racer’s ideal career… They’d want to be a national champion, then a world champion, right? In the last four decades, two race championships have been the pinnacle of motorcycle racing: the World Superbike championship and Grand Prix racing. Historically the 500cc (and from 2002) the MotoGP championship has been the one every rider aspires to ride in: it’s generally accepted that this is the senior championship, having been around since 1949. World Superbikes has only been around since 1988 – the first round taking place at our own Donington Park. So, the chance for a rider to win both championships has only existed since then. History has also shown that WSB is where either the young talent grows (hopefully to break into MotoGP later) or where MotoGP…

In all the years it was raced, Honda’s RC45 never did manage to win a dry race in the British Superbike Championship, despite top names like Steve Hislop, Jim Moodie, Terry Rymer, Brian Morrison, Robert Dunlop, and David Jefferies trying. Its only wins came in the wet with Michael Rutter and James Haydon. In 1997 it fell to V&M to work their magic on the bike in an attempt to turn it into a serial winner. But a lack of official parts proved to be a major headache for Jack Valentine and Steve Mellor. V&M was running the Honda Britain team that year, with Michael Rutter running a factory engine in the British Superbike Championship and Ian Simpson partnering him on a race-kitted version of the RC45 at roads events.…

We would welcome the return of the added excitement that home-town heroes add to a MotoGP or World Superbike grid. For decades riders could get themselves onto a Grand Prix grid, as machinery raced at home would be raced abroad. Even into the 1990s, you could see 125cc and 250cc two-strokes ridden by eager Brits at their home Grands Prix. You’d also see privately-entered 500cc V4 two-strokes backed by Medd, Padgett’s or others line-up against the exotic factory Marlboro Yamahas or Rothmans Hondas in the blue riband class…It all added to the excitement. World Superbikes in the 1980s-2000s offered an even greater chance of glory: the home-grown hot-shots could take the four-stroke production bikes they’d been racing all year and take on the world’s best riders, often threatening for podiums.…

Production racing took off in a big way in Britain in the 1960s, with the new generation of 650 twin road bikes the genesis for a fierce rivalry between all manufacturers. This was initially played out in the long-distance two-rider Thruxton 500-Mile marathon staged annually in June from 1958 onwards, over the pretty, rough-surfaced and thus very abrasive then 2.76-mile/4.44km ex-Second World War airfield circuit near Andover in Hampshire. The first such event had been a nine-hour race held in 1955, organised by the large Southampton & District Motor Cycle Club/ SDMCC, whose dynamic secretary, Neville Goss, was an internationally-minded visionary who later became vice-president of the FIM. Goss was enthused by the 24-hour races staged annually in France (the Bol d’Or at Montlhéry, outside Paris), Spain (in Barcelona’s Montjuich…

Kawasaki Lime Green – it’s just a classic race colour scheme and forever linked with the marque – but it wasn’t always so. For many years, Kawasaki used red as a race colour, it was a bright red 125cc B8M that dominated the Hyogo Prefecture MX Championship close to the Kawasaki factory in Akashi. So successful was the B8M that it sparked what Kawasaki called the ‘Red Furore’ and a reputation for off-road dominance that evolved years later into Team Green. So how did red stop and Kawasaki go to green? Did you see what we did there? Back in 1968, Kawasaki struggled to create a distinctive image for themselves in the rapidly growing US motorcycle market, so the company explored several different options to help set them apart from…

The CRMC are looking to boost the classic racing sidecar grid for 2025, so why not get involved? Eligible sidecars will fit into one of three sidecar championships which are 750cc, 1000cc and 1300cc. Two-strokes and later eligible engines are allocated by possible outright brake horsepower to try as much as possible to give every crew something to race for. Trophies are given out at every meeting based on Saturday’s racing and long term sponsor Doug Perkins (legend of both the VJMC and the CRMC) will be giving out cash prizes at each meeting based on assembly area attendance. To bolster the grid, the club have brought in Formula 2 350cc two-stroke sidecars: these machines are rear exit and run slick tyres, they also have their own set of eligibility…