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This month in the
Photo by Dave Collister
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Kevin Cameron’s book, The Grand Prix Motorcycle, lifts the lid on every 500cc/MotoGP title-winning bike since 1949. Here’s a selection…
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rand Prix motorcycle racing is 60 years old this year. The first Grand Prix was won by Les Graham on a 500cc twin-cylinder AJS ‘Porcupine’ E90 in 1949 and the last by Valentino Rossi on an 800cc four-cylinder Yamaha M1. The GP championship has been the engine of motorcycle development and technological innovation for the past six decades.
Jota-spec Laverda 3C will do battle at the Manx this year
‘i’ll race This aT
This year, the Manx Grand Prix has a new class for post-classic machines. These three riders are readying themselves for a new, and welcome, challenge
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here’s more reason than ever for classic fans to go to the Manx Grand Prix with the running of the inaugural Post-Classic Race on Monday 31 August. With pre-1982 four-strokes thundering round the Mountain Course and the urgent crackle of post-classic two-strokes providing their frantic accompaniment, you can’t afford to miss it. TT aces Guy Martin and Ryan Farquhar will be in the fray on a brace of XR69 Suzukis currently being prepped by Trident Engineering at Silverstone. Can the luckless Martin finally secure a Mountain Course victory? Apart from the big names, other classic racers have been quietly readying their mounts for action on the Island. We spoke to three of them.
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august 2009 Classic Bike
POsT-classic reGulaTiOns
(i) Four-stroke 501-1000cc 2 valves per cylinder, cut off date 31 December 1981. (ii) two-stroke 126-250cc grand Prix factory bikes. steel frame or period aluminium frame, any brakes, any wheels, cut off date 31 December 1984. 126-250cc standard frames. standard fairing. No airboxes. any brakes. Cut off dates 1 January 1985-31 December 1991. 251-350cc steel frame, any brakes, any wheels. Cut off date 31 December 1984. 351-500cc up to 31 December 1982. steel frame, any brakes, period fairing.
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Cotton EM-34
In that time the blueprint for a championship winning machine has evolved out of all recognition. From twins, to singles, to fours. Naked, to dustbin faired, to draped in carbon fibre. From four-stroke to two-stroke and back to four-stroke again. 500cc, to 990 to 800. But the mission has always remained the same: to build the fastest, best handling, most reliable and rideable motorcycle possible. Here’s to the next 60 years.
RIDER Peter Hindley Peter Hindley is a 38-year-old mechanical design engineer and will campaign a Cotton eM-34 in the Post-Classic Manx, just as soon as he gets back from his job designing anchors for floating oil platforms in the gulf of Mexico. Peter says: “Only 12 Cotton eM-34s were built, and each won an international race. We believe this bike to be an ex-Clive Horton machine, later ridden by steve Hislop in the 1984 MgP, although this is anecdotal. Only three Cotton eM-34s remain, to the best of my knowledge.” Peter took up road racing ten years ago with the ambition of riding in the Manx and doing a 100mph lap. “i failed spectacularly in 2004 (99.02mph) although the machinery, an 1100 guzzi, was probably not the best choice,” he says. “Mike Botting, owner of the Cotton, asked me to ride it in the parade lap at the 2005 tt and i’ve raced it ever since.”
thE Manx’ 1975 LavErda 3C (Jota-sPEC) RIDER keitH MCkay
a laverda triple wouldn’t be everyone’s first choice of steed for four-laps of the Mountain Course, but 47-year-old it specialist and island resident keith Mckay is undaunted. “i’ve been hitting the gym hard and i bought one of those wrist exercisers with the strongest possible spring,” says keith, referring to his preparations for operating the laverda’s notoriously unyielding clutch mechanism. keith has owned the bike for 20 years and it’s been in a state of constant evolution ever since. “it was originally a 1975 3C, now it has Jota cams and pistons, 36mm instead of 32mm carbs, Motodd ignition and a big-bore exhaust.” a heavily-braced frame and swingarm should be able to cope with the rigours of the Mountain Course, with assistance from WP shocks.
“My inspiration for the bike’s styling was the sFC 750, although i could never afford one of those,” says keith, who’s been riding in the Manx since 1997, his best finish being a 33rd place two years ago on a suzuki gsX-r600. He’ll be riding a kawasaki ZX-6r for this year’s modern races. keith has entered his laverda in various classic events down the years and it’s won its class in the ramsey sprint six times. no less a luminary than former Carl Fogarty mechanic slick Bass, who is now also resident on the isle of Man, has set up the laverda’s engine. “it’s running better than it ever has,” says keith. “i have absolutely no idea where i’ll finish but at least i’ll be giving the spectators something different to look at.” so watch out for the orange flash.
P&M KawasaKi Z1a
RIDER Frank JaMes Frank James is a 45-year-old welder from Brentford in Middlesex and will be riding his Weld:tec (uk) ltd-sponsored P&M kawasaki Z1a in the Post-Classic. He’s only been racing for five years but already has a tt newcomers award on his mantelpiece and is a regular top five finisher in classic events. “the P&M kawasakis were the race bike when i was a kid and i grew up close to P&M’s premises. the bike was built by them in 1975/76 and is P&M number 55. “i’ll only be racing myself in the Post-Classic. it’s a shame they didn’t allow four-strokes up to 1300cc in, then some of the big-bore post-classic bikes could have entered. i just happened to have a set of 1000cc barrels kicking about.”
Classic Bike august 2009
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Words Mick Duckworth
R e v i va l o f B u i l t b y a n e x-f a c t o r y e m p l oye e a n d r a c e d i n t h e P r o d u c t i o n C l a s s i c B i k e r o d e i t f r o m B i r m i n g h a m t o Wa l e s
The hills are alive with the sound of BSA music
40 september 2009 Classic Bike
Photography Simon Hipperson
the fittest T T i n 1 9 74 a n d 1 9 7 5 , t h i s B S A R o c k e t I I I w a s m a d e f o r s p e e d . a n d b a c k , o n t h e o l d B S A t e s t r o u t e . Ve r y q u i c k l y
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