ClASSIC DRAg RACINg ARIEl COllECTOR
t H u n d e r B i r d r e S t o r at i o n || c l a S S i c d r a g r a c i n g || i ta l i a n a r i e l c o l l e c t i o n || e m u B S a
1951
THUNDERBIRD
No.282October 2014
# 2 8 2 || 1 0 / 1 4
£4.10
BlaStS from tHe paSt BritiSH Bike treaSure on tHe Santa pod Strip trove – in italy
CHOPPER SHOP DOES PERIOD RESTORATION
EmU BSA SUpERBIkE If Small Heath still built bikes this would be their flagship
Donington ClassiCs || BraCkley Festival || sCottish show || Bolt MotorCyCles
LIVE2 RIDE || CONTENTS
FEATURES
LIVE2rIDE
008 DonInGton CLASSIC
032 LEttErS
Kevin Schwantz stars on GP500 Suzuki
Your views and opinions
014 BrACKLEy FEStIvAL
034 nEWS
MotoGP bikes invade Northants town centre
Mortons buy Telford Off-Road Show
018 SUBSCrIBE & SAvE 020 SCottISH SHoW
036 pAUL D’orLEAnS
022 pACIFIC HonDA CX500
038 SArAH BrADLEy
028 WHAt’S on GUIDE All that’s good with bikes this September
RIDE2LIvE
SpArKS motorCyCLES
058
EmU BSA
068
Bonnie cafe racers from Brussels
A British-inspired V-twin Superbike
CHoppAHEAD trIUmpH
Custom shop does restoration with style
130 FrAnK WEStWortH
116 CLUB GUIDE
New-style bike shop launches in Hackney
Jawa CZ Owners Club
106 mArqUE HIStory
120 BUyErS’ GUIDE
Suzuki’s 500cc two-stroke twins
The venerable BSA Bantam
Hydraulic workbench
052
An Italian called Ariel loves Brit bikes
040 GEorGE CoHEn
100 BoLt motorCyCLES
112 WorKSHop
ArIEL CoLLECtor
OPINION
New show site given thumbs up
A Kiwi take on a scrambler-style Honda
042
074
DrAG rACInG
082
DrAG rACInG HIStory
Classic straight-line action
Looking back to the 1964 British Festival
#
282
OCTOBER 2014
CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || OCTOBER 2014 3
LiVE2 RIDE || Editorial
|| who’s who || EDITor || Gary Pinchin gpinchin@mortons.co.uk pUBlISHEr || Dan Savage dsavage@mortons.co.uk DESIGnEr || James Duke rEproGrapHIcS || Simon Duncan GroUp proDUcTIon EDITor || Tim Hartley DIvISIonal aDvErTISInG manaGEr || David England 01507 529438 dengland@mortons.co.uk aDvErTISInG || Leon Currie, Jane Farquharson 01507 524004 lcurrie@mortons.co.uk jfarquharson@mortons.co.uk arcHIvE EnQUIrIES || Jane Skayman 01507 529423 jskayman@mortons.co.uk SUBScrIpTIon manaGEr || Paul Deacon cIrcUlaTIon manaGEr || Steven O’Hara marKETInG manaGEr || Charlotte Park proDUcTIon manaGEr || Craig Lamb pUBlISHInG DIrEcTor || Dan Savage commErcIal DIrEcTor || Nigel Hole aSSocIaTE DIrEcTor || Malc Wheeler
GARY pinchin ClassiCs international For a company known for its rather tasteful, but nevertheless heavily modified, custom bikes, American-based Choppahead certainly came up trumps with this month’s Triumph Thunderbird cover bike. Okay, it’s not the correct colour for the year, but it’s what the owner wanted and we think Choppahead has done a fantastic job with the bike. This issue has a very international feel as we explore the fascinating world of Ariel Atzori, a totally committed Ariel collector from Milan. There’s also a feature on a Belgian-based bike shop Spark’s Motorcycles, which is building some tasty cafe racers. We’ve got a customised CX500 from Pacific Motorcycles in New Zealand. Plus there’s the third and final one of Australian Doug Fraser’s collection of self-built Emu BSAs, this time his V-twin superbike racer – his take on what the factory might have done in more modern times using modern technology. There’s also an in-depth look at classic drag racing – and some pictures from the 1964 British Drag Racing Festival, the event that really kicked off drag racing in the UK. Plus we have our round up of big classic events – this month focusing on the Donington Classic Festival and the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling. Cheers
illustration by martin squires
More froM CBG...
conTrIBUTorS In THIS ISSUE Sarah Bradley, Alan Cathcart, George Cohen, Steve Cooper, Joe Dick, Gary Margerum, Phil Mather, Mykel Nicolaou, Paul d’Orleans, Ludovic Robert, Martin Squires, Phillip Tooth, Frank Westworth.
EDITorIal aDDrESS Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR WEBSITE www.classicbikeguide.com GEnEral QUErIES anD BacK ISSUES 01507 529529 24hr answerphone Email: help@classicmagazines.co.uk Web: www.classicmagazines.co.uk SUBScrIpTIon Full subscription rates (but see page 18 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £47.88. Export rates are also available – see page 18 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. DISTrIBUTIon COMAG, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE. Telephone 01895 433600. USa SUBScrIpTIonS CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE (USPS:002-674) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $54 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com prInTED By || William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. ISSN No 0959-7123 aDvErT DEaDlInE || Thursday, October 16 nExT ISSUE || Wednesday, October 29 © Mortons Motorcycle Media, a division of Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
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6 OCTOBER 2014 || CLASSIC BIKe GUIDe
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LIVE 2 RIDE nEws || EvEnts || lEttErs || intErviEws
Donington Classic Festival EvEnt aug 8-10
2014
Schwantz is the star back at his old GP stomping ground Photos by Mykel Nicolaou
â™
The second doningTon Park Classic Motorcycle Festival on August 8-10 was a huge success. Despite summer storms doing their best to dampen spirits, classic racing enthusiasts turned out in big numbers for a festival which had so much to offer. World 500cc Champion in 1993 (and 1989, 90, 91 and 94 Donington British GP winner) Kevin Schwantz headlined the event, which incorporated a huge display of classic bike clubs, a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) 500 plus bike display in Donington’s Exhibition Centre, plus some brilliant Pre-75 grass track racing (including the British Championship for 250cc, 350cc and 500cc machines nonetheless) all within the confines of the park. Action on track was provided by a packed classic racing programme organised by the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC) with the highlight being a great win in the Wheatcroft Trophy by Phil Atkinson. There were
8 OCTOBER 2014 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
BrACkley FeSt
SCottISh Show
PACIFIC CX500
Northants market town centre closes for classic and MotoGP action. P14
New location. Thriving show. Ingliston welcomes Mortons’ latest event. P20
New Zealand dealership reworks the courier’s favourite bike. P22
Donington Classic Festival delivered on so many levels, but the biggest appeal of the event was the huge range of bikes that spanned so many eras – from the real neat Bianchi and Brough Superior, right through to the screaming GP500 Suzuki two-strokes. Plus, there was the Lancaster fly past – a glorious sight and sound to behold
ClASSIC BIke GUIDe || OCTOBER 2014 9
LIVE2 RIDE || pacific cx500
The green maggot Pacific’s 1981 Honda CX500 street scrambler Photos courtesy of Pacific Motorcycle co
A
22 OCTOBER 2014 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
Pacific stripped the CX to the bare bones to create an urban scrambler-style motorcycle
bullet-proof engine that will go on for many more years.” With only 48,000km on the clock, the engine was barely stressed. It ran sweet, quiet and without any problems throughout, so it was a great donor for what was planned. A while back Pacific had a Moto-Guzzi Griso SE on the shop floor in a flat green, with a brown leather seat that looked the part, so that was where the inspiration came from for the colour scheme and the seat combination. First job was to strip all the fat off the rather ugly CX, get down to the bare bones and start from a blank canvas. “The standard tank just wasn’t gonna work, for us anyway, so we tried to track down one from a custom model and change the mounts. But we drew a blank, so the standard one went back on, for now. We pondered on changing the Comstar wheels, but decided on a thick coat of satin black powder-coat. Shod with a pair of Shinko 705 dual-purpose boots, they’d look heaps better,” said Alan. The main theme of the bike was coming together, with new custom-made mudguards, and the front cut and
♠
FEW MONTHS back, when The Pacific Motorcycle Company was still operating as a motorcycle dealership for Moto-Guzzi, a customer from the West Coast (South Island NZ) bought the last shop floor model – a white V7 Classic – and offered, in part exchange, two Honda CX500s. One was in almost pristine condition, but didn’t run because of a stator problem, and the other, an earlier model which ran sweetly, was far less aesthetically appealing. A deal was struck and Pacific was now the owner of two ‘maggots’! Pacific’s Alan Pritchard said: “We waded through the waves of photos on the web of transformed CXs, cafe racers, trackers etc. Yeah, it’s been done before and we saw some real cool examples, but the CX mould had already been broken, so the plan was ‘nothing crazy, just a cool-looking bike that someone can enjoy cruising around on’. “We wanted to lose the unnecessary junk that the factory drape all over it, and still have a reliable time-tested, almost
CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || OCTOBER 2014 23
SPARK of genius
New Belgian custom shop sets its stall out, building oldstyle cafe racers from Hinckley-built Bonnevilles
♠
Words and photos by Thierry DricoT
According to its mission statement, spark’s Motorcycles ‘finds its inspiration in English motorcycles form the 50s-60s – a time when riding meant freedom and being different from others. A time when a trained biker just needed the time of a music single to go for a ride and come back. spark’s Motorcycles, it says, ‘transforms carburetted 900cc triumph Bonnevilles into cafe racers using reliable bikes with modern technology. And spark’s Motorcycles, ‘only sells unique pieces that are numbered, handmade and assembled in our workshops.’ the three people behind the business based in Molenbeek, Brussels, are Pierre Verbouwens, david natan, Walt Adriaensen. three friends. three people from very different backgrounds. But all animated by a common
74 OCTOBER 2014 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
Blast from the past The good old boys dust off some famous bikes, pour in the nitro – and go drag racing Words by Gary Pinchin Photos by Gary MarGeruM
F
♠
ifty years ago the American sport of drag racing really began to take hold here in the UK thanks to the inspired, six-round British International Drag Racing Festival in 1964. The festival featured top American drivers and bike racers with race meetings at a selection of airfields. The series opened at Blackbushe Airport, Surrey on September 19; moved to RAF Chelveston, Northants on September 20; RAF Woodvale, Lancashire on September 26; RAF Church Fenton, Yorkshire on September 27; RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire on October 3 and finished back at Blackbushe on October 4 (see more of this on page 82). Two years later Podington airfield, a USAAF wartime base, opened as a racing facility, using the ¾-mile main runway as the drag strip. Legend has it that the venue name, Santa Pod, came from combining that of the local village with Santa Ana, a famous strip in California. Since then, Santa Pod has become the best-known drag strip outside of the United States, hosting the FIA/FIM European Drag Racing Championship as well as a full calendar of top-class events. One of the fastest growing jewels in the Pod’s calendar is Dragstalgia, held in the middle of July. It’s predominantly a car event but the bike contingent has seen dramatic growth with many famous racers and bikes back on track. The sport was in its infancy in the UK during the Sixties, attracting bike racers such as Alf Hagon (Jap V-twin) and George Brown (Vincent) from sprinting, but by the Seventies, motorcycle drag racing was huge, enjoying regular coverage in the two weekly bike papers. And with good reason. Drag racing wasn’t just about the speeds and thrills of racing – it was about hands-on engineering ingenuity, something most motorcyclists of the era could readily identify with. Top American riders such as Danny Johnson on his double-engined Harley ‘Goliath’ and Tom Christenson on ‘Hogslayer’ the incredible Norton double spiced up the action. The crowds were also thrilled on a regular basis by homegrown talent in the Top Fuel class such as Dennis ‘Stormin’ Norman’ on his Triumph double; John Hobbs and his double Weslake-engined The Hobbit (surely the most iconic drag bike ever?); Jeff Byne with another double engined-Triumph; the Team Pegasus Vincent and Norton of Ian Messenger, Derek Chinn and Mick Butler; Keith Parnell on a Triumph; and Brian Chapman with his giant-killing Vincent 500cc single, Mighty Mouse.
CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || oCtoBer 2014 75
ABOVE
Olympus is powered by a supercharged Tiger 100 engine that ran a 9.6s quarter back in 1971
BELOW
Despite its impressive performance the Triumph motor still has standard crankcases, head, iron barrels, rods and pistons
Radical olympus
Hobbs, who turned 67 years old just a week after this year’s Dragstalgia, had started sprinting in 1965, transplanting a Bantam engine into a Maserati 50cc chassis and was, he said, “elated to run a 20s quarter!” He then built a Tiger 100-powered drag bike but faced lots of reliability issues. Undeterred, he conceived Olympus in 1967 – with a naturally aspirated Triumph motor initially – and then added a supercharger for 1967. On nitro it ran 10.5s quarters and beat guys like George Brown, Ian Ashwell, and John Lloyd – all top men of the era and all on Vincents. That October John was invited by the NSA to a world record-breaking meeting at Elvington where he took the 500cc standing-start kilometre record, which the factory Gilera team had held for years. John said: “Olympus was radical for its time. Fred Cooper and George Brown used modified road frames, then Alf Hagon pioneered the long low drag bike – and I built Olympus using Reynolds T45 tubing. The front end has Bantam D8 forks and drum brake. The rear end is a Triumph bolt-up hub. “Olympus is in exactly the same spec as when I took the record in 1968. I rebuilt it four years ago and set out to create it as it was.” That means the 500cc Tiger 100 engine has standard crankcases, head, iron barrels, rods, and pistons. The only mod was to add extra bolts to strengthen the barrel. “The important bit is the crankshaft (one-piece Triumph crank) – plus the (Shorrock CB750) supercharger and the nitro,” he adds. “It’s all about knowing the set-up. Back when I raced it competitively, I ran 50-60% nitro. Now it’s ‘only’ 40% but it will still run 10.6 and 130mph+. “The last year I raced the bike, in 1971, I ran 9.6s at 137mph – and it was the first below 750cc in the world to
76 OCTOBER 2014 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
do a sub-10s run. That, and the standing kilometre record, were the Olympus highlights.” At the time, Hobbs had been developing another singleengine unit so there were now two competitive engines and for 1972 he built a 1000cc Triumph double which became the first bike to run a sub-18s kilometre. “We were at RAF Fairford and the timekeepers didn’t want to believe it until I did the return run,” he recalls. He then ran two 650 engines, “but used to bring the engine home in a wheelbarrow most weekends,” before going to two 750s – using Morgo conversions – and broke Alf Hagon’s long-standing Pod track record of 9.2s with a 9.17s run.
The hobbiT
With drag racing becoming ever more competitive John needed something new. “I did a deal with Motor Cycle Weekly and Harry Weslake and The Hobbit was conceived,” he said. “The sponsorship money from Motor Cycle Weekly meant I could buy a supertrick transmission system from the states and run two Weslake engines. I got it ready in time for June 1975 and within three meetings was running 8.4s quarters.” John though missed out on being the first to an eightsecond run this side of the Atlantic. That honour fell to rival Keith Parnell with a single-engined Triumph. “Weslake was in the process of selling to Dave Nourish (so there were delays in Hobbs getting the engines etc). A week earlier and we’d have had our bike on the track into the eighths,” he added. Bill Currie won the 1974 British Sidecar title using a Weslake engine but John was the first to run the parallel twin Weslakes in drag racing. At 1700cc the twin-engined machine featured two superchargers, which effectively meant the bike was