Classic Racer issue 166

www.classicracer.com where legends live on...

March/April 2014

166

8 Bonus paGes sTRaighT FRom The aRchive

TZ750 Yamaha The Birth of the Beast

Graeme Crosby

No. 166 March/April 2014

UK£4.30

Flying Kiwi Reflects

Rod Gould –WoRld – WoRld Champion • StaGe StaGetWo tWo deSmodueteSted deSmodue teSted • dave davethomaS thomaS – mountain man • ClaSS of 2013 – paRttWo ClaSSiC RaCinG’SyounG GunS • phaSe one enduRanCe KaWaSaKi Revealed

ARCHIVE SHOT

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Anhourat144.2mph F

MIKE HAILWOOD Daytona1964

Words: Malc Wheeler Photography: Mortons Archive – Nick Nicholls Collection. www.mortonsarchive.com

ifty years ago, during the USA Grand Prix at Daytona, Mike Hailwood and MV Agusta rewrote the record book.

Taking full advantage of the presence of the FIM timekeepers, over in the US for the Grand Prix, Mike eventually persuaded MV, which was initially reluctant to risk the machine, to go for the six-year-old record, which was held

by Bob McIntyre and Gilera.

On Sunday morning, before the second day’s Grand Prix classes took to the Florida racetrack, Hailwood took the 500cc MV out on the twoand-a-half-mile oval.

Gradually building speed, until he was lapping comfortably at 145mph, Mike continued to lap for an hour, until his father Stan held out the signal to confirm that the record had been achieved at an amazing 144.2mph.

The full story of the United States Grand Prix features in our bonus archive eight pages in this issue of Classic Racer.

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CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE

GRAEME

CROSBY Kiwis canfly Graeme Crosby describes himself as a larrikin biker... a person given to comical or outlandish behaviour. However, beneath that happy-go-lucky persona lies a fierce determination to succeed. Norm DeWitt tells the story.

Words: Norm DeWitt Photography: Norm DeWitt and Mortons Archive www.mortonsarchive.com

“MIKE WROTE ME A LETTER TO GIVE TO THE TT ORGANISERS AND I GOT THE APPROVAL. I LEFT AUSTRALIA WITH MORIWAKI AND THEIR BIKES, SPECIFICALLY TO DO THE TT AND GO HOME.”

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G

raeme Crosby spent his early days racing modified two-stroke Kawasaki production bikes, starting with the two-cylinder 350cc A7 before graduating to the 750cc H2 flexi-flyer for 1974.

Junior TT winner in 1954, Rod Coleman was the NZ importer for Suzuki and recalls the impression that Crosby left. “He had the reputation of being a wild man, doing all these wheelies. He started racing production Z1 Kawasaki against proper race bikes. Doing all the wheelies, the crowds loved him.”

Crosby moved to Australia to race for Ross Hannan, which began the Yoshimura connection as he confirms: “That goes back to the early days when Ross was the Australian importer for Yoshimura products. When I got involved it was kind of like they tucked me under their wing and I stayed with them.”

In 1978, the Suzuka 8 hours was held for the first time, and it was won by Yoshimura’s Wes Cooley and Mike Baldwin. Crosby and Tony Hatton had finished third for Moriwaki Kawasaki, headed by founder Mamoru Moriwaki. His wife and managing director

is Namiko (Yoshimura) Moriwaki, the sister of Fujio Yoshimura.

“I had a contract with Kawasaki Australia,” Crosby continues, “as Gregg Hansford was racing internationally and doing well.There was a space left in Australia, and so they’d given me a spare KR750 and a bike to do the Australian Superbike Championship. I was racing in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and a lot of the races were long distance production races. I was talking to Mike Hailwood (living in New Zealand at the time) and said that I’d really like to do theTT, but at that stage you couldn’t just roll up.

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CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE

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CHANGING

THE FACE OF

RACING ThebirthoftheTZ750 The early 1970s brought big-bore road bikes that anyone could buy.

Highly modified versions were entered in the growing F750 class and international events, where Grand Prix stars could earn more money.

Over the years the road-based machines got faster, untilYamaha came along with their firstTZ750. Terry Stevenson looks back over 40 years.

Words: Terry Stevenson Photographs:Terry Stevenson, Ludy Beumer (www.classicyams.com), John Bonney,Yamaha, Ray Whitham, John Boote collection and Mortons Archive www.mortonsarchive.com

“WORK ON THE TWO-STROKE YZ401/GL750 STARTED DURING THE SPRING OF 1971, WITH AN AIM TO HAVE IT READY FOR THE ALL-IMPORTANT TOKYO MOTOR SHOW.”

W

henYamaha began designing theTZ750, in May 1971, little did the designers know they would be changing the face of racing for the best part of the next decade. Almost overnight privateers would be able to purchase a race-ready motorcycle and compete at the highest levels, and win.

It began whenYamaha’s technical division decided to produce a 750cc Daytona-winning four-cylinder road bike and, unusually, gave it a racing code,YZ401. Work on the two-stroke YZ401/GL750 started during the spring of 1971, with an aim to have it ready for the allimportantTokyo Motor Show.

The GL750 enjoyed features 10 years ahead of road-bike design, including water-cooling, an alternator that ran behind the crank, reedvalve induction, twin-disc front brakes and fuel injection.

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