BACKFIRES

More Z1 Memories

It was so long ago that I was personally involved in the development of the Z1 that I did not realize its 50th anniversary had been reached! (I also just realized I have been an AMA member for 60 years as of this year.) Kudos to the staff for a great and well written article documenting the Z1’s once-secret history…and to my old friend Byron Farnsworth for his part in the bike’s development and this story. I went to Japan in October 1971 for ten days with KMC employee Jim Corpe to test and evaluate the Z. We tested three pre-production bikes that looked just like the one pictured on page 31 of your article; the reason for the black paint and old look was to attract as little attention as possible, as we’d be riding on public roads in Japan. One day was spent at the Yatabe test facility running around the 3.6-mile oval and the road racing track; I saw an indicated 139 mph on the oval. As Kawasaki’s U.S. race team manager, I was also able to see the new 750cc H2R road racer we would be racing in 1972 in action. Next, we spent a long day riding up and down a two-lane on Morioka mountain, and then riding on city streets back to the factory. There, Jim and I spent two days servicing and working on the Z1 to evaluate the serviceability. We then met with the managers, engineers and technicians involved in the Z1 project to share our thoughts after all this testing, and there were a lot of