Classic Racer - September/October 2020 - Preview

WIN!

W WEISE UNION GLOVES G Worth £69.99

DAVE ‘CRASHER’ CROXFORD The Norton years

www.classicracer.com

OFFICIAL PARTNER

#205

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

MA C K ATTACK! Niall Macke nzie in his own words…

STAVROS’ STOCKER!

Steve Parrish on re-creating his Yamaha FZ750 racer!

MO OTO GU UZZI V8

Man ndello massterpiece

RACE RETURN CRMC AT CADWELL!

September/October 2020

+

Number 205

£4.60 PRINTED IN THE UK

PLUS

❚ 65YEARS OF RACINGYAMAHAS ❚ NEIL TUXWORTH ❚ LINE ART: HONDA RC30

WHAT’SINSIDE 006 Archive

Once more our three dips into the archive all have a connection. Yes, happy 65th anniversary to the Yamaha Motor Company. Their first ever road bike – 1955’s YA-1 – was also their first race machine. We also look at ‘King’ Kenny Roberts at Silverstone in 1979 and then focus on one day in the illustrious career of his protégé, Wayne Rainey. Please enjoy!

012 Crossword

Our regular crossword is another mix of classic racing clues with the carrot on a stick being the chance to win a pair of Weise Union gloves! Go for it!

014 Readers write

Apparently, Estonia is obscure, our Mike Ofield line drawings applauded, and a reader remembers James ‘George’Ward.

016 Paddock Gossip

Motorcycle LIVE is cancelled, Rocket Ron Haslam’s Donington Park track school to close and Foggy reckons MotoGP killed WSB and probably the Radio Star too…

021 Rumi RC30

Flyin’ Fred Merkel took the first World Superbike title on the Honda VFR750R V4 750cc superbike.

Here, Mike Ofield shows us what it looked like beneath the skin.

022 SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE

In these traumatic times, the best way to buy your favourite racing magazine is this way – SUBSCRIBE! Not only do you get it delivered to your door before it hits the shelves, you won’t need to venture out of your shed/garage so you get more ‘you’ time with the bike/s.

026 YAMAHA FJ1100 T-REX

Here’s one bike that was ‘Born to Boogie’, one of the ‘Children of the Revolution’ and Yamaha’s very own ‘20th Century Boy.’‘Get it On’ with this 160bhp pared-to-the bone Aussie racer: with apologies to Marc Bolan. Words courtesy of our down under dude Jeff Ware.

036 Cadwell Comeback!

How happy we are to say this: classic motorcycle racing has finally made a post-Covid-19 return!

The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club recently held a well-planned meeting at Cadwell Park with socially distanced competitors and spectators – so how did it go? Read on!

026

042 Dave Croxford

066 Yamaha FZ750 Superstocker

The Ruislip Rebel returns to wax lyrically in part two of this feature on his career and his popular Norton days. We find out: was he really a crasher? How did he get on with Peter Williams? Did one of his bikes really become a lamp-stand? And how many Astons can a man have? Not enough, clearly! Ha!

Steve Parrish had a dream. The dream was to turn a rotten £1000 FZ into the final race bike of his career. After six years and more money than Stavros rightfully owns, the result is a tasteful and respectful homage of the Loctite-backed 20-valver that he spent a happy 1985-1986 season on.

052 Iconic metal – the Moto Guzzi 500 V8

072 Niall Mackenzie

This 1957 marvel, known as the ‘Otto Cilindri’ or just plain ‘Otto’ to its friends, packaged a watercooled V8 motor with dual over head camshafts behind a dustbin fairing. Expensive, complex and just downright beautiful, come look under the skin of this amazing race machine designed

by Giulio Carcano.

060 Neil Tuxworth

Sand racing, motocross, short circuit racing, ice racing, speedway and pure road racing – Neil Tuxworth really could do it all. And, despite a life-threatening crash, he came back to race once more before retirement. After hanging up his leathers (well, he did dabble in Forgotten Era later in life) he became one of Honda Britain’s main men, steering them to countless TT wins, British titles and taking the helm of Castrol Honda in World Superbike where they won three world titles too!

Written in the Scot’s own words, he takes us back in time to his roots, upbringing and run-ins with the law, as well as how he got into both biking and racing. You’ll also learn about his best-ever sponsorship deal (free drinks from a local nightclub) as well as how he hung about with the greatest 500cc Grand Prix riders of his generation, while keeping them honest out on track. Quite simply, he's a legend!

080 Ducati Bevel Special

Here’s a down under delight cooked up by two chefs… take a 1976 900SS bevel-drive motor and spice it up with a race-bred chassis, top-line modern chassis parts, a dash of Duke 888 and a dollop of Ducati 916. The end result is an endurance-racer lookalike which really looks the part.

ISSUE205 036

080

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2020 EDITOR THIS ISSUE Bertie Simmonds bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER Paul Deacon

PUBLISHER Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk

CIRCULATION MANAGER Steven O’Hara

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Phil Aynsley, Jeff Ware, Niall Mackenzie, Steve Parrish, James Robinson, Stuart Barker, Gary Chapman, Ian ‘Shroom’ Burgess, Pete Crawford, Mick Ofield, Fred Pidcock, Ben Rumbold, JonoYardley, Graham Lawlor, Pete Morris.

MARKETING MANAGER Charlotte Park

PRODUCTION EDITOR Sarah Wilkinson

052

DESIGNERS Michael Baumber, Charlotte Fairman DIVISIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER Tom Lee ADVERTISING Kieron Deekins 01507 529413 kdeekins@mortons.co.uk

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Dan Savage COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Nigel Hole EDITORIAL ADDRESS Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR UK WEBSITE www.classicracer.com GENERAL QUERIES AND BACK ISSUES 01507 529529 24hr answerphone help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk ARCHIVE ENQUIRIES Jane Skayman 01507 529423 jskayman@mortons.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTION Full subscription rates (but see page 18 for offer): (12 months, six issues, inc post and packing) – UK £27. Export rates are also available – see page 22 for more details.

UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value AddedTax.

066

DISTRIBUTION Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 3rd Floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP

072

USA SUBSCRIPTIONS

CLASSIC RACER (USPS:706-150) is published bi-monthly

by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $30 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 RACER, 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 1470-4463 © 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.

Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy?

Independent publisher since 1885

CLASSIC RACER ARCHIVE

//DATE: JULY Y 10 10, 1955 //LOCATION //LOCATION: MOUNT FUJI Yamaha engineers had just six weeks to get their new production machine – theYA-1 – ready forThe Third Mount Fuji Ascent Race in 1955, and during their preparation the Yamaha Motor Company came into being on July 1, making 2020 their 65th anniversary.

TheYA-1’s nickname ‘The Red Dragonfly’ came from the bike’s colour scheme.

While its contemporaries were often sober and black, this stylish machine with the swooping teardrop tank was finished in a stunning ‘chestnut red’ and highlighted with cream detailing.

Produced in late 1954 for sale from February 1955, the bike was based on the DKW RT 125 from Germany.

Despite being expensive at the time (it cost 138,000 Yen) its early success (11,000 were sold between 1955 and 1958) helped

6 ClassicRacer

lead to the separation of Yamaha Motor Company from the parent Nippon Gakki concern.

The excellence wasn’t just in the bold colours, but the machine’s simplicity: a single downtube frame grasped the 123cc singlecylinder air-cooled motor which pumped out five horsepower at 5000rpm.

Meanwhile sprung suspension front and rear – at a time when hardtail rear ends were still common – showed some complexity.

To promote the new machine, it was raced in the production-based 125cc class atTheThird Mount Fuji Ascent Race in July 1955, where it won its class with riderTeruo Okada on board.

OtherYA-1s finished in 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th positions.TheYA-1 would also take the top three places at the 1st Asama Highlands Race later that same year.

Photographs:Yamaha UK/ K/Mortons / Archive

Red Dragony rising!

CLASSIC RACER ARCHIVE

King Kenny

Photograph: Nick Nicholls Collection at Mortons Archive

// DATE: AUGUST 12, 1979 // LOCATION: SILVERSTONE In all ofYamaha’s 65 years of racing, one man stands above all others: Kenny Roberts.

Not only did the Californian take three back-to-back 500cc Grand Prix titles between 1978 and 1980, he also became a successful manager for the marque from the mid-1980s on, taking three 500cc titles with Wayne Rainey (1990-1992) and a 250cc world title with John Kocinski in 1990.

He later became a manufacturer in his own right, taking onYamaha with the three-cylinder two-stroke Modenas project and later the fourstroke Proton/KR effort.

He started out racing with his mother lying about his age so he could compete. Being born in Modesto, he was perfectly situated to take part in the many local dirt-track races that were popular at the time and that would be the crucible for generations of successful American racers.

Kenny soon started winning by such a distance that he would

be placed into categories with machines twice the capacity of his own as a handicap…

His long-time association withYamaha began early, with him taking on the might of Harley-Davidson on the ovals on a humble road-based XS650cc twin: the end result of the partnership would be two Grand National titles in 1973 and 1974 along with two successful outings on the fierceTZ750 twostroke based flat-tracker, before it was banned…

But for Brits everywhere, King Kenny will always be remembered for that seminal Silverstone 500cc GP in 1979, a race unsurprisingly chosen by many as one of their favourite sporting moments.

Despite what Murray Walker said, we could all see that Barry Sheene didn’t wave, but he did get beaten: by just three hundredths of a second.

ClassicRacer 9

Rainey Day CLASSIC RACER ARCHIVE

10 ClassicRacer

DATE: AUGUST 1, 1993 LOCATION: DONINGTON PARK, GREAT BRITAIN Wayne Rainey – by his own admission – shouldn’t have been racing on this day.

A highside in practice coming out of the final corner at Goddards had taken two fingernails from his left hand, given him a compression fracture of his back and – more worryingly – given him concussion and lagging vision.

In his autobiography called ‘Wayne Rainey – his own story’ he says: “I didn’t say anything about my head. I knew I was concussed but the doctors hadn’t checked and I wanted nobody to know. Next morning I woke up and swung my head and my vision was behind the movementt.

I decided to do morning warm-up and see e how it would feel. I was two seconds off the pace.”

For the race, Rainey’s tactics were to try y and get into the lead from his second-row w start and just hang on to whoever would eventually come past.

In the race, a collision on lap one saw Mick Doohan slam into Alex Barros, with Doohan falling and causing pole-sitter and Rainey’s championship rival Kevin Schwantz to crash in spectacular fashion.

Rainey would eventually lead the

race, only to be overtaken for first at Starkey’s by teammate Luca Cadalora on the penultimate lap. It would be the Italian’s maiden 500cc victory.Twenty points and the win next time out at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic gave Rainey an 11 point lead over Schwantz and Suzuki going into the next race at Misano – his favourite circuit.

Wayne’s career would end at that race thanks to a crash that left him in a wheelchair. But his achievements in the 500cc World Championship – three backto-back world titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992 – are a testament to his greatness and a big part of theYamaha Motor Company’s 65 years.

Photograph: Mortons Archive

ClassicRacer 11

WIN

Compiled by: Ben Rumbold, MotoXwords

9

#

THESE AMAZING UNION GLOVES WORTH £69.99!

Put your racing knowledge to the test and complete the puzzle to be in with a chance of winning this great prize. Good luck!

Across 1:The petrol company, the bird, and the bike underneath Britain’s legendary number 7. (6,5,6) 7: There were no premier class titles for anyone from here between 1982 and 1999. (6) 9 & 29 Across: Recent innovation to ensure Grands Prix continue whatever the weather.

(4,2,4) 11: First name of the 2004 125cc world champ who has since got a bit more famous. (6) 12: Chassis-making brothers who ran GP teams with bothYamaha and WCM engines. (6) 13: Classic battery-free ignition system. (7) 14: Mr Bell, postwar NortonmountedTT winner from Belfast.

(5) 15: Crash helmet, don’t flip it! (3) 18: MikeTrimby-founded organisation formed in 1986 to represent the interests of

those participating in the world championships. (4)

British GP held on the mainland, at Silverstone. (9,8)

16: Legendary Ducati introduced as they joined MotoGP. (11)

20: A bike’s main aerodynamic device, but no dustbins please. (7)

Down

17: The most recent Dutch winner in the premier GP class. It was at Silverstone, a while ago… (10)

21: Where the mechanics work on race day. (4)

1 & 28 Down: Initial promoters of the fledgling World Superbike series. (3,8,5)

24: Mr Kochanski, West German 1970s Konig racer. (3)

2: Printing former sponsors of the factory Ducati WSB team. (5)

25: Official acronym for the home country of MZ. (3)

3: Klaus, multiple world sidecar champion who sadly passed away last year. (6)

26: Parent company of Aprilia and Gilera, amongst others. (7) 28: Oof! Bottom-end pulling power. (5) 29: See 9 Across 31: ___-Arnos, club racing circuit in Southwestern France. (3) 32: Compulsory colour jacket for rookies or novices. (6) 34: Fizzy former Suzuki sponsor.

(5) 35: Italian who won the first 125cc

4: The lowest point of the Donington Park circuit is on this aged corner. (3,7) 5:Type of fuel made mandatory during the 1990s. (10)

19: Japanese circuit, where the “Taste of…” annual classic meeting is (usually) held. (7) 22:This country’s first two bike GPs (1987 and 1988) were actually held in the country next door. (8) 23:The lap before the start, or a morning session. (4,2) 27: The machine designation for 1 across. (2) 28: See 1 Down

6: Kenny, raced with a very square number 18 before he was tragically lost to us. (5)

30: The original Spanish hero called Jorge is better known by this name. (5)

8: Regularly-changed clutch components. (6)

33: The most famous and dominant Japanese team on track. (3)

10: Dominant 125cc manufacturer before twin-cylinders were outlawed. (7)

ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW? THE BEST ACTION IN TRIALS AND MOTOCROSS

DIRTb bike ke

VELO MAC MA S SPECIAL PECIAL NORTON RT RTON INTER AJS SCEPTRE SCEP E SPORTS! SCEPTR SPORTS POR !

PORTS

CLASSIC

#48

ISSUE

Forty-eight Autumn 2018

OCTOBER 2018

No. 330 October 2018 £4.30 UK Off-sale date 31/10/2018

MOTO MEMORIES // TECH TALK // MONTESA COTA 200 // BULTACO MATADOR

3.60

Running, Riding & Rebuilding Running, Rebuilding Real RealClassi RealC Classic C lassi Motorcycles

BOXER CKS TRIC

HOW THE LEGEEND BEGAN

SUPERMAC’S TRIUMPH DRAYTON

PRINTED IN THE UK

PLUS MOTO MEMORIES TECH TALK MONTESA COTA 200 BULTACO MATADOR AN HOUR WITH: GERRIT WOLSINK

£3.60 US$9.99 C$10.99 Aus$8.50 NZ$9.99 PRINTED IN THE UK

HOME, JAMES!

UNIVERSITY GRADUATE

#48

001 Cover_OCT.indd 1

AT THE CASTLE

DRUMLANRIG 2018 D 20

WINNER

SUPER PROFILE: ARIEL’S HT3

GREEVES ESSEX TWIN BUYING GUIDE // STRIP YOUR TWOSTROKE // BSA B31 RESTORATION // MALLE MILE // CAFE RACER CUP // SHETLAND CLASSIC // THE CLASSIC TT // MIKE HAILWOOD REPLICA

CLASSICS

65 PRE65 PRE

PRINTED IN THE UK

R 2018 ISSUE 174 OCTOBER

N48 2018 US$15.99 Aus$14.99 NZ$18.99 UK£5.50 UK Off-sale date 15/11/18

BUY  SELL  RIDE  RESTORE

13/09/2018 10:34:50

001 CDB Cover_048.indd 1

02/08/2018 14:53:55

001 Cover_174.indd 1

03/09/2018 10:18:26

•SINGLE ISSUES •SUBSCRIPTIONS

CLICK HERE

www.classicmagazines.co.uk

ENDOFPREVI EW

I fy oul i k ewhaty ou’ v e r eads of ar ,whynot s ubs c r i be,ort r ya s i ngl ei s s uef r om:

www. c l as s i c magaz i nes . c o. uk