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S R E D N O W D E G N I W Is there new anything ycle in motorc racing?
Skip Aksland – A career cut short | Gilera Saturno Racer – On test | Apache Horse – Rare Bimota in profile | Devimead – The story of racing Masons | On any Sunday (& Saturday) – At Stafford show | The classic season winds down | And all the regulars...
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WHAT’SINSIDE CLASSIC RACER REGULARS _006 So Near and Yet So Far Kawasaki KR500
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Paddock Gossip
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Readers Write
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CLASSIC RACER MACHINES _022 Bimota’s First It could only get better
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Gilera Supermono
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Winged Wonders
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Jeffrey Zani takes a nostalgic look back at Bimota’s first foray into road racing.
Really track tested
They didn’t all fly
CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE _028 Skip Aksland Another great American
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Devimead
Racing Masons
CLASSIC RACER ARCHIVE _058 The Match Races Part 2 Things get serious
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1974 Dutch TT Assen
Jan Burgers goes home
CLASSIC RACER EVENTS _084 Stafford Show American legends
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Our man Norm DeWitt tracks down another American star who should have gone all the way.
CLASSIC RACER SPORT _086 Barber Festival _087
Lansdowne Series
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CRMC Silverstone
ON THE COVER Barry Sheene, on the Heron g Suzuki, showing that having g wings is nothing new!
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Racing clearly runs in the family, right? Peter Crawford proves the point.
CLASSIC RACER ARCHIVE
1981 So near and yet so far
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Words: Malc Wheeler Image: Mortons Archive www.mortonsarchive.com
T
he arrival of the Kawasaki KR500, with Grand Prix World Champion as the pilot, must have sent the Suzuki design team in to a huddle. After all, why wouldn’t the KR500 be as equally successful as the 250 and 350cc Tandem Twins that had swept all before them? With Formula 1 space-age technology, from the futuristic aluminium main frame through to the difficult to set up, rocker arm rear suspension, with multi-adjustable
progressive rate rear springing, the KR500 should have moved the premier Grand Prix class on in big strides. Sadly, it failed to deliver that promise, perhaps in part because of the complexity of it all. The square four motor delivered peak power at 11-11,500rpm and initially proved very inflexible with nothing in the way of real power happening until the engine was in the five figure rev range, but careful carburettor tuning did eventually improve this. The long wheelbase, while stable on
fast sweeping circuits made turning on tighter tracks slow and physical. Kork Ballington was very upbeat going in to the 1981 season, with Kawasaki promising to shed surplus weight from the KR500 and find more power to improve the lacking acceleration compared to the opposition. Kork’s optimism was misplaced. Sadly, history shows the Kawasaki KR500 to be an attractive failure, with the best result during its Grand Prix life being a sixth place in the hands of Ballington.
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CLASSIC RACER MACHINES
Words and Photographs: Jeffrey Zani
Bimota’s racing beginning
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The YB1 was the first-ever racing bike made by Bimota. Designed by Massimo Tamburini, it was raced by a reckless and determined Italian who was nicknamed after an American Indian, and featured a 350cc Yamaha TZ engine.
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ts main strength was the chassis, its worst failing, the fairing.� This is an extreme summary of what worked and what didn’t on the YB1, the first racing bike ever made by Bimota, a plumbing company based in the city of Rimini, Italy, that in the early Seventies decided to promote itself by creating a prototype to race in national and international races. The remarks come from Giuseppe Elementi, the man who rode it in 1974 and finished the 350cc Italian championship in second position ahead of a certain Giacomo Agostini, who that year won his 14th world title.
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CLA LASSIC A RA RACER A MACHINES
GILERA SATURNO BIALBERO CORSA – RACER’S FANTASY As dreams go, it was a road racing fantasy, with Italian subtitles. It’s June 1989 and the phone rings. It’s the Gilera factory on the line, Italy’s oldest, most historic marque: “Per favore, come and race our new Saturno Bialbero Corsa factory single for us next month.” At Monza, with full works backing, red-overalled mechanics, and all the company’s top brass in attendance to see you win; no pressure then…. Of course you win the race, spray the champagne, get interviewed on Italian network TV and receive a hero’s welcome at the factory next morning. Of course – but this is all a dream, right? Well, no, it wasn’t. This really happened to me that summer 27 years ago, thanks to Gilera’s then recently appointed technical director Federico Martini, the former Bimota technical guru and my good mate, who was headhunted by Piaggio. Martini took up his new job at Gilera’s Arcore factory in April 1989, and having done so, he discovered that the inaugural Italian SoS race was to be held at Monza in the first week of July. Federico paid me the compliment of asking me to be the rider, on the grounds apparently that racing Classic singles for the previous 15 years gave me a
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good grounding in how to get the best out of the Gilera Saturno Corsa. Oh, and since I was ‘only’ a journalist, I was their get-out clause in case we didn’t win. Fair enough! With news leaking out of a potent challenge from the rival Cagiva factory, 40 miles away in Varese, who were squeezing a tuned 510 Husqvarna engine into a 125 Cagiva chassis, and the mass-circulation Italian daily sports papers already printing articles about Gilera’s return to racing after 30 years in the wilderness, the stakes had suddenly been raised. What had begun as a low-key race had suddenly assumed an unexpected degree of importance. Gilera HAD to win! After making brief but inconclusive acquaintance with the Saturno Corsa the evening before at a gloomy, soaking wet Autodromo, I qualified on pole for the race by a couple of seconds from Paolo Bianchi on the works Cagiva-Husky. The two bikes seemed dead evenly matched in a straight line for speed – and whatever gear a single-cylinder bike will pull, it’ll pull it at Monza. However, the Cagiva accelerated better, thanks presumably to its lighter weight. But
the Gilera’s handling and braking were in a different league compared to the Cagiva. I’d found myself in danger of running up Bianchi’s back wheel in the early laps under braking for Monza’s trio of chicanes, while on Monza’s many fast, sweeping corners the Gilera would eat up the distance between us that the Cagiva had gained by its superior acceleration. The stock Saturno chassis displayed impressive rigidity even under the cornering forces imparted by the sticky Michelin slicks, while the fully adjustable Marzocchi suspension just ate up Monza’s ripples and bumps. That handling superiority was especially pronounced round the fast, but tricky, Lesmo double right and it was there I was able to sweep round the Cagiva on lap four. The modified roadster engine’s punchy midrange let me get away with this, rather than buzz the engine up to the 8,500 rpm revlimiter on the Nippondenso CDI. Martini used the lessons learned from this modified streetbike to produce the alloy-framed Bialbero Piuma customer racer which debuted at the Milan Show that November.
Words: Bruce Cox Photographs: Mortons Archive and Bruce Cox Collection
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CLASSIC RACER SPORT
Words and photographs: Jan & Hetty Burgers
Yamaha one and two
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CLASSIC RACER EVENT
Words: Malc Wheeler Photographs: Gary Chapman
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Stars and bars at Stafford October 15/16
On Any Sunday and Transatlantic Match Race stars David Aldana and Gene Romero proved to be extremely popular guests of honour at the Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show, with thousands of fans gathering to see the legends at Stafford Showground.
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lso along for the weekend should have been Daytona 200 winner Don Emde and Flat Track legend Mert Lawwill, who both succumbed to illness the week before the show and where unable to travel. Both have made a good recovery and it is hoped that they may be able to visit the show in the future. Compere Steve Plater clearly had his work cut out keeping the dynamic duo in check and their stage time turned in to something of a
comedy double act at times. The pair not only covered their time during the making of the iconic film On Any Sunday, but shared many behind-the-scenes tales from their long and successful careers as they crossed the USA chasing the lucrative AMA number 1 plate. Visitor Ian McDonald said: “Every year the guests of honour are great, this year they have gone up a gear… fantastic!”. Fellow showgoer Kev Hewitt added to the praise calling the pair “brilliant blokes and great characters”. Also attracting lots of interest was a Husqvarna dirt bike, previously owned by Hollywood legend Steve McQueen, who appeared in On Any Sunday showing that he could ride as well as act, and who part-funded the making of the film. Race fans also got a rare treat with the opportunity to get up close to two of Barry Sheene’s World Championship-winning Suzukis, shipped over from Australia and on show in the popular Suzuki Village. Best in Show went to regular award winner
NEXTISSUE ISSUE 184 /// ON SALE FEBRUARY 16
March/April issue on sale at all good newsagents from February 16 or to get your copy early and save money, call 01507 529529. Advertising deadline January 26 96 ClassicRacer