#180
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Bob Smith
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The 1974 French Grand Prix
Hurley Wilvert – From Mechanic to the World Stage Ken McIntosh – The Machines | Stafford Show – Stavros stars Classic Sport – The Season Starts Here | And all the regulars
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GENUINE DRIXTON HONDA TESTED THE FIRST OF MANY
WHAT’SINSIDE CLASSIC RACER REGULARS _006
Archive Shot
North West 200 Returns
_008
Paddock Gossip
_016
Readers Write
_018
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CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE _030
Bob Smith
_066
Hurley Wilvert
People’s champion
_022
Ken McIntosh produces some outstanding motorcycles.Terry Stevenson gets to ride two.
Mechanic to racer
CLASSIC RACER MACHINES _022
Ken McIntosh
THE MACHINES _040 _050
Kawasaki Superbikes The Superbike years
Drixton Honda Tested
The real deal
CLASSIC RACER EVENTS _074
Stafford Show
CLASSIC RACER SPORT _076
Camathias Cup
_077
BHR Mallory
_078
CRMC Pembrey
_080
BHR Darley Moor
_082
CRMC Croft
_084
Irish Classic Scene
_088
IHRO Le Mans
_030
A man out of his time, Bob Smith could race, and win, on any motorcycle. Racheal Clegg tells his story.
ON THE COVER Bob Smith – The people’s champion
_040
Bruce continues his Kawasaki racing history with a look at the birth of the Superbike era.
July/August 2016 Issue 180 EDITOR
Malc Wheeler mwheeler@mortons.co.uk Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk
PUBLISHER
CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE Alan Cathcart, Julie Wheeler, Graham Lawlor, Bruce Cox, Jan Burgers,Terry Stevenson, Russ Lee, and Racheal Clegg PRODUCTION EDITORS SarahWilkinson, Sarah Palmer SENIOR DESIGNER Kelvin Clements DESIGNERS Michael Baumber, Libby Fincham PICTURE DESK Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield
_050 Drixton Honda replicas are tenfold, but Alan Cathcart gets to ride the real deal and reports.
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_060 Jan Burgers remembers the Grand Prix season of 1974 and reflects on the French Grand Prix.
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.
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_066 Hurley Wilvert, the forgotten man of stateside racing, tells his story to
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Independent publisher since 1885
REGULAR PADDOCK GOSSIP
DAVID GRIFFITH My brother, David Griffith, passed away peacefully aged just 57 in Barbados on April 5, 2016 after a long battle with cancer. Growing up in a house full of vintage motorcycles, he couldn’t help but fall in love with bikes, as our father, John Griffith, spent his short life engulfed in the VMCC. It was bound to rub off on us boys. David had a great career racing motorcycles during the 1970s and 80s. His best season was in 1984, on a Suzuki RGB500 MK9, entering many GPs, with great success
including the Isle of Man, Macau, Belgium, Scarborough Gold Cup, and British Championship. David started racing in 1976, on a 1930 Scott 600cc TT Replica at VMCC events before progressing to Yamaha TZ350s in 1978. He rode Suzuki RG500s and Yamaha TZ750s for sponsors including John Bull Racing, Dickinson Construction, and Gateford Motors. He finished his career riding a Honda RC30. David leaves behind his wife, Jerine. Steve Griffith
BRITS ABROAD At the recent Dutch NK and GP Classic, held at Hengelo, British riders won all four solo classes. In practice Luke Notton was seven
seconds faster than the rest of the field. He went on to win both NK races on the Team Battz Seeley, lapping three quarters of the field.
Huw Edwards won both GP races on the DRS Rotax. The GP race was integrated in the NK Classic and he finished fourth and ninth overall.
Luke Notton, left, and Huw Edwards on winning form.
14 ClassicRacer
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KAWASAKI
Words and photographs: Jan Burgers
GRAND
1974
The Battle of the Fours
At the end of the 1973 500 Grand Prix season Giacomo Agostini lost the world title to his arch-rival and team-mate Phil Read. He took the brave decision to leave MV Agusta for the following season and joined the factory Yamaha team. Many of his disappointed race fans thought this would be the end of Ago’s career. Jan Burgers follows the Grand Prix trail of 1974.
The fantastic picturesque scenery of the start and finish area, but Agostini on the hunt for Länsivuori and Barry Sheene have no time to admire it.
ClassicRacer 61
CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE There are still some treasures to be found, many turning up at each Stafford show.
STAVROS STARS AT
STAFFORD S
tavros, as Steve Parrish is known to his fans, really entered into the spirit of the show as guest of honour, spending time between stage interviews with fellow former race ace Steve Plater, sourcing parts for a Panther sidecar outfit he is restoring. The Classic Racer Grand Prix Paddock proved as popular as ever, with Parrish and Plater interviewing the owners of the exotic machinery which was fired up twice each day. First-time exhibitor in the paddock, Pete Beale, took the Best Race Machine award with his genuine ex-Nori Haga Yamaha, and vowed to be back in October for the Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show. It was a close-run thing for the Best GP Paddock Display, which was ultimately claimed by BRT Racing, and evergreen Sammy Miller scooped a well-deserved Best Ex-TT Machine with his beautifully restored 1957 Mondial. Bonhams’ auction, which had so many lots it ran over two days, proved another record breaker, with once again a Brough Superior, first registered in 1938, being the star lot when the hammer came down at a world record price for a British motorcycle of £331,900. The much anticipated ‘Broughs of Bodmin’ collection, which had lain in a damp barn for many years, made a total of £752,625, pushing the overall total for the two-day sale to £3.5 million.
74 ClassicRacer
Former Grand Prix racer Steve Parrish proved a great guest of honour at the Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford Showground over the weekend of April 23/24. Words: Malc Wheeler Photographs: Julie and Malc Wheeler
CLASSIC RACER SPORT
Bob Smith Cup – Scarborough APRIL 16-17
Due to a serious accident which resulted in up-and-coming Manx rider Billy Redmayne losing his life, the inaugural Bob Smith Cup meeting at Scarborough was abandoned. Lenny Hartley was on hand to catch the classic action before the stoppage. Words Lenny Hartley Photographs Jingly Jangly Images
Mark Goodings, unused to the classic Suzuki due to a lack of testing, was not used to a five-speed box and lack of slipper clutch and hit a false neutral which caused a coming together with Ian Lougher,Yamaha. No damage was done apart from time lost, and Ian went on to finish sixth, whilst Mark took a little longer to get the heavy Suzuki turned round and ended up in 10th.
Jamie Coward got away well to lead the pack into Mere, but retired after two laps whilst in second place due to a kinked fuel pipe. Team-mate Steve Mercer also had a problem.
Ben Whylie suffered problems with his beautiful Bimota YB4 and retired back to the paddock.
80 ClassicRacer
Trio of newcomers: Craig Robertson, 617, retired on lap four; Neal Champion, 49, narrowly beat Morgan Govignon, 58, for 12th place.
Highlight of the meeting was Ian Lougher increasing his record tally of wins around Oliver’s Mount with victory in the Ultra Lightweight class. Pictured here on the Peter Berwick Yamaha TZ250 he was second in the only Lightweight race on the Sunday and sixth in the classic race after the coming together with Mark Goodings at Mere.
Paul Owen, pictured here on his Yamaha FZR750, won Sunday’s Lightweight race on his Honda RS250, heading an all-Welsh podium. In the Classic race he was third on the big Yamaha.