Classic Racer Sept / Oct 2016 preview

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INSIDE: SOUVENIR SHEENE SUPPLEMENT

MINIATURE MECHANICAL MARVEL A HONDA CR110 WITH HISTORY

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Bimota Tesi 1DR – Tested | Nigel Rollason – Winner on wheels and water | Norman Storer – A man for all disciplines | The 1974 Austrian Grand Prix | And all the regulars

#181

September/October 2016 Issue 181 EDITOR

Malc Wheeler mwheeler@mortons.co.uk Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk

PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE Alan Cathcart, Julie Wheeler, Graham Lawlor, Chris Carter, Jan Burgers, Peter Parnham, Russ Lee, Peter Crawford, Frank Weeink, Mike Yiend, Lenny Hartley, Mark McCloskey and John Watterson.

PRODUCTION EDITORS SarahWilkinson, Sarah Palmer SENIOR DESIGNER Kelvin Clements DESIGNER Michael Baumber PICTURE DESK Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield

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An Alan Cathcart racer test with a difference as he sees real action as works Bimota rider.

ADVERTISING 01507 529413 SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER MARKETING MANAGER PUBLISHING DIRECTOR COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Leon Currie lcurrie@mortons.co.uk Paul Deacon Steven O’Hara Charlotte Park Dan Savage Nigel Hole Malc Wheeler

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 Email: help@classicmagazines.co.uk Web: www.classicmagazines.co.uk ARCHIVE ENQUIRIES Jane Skayman, 01507 529423

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_064 Jan Burgers remembers the Grand Prix season of 1974 and reflects on the Austrian Grand Prix.

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American Legends

STAR AT STAFFORD

Four of the stars of the iconic Bruce Brown motorcycling movie from the Seventies, On Any Sunday, are to be guests of honour at the Carol Nash Classic Mechanics Show, held at Stafford County Showground, over the weekend of 15-16 October.

Making the journey across the Atlantic will be Don Emde, David Aldana, Gene Romero and Mert Lawwill. During the film – the making of which was part funded by Hollywood golden boy, Steve McQueen, who had a real passion for motorcycling and also appeared in the movie – the cameras followed Harley-Davidson rider, Mert Lawwill, during the defence of his AMA Number 1 plate.

All four riders will also bring back great memories of the Anglo American Match Races, held at Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, and Oulton Park, in which they all appeared during the Seventies,

giving British fans a first look at what talent there was on the USA circuit.

The well-established Classic Racer Grand Prix Paddock will also be graced by all four and their stage interviews, with former TT winner Steve Plater, promise to be entertaining.

As usual there will be lots to see and do at Stafford, with the Classic Dirt Bike Hall a must for off-road enthusiasts, Bonhams auction, the largest motorcycle-only autojumble in the world, trade stands, a live restoration theatre, and superb club stands, which pack all of the halls.

Advance tickets are now on sale and offer superb discounts against gate price. To find out more about the show or to book yours go to classicbikeshows.com and follow the links, or call 01507 529529.

ENDURANCE LEGENDS 2017 After the success of the inaugural Endurance Legends, held at Snetterton in October 2015, the UK’s first four-hour classic endurance race, the organisers have announced that it will return, bigger and better, at Donington Park in early May 2017, supported by Classic Racer magazine In addition to the endurance race, the organisers promise a mix of classic support races, celebrity riders, classic bike track sessions and special anniversary parades. In the paddock there will also be classic club and trade displays, celebrity interviews and autograph sessions.

Although still the early stages of planning, the organisers are delighted

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with the extremely positive response and are committed to creating one of the UK’s premier classic motorcycling events, something echoed by Donington Park’s sporting director, Bob Adams.

“We are really excited to welcome Endurance Legends to Donington Park in 2017; this event will expand our already busy portfolio of motorcycle racing.

Rob and Darin did a great job with their first event and we want to help them make next year’s meeting even more successful.”

Endurance Legends co-organiser Darin Frow said: “The feedback we had from the first Endurance Legends weekend was

nothing short of amazing, so when Bob (Adams) gave us the opportunity to hold Endurance Legends at Donington Park we jumped at it. It’s very early days but there’s already a lot in the pipeline and Suzuki GB and Continental Motorcycle Tyres have already pledged their support again.

“There’s a great deal of exciting news to come, so keep an eye on the website and our Facebook page for updates.“ For more information go to www.endurancelegends.com You can also keep up-to-date with Endurance Legends via social media www.facebook.com/EnduranceLegends or on Twitter: @4hrEnduranceUK

CLASSIC RACER PEOPLE

NIGEL ROLLASON The Isle of Man’s club of two.

When Michael Dunlop lapped the Isle of Man on Dave Molyneux’s F2 sidecar during the Classic Racer Lap of Honour it fuelled rumours that he might be contemplating an attempt at the two and three-wheeled double. Will Dunlop come over to the ‘Dark Side’? If so he’d join 1920s race winner Freddie Dixon and Nigel Rollason, who joined the exclusive club of two 30 years ago this summer.

Words: Peter Crawford Photographs: Nigel Rollason Collection

I

’m looking at a yacht with a huge blue sail carrying two equally big eyes. A gennakar sail, I’m informed, and they’re cross eyes, not moon eyes, as that’s what adorned Nigel’s Rollason’s helmets from the late 1960s onwards.

“In 2010 we sailed to the Isle of Man from Plymouth, and raced in the 100th anniversary of the Round the Isle of Man Yacht Race. We won our class and still hold that lap record of 10 hours and four minutes, beating the previous record by almost an hour,” Nigel explains.

A yacht is not an obvious progression from a sidecar, but neither are model aeroplanes, HF radios, or any of the other side projects that fill Nigel’s life. It’s probably the fault of an ex-RAF father – a leading aircraftsman on engines and airframes – and a BSA Motorcycles technician apprenticeship, which he has no hesitation in rating as ‘wonderful’.

“I started at BSA working on instruction manuals with Arthur Lupton, then moved into the various machine shops, and around most of the factory, while getting thrown out of the Comp shop pretty regularly. Jeff Smith always had time to talk to me, mainly to tell me to ‘f***k off. You’re not supposed to be in here!’

“I was involved in a development project to find the best balance factor on the A65 twins. At another time, three of us apprentices were told to take one off the assembly line, strip it, rebuild it and see how much power we could get. A standard engine used to give about 47-48hp. We managed to achieve 60 brake horsepower without changing a thing.”

It’s now the fashion to knock BSA for complacency and a lack of ideas but, unofficially, the factory at Small Heath was a hotbed of creativity and ‘foreigners’, as private pieces of work were known. As an apprentice this sort of assistance was still off limits but Nigel’s first racing bikes undoubtedly benefited from the knowledge he was

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gaining. They were a 250cc DMW and an ex-Bob Joyner 500cc Matchless trials bike. The engine from the latter was soon fitted into the ubiquitous featherbed frame and it proved pretty rapid.

“It had a BSA A10 RR gearbox with a Matchless G80CS engine, to ‘R’ specification, with American G80R cams. It would blow off most Gold Stars. It was quick and would buzz all day to 7500 revs,” says Nigel with a wry smile. In fact, both proved highly competitive and in the Southern 67 club race meeting at Brands Hatch in 1967 he finished second in the 500cc event and was leading in the 250cc event, only to seize and limp in third.

“If I remember correctly that was Bazzer’s first win. I then raced both bikes at the Mallory Park Pre-TT races in 1968. I was sixth in the 250 final and sixth in the 500. But I had a damper rod break in ed d one of the fork legs and the commentator remarke on my bike’s handling round the Devil’s Elbow as ‘rather lurid’. I came in after the race and my fatherr was waiting. He said: ‘You’re not taking that bike to the Isle of Man!’ I was only 19 at the time and was really down in the dumps. But a few minutes later he came to me and said, ‘No, you’re not taking that bike to the Isle of Man. If you’re going to kill yourself, you’ll kill yourself on something decent.

Now what’s the best we can get? I’m only signing as guarantor; you’ll have to pay for them!

“So I phoned around and traded both bikes in at Syd Lawton’s and purchased the Rickman Seeley Matchless. That was a brand new bike with a Rickman Metisse Frame, a Seeley G50 engine and five-speed Schafleitner gearbox, with Lockheed disc brakes back and front, all leading edge technology at the time. In the very wet, foggy and windy 1968 Senior Manx Grand Prix I finished third. Well, really I finished fourth, but Bill Milne was found to be riding a 350 7R and got disqualified. I’ve actually got the very last replica of the newcomers trophy ever made.”

Above and right: Manx Grand Prix action for Nigel Rollason on the immaculate G50 Metisse.

Far right: The Barton engine under preparation in the Rollason workshop.

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Jamie Coward scored a double on Ted Woof’s Craven Manx Norton in the Blackford’s Pre-TT Classic, rounding off the meeting with success on the Mistral Kawasaki in the Post-Classic Superbike race.

John Watterson watched his progress and brings us all the action.

Words: John Watterson Photographs: Peter Faragher and John Watterson

T

he 24-year-old ground worker from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, grabbed the lead on lap two of the Senior Classic.

Wirral’s Steve Ferguson made a flying start on his Honda 500-4, but by the end of the opening lap a mere one fifth of a second covered the top three, with single tenths splitting Mike Hose on the Ripley Land Matchless from Coward and Alan Oversby with the Davies Motorsport Honda.

The latter machine was pulled up with clutch problems on lap two, enabling Bill Swallow to move into third place on the Paton. Coward had jumped into a 0.4 of a second lead over Hose. That lead grew rapidly and was up to 10.4sec at half-distance in the eight-lapper.

Swallow pushed across the line to retire, enabling Harrogate’s Joe Ackroyd to move up to third on the Suzuki twin. He was under pressure from Ferguson and Manxman Allan Brew, who had been steadily moving his way through the pack on his Seeley G50.

Coward notched up his second Senior Classic Pre-TT win in succession, averaging 91.798mph for the 34 miles to finish 21.710sec in front of Hose. Ackroyd toured in to retire on the penultimate lap, leaving Ferguson and Brew to fight it out for third.

Brew went in tight underneath his rival at the final right-hander, but then ran wide, enabling Ferguson to gun it to the line a fraction less than one second ahead.

“It’s a beautiful bike,” said race-winner Coward. “I knew Mike Hose would be thereabouts. His G50 had more drive out of the corners, but the Norton had more top-end.

It is unbelievable how fast Ted’s bike is.”

Hose said that he knew he wouldn’t last the

whole race at such a pace, so he decided that discretion was the better part of valour on the Fred Walmsley-tuned G50.

Ferguson was ecstatic with his first podium finish at the Pre-TT event. “The bike is a rocketship, I had a good battle for third, but was glad to see the flag at the end.”

Mark Herbertson was fifth on his G50 from Peter Boast (Honda) and Mark Parrett (Manx Norton).

Hose made another swift start in the 850cc rematch with Coward, who grabbed the lead round the outside at Cross Four Ways on lap two. He led by 0.06 of a second going into the third lap, but there was a long gap to Alec Whitwell in third on the Geoff Bates 850 Honda after Oversby suffered further problems with the K4’s clutch.

Coward’s lead had stretched to 9.4sec when Hose’s G50 went bang shortly after passing the new paddock grandstand.

This left Coward with a winning margin of 56sec over Whitwell, with Herbertson a close third at another 1.129sec.

“This course doesn’t half rattle your teeth,” said Coward, who admitted to one or two slides after losing a bit of oil. “My legs and arms are okay now [after a hefty crash in 2014] and I am really enjoying my racing. A happy rider is a fast rider.”

Whitwell was aware that Herbertson was close behind, as he had showed his front wheel on a couple of occasions. “My bike is a bit of a robot on corners, but it’s got a few extra horsepower and was faster than his on the straights.”

Barry Davidson was fourth on the Honda 500, while Chris McGahan edged the Trekdean Seeley home eight tenths of a second in front of Steve Elliott’s Rutter Honda.

ClassicRacer 71

Words: Peter Parnham Photographs:

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CLASSIC RACER SPORT

BHR Darley Moor M AY 2 1 - 2 2

Round two of the BHR championship moved to Darley Moor in May and Mike Yiend went along to bring us all the action.

Words and photographs: Mike Yiend

Steve Radakovic only appeared in the Saturday races but he certainly made the most of his track time, winning both Bob Newby Championship outings comfortably aboard his 500cc Manx Norton.

Here he leads Paul Matravers and John Schoenemann in the early stages of race one.

Graham Buller had an outstanding weekend in the Palletforce Championship for Pre-1963 350cc machines, backing up his two wins with a pair of seconds on his Manx Norton. He did, however, have the unusual experience of being beaten in one race by Ian Henshaw’s giant-killing Royal Enfield Clipper.

Andrew Thomas and Joanne Clements were the class act among the sidecar-based three-wheeler grid. They took their 750cc MRE BMW to outright wins in all four races and did so in reasonable comfort. The closest anyone came was in the rain-hit second race, when Russell Bleach and Penny Daws finished less than two seconds behind them.

New to BHR for 2016 is a class for 125cc Honda CG machines and their related copies. The first one to break cover was this beautifully turned out example ridden by James Ford, who was guesting at Darley. Unfortunately, it failed to make an impression on the results but the potential was evident.

James Fisher and the big Honda CBX1000 have been getting quicker and quicker since appearing on the BHR scene last season and while the combination only troubled the lap scorers once over the weekend, it was in the best possible way with a win in the second running of the Earlystocks.

Keen-eyed readers will notice a key component missing from this BSA Rocket 3. Having given best to PeteWeston in the firstWoodland Oil Championship race, Gary Porter attempted an out-braking manoeuvre into Park Corner in race two, only to have the bike step out and pitch him off. He was back the next day beatingWeston in both Sunday races to record a pair of wins.

Only a retirement in race two prevented Julian Bishop and Rebecca Howes from taking all four big-wheeler sidecar races.

Their 1297cc Vincent Rapide outfit had too much grunt for the pursuing Thunderbirds.

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