1980 Suzuki GS450S

STILL AS NEW, SOME 39 YEARS ON, AND ONLY

I’ve been involved with motorcycles and scooters for more years than I care to remember, having started with a burnt out Puch SRA 150 in the early 1960s. A succession of bikes and scooters followed over subsequent years, alongside my passion for MkI Zephyrs, particularly convertibles. In the mid-1980s I became a big fan of motorcycle racing watching the likes of Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Kenny Roberts et al. In terms of competitive motorcycle racing I was already well past my ‘best by’ date – or so I thought. However while attending a street racing event at Rakaia during its last year of operation (subsequently cancelled the following year after the tragic death of VCC member Bob Leask during the event), I happened to visit the pits as the riders exited the track after one of the races. I was quite taken aback when I observed most if not all the riders were seemingly much older than me. A year or two later I was attending the replacement Methven event, and listened to announcer Phil (from the Triumph dealership that’d sold me my 2005 T100 Bonnie a couple of years earlier) expounding the benefits of street racing, and informing the public that all that was required to compete was membership of an approved race club, and completion of at least four track meetings, before one could take part in the street racing. Highly motivated by this I joined CAMS (Classic Action Motorcycle Sports) as the first step. Work and its associated travel commitments seriously impacted on my ability to participate initially – so I quit working.