The chance to ride the one and only factory Harley-Davidson 500GP racer ever built came on a sunny summer’s day at Pirelli’s Vizzola test track, just half an hour from the lakeside Schiranna factory near
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Barry Sheene’s first 500cc Grand Prix win
In 1971 he scored three GP wins on the ex-Stuart Graham 125 Suzuki at Spa, Belgium; Anderstorp, Sweden and Imatra, Finland. He’d even won the 50cc GP in Brno, Czechoslovakia, as guest rider for the
Read moreThe World’s First Ducati 350
Back in 1960, the biggest motorcycle model that Ducati made was just 200cc, so most people would have considered anyone talking of turning that little bike into a 350 racer to be certifiably insane.
Read moreMick Doohan: Developing the Honda NSR500
Mick Doohan and the Honda NSR500 formed the most formidable and successful partnership of the 500cc era of Grand Prix racing that ran from 1949 until 2001. The NSR scored a total of 133 GP wins between
Read moreThe BSA-750/3: Born quickly
The Highboy-framed BSA-3 which Mike Hailwood raced in the 1970 Daytona 200 is in the Barber Museum in Alabama, but the fate of his 1971 Lowboy bike is less certain. Taking the frame of
Read moreIn his own words: Benedicto Caldarella
My participation in Europe for the works Gilera team was a boy’s dream come true. Back in 1957, when I was 17, I accompanied my father, Salvador, who was racing a 500cc Gilera Piuma in
Read moreThe Ginger Molloy story
Whenever Ginger Molloy and his mechanic Gary Williams travelled on the Continent they either slept under the stars, between the bikes inside the van, or even on top of the bikes using a thin foam
Read moreSuzuki’s Katana Endurance Racer
There’s an understandable beam of pride that comes from Tim Davies and Nathan Colombi when either of the two men talk about the Suzuki GB/Team Classic Suzuki Katana race bike – and it could be
Read moreYZR500 The OW60 family line
Yamaha’s RD56 factory racer which took Phil Read to the 1964 250cc World title really did use a disc-valve motor which profited from MZ technology – purloined by Suzuki from the DDR’s MZ, by enabling
Read moreClassic TT 2017
Where else other than the Isle of Man would you find a top current British Superbike contender, a leading female racer and an OAP all in top-six contention? In five years the Classic TT has
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