Features

Cameron Donald, racing the 25th Anniversary McIntosh to another victory, at Hampton Downs 2015. It was a time when many aftermarket European frame manufacturers were thriving, with the likes of Harris, Rickman, Egli, Magni, Moto Martin and Bimota all producing frames for large capacity motorcycles. And for more than half a decade New Zealand-built and…

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Fast Frenchman Thierry Rapicault in flat out action. What had Carlos Lavado’s experienced eye recognised? He’d seen the brackets for the YPVS motor and the magnesium alloy, adjustable top yoke that were fitted to OW47s and were part of the factory kit supplied to chosen teams in 1983. While much of the factory kit was…

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And it was much more so way back in 1966 too. Speculation was that TT 1966 promised to be a memorable one, and Motor Cycling’s headline in May proclaimed, ‘TT Week Attracts a Record 499 Entries. All classes had record entries, with the six-lap Junior race boasting 114. Read more in the May/June edition of…

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Erv Kanemoto looks tense during a Daytona pit stop. During that 1983 season, it became clear we were limited on how much further Honda could take the three-cylinder. We’d suspected that the Yamaha would be strong. When Barry Sheene got on it and had them put the engine further back that’s what immediately made it…

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The youthful duo of Jock Taylor and Lewis Ward regularly made the long trek south to take on the best English sidecar men. Fergus Anderson won the solo 350cc world title in both 1953 and 54, riding a factory Moto Guzzi. He lost his life at an international meeting at Floreffe, Belgium, in May 1956…

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Derek Ennett – winner of the first 350cc race in 1955. As a result of a double win at the Manx, the club members decided there should be a race in the south of the Island and to hold a meeting on what was to become known as the Billown circuit. In the early 1950s,…

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Mick Grant during qualifying for the ill-fated Silverstone outing. Despite the disappointment Grant says he ‘wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world’. Grant had already decided that, after years in green, it was time for something different – and the Yorkshireman would certainly find out what different meant in Honda’s book. “Gerald said that…

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Fans vent their anger at Sheene’s financial demands MCD, owners of Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Oulton Park, and Snetterton, had reportedly failed to match the start money that Sheene commanded from Cadwell Park and Donington. “I did my best to come to terms with MCD but when I finally managed to contact Chris Lowe in…

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From the first round, Le Mans in France, Villa made his intensions known, taking the chequered linen first, ahead of his Harley-Davidson team-mate Gianfranco Bonera. Villa continued where he left off when the Continental Circus moved on to Mugello for round two, with another win and fastest lap. It was from round three in Yugoslavia,…

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In a memorable day’s racing Cadwell Park got its first sight and sound of Jim Redman and the factory Honda four, who unsurprisingly dominated the 250cc race, romping home 43 seconds ahead of NSU mounted Dan Shorey and Norman Surtees aboard the Hailwood Mondial. It was runner-up spot again for Shorey; this time on the…

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