This one’s for Kim

Kim Newcombe

After Kim Newcombe’s tragic passing in 1973, Australian Rod Tingate returned the pair of bikes taken to Britain – a 500 and 680 – to the König factory in Berlin. While there, Dieter König offered him Kim’s position in the development department, and the works 500GP ride using a bike incorporating all the mods that Kim and Rod had determined would be necessary to stay competitive in 1974. After politely declining and doing a brief stint with Yamaha Europe, Rod headed home to Melbourne. After some years with Aussie Yamaha importer, he established Tingate Racing and quickly gained a reputation for superb workmanship in crafting monocoque chassis, aluminium tanks, expansion chambers and the like.

“A year or so after Kim’s accident, Dieter sent me a motor to look at continuing development with,” says Rod. “I looked at it and thought how the front exhaust came over the top of the carburettor, which heats up the intake charge, and how if