The History of the World Motorcycle Championship to the Rhythm of Fast Lap

By Charles Sanz

DO YOU WANT TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME AT THE SPEED OF A MOTOGP AND ENJOY THE HISTORY OF THE ULTIMATE MOTORCYCLE RACING?

 

MotoGP is the obsession to be the fastest on the asphalt on two wheels. It is the passion of riding an elite motorcycle and being part of the machine, sticking to it on every straight and tumbling on every curve. But above all, the world motorcycle championship is its history. There is no career that does not take us back to its glorious past, its legendary battles and exciting races etched in memory. You don't enjoy this sport so much without knowing its route and its evolution.

 

The legend of Giacomo Agostini, the absolute dominance of MV Augusta, the American hegemony with Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, the legacy of Doohan, the era of Valentino Rossi, the reign of the Spanish pilots ...

 

That is the objective of this book: a simple walk through its history to remember or learn about its origins and the years that mythologized this sport, to feel the weight of its past, thus adding another dose of passion to the best motorcycling championship in the world.

 

In this book you will find:

-The origin of the oldest motor competition and its first champion

-The rivalry between Italians and British in the first years of the championship

-The extraordinary dominance of Geoff Duke

-John Surtees, the only champion of the world motorcycling and Formula 1 championships

-Mike Hailwood and the rise of MV Augusta

-Giacomo Agostini, the first Italian legend and the absolute record

-Barry Sheene and the end of Agostini's tyranny

-Kenny Roberts and the growth of American motorcycling

-The rivalry between Americans and Italians

-Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson, duel of champions

-Wayne Rainey and a legend broken by misfortune

-The emergence of Mike Doohan

-Valentino Rossi, a legend still active

-The era of Spanish rule: Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez

-The emergence of the coronavirus and the near future

 

And much more in a book that will take you through the evolution of the championship so that you can enjoy it even more in each race!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Sanz
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224091843

Book preview

Introduction

The passion for speed is what unites all motorsport fans. But, of all the modalities available, there is one that is unique: motorcycling.

In it, man and machine are united in the same entity. Only elite motorcycle riders know what it is like to drive at more than 350 km / h on two wheels melee with their mechanical beast, being part of it engaging in each straight, tumbling in each curve, brushing the asphalt against the traced ...

Not to mention the risk, an always so determining factor in speed competitions. In the event of a possible accident, the motorcycle rider pays the consequences with his own body, with no cabin to protect him.

And as for motorcycling competitions, they reach their maximum expression in the world motorcycling championship, the most followed and successful motorcycle competition on the planet, now renamed under the name MotoGP.

In it, the great constructors challenge each other on the track, giving rise to legends such as MV Augusta, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki ... and the riders try to take tenths of the chronometer to leave their mark trying to mark an era.

The world motorcycle championship would not be what it is without its history. It is impossible not to remember those times of glory in each new grand prize.

And that is the objective of this book, that you can remember or learn in a simple and agile way the past of this exciting championship, so that you can enjoy it more in the present.

I sincerely hope that these pages are useful and that you enjoy them.

The oldest motor competition in the world

First Assen Grand Prix 1949 34 Leslie Graham First 500cc World Champ of history | Assen, Racing motorcycles, Racing bikes

The official competition began in 1949, making the world motorcycling championship the most storied motor competition in the world. Although the motorcycling grand prizes had been held independently in various countries since 1900, it was in 1938 that the Fédération Internationale des Clubs Motocyclistes tried to organize an international competition with the European Championship.

However, the Second World War interrupted the European championship and it was already in 1949, with the problems regarding fuel availability solved, when the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) recovered the intention of creating an international competition by creating the first motorcycling world championship. under the name of FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix.

Isle of Man TT 1949: the first official race of the motorcycling world championship

1949: Isle of Man TT held the first premier class world championship race. | Vintage cars, British grand prix, Racing motorcycles

The first season of the motorcycling world championship consisted of 6 scoring races: Isle of Man, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Northern Ireland and Italy.

The competition consisted of five categories: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc and 600cc sidecars. Only the five best drivers scored with 10, 8, 7, 6 and 5 points respectively, plus an additional point for the fastest lap.

The inaugural event was the historic Isle of Man TT, held since 1907 through traffic-free roads in a time trial format, characterized by its enormous danger due to the number of fatal accidents accumulated throughout its history.

The winner of this event in the main 500cc category and therefore the first rider to achieve a victory in the motorcycling world championship was Briton Harold Daniell on a Norton motorcycle.

Harold Daniell got a third place in the second race in Switzerland, but from there he could not maintain his good results, being sixth in the Netherlands and seventh in Belgium, which left him with no options to compete for the world title, finally finishing sixth in the classification.

Leslie Graham, the first motorcycling world champion

The short schedule of the first season of the world motorcycling championship allowed a very close fight between the two most outstanding riders of the championship: the British Leslie Graham and the Italian Nello Pagani.

Although the Italian was more consistent throughout the year, the championship was finally won by the English due to the rule that only the three best results of the entire season scored for the classification. If that rule had not existed, Nello Pagani would have been the champion with 9 points of difference over Graham.

In any case, that limitation made Leslie Graham the first world motorcycle champion.

Leslie Graham - Regno Unito - champion 1949 | Man of steel, Character, Fictional characters

Graham was champion with the AJ Stevens team, aboard an AJS Porcupine. Although he didn't get off to a great start with a 10th place finish at the Isle of Man TT, he went on to claim victory in Switzerland and a second place finish in the Netherlands. Although in Belgium he had to retire, the victory in Northern Ireland served him to be champion in the absence of the last race at Monza.

Other outstanding drivers of this first season were the Italian Arciso Artesiani (who would have finished ahead of