Classic Racer

EDITOR Bertie Simmonds bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk PUBLISHER Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Alan Cathcart, Bruce Cox, Phil Aynsley, Pete Morris, Neil Morris,Taylor Mackenzie, Graham Lawlor, Mick Ofield, Fred Pidcock, Ron and

Dick Mann was a double AMA Grand National Champion and twice winner of the Daytona 200 race – but his life story was one of ultimate versatility. Dick ‘Bugsy’ Mann would give Honda their first of 11 victories at the famous banked circuit aboard the C

If you want to get in touch… ... please do. We read every letter, email and comment sent to us and we enjoy hearing from you whether you’ve an event coming up, a motorcycle you own or just want to let us know about something you find interesting in C

Remember to keep sending in your letters. Now, more than ever, as we deal with the coronavirus situation, we want to hear your stories and find out what you think of the magazine. Each issue we’ll pick a star letter, the writer of which will win a su

To celebrate 60 years of the HOC, an event will take place at the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum. The museum – located at Bashley Cross Roads, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5SZ – will play host to HOC. As of 2021 the club currently has 1574 members and

Send your classic racing news to: editor@classicracer.co.uk Currently for sale is this 1978 Ducati NCR which was supplied new to Steve Wynne Racing who set up Mike Hailwood’s TT winning machine of the same year. Paul Jayson of The Motorcycle Broker

I’ve been lucky enough to have known Ron Haslam and family for ‘only’ the last 26 years. I say ‘only’ as many have known Ron and Ann for much, much longer. What I and others can say is that they’ve not changed one little bit. Still humble, still down

Racing on closed public roads had a long tradition in Italy, but Alfonso de Portago’s accident in the 1957 Mille Miglia brought about sufficient pressure from officialdom to put a stop to such events for four-wheelers. Racing on two-wheels managed to

Over Racing boss Kensei Sato fitted high compression 12.5:1 (stock: 10.5:1) three-ring pistons cast in Japan, where the titanium con-rods made by a company supplying most of the local F3000 car teams, were also sourced.The cylinder block was bored 1m

Yamaha’s first over-the-counter two-stroke race bikes, theTD1 series did not have the power or handling to be competitive at world championship level. When Yamaha withdrew their exotic 250cc four-cylinder factory machines at the end of 1968 they need

In the mid-1960s a young racer called Mamoru Moriwaki got the opportunity to join up with an established tuning business in Japan. That move was to change his life and working alongside the old naval aviator and master tuner, Pops Yoshimura, he found

If we assume that the bike which Steve McLaughlin scored the first win for the combined Yoshimura/Suzuki tie-up was based on a pumped up GS750, here’s how I think they did it. The GS750 has a monstrous crank, it has huge main bearings and (critically