March - April 2022

Classic Racer

Where legends live on

Classic Racer1 min read
Classic Racer
Bertie Simmonds bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk Alan Cathcart, Don Morley, Phil Aynsley, John Nutting, Mick Ofield, Fred Pidcock, Stuart Barker, Bruce Cox, Graham Lawlor, Pete Morris, Ben Rumbold Sarah Wilkinson Michael Bau
Classic Racer2 min read
Fabulous Franco!
Franco Uncini could have taken the easy option in life and followed his father into the family ceramics business, but Franco wanted to race… Despite the threat of being cast adrift from the family for going against their wishes, it was pretty soon e
Classic Racer2 min read
Hammer Of The Gods!
Twenty years ago, a sound was emanating from the tracks and pit lanes in Grand Prix racing that hadn’t been heard in quite some time. From the mid-1970s the two-stroke had been king, ever since Giacomo Agostini won his last 500cc world championship o
Classic Racer1 min read
Ster Letter
Dear CR Hello! Good magazine! And a Happy New Year! I’ve used so many exclamation marks here as you do seem very, very fond of them. Many of your readers appear to be older, and as such the overuse of them may quite possibly grate with them too. Wil
Classic Racer1 min read
If You Want To Get In Touch…
... about an event coming up, a motorcycle you own or just want to let us know about something you find interesting in Classic Racer’s world, please do. We read every letter, email and comment sent to us and we enjoy hearing from you. ■
Classic Racer4 min read
Readers Write
Dear CR Classic Racer is my favourite magazine, however, while I’m not one to often make a comment on things, on page 53 there is a picture with the caption ‘Smart on the 750 Triumph Triple’. Sadly I need to educate you to the fact that this is in fa
Classic Racer5 min read
Paddock Gossip
The Manx Grand Prix will be scaled back from 14 days to nine, with the Classic TT event not officially being included in the event itself. The basic need has been to reduce the cost of the event and ensure marshalling cover for the Manx GP. This is f
Classic Racer2 min read
Editor’s Welcome
Welcome to the latest issue of Classic Racer. I hope you like the wide variety of bits and pieces we have for you this issue, ranging through various eras. This latest issue has the likes of a pre/postwar Velocette, ably ridden and written up by Alan
Classic Racer3 min read
Whatever Happened To? LANCE WEIL
Opportunity knocked for the subject of this issue’s ‘Whatever Happened To?’, the American racer Lance Weil. Firstly, something of a history lesson: the solo capacity classes for the inaugural FIM Road-Racing World Championships in 1949 were 500cc, 35
Classic Racer19 min read
Velo-ciraptor!
With its massively finned overhead-cam engine, and the rakish appearance lent by its spindly-looking yet purposeful girder fork, the 350cc Velocette KTT Mk.VIII is unquestionably one of the most beautiful racing motorcycles ever built. Racers are sup
Classic Racer2 min read
Book Corner
Valentino Rossi’s announcement of retirement brings down the curtain on an incredible career. With his nine titles, including seven in the premier class, he is widely regarded as the greatest motorcycle racer of all time, and his 26 seasons of Grand
Classic Racer1 min read
Velocette Ktt Mk.viii
Engine: Air-cooled SOHC single-cylinder dry sump four-stroke with bevel gear camshaft drive Dimensions: 74x81mm Capacity: 348cc Output: 34bhp at 7000rpm Carburation: 1 x 1 5/32in. (29.36 mm) Amal 10 TT Ignition: BTH magneto Ignition advance: 30
Classic Racer3 min read
Back To Business!
With the 2020 event cancelled, and the sad passing of patron Peter Williams in December of that year, December 2021’s CRMC annual general meeting and awards dinner saw one very important appointment. It was the pleasurable duty of chairman Gordon Rus
Classic Racer1 min read
CRMC Championship Winners 2021
New Rider/Driver: Kieran Clarke Sidecar Period 1: Shaun Motson/Lizzie Quinlan Sidecar Period 2: Jason/Byron Reilly Sidecar Period 3: Kieran Clarke/Patricia Visscher Sidecar Period 4: Steve Brooks/Ben Stell Classic 200 F/Stroke: Peter Henwood 25
Classic Racer3 min read
1970-75 Triumph T150 ‘Slippery Sam’
In the late 1960s, production road race classes were gaining popularity, but as support races to the established GP classes. When BSA, Honda, Norton and Triumph launched 750cc street bikes, they realised racing in the production class would help thei
Classic Racer12 min read
The Big Time…
The Daytona 200 Mile race in 1972 marked a major turning point in the career of Paul Smart. He had turned his back on the European Grand Prix scene in favour of Formula 750 racing in the USA with Team Hansen, the official Kawasaki team. It had been P
Classic Racer9 min read
The Iron Duke
Before there was Rossi, before there was Sheene, before there was Hailwood, there was a man who became the first mainstream superstar of motorcycle racing; the first to transcend the sport and become a pin-up and a household name. That name was Geoff
Classic Racer11 min read
Big DJ!
It’s been 20 years since the great David Jefferies completed his last TT race – the 2002 Senior. He won it, naturally, and set a new lap record at 127.29mph, just as he had won the Formula 1 race and set a new lap record (126.68mph) earlier in the we
Classic Racer8 min read
V4 Victory!
Way back when in early 1992, I was tinkering in the garage (no change there then) when I got a phone call from Neil Tuxworth, the-then Honda race team manager… He told me that Steve ‘Ziggy’ Ives had broken both his wrists and wouldn’t be able to ride
Classic Racer6 min read
Silly Season!
He may have been more than 1500 miles away from home, but for Colin Edwards he was home… Race two at Laguna Seca, California, July 14, 2002, and the Texas Tornado knew it was time to show who’s ‘king ding-a-ling’ around the 2.2 mile course. He’d lost
Classic Racer3 min read
Niall’s Old Nail!
“Editor Bertie has been asking for people with old race bikes to get in touch, so I thought I’d show mine and ask for any racer of any level to show off their pride and joy – even if it isn’t a former factory 500cc Grand Prix bike: let’s show off wha
Classic Racer2 min read
Back In The Day
We've teamed up withThe Hobby Company (www.hobbyco.net) which distributesTamiya plastic motorcycle kits in the UK to give our favourite restoration one of its amazing motorcycles in miniature. So, send in your pictures of your bikes and you could wi
Classic Racer2 min read
The Rivalry Into MotoGP
Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards would race against each into 2003 and MotoGP. ForTroy, it was a relatively simple move through the Ducati works world superbike team into the MotoGP team to ride alongside Loris Capirossi. Colin’s route to MotoGP was mo
Classic Racer2 min read
Tony Jefferies: 1948-2021
Tony Jefferies – who passed away in December, aged 73 – was not only a talented motorcycle racer, but also a shrewd and astute businessman. Coming from the Jefferies dynasty of bike racers, legend has it that when a youngTony set up what would become

Classic Racer

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