Classic Racer

Giacomo Agostini – a legend and all-time most successful rider in Grand Prix history. Eight 500cc championships and seven 350cc championships: perhaps his astonishing record will never be surpassed? Critics will say that a number of his titles were a

Anthony Gobert was an incredibly talented off-road and Tarmac racer, who should have become a world champion. “Without any doubt, Anthony Gobert was the biggest natural talent I ever saw ride during my career,” said Colin Edwards, two-time World Supe

“That is my bloody traction control mate…” Mick Doohan points to his right wrist, leaving the young journalist asking the question, a tad flustered. It was a relevant question: was Mick using all the various tech aids that the other HRC riders were r

The thrills and spills of the post classic racing era will be back in style this summer as the GP Originals season returns with a six-round series. GP Originals held their first event in 2017 at Oulton Park at an event hosted by No Limits. Since then

Rod Coleman came from good motorcycle racing stock, being the son of Percy ‘Cannonball’ Coleman, a successful Kiwi grasstrack racer who also found success in the USA on the asphalt. Also, Rod’s younger brother, Bob, was a successful racer himself in

He was so secretive about it, he didn’t even tell his wife, Shae. But in the end, after one night wishing that things would fix themselves, Wayne Rainey had to talk. It was August 1, the day of the 1993 British Grand Prix, the tenth round in a season

The launch at the 2023 EICMA Show of the Ducati Hypermotard 698 Mono street-bike, powered by the all-new Superquadro Mono engine, represents the introduction of the Italian manufacturer’s first single-cylinder customer model in exactly 30 years... si

The first round of the 1963 Grand Prix season was at Montjuic Park, Spain, a twisty 2.35-mile street circuit. Imagine you’re a Honda team member warming up Jim Redman’s four-cylinder 250 Honda.Your team had an amazing 1962 season, winning the 125, 25

When Suzuki Racing Promotions was set up in the autumn of 1981 to run Suzuki’s official Grand Prix effort, the Heron Suzuki GB team that had previously been the official GP squad was free to focus on domestic races, various internationals and the TT

After the Second World War, in May 1945, Czechoslovakia ended on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and under communist control. Life was hard there and almost all was bad – bad government, bad jobs, bad education, bad medicine, bad food, bad apartme

Dalbeattie, a small, sleepy town in Galloway, south-west Scotland, is better known for producing granite than top level sportsmen. But just outside the town lives one of the most underrated British riders of the last few decades. Ian Simpson isn’t bi

As its name suggests, Cadwell Park evolved out of parkland and, because it follows the natural contours of that land, it provides a rollercoaster ride like no other circuit on Earth. Encompassing wide open spaces and heavily wooded areas, the jewel i

Looking back on my rose-tinted and (mostly) charmed life, I can now accurately pin the beginnings of this down to me buying a Yamaha TD2B from a bloke who lived at Aston Clinton called Roger Keen. Now, anyone who has ever owned a Yamaha Race bike bet

IAN SIMPSON PART 2 1955 DUCATI 125 BIALBERO MIKE EDWARDS BUILDS A BUDGET CLASSIC RACER CALLED BARRY! BARRY’S MANX NORTON RACING CHEATS THEY DIDN’T, DID THEY? WHISTLING DIXIE DARREN DIXON *The next issue of Classic Racer is on sale on April 18.