Classic Race Images

[Lucky Phil]

I came across these old personal images I had posted on the internet years ago. I had forgotten all about them but when I went looking for images of brake reaction rods etc there they were.

This was my Bimota DB1 with its custom alloy fuel tank (hidden) its Racing Campag wheels ( hand cut slick on the back) Staintune mufflers made for me by Sandy that owns Staintune, four piston Brembo calipers and other mods I cant remember. In the background is my lovely modified Hailwood Mille that I smashed to bits,sigh and the fairing for my TT2 Ducati race bike just peaking out there. 

Here is our race bike after finishing the the 86 F1 TT. back to camera brown jacket Axle the owner of the bike, facing in the leather is Pete Muir our rider in the blue jumper is an English race whose name I have forgotten but we got friendly with and he assisted us in our pit stops when he wasn't racing. Next to our bike is the winning factory Honda of Roger Burnett, or Roger Hairnet as we called him.

 

  

Here's Aussie superbike Champ and also successful WSB rider Mal Campbell at Sydneys Oran park for the 87 swan series on the Factory NR 750 oval pistoned race bike Honda sent over for him to ride that year. Mal was a factory Honda rider at the time and Aussie Champ as well if memory serves. ten years later I was mechanicing for him at the Aussie WSB round on a Privateer Ducati 996. Still racing now Mal and still way faster than most at Phillip Island on Post Classic bikes like Suzuki RG500's.

 

 

86 TT and David Tardozzi's Works Bimota that he later destroyed at the Glen Helen section. We went and helped pick it up and it was a molten pool of wreckage in the middle of the road as it had caught fire. Totally destroyed.
 

Bathurst 85 and the late great Roger Freeths Macintosh Suzuki, note the Monocoque Suzuki Superbike in the background.( https://amcn.com.au/editorial/monocoque-master-steve-roberts/) Also note the unpainted bronze welded frame on the Mcintosh so he could keep and eye out for any developing crack in this prototype frame.Macintosh built beautiful bespoke frames for all sorts of stuff back then and we could buy road kits of this exact bike. Roger was actually and Astrophysicist and part time racer who was very very good and used to win this yearly race regularly and was also Mulitple NZ champion. He also was a keen rally car navigator at national level in NZ for Possum Bourne and was tragically killed in a rally car accident way too young. Totally fast and safe bike racer though.

   

 

Swan international series 87 Oran Park and factory Yamaha GP racer Rob Mcelnea.

 

Our working arrangements at the 86 TT sharing a house with Steve Wynn's crew. Our bike in the background, with back to camera is rider Pete Muir, partially hidden in red overalls is the bikes owner Axel and in the foreground is Wynn's bikes. None of the Steves bikes finished a lap in anger that year, we finished every race and practice session. They weren't amused at the time. The others are visiting German spectators that dropped by apart from the two Pete is talking to who were Aussies visiting.

  

 

My TT2 race bike. I built this from factory parts and a second hand engine brought up to factory specs. I had a perfect example to follow as Axles bike was a genuine factory bike.My first attempt at 2K painting as I recall.

My old 888 race bike with sump extension and home made rear brake disk and carrier. I didn't like the Brembo rear caliper at the time and decided to use the Nissan. factory frame, Ohlins GP forks, no brake torque arm, Marchesini wheels carbon tank and fairings, Corse radiator.

 

 

And for you guys, Jay Springsteen and his mechanic, Daytona 87 

Ciao

[docc]

The 888 looks to have a zinc chromate side case. 

Great images! Thanks for sharing the recollections.

[Lucky Phil]

30 minutes ago, docc said:

The 888 looks to have a zinc chromate side case. 

Great images! Thanks for sharing the recollections.

Yes docc, thats what the Magnesium pieces had in those days. Yes memories, cant believe it getting on for 35 years ago! 

I've got stacks more from Daytona,Suzuka, IOM etc but my scanner's broken and we're in a serious lockdown. $1600 fine if caught more than 5klm from home without a very good reason in one of 4 categories.  

I think on the edge of the Daytona image you can see the front wheel of the official Harley entry Lucifers Hammer 

Ciao

[footgoose]

Yowza! (that's American for 'now yer talkin') Great pics and story.

"Astrophysicist and part time racer" I'll bet he was fun to have a drink with.

the Macintosh bike is running a 19" front wheel. I thought the mid 80's saw a vision toward the 16"? Could you comment on the evolution of front diameter in racing?

[Lucky Phil]

26 minutes ago, footgoose said:

Yowza! (that's American for 'now yer talkin') Great pics and story.

"Astrophysicist and part time racer" I'll bet he was fun to have a drink with.

the Macintosh bike is running a 19" front wheel. I thought the mid 80's saw a vision toward the 16"? Could you comment on the evolution of front diameter in racing?

The Mcintosh in the image actually has a 17" rear and 18" front I think. from memory the Mcintoshes came out with 18x18 combination at the time and the 17 was fairly recent and maybe that's why it has that combination.

The 16" front came about as racers wanted quicker steering, less centrifugal mass,more rubber on the ground and better braking. So the theory's went A smaller wheel has less leverage on the brake assembly as well so you get a little more stopping power out of the brakes. It didn't last long and they finally settled on the 17" My TT2 race bike had a 16" front and the earlier factory bikes had an 18 and others used to tell me all the time how bad it would stability wise be but we raced Axles bike at the TT with the 16" front and the stability was never questioned. I rode a friends Mk4 Lemans with a 16 front and thought it was fine as was my 84 Kawasaki GPZ900. Racers eventually settled on the 17 front for various reasons some of which was pressure from tyre manufacturers wanting a std size for sports bikes. Interestingly 4 piston brakes were first invented to fit inside the small dis 16 front wheels and they went on from there.

Look up Freeths bio, stout fellow and brilliant racer, typical Kiwi quiet achiever.

Ciao

[Admin Jaap]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing