Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
"ALL CHANGE" seems to be the theme of the news this month with two top flight moto-cross and sidecar road race men changing their mounts. Dave Bickers, after a very lean season getting nowhere in the 250cc moto-cross title, shook everyone in the game by severing his connections with the Greeves concern and turning out on a Husqvarna to which he had fitted Greeves front forks. This hybrid, called by some a Grusky, seems to have changed his luck for he won the 250cc Experts title on it and also an important national event at the testing Shrubland Park course, As soon as a move like this takes place the rumours fly but there is little doubt that CZ, the Czechoslovakian firm, are interested in getting Dave on one of their machines, possibly with a view to partnering Vlastimil Valek who finished runner up in this year’s title fight.
Torsten Hallman has now stated that he will ride next year so a CZ attack by Bickers and Valek would be strong
indeed, as they were the only riders to beat Hallman in the championship during 1963. However, Dave is non-commital at the moment and wisely so, for I think he would prefer to ride British if the opportunity arose.
At the same time as the Bickers change, Chris Vincent put up his 500cc BSA outfit for sale and bought Fritz
Scheidegger’s BMW. If Vincent is ever to win a world title then it was obvious he would have to change from the
500cc BSA which he had developed to such a remarkable degree. First time out on the new machine at Snetterton he equalled the lap record so the future looks quite rosy and he still retains his 650cc BSA for races over 500cc.
Fritz Scheidegger, having disposed of his raceware, is devoting all his time to finishing his special four-cylinder Adler based two-stroke devce in the hope of using it at a few meetings before the end of the season. Those who remember the special article on Scheidegger’s superb BMW outfit a few months ago will realize that he is a craftsman and the Adler special should be an enthusiast’s delight.
Last of the “changers” is Rolf Tibblin who with a win at the Belgian 500cc moto cross championship round took the world title for the second successive year. So Husqvarna takes both 250 and 500 titles for the second year running but there is already a suggestion that they will drop the 500cc four-stroke next year as their interest lies in the smaller two-stroke and in the development of the 360cc model. Tibblin is not keen on a two-stroke although he was 250cc champion on one in 1959, so his plans for next year are not settled. However, Swedish engineer Nils Hedlund is developing a new 500cc overhead camshaft engine and the prospect of this power unit in a Metisse frame is a possibility. The Metisse frame has been proved in big time moto-cross by the Rickman brothers who manufacture them, and
Bill Nilsson is one of over a hundred customers so far.
The meeting after making sure of this year’s championship Tibblin crashed and badly damaged a knee in Luxembourg. This kept him out of the Swedish side for the Moto-Cross des Nations 500cc team event. So with Nilsson out and Johansson, who broke a leg at the start of the season, failing a fitness test, Sweden had three star riders on the sidelines so it looked odds on a British victory. But riding on their own ground the Swedish team fought strongly, going down by a mere two points to the British team. Veteran Sten Lundin on his Lito proved to be the outstanding rider of the day with a first and second place in the two races whilst Torsten Hallman, brought into the team on the 360cc Husqvarna, found that the rnuddy conditions and machine trouble gave him little opportunity to test the machine against severe opposition. Now we wait for the final round of the 500cc title to see if Jeff Smith on his 420cc BSA can take second place from Lundin.
The 1963 British Road Race Championships were held as usual at Oulton Park the weekend before the Ulster Grand Prix. Anomalies creep in at this meeting, as to win a title the rider must be licensed by the British A-C.U. Commonwealth riders like Redman and Anderson have A-C.U. licenses, so New Zealander Hugh Anderson won two titles but Tommy Robb could not take the 250 title as he is licensed by the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland, a nonpolitical body that issues licenses to riders both north and south of the border between Eire and Northern Ireland. So much for the Irish in British rules!
The meeting was run in dull but fine weather with Anderson on his works Suzukis winning both 50 and 125cc events. But in the 125 race there was an excellent scrap between Suzuki teamsters Ernst Degner and Frank Perris for second place. They were neck and neck for many laps until the tail-enders got in the way and Degner was able to clear off and take second place. Redman won the 250 title with third place behind his teammates Robb and Luigi Taveri, all three being production twin mounted. Conditions for the 250 and 125 races were similar so Anderson’s lap record on the 125 at 85.54 mph compares more than favourably with the fastest 250 lap by Robb at 85.69 mph. Phil Read, out on a Norton, took the 350 title whilst Derek Minter heralded his return to racing with a lap record in the 500 class at 92.03 and a race win to gain the title for the third year in succession. John Hartle was right out of luck, crashing the Güera in the first race and also being brought off his Norton when the petrol tank burst in the 350 event, and he was leading on both occasions. His second place in the senior Ulster Grand Prix five days later assumes greater significance in view of these misfortunes. Colin Seeley (Matchless) won the sidecar class but was headed in both races by Florian Camathias and Max Deubel. Speaking to Camathias in the paddock he was most emphatic that he had not over-revved his motor at the Belgian Grand Prix. On the contrary, in fact, for he maintains that the motor prepared by himself and ex-world champion Helmut Fath, hence the designation F.C.S. — Fath-Camathias Special, could be revved higher in perfect safety. The reason for his breakdown at the Belgian meeting which cost him the title “was such a little thing that I have never had trouble with before” which I gathered was something to do with a cam ring. Florian is convinced he has the finest motor in the world for sidecar work, borne out by the fact that if there is a sidecar class at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza he would not bother about a Gilera engine as his own is fast enough. The consummate ease with which he won the race at Oulton would support this for he did not look as if he was trying, yet broke the lap record with a speed of 81.21 mph.
Other road racing news includes the prospect of a new 125cc Honda racer before the end of the season. After the Finnish Grand Prix, Redman flies to Japan for testing the new four-cylinder bike in the hope that it will be ready for the Italian meeting at Monza the last European grand prix this year. So it looks as if the Honda twin cylinder 125 works racer is to be superseded by a four-cylinder device in a bid to stem the tide of Suzuki success. Will it have four valves per cylinder? This is one of many intriguing questions that enthusiasts want answered about, the new model.
Another less dramatic but very important newcomer to the British racing scene is the 344cc Aermacchi which has a compression ratio of ten to one, bore and stroke 74 x 80 and maximum power at about 8500 r.p.m. Externally the machine looks little different from the 250 of the same marque though the head is bigger. Ex-Norton works rider Sid Lawton has ordered thirty for next season and hopes to have Phil Read riding one this season. His son Barry Lawton rode the first model to arrive at Brands Hatch recently but atrocious conditions and a persistent misfire did not allow a fair appraisal of this newcomer which could be a saviour of the 350 class if production of the A.J.S. 7R and 350 Manx Norton stopped.
You cannot keep a good man down and you cannot keep the name Hailwood out of the news. He seems to be leaving a trail of shattered lap and race records across the grand prix circuits of Europe in his last season of road racing. But is it his last season? Count Domenico Agusta, the boss of the M.V. concern, has recently bought a controlling interest in the Osea car firm. If this meant the building of a racing car then Mike might well stay on bikes for another season, which is virtually essential if the M.V. marque is to contest the championship next year. Then during the 1964 season a second rider could understudy Mike to take over in 1965 when Mike would devote all his time to car racing. But it is all conjecture and full of specu lation.
So our season draws to a close with the International Six Days Trial about to start in Czechoslovakia where Great Britain will be anxious to win the Trophy for the first time since 1953. This would give her the opportunity to stage the trial in the British Isles again next year. The amateur riders too are about to contest the Manx Grand Prix races which might be styled “the T.T.’s little brother.” Then there are the National grass tracks racing titles to be resolved and next month I will give you an insight into this lesser known branch of the sport that has such an enthusiastic following in England and on the Continent. Yes, all is set for ringing down the curtain on 1963, a season that has given us a taste of just how much better 1964 promises to be. And the absolute stop press news is that Mike Hailwod clinched the 500cc world title at the Finnish Grand Prix meeting where he won both the 500cc and 350cc races on his M.V. machines. It is a late bid for the 350 crown. •
