Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
JUST FOR A CHANGE let's start off with a picture quiz and see how many of you recognize the trials rider in the photograph. It was taken at this year's Victory trial, the first of the big trade-supported meetings held in 1964, an event which our mystery man won in 1950. The 1964 trial meant a first big trade win for Ray Sayer, riding a Triumph Tiger Cub, who after knocking at the door for a long time finally rang the bell, beating Sammy Miller by one mark. In joint third spot came Peter Stirland (Greeves) and Dave Rowland (250 BSA), who in the past year has established himself as a works team rider; to him went the 250 class cup by virtue of a better figure in the brake test. Yet again Ron Langston and Doug Cooper on their Ariel outfit proved that they are the tops in the sidecar class. They had a fourteen mark advantage over Ken and Des Kendall (AJS-Metisse) even though half-way 'round they rolled the plot three times, bike over chair, with Ron unable to get free; he finished the trial in considerable pain, hardly able to change gears.
It was a first-ever team prize in a trade trial for Greeves, the bacon being brought home by Peter Stirland, Gordon Adsett and Bill Wilkinson, all riding the familiar square barreled 246cc single two-strokes. The rider in the photo did not win an award this time and when he did in 1950 he was riding for the Norton works team;
and there lies the clue, for it was as a Norton works road racer that Geoff Duke became world famous though few people realize that his career started on this, the least spectacular side of the sport. Geoff rode a Royal Enfield in the trial, a mark
with which he is closely associated in connection with its return to the road race scene with a prototype 250cc model powered by a Villiers Starmaker engine mounted in a special frame built by Reynolds, complete with Reynolds forks. John Hartle has been named as a prospective rider for the machine and, if a rumored Honda contract comes to nothing, may well be seen on this two-stroke device regularly during the season including the T.T. and Ulster Grand Prix.
Looks like the 250 class is going to be rather crowded this year for, ignoring the works M.Z., Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Bultaco and Benelli entries, the following already offer production models for racing; Yamaha, D.M.W., Aermacchi, Scorpion, Greeves, Cotton, and last but not least the Parilla, which needs no introduction to American readers as it has put up some wonderful performances already in the States including a second place in the recent United States Grand Prix meeting ridden by Ron Grant, but strange as it may seem has not yet been raced in England. However, now that they have arrived, the sparks should fly for they are to be ridden by Richard Morley, a rising star who also manufactures five, six and seven-speed gearboxes which can be used in A.M.C. raceware. Parilla are getting keen on the competition side and they intend to compete in the 250cc moto-cross title hunt with the Italian rider Lanfranco Angelini on board, who up to now has ridden the Aermacchi. The Parilla motocross model is based on that supplied to the States for Enduro work.
Getting back to road racing, word has it that the 350cc two-stroke, air cooled racing Scott is progressing with that ace two-stroke tuner Herman Meier looking after the engine side of things. Frankly, it is difficult to understand what is behind the venture because if one wishes to buy a Scott for road use it has to be ordered specially and is made as a "one off" job. But variety is the spice of life and as my information is that Reynolds are involved making the frame and forks, success for such an unusual machine would cause the sort of upset that does the sport a world of good. However, far more likely to succeed is another special where Reynolds have an interest in providing their R534 tubing for the frame; this is the Tom Kirby 350 lightweight AJS. Many of the engine parts are now ready, among them titanium con rods, rockers and valves. A new type electron is employed in crankcase manufacture and a little known steel used for the flywheels so the whole project has a rather large question mark over it. But those who saw the Kirby machinery at Daytona will realize that Tom knows enough about these things for this to be an exciting project: it will result in a 350 motor smaller than a standard 7R.
1964 will see again the beautiful 1960 ex-works Ducati 250 and 350 racing twins in action, originally built for Mike Hailwood and later bought by John Surtees. "Banbury Dan" Shorey has agreed to ride them and the less time Surtees spends testing Ferraris the better for us, as he takes great interest and does a lot of the work in preparing the machines for racing.
The unwanted man in racing, Derek Minter, has found a sponsor for the 125cc class so we shall see him out again in 1964 on a Honda, this time a 125 production job owned by former racer Fron Purslow of Shrewsbury. Derek has his own machines for the 350 and 500 classes which should keep him well to the fore at short circuit meetings in England throughout the season. He does not intend to contest the world championship round and, brilliant though he is, seems unlikely to gain a works ride.
With all the news of what is to happen there has been an ominous silence from E.M.C. which seems to suggest that we will not be seeing the fast water-cooled 125cc two-strokes this year. A pity this for they were the only British bike to be really competitive in any class for a number of years but although always full of promise, they never quite made the grade.
Time now to turn to the moto-cross front where the news is nothing short of sensational for Dave Bickers has thrown aside his Husqvarna, turned down all other offers of works rides from abroad and signed to ride a brand new Greeves machine in this year's moto-cross title hunt. Called the Challenger, this model has a Greeves engine in it for the first time, but there is no doubt that it is a brave step for Bickers to make in electing to ride an unproved bike in the hurly burly of world moto-cross. However, it is typical of the man to ride British and he has already won an important television race on the Challenger to give him confidence.
Just as shattering came the news that BSA team man Arthur Lampkin had quit to join Cotton and ride their Starmakerengined moto-cross models. Cotton had for a long time been seeking a top class man to assist in the development of this model and it must be considered a major step forward for them. With Arthur goes his younger brother Alan who is proving almost as brilliant as Arthur in both trials and scrambles. An interesting facet of this signing is that Arthur will have a Triumph-engined Cotton to fulfill 500cc class obligations this season. In addition to riding in moto-cross events, the brothers will have trials models and will have their first outing on them within the next month.
An old superstition over here is that things happen in threes and they have in this instance, for the third piece of surprising news is that the Manchester D.O.T. concern seem to be contemplating using the Czechoslovakian C.Z. engine in motocross models. There can be no doubting the usefulness of these power units, as C.Z. machines were used by the second, third and fourth place men in last year's 250cc world championship. It might well be that the Russian rider Igor Grigoriev will be the number one C.Z. rider for 1964; he finished third in the championship last year and second place man Vlastimil Valek has moved to the Jawa factory to ride this season.
So the stage is set for 1964 and having said earlier that Bickers wóuld sign for Husqvarna this season I refuse to forecast any winners or even suggest that I think Mike Hailwood stands a chance of winning the world title on his M.V. •
