Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
FOLLOWING TESTS at the Hamamatsu circuit in Japan on both the 125 and 50cc machines, Stuart Graham has been signed by Suzuki for the 1967 season, so the Japanese two-stroke concern now has a team of three for the classics. This includes Graham, world 50cc champion Hans Georg Anscheidt, and Yoshimo Katayama. Tests were done on the 1966 twin cylinder machines, though it is hoped to have a four-cylinder 125 racing in time for the TT. TS design is similar to the square four 250 which, like the three cylinder 125, has now been dropped. But the funny thing is that there is a report of a three-cylinder fifty in an inverted "L" shaped layout that is two cylinders on the left looking from the rear to front — wonder what sort of noise that will make. Rumor is rife concerning both Yamaha and Honda wanting an additional rider, but this is something which looks as if it will not be decided until after a couple of classic meetings have been held.
It does emphasize the current shortage of experienced riders capable of doing justice to present day works machinery, an instance of which is the linking of John Hartle with a works ride; he has not raced for three years but is planning a come-back in 1967.
Watching him practice, one sees all the old style and there is no doubting his past achievements for only Hailwood and Agostini have lapped the Isle of Man quicker than Hartle's 105 mph in 1963. After the big meetings at Mallory Park, Brands and Oulton at Easter, we shall have a good idea of whether Hartle will make good. By then, judgement will have also been passed on Derek Minter now back in the saddle after last year's TT crash. Could it be the shortage of rider talent that finally decided Gilera to stay out of racing? It does not look as if Mike Duff will get Yamaha bikes for this season except for Daytona and the Canadian GP so it will be the Paton and an Arter Matchless for Mike. Thus we may see a return to 100 mph laps by Duff and Minier on singles in the Island this year. But consider the plight of Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, MZ, or, more especially, Benelli and MV if a rider gets sidelined during the season. That is when men like Minter, Duff and Marsovsky will find themselves in demand.
Benelli have already had their first international victory of the 1967 season, when Renzo Pasolini won at Alicante in Spain, but it was a win spiced with luck for the Italian. He was dicing with Ralph Bryans (Honda twin) and Jose Busquéis (Montesa) both of whom retired, the latter with a broken chain. That sort of trouble usually leads to the rider saying with a grin "too much power" and it could well be appropriate, for the Montesa was a brand new rotary valve two-stroke twin, which must have been churning out some power to stay with the Benelli. It will be interesting to see how it performs in the Spanish GP against the Hondas and Yamahas next month.
This season sees the production of disc valve 250cc twins from another source, that of Alph Bearings Ltd., already well known for their big end and main bearing assemblies. The unit, known as the Centuri, has been the subject of careful development over the past three years and is the brain child of managing director Frank Cutler. It is not the intention to sell motorcycles, just the power unit, though Alpha has made a frame for its own machines which are fitted with Ceriani forks,
Oldani brakes and Brearley-Smith fiber unit construction gas tank and seat.
The engine is "square," 54mm bore by 54mm stroke, giving 248cc. Cylinder heads are light alloy as are the barrels, which have steel liners. Exhaust and transfer ports are piston controlled while inlet is by rotary discs of .020" spring steel fed by a 28mm Dellorto carburetor. Peak power is at 10,500; there is battery ignition with twin Bosch coils and a five speed Albion box is fitted. There is positive lubrication to the big end and main bearings. Alpha plans 25 units of which 12 have already been sold. If you are interested in the project, write to Alpha Bearings Ltd., P.O. Box 13, Dudley, Worcester, England.
Karts have used motorcycle engines for obvious reasons but now we have turned the full circle with a kart-developed engine being used in the racing field by sponsor Frank Higley, who will have Chris Conn and Rod Scivyer riding for him this year. Conn will ride Nortons and a sixspeed Cotton and Scivyer a 250cc Merlin rotary valve engined special. Very basically
it is a Villiers bottom half and Greeves top but the head and barrel are made by Greeves to Go-Kart specification. Port changes consist mainly of a slight raising in height. The barrel is separated from the crankcase by a 1/8-inch heat insulating gasket. An Alpha full circle crank shaft is used. The transmission side of the crankcase, the Villiers half, has to be machined to accommodate it. The other half is essentially the Merlin design, forming the inner wall of the valve pocket and end of the inlet tract which is declined at 65 degrees. Higley has fitted a 1-1/8-inch Amal Monobloc carburetor but is sure that a 1-3/16 will do a better job. The engine is a long stroke of 72mm, with a 66mm
bore giving a capacity of 246cc but already Higley is well along in converting it to an over square version. Anyone interested should contact Motor Karts Ltd., 142a Cananbury Park Road, Kingston, Surrey, England.
That should get rid of the commercials, but it has not gotten rid of advertising, for it could become an important issue before long in the road racing game.
At the moment FIM rules prohibit any advertising on machines or fairings except the name of the manufacturer and rider. This rule is quite rigidly enforced but the time has surely come when it could be relaxed so that those supporting can gain some publicity for their effort and expense. I would like to see sponsors allowed to display their name on fairings in letters not more than, say, two inches high. How can we expect money to be injected into the game if the donor cannot gain publicity from it? One man who feels very strongly on the subject is Tom Kirby who has put heart and wallet in the game for 20 years now. With the Kirby Metisse,
a close cooperation job between himself and the Rickmans, the bikes are clearly labelled Kirby Metisse and Tom is adamant that he would rather retire than take it off the fairings and what a tragic loss to the game that would be. Bill Boyd had to cover Al Fergoda's name at the TT last year. American Lance Weil was sidelined for quite some time because he could find no sponsor; this talented rider might have had quicker results if advertising were permitted, so I say to the FIM "get with it" and let every sponsor have the right to see his name displayed on the machinery that he is financing. Act quickly, for
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B. R. NICHOLLS
racing costs the earth and we need every cent of support we can get.
If it were allowed it would certainly encourage entries for the production machine TT, for which no British manufacturer intends entering works teams. However, it is perfectly obvious that works prepared BSA and Triumph bikes will be on the starting line entered by dealers. This production race could well become an annual feature and is a far better idea than the abandoned one of a car vs. bike race. It will be held on the Saturday at the end of practice week with 750, 500 and 250cc classes starting at five minute intervals, en masse in Le Mans style, 30 riders per class assuming a full entry, racing for three laps of the famous mountain circuit. It will certainly sort the men from the boys and a win will mean tremendous prestige for the factory concerned.
With the races celebrating their Diamond Jubilee, a press reception was held to launch publicity for the occasion at which ACU chairman Norman Dixon attacked the British manufacturers for withdrawing
support from racing and the ISDT, saying in the course of his speech, "This dwindling interest on the part of the Industries Association in these fields of international competition saddens all of us in the AutoCycle Union and puzzles our friends abroad. Until relatively recent times British successes in all forms of motorcycle sport were legion, here and abroad. It was our heyday and our manufacturers dominated the export markets for motor cycles. Now we have virtually pulled out. The Japanese have taken over — although they need British riders to achieve success — in two senses. They now dominate the racing and the markets. How can the British argue that their policy is correct? They will contend that they have built up a very useful export trade on their present lines. This is quite true but it could be very much more useful, that is larger, if
they diversified their production more and re-entered these very significant world famous races as real challengers to the Japanese.
"At present they have almost all their eggs in one basket — producing for the American market — and I fear that some day they will find that somebody has jerked the rug from under their feet."
Only a major disaster can prevent foreign machinery winning all the world championship races of the TT meet and they could also take two of the three production classes, but nevertheless 1967 will be a year to remember and certainly one that no enthusiast should miss. Already there is an intriguing entry for the 250 class of the production race, that of Sammy Miller on a Bultaco and what a man to beat he will be! At the moment though, the Miller Man continues his devastating form in the bogwheelers section of the sport having won both the St. Davids and Victory trials, which were national trade supported events. In the first he lost 15 marks to the 27 of John Ashcroft
(Greeves) and Malcolm Rathmell (Triumph), two promising young riders. Alan Morewood (Ariel) was easily best sidecar as he was in the Victory though by a mere three marks from Roy Bradley (Ariel), an ex-motocross ace who will be one to watch in the future. Miller's second win was again with a 15-mark penalty, this time by eight marks from Scott Ellis (BSA) and Gordon Farley, who rode a 250cc works Triumph Cub and lost 27 marks.
Don Smith (Greeves) took his tally of European wins to 10 in succession when he won the French Clamart trial with a loss of 71 to the 79 of Gustav Franke (Zundapp). But a week later his run came to an end when his teammate, Bill Wilkinson, took the Lamborelle trial in Belgium with a loss of 27 to Don's 33. Gordon Farley was third with 35 and
fourth came Franke, 45.
There is another Lampkin to look for in the future; add to the famous Arthur and Alan a young Martin, who at 16 will soon be a force to be reckoned with in the trials game, for in a flash of brilliance at the St. Davids he and Miller were the only riders to clean the famous Keenans Clanger section. Last year's winner Peter Gaunt was nowhere in the awards this time but merits a mention as his mount was the smallest in the trial. He has adapted a 118cc Suzuki and as can be seen from the photo it is ideal for the job. Once he gets used to it he may well prove a source of embarrassment to the established aces.
On the motocross front, Dave Nicoll Jias now signed for BSA, so will be riding his works bikes in many international meetings on the continent. Dave Bickers has completed his television double winning both the 250 and 750 Grandstand trophies, the first rider ever to do the double in one season. Norton Villiers have signed a second rider for motocross, Andy Roberton, who up to now has been riding a CZ with a great deal of youthful vigor. The kind would say his style was dashing, the unkind would call it hairy, but either way it produces results and I think he has a great future. Perhaps he and Norton Villiers are all set to go together like peaches and cream. Jeff Smith rode in an international motocross meeting in Belgium on his BSA and scored a fine morale-boosting win for the more serious world championship battles of the months to come when he beat Joel Robert, Rolf Tibblin, Jan Johannsson and many other aces.
The first big national meeting of 1967 was held at Mallory Park and attracted a good entry from all the short circuit aces who gave a great display of riding and crashing skill that got quite hair raising by the end of the afternoon. The first final was for the 250cc class where British champion Peter Inchley was out on his Villiers Special and, at the drop of the flag, flashed into the lead. He soon was caught by Bultaco-mounted Ray Pickrell, who is riding for Geoff Monty this season.
It was a cracker of a race with Pickrell coming back to win after a grass cutting excursion. Then came the sidecar final with 19-year-old Mick Boddice, an apprentice in the BSA development shop, out for the first time with a 654cc Spitfire engine. He shot into a commanding lead and was never caught. Terry Vinicombe with the 654cc Kirby BSA pulled through to second, followed by the controversial Owen Greenwood, handicapped by a 998cc mini engine, as the capacity for three wheelers has now been reduced in most races to lOOOcc which automatically bans his 1071cc mini engine.
The 10 lap 350 final looked like a benefit for the current champion John Cooper (Norton) who led from lap two until the seventh when he broke a footrest. Then Peter Williams (Arter AJS) went on to win from Dave Croxford (AJS) and Paul Smart, who pulled up from seventh place on a very fast Aermacchi, showing all the makings of a champion. Dave Simmonds (Tohatsu) fell when leading the 125cc race and Kevin Cass (Bultaco) made no mistake, going on to win with last year's champion Rod Scivyer (Honda) in second place. That left one race to go, the 500 final and it was a humdinger. Alan Barnett (Kirby Matchless) led the first three laps. Then Rod Gould (Norton) took over for the next five, leading an uncomfortably close-knit group of four, the others being Dave Degens (Kirby Matchless), Ron Chandler (Matchless) and John Cooper (Norton). On lap 10 Chandler took the lead; lap 12, Cooper; then lap 13 and Chandler was back in front and led into the last lap. A fateful lap it was, for both Degens and Gould crashed on Gerrards Bend and then Cooper lost it at the Esses, giving Chandler his best win so far. With three riders disappearing in such disastrous fashion Barnett found himself second and Derek Minter (Norton) third at his first meeting since last year's TT injury. John Hartle rode steadily and Percy Tait distinguished himself with a 250 heat win on an Husqvarna and fifth in the big race final on a 498 Triumph. ■
