Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B.R. NICHOLLS
BMW RACING EFFORT
There are strong rumors running around Germany at present that BMW is apparently pulling all the stops out to get a brand new engine ready for the 1972 racing season. Their objective is to regain the world sidecar championship they lost to the Munch organization in 1971. And, hand in hand with this is another story that former world champion Klaus Enders is being tempted out of retirement to race the new BMW.
Whether a year away from racing will have taken the edge off Enders’ ability is doubtful, for he is a driver of outstanding ability. It shouldn’t take him long to find his previous race-winning form. The real question is whether or not Horst Owesle, the new champion, will be able to get the better of Enders. I think the answer lies in the machinery.
At the Ulster Grand Prix where Owesle made sure of the title, he won by virtue of superior engine power. Naturally ability came into it as well, but few claim that the West German has reached his peak, as he is in only his 2nd racing season. The crux of the matter will be reliability, and from this aspect it is unrealistic to battle for a title with all of one’s eggs in one basket. There was no problem for BMW having only one works rider when all the other competitors were BM mounted, but what of the Munich concern in 1972? Munch must have a second string rider to give themselves a fair chance of success in 1972 and to take a little of the responsibility off of the shoulders of Owesle.
Because of this, I think any talk of Munch entering the 500cc world solo title fight can be ignored unless there is a major change in company policy, as all work on the 500-cc engine will be channeled toward the sidecar title.
750 SOLO RACERS
Work on the Munch 750-cc solo machine will continue with Tony Jefferies as the jockey; the big point of interest is how it performs against the BSA/Triumph three-cylinder works bikes.
In the 750 class Norton is showing a renewed interest as well. No longer will everything fall on the shoulders of rider/development engineer Peter Williams, for the company has signed Frank Perris as competition manager. It will be his responsibility to sign two riders to make a team of three with Williams.
This works team will contest all the important European production machine races and also the Formula 750 events. Whether or not they will contest Daytona remains to be seen, but management is fully aware of the sales potential of that race, so it will obviously be high on the list of priorities.
Frank Perris has raced motorcycles for 20 years, so knows what it’s all about. He was a Suzuki works rider and a draftsman for the factory in the old days of Associated Motor Cycles Ltd., a firm that made the AJS and Matchless machines. He is still a force to be reckoned with on grand prix circuits, having finished 3rd in the 1971 Senior TT behind Agostini and Peter Williams. Now his riding days are over and the wealth of experience gained over the years will be directed toward getting Nortons in the winner’s circle.
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The Norton announcement comes shortly after the FIM announced approval for the Formula 750 as an international class for road racing.
SEELEY/BRABHAM LINK
Two famous names have been linked to form an alliance between the twoand four-wheeled racing worlds. They are Seeley and Brabham. Behind the deal is former motorcycle and car racer Bernie Ecclestone who, having gained control of the Brabham makers, has now agreed to a merger with Colin Seeley. This will give Seeley the chance to expand premises. A more immediate result, though, will be the production of 25 of the G50 racer engined roadsters that stole the show in London early in 1971. The majority of them will be for export, so if you ordered one of the most exclusive machines around it may be arriving soon.
The other major item at Seeley’s is the QUB two-stroke, 500-cc engine which is being developed at Queens University, Belfast. The Seeley aspect is frame and cycle parts. The University has recently received a $35,000 grant from a half dozen international companies to pursue research work relating to the gas flow of two-stroke engines. Greeves and Husqvarna are two of the six companies .subsidizing the project. The other four are interested in industrial engines and snowmobiles.
636-cc SEELEY SINGLE
Cohn Seeley has long been noted for the absolutely immaculate appearance of his bikes, a fact that goes back to his own early days of racing a Matchless G50. Another equally well known in the "cleanliness is next to godliness" stakes is Tom Kirby, who will team up with Seeley in 1972 to develop the 636-cc Seeley Single. When finished, it will be ridden by Jim Harvey, a youngster that Tom is molding into a real star. Riding the 500 Kirby Metisse in 1971,Jim won the season-long, 500cc Shell champion ship. For 1972, Tom will swap to the Seeley frame for his own special G50engined machine. The 636, naturally, will have a Seeley frame as well.
It will mean a much more active racing program for Harvey, especially since he has been chosen to ride the Ivy Yamaha donated to Mrs. Nell Ivy after the death of her son Bill. The bike is a token of gratitude for all that Bill achieved on Yamaha machinery as a works rider. A practice session on the Yamaha showed that Harvey takes to strokers like a duck to water. He will undoubtedly be moving into the big league for 1972, as all the aces ride 350s, whereas many do not contest the 500 class. Main aim for 1972 will be to win the 350 and 500 British championships, and it is doubtful whether he will contest the Isle of Man TT which will have a new streamlined look.
A STREAMLINED IOM
That traditional torture of the 4:45 a.m. practice session will be gone. In fact, there will be no morning practice at all. All training has been condensed into four days, from Tuesday until Friday, 6 until 9 each evening, with an afternoon session for solos only on Thursday.
With Formula 750 now an international class, that event is promoted to race week and will be run over five laps on Wednesday, with a $1250 1st prize.
While the overall cut in practice time will be a disadvantage to newcomers to the TT, it will remove an irritant to the local populace who are not all bike lovers.
HEALTHY BIKE MARKET
The continued progression of the 750 class and the number of manufac turers seeking to gain sales in this particular area shows just how healthy the state of the bike market is. Sud denly the accent is on power, or the exotic, or both. I hear that Ducati is following the big V-Twin with a threecylinder design similar to that of the MV. It will be a racing machine, and both 500 and 750 versions are planned. It is intriguing to ponder who may be asked to ride this new model, as I doubt if Phil Read will be on the wanted list. A new machine is hardly likely to be competitive from the start, so a first class rising star could be the answer. Whoever it is, though, will need to have development ability as well as good riding ability, and there are not many of them around nowadays.
COOPER MAN OF THE YEAR
As predicted last m~nth,' John Cooper has been voted Man of the Year in the annual poll conducted by Motor Cycle News. It is his second successive win. Runner-up for the fourth time running is Phil Read, while Barry Sheene notched 3rd place in front of Giacomo Agostini.
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The poll made it abundantly clear that road race and speedway fans really do rally round their favorite stars. Out of the top 20, 14 were road racers, and five were’speedway riders. Motocross could only manage one, and it was Joel Robert, in 12th spot. Bryan Wade was 25th, four places behind Triumph development engineer Doug Hele, the man responsible for the success of the BSA/ Triumph Threes.
Wade is something of an enigma. Without doubt one of our best as far as potential is concerned, he seems to lack the ability to pace himself for a race. But there was no faulting his riding in a recent television meeting when he won both big events of the day. In the first he was followed home by Dave Nicoll (BSA), with New Zealander Ivan Miller (Husqvarna) 3rd. In the other moto, it was Miller’s turn to get the better of Nicoll.
MOTOCROSS MACHINES TOO LIGHT
It seems that the FIM is getting a little concerned about the light weight of some of the motocross models these days. There is no doubt that next to women, racers are most anxious to lose weight. Now comes stipulation that motocross models must not weigh less than certain amounts, which vary according to the size of the machines.
Jeff Smith once said that the perfect motocross works machine would fall to bits just after finishing a championship race. This is an indication of the way a works model can be prepared for the specific task of title winning. This could lead to a very dangerous state of affairs for riders and spectators alike, but the new weight rule will turn the slimming enthusiasm to the rider and narrow the differential between the works bike and what you can buy. It’s a good thing, but it seems a little like sour grapes on the part of the Swedish Federation, since they suggested it after Suzuki’s double championship win with ultra-light machinery. The concern may very well arise, though, from a fear of what might happen if all manufacturers tried to reduce machine weight in a less scrupulous way than using proper lightweight material. A final decision on this will come from the FIM in the spring, so if certain weights become compulsory it will start from 1973.
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BRITISH EXPERTS TRIAL
Gordon Farley has shown consistency rather than brilliance over the past two seasons in winning the British trials championship. But he has failed to win the event known as the British Experts’ Trial, run under strict qualification rules that narrowed the 1971 field down to 23 solos and 10 sidecar entries. Farley just made it into the first 12.
The event was won by Farley’s Montesa teammate Rob Edwards, who was the only rider to clean the first group of sections. Although he failed to maintain that form through the trial, he held on to take the title from Malcolm Rathmell (Bultaco) by four marks. Third was Martin Lampkin (Bultaco), with Dave Thorpe (Ossa) 4th, making it a victory for the northern riders.
Ray and Derek Round (441 BSA chair outfit) not only took the seasonlong British championship title, but underlined their title with a British Experts’ win. They took 1st place by only three marks from the former winner Alan Morewood, who has forsaken his 497 single-cylinder Ariel for the power of a big 650-cc Triumph Metisse. The sidecar class of trialing still remains almost immune to the ring-ding onslaught.
