Classic Racer

Words: Bertie Simmonds For many years the World Superbike championship was the world’s number one four-stroke racing series – it really had it all. It had the men – youngsters on their way up, hungry for success and fearless, as well as grizzled vete

Words: Alan Cathcart Photos: Emilio Jimenez and Don Morley The current Spanish domination of MotoGP and its satellite classes, let alone Dorna’s ownership of the series as a whole, essentially dates back to exactly 30 years ago in 1988, when the the

Words: John McComisky/Jon Ekerold Images: Don Morley With pure road racing and the TT now experiencing a huge resurgence and extensive media coverage worldwide, it is perhaps hard to imagine that it was all so different in the 1980s. The top Grand P

Words: Frank Weeink Photos: Don Morley “ALL OF A SUDDEN I WAS RACING THE BEST RIDERS ON THE PLANET... DOOHAN, RAINEY, SCHWANTZ, GARDNER, LAWSON... ” Entering Alex Criville in the 500cc class was part of a tactical masterplan. The 1989 125cc world ch

Words: Michael Scott Photographs: Don Morley It is almost impossible to reimagine what it was like when the fine new Brno circuit was opened back in 1987. The Iron Curtain still divided Europe, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and while there we

Words: Mark McCloskey. Photographs: Mark McCloskey, Michel Lasbou and Phillipe Godin. Belgium’s Circuit Spa Francorchamps hosted the 16th Bikers’ Classics at the beginning of July and, once again, it was a resounding success. Over 500 participants t

Motorcycle race paddocks are renowned for rumours, speculation and downright falsehoods, and there is no reason why the Classic TT paddock should be any different. In fact, quite the opposite is true, with teams and riders sharing the area behind the

Words: Philip Wain Photographs: Don Morley Manufacturer interest returned greatly and all of the ‘big four’ Japanese factories contested the three-lap event, particularly the big capacity 1500cc class. It was the GPZ900R Kawasaki that prevailed thou

Words: John Watterson Photographs: Ciaran Broad, Peter Faragher, John Watterson After a 15-month battle back from serious injury, TT legend John McGuinness admitted victory had rarely felt sweeter than this one on the humble 500cc Paton twin. “After

Alan ‘Bud’ Jackson, one of the most prolific starters and finishers in Snaefell Mountain Course history, died following an incident at Creg-ny-Baa during qualifying for the Senior Classic TT. The 62-year-old publican from Kendal in Cumbria crashed du

Words: Mark McCloskey Photographs: Big Joe, John Bourke, Paddy Condron, Paul Drumm and Mark McCloskey First up was the Cookstown 100 which took place back in April on the 2.1-mile Orritor circuit, less than a mile outside the busy Co Tyrone town of

To temporarily leap forward to the end of the 1955 season is to glimpse at just how hot a property John Surtees had rapidly become. With Norton’s end-of-season retirement from racing about to happen, a trio of motorcycle manufacturers were courting S

Words: Alan Cathcart Pictures: Mortons Archive He won again at Assen on his Dutch TT debut, and made it a hat-trick of victories the following week at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, to establish an unassailable lead in the 1956 500cc World Championshi

Having through the years renovated a lovely 16th centuryTudor house near Lingfield, Surrey after the competitive part of his career, Johnnowbuiltup a property business,while devoting time to motorsport consultancy, and restoring many of the motorcycl

John Surtees died on March 10, 2017. Respiratory failure took the seven-times motorcycling world champion at the age of 83. He is, so far, the only man to have won the biggest crown on both two wheels and four and the racing world globally recognised

John Surtees may have had his first taste of riding a motorcycle at the age of 12 on the Wallace-Blackburne speedway bike, but it wasn’t until the lofty age of 14 that he took his first step into motorcycle competition. John said: “I was 14 when I fi

Simson AWO machines will make their first UK appearance at the CRMC at the Donington Park Classic Festival over August 4-6. The Rennkollektiv Simson will travel from Saxony, in what was the former DDR, to bring the rare motorcycles to race and parade

Words: Bruce Cox Pictures: Vince French Collection Way into the Seventies even world champions usually only had a single mechanic assigned to each of the bikes they were riding in the various Grand Prix classes and, in the cases of privateer riders,

Words and photographs: Jan Burgers The eighth round of the 500cc World Championship took place at a quiet, open place in the woods of Sweden. Part of the circuit was an airstrip and it was at this very fast part of the circuit that a drama struck two

Words: Bruce Cox Photographs: Mortons Archive and Bruce Cox Collection During the previous nine years it had become it obvious that, as proved by a wins-to-date tally of six for the UK against three for the USA, it was always going to be difficult fo

To set the scene, just a little background to the event and the geography of New Zealand... Timaru is in the South Island that covers an area twice that of England.Total population is just one million, (not counting the 30+ million sheep) yet such wa

Words by: Pete Parnham Pictures by: Mortons Archive Lincolnshire’s John Kirkby was an extremely able racer and a man of very forthright words and views. In 1966 he was racing his own ex-Tom Philips Vic Camp Ducati, fitted with an Oldani front brake,

1: Joe Barton has been added to the line-up of Lee Hodge and Mark Cronshaw at Minnovation Racing, where he will help to develop the team’s 7R based 350 model and also ride one of their G50 Matchlesses (as shown here). 2: Squadron Leader Symon Woodw

Stan Woods, winner of the 500cc race when Donington reopened in 1977, will be back at the 40th anniversary meeting and riding in the special parades. Stan will also be bringing the magnificent 500cc winner’s trophy, presented by the Pathfinders & Der

By Norm DeWitt Born in West Virginia during the fall of 1925, Paul Goldsmith moved as a teen to the Detroit, Michigan area which, as it turned out, was instrumental in the ongoing story of his life. In the late 1940s-60s Detroit was the manufacturing

With 50 years racing at the Isle of Man TT under his belt, Roy Hanks has decided it’s time to hang up his leathers for good. During his time at the Isle of Man TT, Roy has been much more than just another competitor, having been actively involved, al