Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
FAILING ALL ELSE the weather can always be a topic of conversation, especially as an opening between strangers, but it should hardly be the way to start a column on motorcycling. That it is necessary is due to the fact that we have had snow and ice as never before in the history of our two-wheeled sport leading to the cancellation of many events over the past six weeks, including the important national Vic Brittain and Colmore trials. So if you find mention of the weather recurring this month it is because it has been alldominant of late.
The first point I would like to mention is that the date of the Ulster Grand Prix has been changed from September 7th to August 12th. The second Saturday in August is a traditional date for this meeting but the tourist authorities in Ireland wanted to try and extend the season by holding the races later in the year. The date given doomed the race to failure immediately as it was sandwiched between the Finnish Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix. Few will need to look at a map to realize how impossible it would have been for competitors and the allimportant trades people to get from one event to the next in time for practice. Wisely the meeting has been brought forward to August.
The other good move by the F.I.M. dates back to just under two years ago when they agreed to issue extra-national licenses for trials and scrambles so that riders from a foreign country could ride in a meeting without that meeting having a full international license. The number of riders per meeting is limited to four with a maximum of two from any one country.
France and other continental countries have made full use of this for moto-cross but it was not until January of this year that we in England took advantage of the rule. It was a bittersweet experience, for Torsten Hallman and Rolf Tibblin, the Swedish 250cc and 500cc world moto-cross champions, came over and really blew off our ace scramblers — all on television too, adding to the enthusiasts’ misery in office and factory who met the jibe “when are our chaps going to learn to ride.” However, we did show the Swedish trial riders, Gosta Andersson and Stellan Lemborn, the way round in the St. Davids trial. But Andersson is a very good rider for all that, having finished runner-up the previous week in an important local trial.
In the St. Davids trial, Gordon Blakeway was out for the first time on the works 350cc AJS, after many years in the Triumph team. He was one of only ten to finish inside the „time allowance and as such would have won the trial but, in view of the conditions, the stewards cut out the time factor and Sammy Miller came out best. He was riding his Ariel, negotiations to ride the Matchless having fallen through. Gosta Andersson rode his Husqvarna well whilst Stellan Lemborn, on a hybrid called a Flink after the man who built it, had his moment of glory cleaning a section where all the others except Blakeway failed. Ron Langston took the sidecar award so the 1963 trials season started as last year finished with Langston and Miller taking top honors with their 500cc Ariels.
Mention of moto-cross brings us to the name of John Burton. He was the only British rider to fully contest the 1962 500cc title but had such appalling luck that he was left out of the team for the Moto Cross des Nations. At the end of last season there were consistent rumors that he would leave the BSA works team but these have now been disproved by the announcement that Burton will again contest the 500cc title. BSA must be glad of their decision for Burton, or “Big John” as the fans call this 200-pound rider, has been the ace on ice in recent television scrambles. At a time when almost all other sport has been snowed off, the scrambles have gone on and Big John has been the most consistently successful rider of them all.
Through all the ice and snow comes a glimmer of warmth in the form of news for the road racing season which in 1963 could be the best since 1957 if all the early talk matures into action. First bombshell arrived in the form of a letter to Derek Minter from Walter Kaaden, the M.Z. race chief. In this he offered Derek the best water-cooled 125 and 250cc models, which came so near to beating the Hondas at the East German meeting last year. Kaaden also stated that the M.Z. concern have a scheme whereby they will be able to contest all rounds of the championships this year. Minter was unable to accept the offer so I imagine that Mike Duff must now be on the short list to ride these two-stroke machines. Minter could not ride them because he hopes for a Güera for the 350 and 500cc classes.
Geoff Duke has been trying to persuade the Güera concern to come back to the racing scene. I think that the plan was for Geoff to borrow the bikes and a mechanic, sign two riders and go racing. Minter was obvious choice as number one with John Hartle as second string. But Geoff may have stirred the racing instinct a little too hard for there is strong rumor that Florian Camathias will have .a Güera engine for his sidecar outfit in 1963. This and the four-cylinder two-stroke outfit that Fritz Scheidegger is building will prove a strong challenge to the BMW supremacy of the previous nine years. It could mean a wholesale rearranging of world titles this year with a possibility of no factory retaining the titles they won last year.
Honda has re-signed Robb, Redman and Taveri, and also Takahashi, who is now fit after his Isle of Man prang last June. This is a strong team for the 50, 125, 250 and 350 classes equalled only>at the moment by the Suzuki team to contest the same capacity titles except the 350. Degner, Perris and Andersson have been signed again and to join them this year is the popular and very capable Austrian rider Bert Schneider, who took fourth place in last year’s Senior T.T. on his own privately entered Norton. •
