Cycle Round Up
CYCLE ROUND UP
JOSEPH C. PARKHURST
CYCLE WORLD'S MOTORCYCLE SHOW
Things are shaping up fast for CYCLE WORLD'S First Annual National Motorcycle Show, to be held in conjunction with the International Custom Car Show at Los Angeles' magnificent Sports Arena this coming May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. We have long felt that the motorcycle industry needed the type of show that the automobile enthusiasts enjoy, such as the New York Automobile Show. Now we have one, run in the European show style, and it will be the largest, most glamourous and complete motorcycle show ever seen in this country. We will have exhibits from every motorcycle distributor and manufacturer, plus a carefully chosen selection of customs, drag machines, Bonneville record breakers, street bikes and dirt and road racers as private entries.
Such distributors and manufacturers of accessories and speed equipment as Webco, McHal Protective Headgear, Harman & Collins cams have already started preparing displays of their products, and by show time we hope to have each and every one represented. Montesa Mtrs., Yamaha International, American Honda, U.S. Suzuki, to name but a few, have begun preparation for their part in the trade division of the giant show. Door prizes are planned, plus a continuous showing of motorcycle movies, displays of minibikes, trail machines, scooters and lightweights.
Motorcycles will occupy the concourse area of the fabulous Sports Arena, with the custom cars confined to the main floor, giving the cycles a "Cycle World" of their own. Forty-one thousand people attended the show last year, where only custom motorcycles and cars were displayed. It was from this show CYCLE WORLD assembled our special August 1963 issue devoted mostly to customs.
We are preparing a special souvenir program for the show, and we will have a booth set up to meet our readers and give them a chance to subscribe to CYCLE WORLD at a special discount rate that will be in effect for the three days of the show only. We hope all of our readers will make plans to attend; the entire staff of CYCLE WORLD is looking forward to meeting you, and to showing you the CYCLE WORLD "World Of Cycles" in Los Angeles this May.
NEW FACES AT CYCLE WORLD
We are happy to add a couple of new names to CYCLE WORLD'S staff, those of Jerry Ballard, and Chuck Clayton. Jerry is a one-time Catalina winner, exmotorcycle dealer in Los Angeles, and salesman, who handles the advertising for us. Chuck assumes a newly created space on our growing crew, that of Art Editor. He served as Editor on the pioneer motorcycle publication that gathered a large following in its short but illustrious career; Cycle Action. He also served as Editor of Cycle magazine, and comes to CYCLE WORLD with a wealth of editorial and art experience.
As an added bit of decoration to our luck, both are motorcyclists in the extreme and are making their presence known, as can be seen in the accompanying photographs, when we head for our test ground. I modestly point out that this raises our staff to nine people who devote their time to only one thing; producing the best possible magazine we are able to do. A growing magazine needs a larger staff; soon we'll have enough riders around the office to stage our own scrambles or road race.
SHAVE FOR CYCLING
As a happy wearer of a moustache for almost ten years, I was a bit disturbed to learn that Lee F. Brown of Elmore, Alabama, was not permitted to have a motorcycle until he shaved his moustache. Usually Lee is not dominated by women, I am told, but in this case he complied. He obviously wanted the Honda Hawk more than the moustache; so would I, but not at the risk of losing my moustache. Remember Samson.
MOTORCYCLE EVENT IN THE LIMELIGHT
The Herald-Examiner newspaper of Los Angeles recently ran a spread that brought joy and gladness to the hearts of us diehard motorcycle enthusiasts, in their "California Weekly" magazine supplement, when they covered the running of the William Johnson Memorial road sports rally described in the December 1963 issue of CYCLE WORLD. Written by Herald-Examiner staff and motorcycle enthusiast par excellence Wilson Springer, the two page spread featured several full-color photographs by Ralph Poole and glowing words for motorcycles and their riders. Both the writer and the photographer served on the publicity committee of the run along with yours truly, and we are all planning the next one now.
VINCENT TO RETURN?
A short time ago we received a note proposing the most exciting news we have heard for some time; the possibility of the return of the Vincent motorcycle to production. Out of production since 1955, though parts have been readily available, few motorcycles have amassed a more devoted audience of enthusiastic supporters than the Vincent. Regular readers will remember our February 1963 edition containing the history of the Vincent; I can confirm the extent of curiosity surrounding this machine since that issue was just short of the best selling of the year, due largely to that feature.
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"The gallant old V-twins," as Vaughn Greene so dearly termed them, may very well be seen again, dashing about faster than just about any other machine, if Philadelphia's Ed LaBelle achieves his goal. Ed has asked me to ask you to write him at 6014 Haverford Ave., Philadelphia 31, Penna., requesting the return of one of the most romantic machines seen in the cycle world. He contends, and I can only hope he will be vindicated, that were he able to present a responsive reaction to the news, then Harper Engineering, present day owners of the Vincent factory, might put the series C Vincents back into production.
I have done my bit, and may this editorial serve as my sincere hope that Vincent will return, bringing one of the most mechanically, and esthetically, interesting motorcycles ever. Vincent fans, arise!
THE U.S. GRAND PRIX
I had the great pleasure of witnessing the running of the United States Grand Prix at Bill France's magnificent racing plant, Daytona International Speedway. How does one describe the immense pleasure of watching the world's very best road racers in action, the meeting of men who are professionals in every respect, seeing and hearing the machines that are so exciting and witnessing the drama and beauty of competition that has been elevated to such a degree of perfection and sophistication, all for the benefit of fewer people than attend a minor sporting scrambles in Maine or a hare and hound in California?
I had said this event should be supported; indeed it should have been supported, and it was, at least by the American Federation of Motorcyclists, the American Association of Motorcycle Road Racers and the Canadian Motorcycle Association riders. Quite honestly, had it not been for the AFM, AAMRR and the CMA, the Europeans attending would have been forced to race amongst themselves, not an unusual situation in itself but ridiculous when considering the number of qualified and eligible motorcycle road racers the U.S. could have fronted. The United States Motorcycle Club, sponsoring organization for this event, has pompous, overbearing, super-zealous officials in abundance, so many it is a small wonder the press will report on the event at all, considering how every USMC official (save one or two who were extremely kind to me), was dedicated to hampering the press.
In every country where I have served as a journalist, and I modestly admit to most of Europe, some of the U.S. and a little in Mexico, I have rarely had even minor disagreements with race officials; at the USMC Daytona we (the press) were harassed, pushed, abused and generally badly treated. Getting the story quite naturally comes first, but when it must be accomplished by fighting the sponsoring organization every inch of the way it becomes a mystery to me what these people expect the reporters to write in their reports. I have said my piece.
The virtually memberless motorcycle club presented what must be called a marvelous show. Almost every world road racer of any consequence was there, and almost every manufacturer that participates in international road racing sent machines, save Honda. Americans, such as the AFM's Tony Murphy, Ron Grant, Buddy Parriott, Don Vesco; Canadians such as Mike Duff; Eastern U.S. riders like Kurt Liebmann, Ed LaBelle, George Rockett, and many others did a creditable job of representing this country, but it was a pretty sorry picture.
We needed Dick Mann, Jody Nicholas, Ralph White, Tony Woodman, the Hayes brothers, Dick Hammer, George Roeder, Tony Murguia, Joe Leonard, and many, many other top rank American road racers also. But, thanks to a situation that at best I can call "unfortunate," our finest A.M.A. riders did not dare compete at risk of not being allowed to race at the A.M.A.'s Daytona event next month. We are no closer to an affiliation with the International racing body than with any of the three actual racing clubs in this country. In truth, the F.I.M. could align with all three and we would be in an excellent position to see this country's motorcycle racing assume the status it deserves in the world.
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I talked to almost every rider at Daytona. Most were chagrined to see so few spectators, as was I. but the wilds of Florida are hardly the place to expect to see very many motorcycle road racing enthusiasts. Even the A.M.A.'s 200-mile National draws only a few more than 5,000 spectators to the best of my knowledge. Events such as the U.S. Grand Prix should be run nearer a population center, but, be that as it may, we have been honored with the presence of the greatest road racers in the world. We saw a grand show; the Gileras, MV Agustas, Benellis, Zanellas, Manx Nortons, G-50 Matchlesses, Yamahas, Suzukis, Kreidlers, MZs, Hondas, etc. roared, screamed, howled and otherwise made some of the most entertaining sounds cycles have ever made. We hope we will be able to hear them again in this country, along with some Triumphs, Harley-Davidsons, BS As, and anything else we could scrape up, adding to the cacaphony. Not very damn likely.
While on the subject of Daytona, I for one am somewhat apprehensive of the forthcoming A.M.A. event. As some of our readers may know, the A.M.A. is planning on using even more of the fantastic Daytona banked oval for their event. This obviously means more speed and higher averages, and much more danger. I feel fairly certain their reasons for doing this are threefold; it will afford the Harley-Davidsons an opportunity to make better use of the one serious advantage they have over their competitors: cubic inches. The race average will (if all goes well) be higher than that just seen at the U.S.G.P., thereby giving them juicy advertising copy. And the A.M.A. must feel that spectators will love it since it will be highly dangerous.
The over 100 mph average maintained by the leaders at the U.S.G.P. will be difficult, if not impossible to beat. Gilera's representatives claimed over 80 bhp for the newly installed four in Calderella's mount and Hailwood set a new one-hour record on the 70 bhp plus MV, at 144.8096 mph around the huge banked oval, hitting over 160 mph on the short straights. Both machines weigh in the 300 lb. plus area. It will take a great deal of machinery to equal this kind of performance.
The racing that attracts the largest crowds to Daytona are the big "stock" car races where up to 75,000 people come to see "thrills and spills" as the giant powerhouses thunder around the track at truly remarkable speeds. I can hardly stretch my imagination to include motorcycles in this kind of a picture. I am also somewhat concerned for the safety of some of the riders who will be racing at the speeds that will be achieved on the "big" A.M.A. course.
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Activity in the pits before and between the racing was as interesting as the competition itself. Benedicto Caldarella, Argentina's "dark horse" on the magnificent Gilera four, was the talk of everyone. Few figured he would present a real threat to world champion Hailwood's equally potent MV Agusta four. Caldarella and his partner, Jorge Kissling, share the 500cc class championship in their native Argentina; both are truly nice boys, a credit to their country. Gilera, and C&N Enterprises, the U.S. Importer of Gilera, brought the famous tuner Fumagalli from Italy to prepare the machine.
Hannah Honda from London showed two Honda CR-93 125cc production racers, both beautifully prepared. Hannah is one of those rare breed of racing men who pursues his sport with no thought of profit and with dogged determination. Little Gary Dickinson, all 4 foot 5 inches of him, with Hollander Jan Kostwinder made a beautiful showing of it. Dickinson had to be ballasted with lead during qualifying; many were the requests to remove it during the race.
Above you see CYCLE WORLD'S B. R. "Nick" Nicholls who flew from England on a chartered airplane with most of the Continentals; the fellow reacting to Nick's sweatshirt is Alan Shepherd, winner of the 250cc race on the East German MZ. Shepherd is without question one of the hardest working and most sincere competitors in the circuit. Due to the State Department's refusal to honor East German visas no mechanics were present to work on the machine. Shepherd, who confesses to being only a screw driver mechanic, does an excellent job keeping the bikes running. Next, Nick is seen at the right, talking to the almost immortal Geoff Duke, and the A.F.M.'s Tony Murphy. Duke, a soft-spoken, natty gentleman, is extremely modest and reluctant to discuss his abilities. I had several enlightening diseussions with this truly great man of International racing who left it as a winner and now operates a hotel on the Isle Of Man.
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Above you see Mike Hailwood, warming up his MV prior to the attempt, and ultimate success, at breaking the world's one-hour speed record set by John Hartle on a Gilera at Monza in 1958. Hailwood's father, Stan Hailwood, a wealthy British businessman, is as interesting and colorful as his son, "Mike the Bike" Hailwood. The next group of gentlemen includes, on the right; Stan Hailwood, Canadian Motorcycle Association's Ron White, acting as an F.I.M. steward, and Major Goode, Secretary General of the F.I.M., awaiting Hailwood's start.
The other two photos show Hailwood blazing along at over 155 mph on the Daytona banking during his one-hour run.
One of the nicest people in International racing is Tom Kirby, of Kirby's Ltd., Essex, England. Kirby fronts no less than three G-50 Matchless road racing machines, each a match of the other, and each indeed matchless. Meticulously maintained and prepared, Kirby's bikes were ridden by Phil Read, Paddy Driver and Canadian Mike Duff. The results show the worth of Kirby's insistence on, and passion for detail and doing things correctly. Additional honor is deserved for this man as he does all of this at his own expense, without aid from Associated Motor Cycles, makers of his Matchless, and his reason; to keep road racing alive and thriving in England. Tom is the man in the picture adjusting Read's helmet strap; yes, he even pits for his three stars.
Another somewhat illustrious pit man was the rotund gentleman shown here talking to Benelli rider Tarquinio Provini, often called the arch-type Italian racer. The other man is Sr. Benelli himself, who confessed in an off moment to having over $60,000.00 invested in the four-cylinder machine that blew during practice, forcing Provini to ride the less competitive Benelli single which, incidentally, was one of the most beautiful machines seen at Daytona.
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Looking more like a U.S. college boy is world-famous John Hartle, checking his machine in the impound area after placing 2nd in the 500cc U.S. Grand Prix. Hartle's Norton was of course not a strange mount to him, but quite a few wished they were seeing him on the Gilera four. I could go on like this forever, but space limits my ramblings. As my readers can easily see, I was deeply impressed at Daytona, not because this was my first encounter with International road racing, it wasn't, but because motorcycle racing at this level is so radically different than what we ordinarily see in the U.S. True factory-supported racing is fast and powerful, the machinery is highly developed and usually exotically sophisticated, and extremely professional. A treat to witness.
