Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
Mike Duff on the 350cc version of the "homemade" Paton. Built by Italian engineer Guiseppe Patoni, the 250cc version finished third in the Isle of Man TT.
B. R. NICHOLLS
MAN WITH A POCKET FULL OF GOLD is John Cooper, who has won the two richest prizes given for short circuit racing in England. On both the Cadwell Park and Mallory Park circuits he beat Phil Read to win first £500 ($1.400) and then £1050 ($2.940). John had been having a pretty lean time of it up until the Cadwell meeting, but the tide turned when he got Ray Petty to tune his big Norton for him which he rode in both the races. Read was on the 254cc factory Yamaha twin which, though quicker than the Norton at Cadwell, had a brief period of misfiring at a crucial moment that relegated him to second place. At Mallory, much to Cooper's delight, it rained, and the superior handling of the Norton and John's knowledge of his home track gave him a really popular victory.
Mike Hailwood had the big MV for Mallory but could do no better than fifth in the big race. The MV concern seldom have been worse prepared for a meeting, for in addition to forgetting the requisite ultra-low first, second and third gears required for the circuit, the suspension was all wrong. The handling looked a bit alarming when Mike won the Senior race in the dry, but after the rain came it was positively hair-raising to see the red Italian monster snaking a few feet from steel crash barriers at over ninety miles an hour. It takes real courage to ride a thing like that and it is no wonder that every factory in racing wants to sign Hailwood for next season.
This has been mentioned for some months in this column but has now come right out into the open. Honda is offering Mike a 250-6 for the Japanese Grand Prix, where he is already entered by MV in the 350 class against Redman on the Honda. It seems highly unlikely that Mike will be able to accept the Honda offer. For one thing, Honda has a rival oil contract to MV, so if Mike won both races, success advertising would be virtually nullified. Hailwood is naturally a little tired of the whims of Count Agusta and promises of a machine that does not materialize; the Mallory incident must have been the last straw. Mike is anxious to ride more classes but is also keen to race cars, providing the right device comes along. Honda are first favorites to sign him for next year, though possibilities of Suzuki and Gilera cannot be ruled out. The latter must realize that with Mike they could probably regain the 500cc crown that has been held bv MV since 1957. Honda too could win the blue riband of road racing, and the way things are shaping at the moment, all solo titles for 1966 may well end up in Japan.
Looks as though the Japanese Grand Prix will not only settle this vear's 50 and 350cc titles but who will ride what next year as well. With many top flight factory riders thinking of retiring, up-and-coming riders could make the grade in 1966.
At the Mallory meeting Colin Lyster, already known to readers of this magazine for his articles on the continental circus, had a brand new 350cc double overhead camshaft Paton twin which he had bought from Italy. No longer a racer himself, Colin got Mike Duff to ride it and very promising it proved to be. It had been out once before during practice for an Italian meeting but this was the first time it had been raced in anger. Though Mike was second in a heat, rain marred the final, preventing him from doinc more than just "squirt it between the corners" to use his own words. There can be no doubt that he was impressed by it for Mike bought it, and Colin could easily have sold another three. Full details about the bike next month.
At the Scarborough meeting Alan Shepherd had another little dabble at road racing with the 125cc MZ that the factory gave him when he left them at the end of last year. He insists that it was only for fun, but nevertheless he broke the lap record. John Cooper was in good form, taking the 350 and 500 races, though only after Phil Read had trouble in the 350 race when leading. John Ashworth won the 250 race on a Yamaha TD1-B after Derek Woodman had been sent up the road on his own without the MZ twin. Max Deubel was the sidecar race winner by the narrowest of margins from Fritz Scheidegger both on BMWs.
Now we await the last big race of the season when Brands Hatch holds an international meeting at the end of the week. This clash has already lost some of its great potential, though, for Derek Minier crashed at the Mallory meeting and will be out until next year; then a week later John Cooper crashed at Oulton Park breaking a collar bone. Hailwood will not be getting an MV so will ride Kirby Matchless and AJS machines - his chief opposition will be his stable-mates, Paddy Driver and Bill Ivy. You know the name of Jack Williams for his work on perfecting AJS and Matchless engines during his ten years at AMC. Now look for the name of his son Peter, for he has been showing great form recently, especially in the wet, and at Mallory Park led the 350 final for a while until Dave Degens got past to win.
Florian Camathias raced at Mallory without streamlining which was badly damaged in a crash in France, and he is now converted to the Scheidegger viewpoint that it should be banned. The charioteers seem divided on this point, though they all seem to agree that the capacity limit should be 750cc. Argument in favor of streamlining is that if machines touch they do not lock together, as they might otherwise with exposed cables and other protrusions. One thing for sure, an unstreamlined bike makes a better photograph.
The bog wheeling season has started again with the usual opener, the West of England trial. Mick Andrews took the premier award on his James by virtue of having cleaned more sections than Sammy Miller (Bultaco), who finished equal with him on points. Arthur Pulman shot back into the limelight with a win on his 441cc BSA sidecar outfit. The surprise of the whole entry was ex-British Expert Gordon Jackson, who retired a few years back but has returned to the scene with a new Greeves Anglian. He finished 14th but beat all the established Greeves works team men. Almost twenty percent of the entry were Bultaco mounted; BSA won the team prize. It is a peculiar thing, this field of motorcycle sport, for BSA can win two world moto-cross titles yet fail miserably in trying to get five machines to last in the International Six Days Trial. And MZ can win the Trophy in this tough event three years running yet have the most infuriating sort of luck when they go road racing. Continuing this train of thought. BMWs are hopeless solo racers yet have won eleven world sidecar titles in succession; CZ are tops in moto-cross but hopeless at road racing, though admittedly using totally different engines. At the big Brands Hatch international meeting, tragedy struck during the big sidecar race when Florian Camathias crashed and received fatal injuries. His passenger, Franz Ducret, received a concussion and leg injuries. The outfit left the course just after Clearways bend, a very fast right-hander, and somersaulted against the banking. Camathias, who was 41, had become almost a legend in his own lifetime. He was runner-up on four occasions for the world sidecar title and had planned to attack records up to 24 hours in the near future. He will be sorely missed, he was enthusiasm personified.
