Continental Report
CONTINENTAL report
B. R. NICHOLLS
WE KNEW BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED that road racing in England was going to be close in 1966 on the short circuits, but if racing goes on as it has begun, then there will be a few shorter finger nails among sponsors and spectators before the end of the year.
There have been three big meetings so far. Bill Ivy, Dave Degens, Derek Minter and John Cooper have all had wins, but the man who has really hit the headlines is Rex Butcher, who works and rides for Paul Dunstall. It was on a 650 Dunstall Dominator that Rex won the 251-1000cc race at Brands Elatch after a fifteen-lap dice with Bill Ivy (496 Kirby Metisse). The superior acceleration of the twin was the deciding factor out of the last bend, four hundred yards from the finish. Paul has a 750 Norton Atlas engine all tuned up and rarin’ to go, the only trouble being it handles like a jet-propelled camel.
In an endeavor to cure the problem, the Rickmans are modifying a Metisse frame and the result of this should be known in a couple of weeks. It is just what the Rickmans need to prove their frame as the Atlas chums out something like 68 brake horse, which is well over ten more than the Kirby Metisse has had to carry previously. It will not be a straight fit and modifications made mean that the unit will sit lower and more forward than usual to help keep the front wheel on the ground.
Paul favors an oil tank and is not happy with the idea of using the frame to hold the oil supply; he feels it may not circulate properly and another point is that it is easier to clean out a tank than a frame, when anything goes wrong. If the Kirby Metisse does cure the handling problems, then Dunstall appears set to rule the roost in the lOOOcc class.
Dunstall is also making his mark in the 500 class, with Griff Jenkins on a Dominator twin finishing second to Derek Minter at Brands Hatch; but perhaps it will be easier to look at the meetings as they happened, starting off with the opening meeting at Mallory Park.
Rod Scivyer (Honda) won the 125 class and has done so at both meetings since and the 250 race went to Peter Inchley riding a Villiers Starmaker engined special, the importance of which is obvious since Peter works for that concern. Inchley, who is a beautiful rider, could well prove the surprise of 1966.
Chasing him hard, after a poor start, was Tommy Robb on a 1965 watercooled Bultaco, who went through the field to finish second, putting up the fastest lap.
The real surprise came in the 350 race, where from a bad start, Dave Degens on his first outing with the Lancefield Norton, stormed through the field beating all the stars with a record time win. So Steve Lancefield gained his first win for three years and looks set for a good season. His 500 bike is not ready yet, but should come to the line at the Easter meetings, when it will be interesting to see how it compares with the Kirby Metisse, Seeley Matchless and Dunstall Dominator.
The clash of the first two named, at Mallory resulted in a win for Bill Ivy on the Kirby Metisse; second was Degens on a Kirby Matchless borrowed for the day; and third, Minier (Seeley Matchless).
Chris Vincent was in scintillating form, with his 654 BSA sidecar outfit setting race and lap records in beating Terry Vinicombe, 654 Kirby BSA. But with all his success racing the Beesa, Chris has seldom found form with his BMW outfit and has now designed a revolutionary three wheeler to contain the 492cc BMW power unit in an endeavor to put himself on the international leader board. It is best described as looking like an old Morgan; however, there the similarity ends, for the engine delivers the power through Mini front wheel drive and a six-speed Hewland gearbox. It has a reclining driving position, but the biggest surprise comes in the passenger position, which is lying prone on a platform on the driver’s left. Not yet completed, the outfit should cause more than a few raised eyebrows!
Next month’s column should show action photos of the outfit, before it makes its first appearance at the Snetteron International Meeting against top quality opposition like Deubel and Scheidegger.
The week after Mallory was the Brands meeting and there Chris had one of his rare breakdowns; the clutch key to the gearbox mainshaft sheared when he was in the lead. This let in veteran Bill Boddice, 654 BSA. Right up to the last lap, when it looked as if he would win, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke when an oil seal broke, relegating him to tenth spot. Colin Seeley and Wally Rawlings with an ex Camathias unit in their BMW, won from Terry Vinicombe (Kirby BSA) and Peter Brown BSA, who could be the surprise of this class in 1966, as he works in the BSA racing shop.
Brands always have a sidecar handicap race and this was won by Vincent, who in a magnificent finish managed to hold off the Mini special of Owen Greenwood.
Tommy Robb (Bultaco) was the ace in the 250 race for Tom Kirby, after a monumental dice with Dave Degens (Lancefield Norton), which developed after the half-way stage when Bill finally caught the leaders after a bad start.
Then came the 500 race, when Minier gained his first win of the season. After an early tussle with both Ivy and Degens, Derek pulled away to win comfortably, leaving Griff Jenkins (Dunstall Dominator) to create excitement in the closing stages with a late dash that took him into second place. The meeting ended with the race already mentioned, where Butcher won on the big Dominator.
This meant that after two meetings John Cooper was without a win. Did it mean that “Mooneyes” was not yet in the groove? Or were the contact lenses that he was using instead of spectacles worrying him? Well, best put it down to the contact lenses, for John abandoned them at Snetterton and in the 500cc race rode at his brilliant best to shadow Derek Minter all the way and then with a brilliant lap record on the last circuit, took the “Mint” to gain his first win of 1966. (His Norton is tuned by Ray Petty.)
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Earlier Minter had been having a terrific dice with Degens (H.D. Aermacchi) in the 350 race; the honors were split, with Derek winning by half a length, and Dave taking the lap record.
In third spot was Dave Simmonds, who spent the winter fitting his 305cc Honda twin production racer into a Norton frame. The improved handling is reflected in his leaderboard position.
Bill Ivy came to grief in a heat for the 350 race, when an oil pipe fractured, smothering the rear end with oil. This ruined the handling of the Kirby Metisse, and what was at first thought to be a broken leg for Bill, turned out to be very badly torn muscles.
Seeley won the 500cc sidecar race and Vincent the 1300cc class with his 654 BSA. Once again it was Inchley for the 250 class, with Tom Phillips getting back to his old form in second place on a Ducati.
But the fun will really start with Easter, for then we have two international meetings, and Hailwood will be seen here for the first time on the 350 Honda four. One race will pit all the big boys on very unequal terms, giving 150cc to Ivy, Minter, Cooper, etc., and 400cc to Butcher on the Atlas. This is too big a handicap to expect any man to overcome, but it should nevertheless provide an interesting race. There is also an outside chance we may see Redman on the 250 Honda six.
By the way, we are now rid of the absurdity of the British Championships, which used to be decided by one meeting at Oulton Park in August. Now the titles will be decided in the same way as the world championships, on a points basis over the whole season. This applies to road racing, moto cross, grass track racing and trials, so this year’s champions will be truly deserving of the titles they win.
The winter television moto cross series is over and with the 250 title still in doubt at the last meeting, fans everywhere were looking forward to a first class scrap between Dave Bickers and Chris Horsfield on their CZ machines. For only the second time in the series, conditions were excellent, although bitingly cold, and Horsfield, Bickers and Bryan Goss (Greeves) set a furious pace for the opening laps. Goss, who had won the last two rounds, had no chance of winning the title, but was out to prove he was a force to be reckoned with.
After three laps Bickers barely led, though a blanket would have covered the three of them. Then, with excitement at fever pitch, television transmission failed, and only those at the meeting saw Bickers go on to win by a few yards from Horsfield, with Goss having dropped back.
It was at this meeting that two new Greeves development machines appeared; the first was a single Bing carburetor 360, which Alan Clough rode into second place behind Jeff Smith in the 500 race, and the other, a considerably modified 250. The center section of the frame is only 7-3/4 inches wide, five inches narrower than a production Challenger, and the wheel base is extended to 55 inches from 53-1/2. Twin tubes replace the old single seat down tube, and these curve down to the rear fork pivot, the width of which is unchanged. The exhaust now sweeps under the engine, facilitating work on the carburetor. A double capacity Fram air filter is fitted; the number plates are now below the seat instead of at the rear.
A great advantage is that either a 250 or 360 engine may be fitted in the new frame, and, of course, Ceriani forks are the order of the day.
The first round of the 500cc British moto cross championship was held at Hawkstone Park and it made international headlines, not because Dave Bickers won with comparative ease on the 360 CZ, but because a gentleman by the name of Roy Orbison, who rides a Harley-Davidson or BMW decided he would like a ride on Bickers’ 250 CZ. Originally it was intended he should do a lap of the course, but pop stars are not allowed the privilege of attempting the notorious 1 in 1 mountain, so Roy had to be content with a short trip down the straight and back. Doing one of the jumps in reverse, he tweaked the throttle at the wrong moment and lost it in what appeared to be a simple fall. This, of course, brought the biggest cheer of the day, as one does not often see pop stars in such a position.
Roy rode the bike back and that was that, so we thought; but he did two shows that night, then went to a hospital for an x-ray and was found to have broken a bone in his foot. His current hit here — “Twinkle Toes.”
All this tended to steal Bickers’ thunder, but make no mistake, Dave intends to take that 500 crown from Smith; in fact, two crowns, for he wants the British and World titles. I have never seen him so relaxed and confident as he was at Hawkstone. He is my bet for the title.
On the same day that Bickers was winning both 250 and 500 races at Hawkstone, the first round of the 1966 250 world championship was being held in Spain, with last year’s champion from Russia, Victor Arbekov, chalking up an easy win, CZ mounted. Second overall was Torsten Hallman (Husqvarna) and third, Don Rickman (Bultaco). A new name from Russia, Leonid Shinkarenko, finished fourth in the first leg, but failed to score in the second because of a puncture. Joel Robert was riding a new single exhaust CZ machine, but retired with fatigue.
On the trials front, Alan Lampkin scored his first win in a trade supported trial when he won the important Bemrose event by two marks from his brother, Arthur and Sammy Miller (Bultaco). The Lampkins and Jeff Smith, all on BSA machines, won the manufacturer’s team prize. Sidecar winner was Alan Morewood, Ariel, passengered by Andy Barber, who beat Ron Langston by 46 marks to 55. ■
