The Scene
THE SCENE
IVAN J. WAGAR
AT THE AGE OF SEVEN I was mad at my father for almost a year, because he would not take me to a motorcycle race twenty-five miles from my hometown in Napanee, Ontario, Canada. All the stars were there, even Ed Kretz.
My hero was a garage owner, who had an old WWI bi-plane, rode a motorcycle, and walked with a great swagger. What’s more, he had seen the race. All through the war years when he was grounded (no gasoline for the airplane, which hung disassembled from the rafters of the garage), he told me about that fantastic race in Belleville — screaming, deafening engines and men in leather suits from all over the North American continent.
The war years were long ones, waiting for the motorcycle races to resume, but when I reached fifteen, the day finally arrived. A half-mile dirt track race was held right in my hometown.
Everything that my hero had told me was true, and I knew that come hell or high water, my life would be devoted to two-wheelers. Though this decision led to all sorts of ridicule in the early years, it did lead me to CYCLE WORLD, and for that Í am extremely grateful.
It wasn’t dntil 1948 that a childhood dream became reality — and I found myself racing for real in Canada. The years that followed — the British short circuits, the Isle of Man, the Grands Prix — would fill a book, and may someday. For this column it is sufficient to say that through all these races, the people who seemed to enjoy themselves most, were the motorcycling press. And although ten years were devoted to an engineering trade, the ultimate goal of this writer was journalism.
Four years ago, I went to a newsstand and picked up an issue of CYCLE WORLD, chiefly because of the attractive cover. Further inspection showed quality paper, good art work and, of all things, a road test. Curiosity forced me to buy the magazine, as I was quite familiar with the machine under test, and it would not take long to evaluate this new “bunch.” I was surprised to find that, although the motorcycle belonged to a rather good advertiser in the magazine, CYCLE WORLD fairly tore it to pieces. For the first time, here was an American motorcycle magazine that dared speak the truth.
When I was asked to join the staff, with the editor’s job in view, the only fear I had was the size of rocks aimed at an honest editorial policy. Realizing it is easier to sleep at night with a bump on the head, than a guilty conscience, it was with great pride that I agreed to accept an often unrewarding task.
CYCLE WORLD will continue to cover the sport as a whole, concentrating on areas indicated by reader interest. A magazine worth its salt must be influenced by the editor’s views and, although most of my twenty years of motorcycling have been spent closely associated with road racing, every effort will be made to limit my personal likes and dislikes to this column. It may come as a shock to the purist to learn that I have just as much admiration for a dirt track rider as for a competitor in a continental grand prix, or a currently produced 125 compared to some great “thing” that went out of production 10 years ago.
IN this month’s issue, we have the first half of Mike Duff’s own story of his 1965 racing season. Mike is, as most people already know, the only North American on a factory team. We are very proud of him, as he has always been a credit to motorcycling and a fine ambassador in the numerous countries he has visited. Mike is one of the few top riders fully conversant with what is going on in the “engine room” when he is racing, and is a competent mechanic in his own right. I mention this because there is a glaring lack of technical details surrounding the Yamahas he rode last year. For this we must forgive him, since part of the salary of a factory rider depends on his ability to keep his lips sealed. However, I’m sure most people will find the strategy and tribulations of a factory ride to be quite interesting.
At the time of this writing, Mike is still in Toronto, Canada, having his hip repaired from the Suzuka prang in Japan at the end of last year, but things are going well and he hopes to be back in the title fight shortly after the Isle of Man TT. Meanwhile, Bill Ivy is teamed up with Phil Read to battle Hailwood and Redman on the Honda-sixes. It should be a rather hectic international season.
LAST month, CYCLE WORLD tested the CZ scrambler, being sure to point out how closely it resembled the factory machines ridden by Joel Robert and the boys. Now I have just received photos of a new “works” bike at the Spanish Motocross Grand Prix. Strictly a development prototype, the main external difference is the single exhaust pipe, but now the clutch is mounted on the gearbox mainshaft, rather than on the crankshaft. The manufacturer claims 27 hp @ 5,600 rpm, which seems strange in this day of exaggerated horsepower claims, for although it ran into minor problems, it blew off machines claiming 35 hp. The new bike is developing one more horsepower at 300 less revs than our test machine, and is slightly lighter in overall weight. Should add spice to the pudding.
(Continued on page 22)
AN interesting bit of news for those looking for AMC racers in this country, is that Al Lauer of Sacramento, California, is selling his stable. This consists of two 7R AJSs (ex-Wagar and Buising), both of them 1962 models and the last to come over, the ex-Webster G-50 Matchless and one other G-50 that has never been fired up, plus extra engines, gearboxes and parts — all to the tune of $20,000. AÍ has sponsored teams throughout the years in various forms of motorcycle competition, even to the extent of bringing over a speedway team from Australia in the ’30s. But now Al has decided he is getting too far along in years to go chasing around the country.
HUSQVARNA, apparently not content with building world’s championship winning motocross machines, has, from time to time, shown interest in roadracing. In the past, these one-off prototypes looked rather awkward and out of place. Their latest effort, though, has the appearance of a genuine thoroughbred. Frame design is basically the same as the scrambler model. The front fork crown has been altered slightly to permit a steeper fork angle. When one considers that Sweden is not producing a road racing machine, the reason for a Honda front brake becomes more logical.
(Continued on page 22)
AT a recent race in Bourge en Bresse France, a sidecar outfit turned out that no one had seen before; it was entered by Swiss driver Barbezat. Upon remembering the very big rumor two years ago about Honda loaning an engine to the late Florian Camathias, the whole picture changes.
The frame is identical to the one used by “Flo” to house a Gilera engine which he had for awhile.
The Honda engine was originally supplied with some world’s sidecar records in view, and is unusual in several respects: double overhead camshaft, in-line, watercooled four. These specs are quite standard for Honda car engines, and basically it is just that. However, having only 500cc displacement, it can compete quite legally in international sidecar racing. The “chair” carries several of the necessities, which include the car-type radiator for engine coolant, battery for ignition and fuel tank. Usually, with sidecar-mounted fuel tanks, the gas is pumped to a small header tank, where it is then gravity-fed to the carburetors. Tn this case, because of the cartype carburetors that permit pump pressure on the float chamber, the feed is direct, eliminating the need for another tank.
Disc brakes are used front and rear, along with Girling spring/damper units. An engine sprocket has been fitted in place of the flywheel, and a single row chain takes the drive to a Norton gearbox through a Horex clutch.
The machine performed well and appeared to have good handling, until clutch trouble forced retirement.
WE received sad news at CYCLE WORLD a few weeks ago, when it was learned that Wayne Ensiminger was killed near Laos. Some will remember Wayne as the fellow who supplied us with his personal Honda 450 for road test, enabling CYCLE WORLD to scoop the world with a firsthand report on the 450. He normally flew jet fighters, but crashed shortly after takeoff in a light recon plane, due to engine trouble.
At Riverside, while testing the 450, Wayne went charging around the course for about twenty laps and was every inch an enthusiast. He planned to race motorcycles after this “tour,” and was a steady correspondent with us. Although a young man in years, Wayne’s adventures encompassed a whole lifetime, and we are certainly sorry to hear of his untimely death.
LANCE WEIL, who has been campaigning the English short circuits for the past two seasons with a 350 Norton, returned to California through the winter and put in a couple of displays of nine-tenths motoring at Willow Springs Raceways. The amiable Frankie Scurria has now joined Lance and with a van loaded to the hilt, with a 350 and two 500 Manx Nortons, plus a 350 Ducati, they are on their way to places like Mallory, Snetterton and Brands, where they will join Marty Lunde, another Californian, who is starting his third season in England.
Bill Boyd, a Yamaha rider from Northern California, is already over there and will be competing in some Irish events. These chaps, plus Team Cycle World, are forming the largest American road-racing contingent ever. (Continued, on page 92)
BEHIND the factory Suzukis of Perris and Anscheidt, at Bourg en Bresse, was a brand new Derbi twin. Derbi has, on several occasions, given the mighty Japanese factories a bad time in the 50cc class.
The engine is basically two of the rotary valve fifties, enlarged to 62cc and stacked vertically with special cases to accept an eight speed gearbox. Power output is reputed to be 30 bhp giving a top soeed of more than 125 mph. Factory rider Canellas expects to contest some of the Grands Prix as there did not appear to be any problems first time out.
Although the stacked arrangement has the disadvantage of putting weight higher in the frame than the side-by-side layout, it does permit narrower streamlining. In the case of more conventional twins with rotary valves, large bulges in the fairing are required. Then too, there is the danger of a minor spill tearing off a carburetor and putting the machine out of the race, which is precisely what happened to Bill Ivy at Brandywell in last year's Isle of Man IT. U
