Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
THE FIVE-HUNDRED-MILE RACE for production machines, which has been taken away from the airfield circuits of previous years, was run at Brands Hatch. It made no difference to Syd Lawton though, as he was the winning entrant for the fifth successive year and, as last year, it was a 650cc Triumph Bonneville that won, and for the second year it was Dave Degens who was the number one rider, partnered this time by Rex Butcher. It was no easy victory, for in the closing stages it looked as if a similar machine entered by Geoff Duke and ridden by Percy Tait and Phil Read would win, but a loose rev counter drive started spewing oil, so Read came in to have it removed and the hole plugged. After this delay, he built up a lead of roughly thirty-five seconds, but the rules forbid a rider more than two hours
in the saddle at a time, so with 14 laps to go, he had to come in and hand over. As Tait pulled away from the pits, Degens flashed past and built up a lead of 14 seconds, finally winning by ten seconds, after a race lasting over six hours, twenty minutes.
Of the fifty-nine entries, twenty-two were in the 2.50 class, one 305 Honda ridden by a pair of Germans, nine 500s and twenty-seven in the over 500 class, thirteen of which were Bonnevilles. Before the FIM stepped in banning the Honda 450cc double ohc production machine Redman and Hailwood were paired to ride one. As it was, Hailwood was the starter and later, while watching, quipped, "Thank goodness I'm not out there making an idiot of myself." He had dropped the 500 Honda the previous day in the Dutch G P.
However, there were still some famous names besides those already mentioned — John Cooper and Bill Ivy on a BSA Spitfire, which Ivy crashed early; Dave Croxford and Tom Phillips, who won the 500 class on a Thruxton Velocette; Peter Inchley and Reg Everett, 250 winners on a Cotton Conquest; and second to them came Chris Vincent and Tommy Robb on a six-speed Suzuki. Most disappointed man of the day was American Marty Lunde, who turned up to watch and was offered a ride by Tom Kirby with Martin Watson on a 750cc G15 Matchless CSR. A broken oil pipe caused Watson to throw it down the road before Marty had a chance to ride in the race. A great pity, for Tom was impressed with the practice times turned by Lunde. Although an international event, all honors went to the home riders, and spectators were shown that the Bonneville handles as well if not better than most, and the 250 Suzuki is extremely fast — and more important — quiet.
It is now history that the TT races have been postponed, and the imaginative plan of the editor to send a team to the Isle of Man, thwarted by the seaman's strike. Now the races will be held with classic status and Island approval has been given to hold the 250cc and sidecar events on Sunday, August 28th, so that there will be as little interference as possible with the usual bank holiday meetings on the following Monday.
Just as traditional is the post TT Mallory Park affair, when all the aces race on the Sunday after the TT week on their way back to the continent. This was held on its June date and the crowd saw a selection of works riders and machines, though it was left to John Cooper, Norton, and Dave Croxford, Matchless, to provide the highlight, when in the last solo race of the day they fought tooth and nail over twenty laps. So close were they on the last lap, that Croxford caught his boot under Cooper's rear brake lever, as they scratched round the 100 mph, 180-degree Gerards Bend. Cooper kicked himself free and went on to win by half a second. Peter Williams on the Arter Matchless came in third.
Although not a good race, the 350 was certainly one for the enthusiasts, as Hailwood was the winner on an "old" Honda four, while in second place came Phil Read on a 255cc four-cylinder, water cooled Yamaha. He got the better of Cooper's Norton, because of the Yamaha's superior acceleration. Read's moment of victory came in the 259 event, when he had a race-long dice with teammate Bill Ivy, knocking a second off the lap record in the process. Redman was third on an old Honda 4.
Yamaha were there in strength, for also at Mallory was newcomer Akiyasu Motohashi, who took sixth place in the 250 and second in the 125 behind Bill Ivy. At one stage it looked like victory for Frank Perris, but his Suzuki oiled up and he retired while second. The sidecar race resulted in a win for Fritz Scheidegger and John Robinson, who made it look all too easy — the sure mark of champions.
Out for the first time at Mallory were the new Rickman front forks, a logical development to their production line, in view of the highly successful frames they build for road racing and motocross. There are three versions: one for motocross and cross-country work with 6 Vi inches movement; one for racing and touring with 5 inches movement; and a road race special with mountings for disc brake caliper. The first impression is of immense size, conveyed by the use of 1s/s" diameter thin gauge high tensile steel stanchion, giving strength with lightness. Sealed damping units are used which contain a quantity of gas which compensates for plunger movement within the units. The steel stanchions are hard chromium plated and slide directly on the inner surface of the cast alloy sliders, giving a maximum bearing surface at all times. Within the stanchion are carried large diameter springs and the sealed damping unit. Conventional forks have oil damping and the efficiency of such units is affected by temperature, and the longer the race, the more aerated the oil may become, so decreasing the damping effect. The sealed unit of the Rickman design overcomes this problem; there is a small amount of oil, but only for lubricating the sliding section. Twin oil seals in each leg prevent the escape of this lubricant and the ingress of mud and water. The complete legs are carried in forged alloy yokes, heat treated for toughness. The head spindle is mounted in taper roller races and this mounting can be adapted to suit most frames. The disc brake is a recent Rickman-Lockheed development and comprises a 10" steel disc and alloy twin sided caliper operated hydraulically. The wheel and disc brake is sold only in conjunction with the forks designed for disc brake use.
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Latest famous personality to buy a Metisse is "Cheyenne Bodie" alias Clint Walker. His model will be powered by a 600cc Matchless engine, and as if to accentuate the wisdom of his choice, Don Rickman rode his immaculate Triumph-engined Metisse to victory in the British round of the World 500cc motocross, so gaining his first ever grand prix win. It was a meeting that meant much to many riders.
Championship leader Paul Friedrichs needed one more win to make sure of the title, but having entered, failed to turn up, and what is worse is reported as having ridden at a home meeting that has led to being suspended by the FIM. Both Smith and Tibblin could have gone on to win the title if they had won all the remaining four rounds. Rickman wanted to win, making it an all British success and his first grand prix; Eastwood was anxious to score, having traipsed all over Europe without gaining a point this season; so by the start of the first race, the atmosphere was electric.
Up went the starting gate, and away went Rickman with an absolute flier. At the first corner, he rode round the outside of everyone to take a quick lead, with Vlastimil Valek, 400cc Jawa, in hot pursuit and Jeff Smith, third. It took Smith eight laps to get the best of the Czech; then he rode like a demon, so that at the end of the first leg he was but 6.2 seconds behind Rickman. Valek held his third place and Chris Horsfield, really screaming an old two port CZ, beat Dave Bickers on a 1966 single-port effort by one second. Jan Johansson, 360 Lindstrom, completed the first six. The second leg soon settled down with Rickman leading Smith, but then Smith slipped through to take the lead and with both of them now lapping tail-enders, he opened up an appreciable lead. In the closing stages, Rickman fought back, so that at the flag he was 4.4 seconds behind, so gaining overall victory by 1.8 seconds in a total elapsed time of seventy-one minutes for the two races.
With such drama going on for the first two places, other riders had been forgotten. Poor Valek had a puncture when well placed, Eastwood held third place throughout and Horsfield again beat Bickers by one second, with Johansson repeating his first race sixth place. Tibblin failed to score, and so Friedrichs is assured of the 1966 title with 54 points to the 36 scored by Smith, Tibblin, 31, and Valek, 27, who make up the first four. It is interesting to note that Rickman, having ridden in one meeting, only goes straight into eighth place with his eight points. Friedrichs, in fact, made virtually certain of his title by winning the three rounds previous to the British meeting, which were held in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Russia. In the 250 class, Hallman and Robert are still the main contenders, although the brilliant young Czech, Peter Dobry, is still in the hunt, having won the last round held in East Germany. This was on the same day as the British 500cc meeting and it is a fact that he rode in supporting races at the East German meeting that will probably lead to Friedrich's suspension, unless he has a good excuse. Last year's champion Victor Arbekov came back to form with second place and could still retain his title if he won the remaining five rounds. Hallman and Robert failed to score, but it looks as if the superstition that the rider winning the opening meeting in Spain never gets the title, is going to work out again this year. Points at this stage are Hallman, 50; Robert, 40; Dobry, 32; and the Belgian Roger DeCoster, 23.
On the road racing front, the sidecar championship has already been decided in favor of Scheidegger and Robinson, who have won all four races held so far. Hailwood is very nicely placed in the 250 and 350 classes, having maximum points in each, but he has failed to score in the 500 class, which is now led by Agostini, 20 points from three rides, with Redman, second with 16 points. But Jim is unlikely to add to that score, for he has broken a wrist, probably putting himself out for the season. The accident occurred in the 500 race of the Belgian Grand Prix, when the roads were awash in a thunderstorm. This gave rise to an old argument about racing in the wet. It was obvious that the heavens were going to open, so an approach was made to the organizers to delay the start. This was done by Malcolm Edgar, who as motorcycle competitions chief of Castrol is an associate member of the FIM. The reply he received from Secretary General Goode was to the effect that five minutes would be allowed to adjust tire pressures and that, as professional racing motorcyclists, the riders should be able to cope with the conditions. This argument might have been considered valid enough, were it not for the fact that the bare minimum of three races was being run for it to qualify as a world championship meeting.
Total running time of the classic races was well under three hours and there was one other event for Belgian riders on 50cc machines. It was during that 500cc race that Redman broke his wrist, Derek Woodman a hip and Johnny Wales wrote off his Norton. But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good and young Stuart Graham, Matchless, gained a fine second place which could mean a Honda ride if Redman is out for the season or even an M.V. to help Agostini stave off the Honda challenge from Hailwood. Even Graham was in trouble, since before the meeting the organizers refused his entry on the grounds that he was not good enough, despite the fact that he was lying third in the world championship. Intervention by the president of the C.S.I.made them change their minds and only when practice had started was Graham told he could ride. This sort of thing shows a remarkable lack of understanding on the part of organizers and must be one of the most urgent matters that the World Championship Riders Association will try to deal with.
There has long been some talk of forming a racers' union and now it has come about, with the main aim to improve rider-promoter relations, a job the FIM should have been doing for years. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen, but they have started off soundly by forming a committee with no one rider as a spokesman. At the Belgian GP the group had a long meeting with the CSI president to present their point of view. Membership is restricted to top riders doing the world championship rounds, and the committee will comprise the leading six in each championship class, except the 50cc. There is little doubt that at the moment there are faults on both sides, brought about by failure to realize each other's problems. The riders, by forming the association, have the chance to set the pace for happier relations all around.
One final point concerning the TT races. If all the world championship titles are decided in the four solo classes from 125 to 500cc, don't be surprised if Hailwood attempts all four in an effort to beat his own record of three TT wins in one week.
