Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
ALREADY WELL KNOWN in the U. S., the Spanish Ossa factory is now attacking the British market with trials and scrambles machinery, and the man they have chosen to sort out the bugs is Mick Andrews, the one rated so highly by Sammy Miller. Mick has already ridden the scrambles bike at a couple of television meetings, the first of which was spent sorting out carburetion; at the second, the international against Czechoslovakia, he had two thirds and a second place. Trials and scramble models are similar, featuring a 230cc engine of 70mm bore and 60mm stroke with central plug position. Both have duplex frames and one-piece fiberglass gas tank and seat mounting and Telesco forks with 6-1/2 inches movement on the trials model. Tires are 4.00 — 18 rear and 2.75— 21 front. Other features include taper roller steering bearings, duplex primary chain, engine shaft shock absorber, needle roller small end bearings and a cable-operated cross-over rear brake. Foot controls are continental style — brake on the right, gear change on the left. Compression ratio is 8.1 for the trialer and 10.1 for the scrambles job; the gas tank holds just over two gallons. As can be seen from the photograph, it is a unit construction machine. Production will start when Mick has had a chance to check out any teething problems.
Sprite, who had hoped to get a supply of Starmaker engines for their machines, now have Husqvarna units instead. Meanwhile, another name is to appear on the trials scene, that of Cheetah, who aim for quality of finish and design detail. A nickel-plated Reynolds 531 tube frame is the basis of the model, with a claimed ground clearance over eleven inches. Using a Villiers engine, one is to be ridden by Arthur Dovey in the Scottish Six Days trial this year. He has already taken delivery of the model.
Kit form machines are all the rage now, especially since it reduces the cost in the U. K. because of the purchase tax rating. Another to boast a 15-pound frame is Wasp, built to house a Villiers or Bultaco engine. They hope to get a big Stateside order soon and also to supply Canada.
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The first big national of 1967, the Vic Brittain trial, resulted in a win for Gordon Farley, Triumph, whose 34 mark deficit gave him a clear seven-mark win from Scott Ellis. BSA and Malcolm Davis, Greeves, who tied for second place, with Ellis getting the verdict on the special test. In the sidecar class, too, seven marks separated the winner Kan Kendall, Ariel, from similarly mounted Alan Morewood. Where was Sammy Miller? Out in Spain signing a three-year contract with Bultaco. In the first race, Browming took an early lead, but was soon overhauled by Bickers. At this stage, Hrebecek was third; but this was short-lived, for Wade, riding in his first representative match, pulled through to third with Eastwood behind him. A 1-2-3-4-for the home team was spoiled on the last lap when Eastw'ood ran out of gas and pushed in last. No such mistake was made in the second leg, which finished with Bickers, Browning, Wade and Eastwood the first four home. Petr Dobry, who was the star of last year’s match, failed to impress, the best of the Czechs being veteran Valek out on a 394 Jawa equipped with hydraulic steering damper. Just one of many experiments the Czechs are making including bench tests with a 380cc CZ. It had been hoped to run another international match against East Germany, but it has been turned down by the Germans, as they say Eriedrichs is still unfit.
Highlight of the motocross world has been the visit of a Czechoslovakian team to compete against Great Britain in a television motocross match. Last year, the home side took a thrashing in a similar event, so it was a case of “revenge is sweet,” when, in two races, the Czechs were soundly beaten. The British team consisted of Dave Bickers, 250 CZ, Vic Eastwood, 494 BSA. Arthur Browning, 360 Greeves and Bryan Wade, 250 Greeves, up against Vlastimil Valek, 394 Jawa, Josek Hrebecek, 360 CZ, Ivan Polas and Petr Dobry, both on 250 CZs.
Dave Bickers has now won the 250 Television Grandstand Trophy with six wins in six rides, to retain the trophy that has been his since its inception; but things are different in the 750 class, where he has been beaten the last three times out. But as every ride counts to the trophy, the last two rounds would have to be pretty disastrous for Dave if Arthur Browning is to catch him. Browning is the man of the moment, for in the finest race yet seen on the television, he held off Bickers in the last round of the 750 race at Cuerden Park, Preston. He passed Dave early in the race and then held him off for five laps to take the flag a few lengths ahead of Dave. The following week with no Bickers. Browning was again the star, beating Jeff Smith, BSA, in a commercial television meeting.
On the international front, Husqvarna are to support Bryan Goss for the world 250 motocross championship series, while Joel Robert nearly lost all hope of competing for three months by a suspension imposed on him by the Belgian Federation, who alleged Robert had insulted them by his action at a recent presentation. Ft is reported that he refused to accept a check as his share of a fund the Belgians have raised to help support their riders who go abroad for grand prix meetings. He argued that it should go to less successfid men and not to those with works contracts. His refusal to accept was taken as an affront to the president of the Belgian Federation, who was making the presentation. This and other incidents, both in Belgium and other countries, were said to have been taken into consideration when the sentence was imposed. Robert’s immediate reaction was to fly to England to ask Harold Taylor to intercede on his behalf. In the interest of the sport and as a private individual he did this and due to Taylor’s tact and diplomacy and the dignity with which he was met by the Belgians, the suspension was lifted after a written public apology and a fine of about $1,000!
Final motocross new's comes from South Africa, where the Rickman brothers are racing. Don had flu on arrival, so at the first meeting, it was Derek who did all the winning. While they are away, work is proceeding at the factory with a new frame to house the 750cc Atlas engine. Busy on this new project, Peter Pykett said that by angling the gearbox, everything fits in nicely and added, ’‘it will be a real man’s machine — even with a standard motor.”
Another job going on down at the New Milton factory is the frame for the Fontana three-cylinder road racing engine now known as the Cardani, from the names of financier Carlo Savare and designer Daniele Fontana. It is hoped that John Hartle will race one in the TT but many skeptics do not believe that an engine can be designed, built and raced in under a year, for that is what will be achieved if the plan is successful. Time alone will tell.
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Best kept secret of 1966 was the fact that John Blanchard had a try-out at Hockenheim on the Fath 4 in solo form. A phone call to sponsor Colin Seeley failed to gain any further details, except that John will be on the Seeley machines again this year and that Colin, himself, hopes to compete regularly on his BMW outfit, hut is snowed under with letters from all over the world for AMC spares, the production of which is going ahead steadily.
Good news about Derek Minter is that his hand, injured last year at the TT, is now responding well to treatment, and he has been out practicing on his Nortons. Seems it will be Nortons again this year, as Gilera have decided against a full-scale comeback, which in turn means that Frank Perris will hang up his leathers and migrate to South Africa.
Luigi Taveri is having his annual thoughts about retirement, but the strongest argument against it is that he, like a good wine, improves with each successive season. Honda will be “right in the dirt” if his contract goes back unsigned, but it is more likely he will race and see if he is still in form.
There is little news of Honda machinery, except that the three-cylinder 50cc has been dropped. Yamaha, on the other hand, have decided that four cylinders are the thing for all their attempts in 1967. Fours will be used in both 125 and 250 classes, and a full-sized 350 four will be available for the TT and certain classics after that. They are on the look-out for another rider to join Phil Read and Bill Ivy, though why they will not consider Mike Duff is beyond me, as he was back on top form at the end of the last season and is one of the most experienced men in the game. If Taveri did retire, we could see an “all change” shift with Stuart Graham on Suzuki and Duff moving over to Honda.
An obvious candidate for Yamaha must be John Cooper, especially as he is signed with Castrol. However, his knowledge of grand Prix circuits is limited. Who knows, he may end up with a ride on Scheidegger’s 500cc four-cylinder Adler, for Fritz has abandoned the idea of using it as a sidecar power unit and is thinking of running it as a solo for some meetings, complete with a disc brake system. Fritz will ride again this year, putting his faith in a short stroke BMW once again for world championship events, though his ambition at the moment is to succeed with his 700cc BMW built specially to combat the mini menace of Owen Greenwood and the big BSA of Chris Vincent.
Another all ready to go at the start of the season is Derek Woodman, who has had the pin removed from his injured hip. He will again be on works MZ machinery, together with Heinz Rosner, the brilliant East German rider who could well be one of the stars of 1967, Also back on the tracks will he the Lancefield Nortons. Steve Lancefield had rotten luck at the beginning of last year when both his machines were pranged early on. Now he has Steve Spencer, a 27-year-old factory tester at Triumph, to ride for him at the short circuits and the TT. Another busy tuner at the moment is Ray Petty, who is building up an outside flywheel Norton that he has had around for a few years. Tom Kirby will have Dave Degens and Pat Mahoney out on works development Kirby Metisse machines in the solo classes while Terry Vinicombe will be his representative in the sidecar classes. Tom will also support Jim Aim in the motocross field, paying particular attention to the 600cc Matchless Metisse in the “supercross” class.
The proposed car vs. bike race in the Isle of Man is definitely off, and the far more practicable idea of a production bike race has been put forward. Details have not been finalized, but it seems as if it would consist of three classes: 250, 500, and 750, with 30 starters in each racing concurrently over three laps of the mountain circuit with a starting interval between classes. It would be a national race, therefore open only to riders licensed in the British Isles and will probably be held on the Saturday evening at the end of practice week, as were the ill-fated Formula 1 races back in 1959.
One person who will not be at the Diamond Jubilee TT meeting is Harold Daniell, who died in his sleep recently, having suffered for some while with heart trouble. But his name will live in the history of the races, for he was the first to lap the Island at over 91 mph, a feat he achieved when winning the 1938 Senior race, which he won again in 1947 and 1949. His 1938 record stood until 1950, when Geoff Duke went around at over 93 on one of the first Norton featherbeds. Harold was one of the few who sought to put more back into the sport than they get out of it and he will be sadly missed.
Next month will see the first report of road racing in 1967 and all points to it being a great season, especially in the world championships. Another Yank will be over here for the first time — young Andy Lascoutx. Aged 20 and hailing from Ashland, some thirty miles from Boston, Andy is fortunate in being sponsored by John Jacobson of Boston Yamaha, who has provided the bike, a 1966 TD1B and spares. Andy’s most important win to date is last year’s 250 class of the Canadian Grand Prix, among many firsts gained in 1966. He comes to Europe as the official representative of the AAMRR and you will be able to learn just how he gets on through this column.
