Time Lords at the TT

[What?]

Yes,that's Eric Bone's 71 350 A7,dunno what name they put on them.

Avenger. I wanted one, once. But I was young...

[Motu]

Motu: I was going to say "is it Eric Bone"!!.

Yeah,how come he can fit into his old leathers when others of us can't fit into last years outfit! Kawasaki's are still number one in Eric's life - to go for a ride with him leaves you needing to buy the latest bike...must be slow if an old 70s 2 stroke can go around the outside of you on corners...an ability to consume mega Lion Red is a help too.Triples of all shapes and sizes in his shed,but the 350 A7 is kinda special - he just picked up another one too...how bought that,if a 350 Kawa twin needs to be tossed out after sitting for 17 years,who better to to take care of it.

[merv]

And Suzuki used to name all their bikes - the T500 was the Titan, they had a Rebel (T250?) and Apache (T350?) and I forget the rest (old age!)

No the T250 was the Hustler, the T350 was the Rebel - you got the Titan right and the Apache was the TS400 dirt bike. I was mainly into dirt bikes then so remember TS90 Honcho, TS125 Duster, TS185 Sierra and TS250 Savage - great names huh.

The smaller road bike was the T125 Stinger.

[merv]

And who can remember Mike Gane from Tauranga.

I was at the six hour the year they introduced the CBX (1978) and Mike Gane, Alan Collinson and a few others were riding them. You could see they had demon speed on the straights compared to the rest of the bikes but sadly for Honda they never went the distance and I think it was Gane's that blew dramatically in a cloud of smoke on the back straight.

Croz was on the Z1R and turned the quickest laps later in the day trying to make up for Tony Hatton dropping it, but then his engine blew too. That was the first year Croz rode with a partner and it spoiled his winning streak. I presume they changed the rules to make two riders compulsory. If I remember rightly this was then the beginning of the very successful Hiscock/Chivas winning streak.

[Rocketman]

Hi,

Reading this thread has brought a tear to my eye, especially the photo of the A3.

In 1970 I bought a brand-new Kawasaki A1 Samurai 250cc at a cost of $899! The A3 was then $999. My memories are of a well finished bike that could really move, had a narrow power band and virtually "ate" spark plugs. Unfortunately, it didn't have electronic ignition like the Mach III. It definitely didn't handle that well compared to bikes of today, or even Triumphs, BSA's of those days, but it was my first new bike and I loved it. Sometimes wish I had kept it but then I've thought that about a number of bikes I've owned over the years. I'm sure many riders would agree.

Bikes today are definitely more reliable and less labour intensive but I enjoyed motorcycling as much then as I do now - for most, the years don't change the magic...

Cheers.

[LB]

Merv: they did change the rules after a few years making it obligatory for there to be two riders. I think they also had a rule that one of them had to do a minimum time (2 hours??)

Rocketman: you're right, the years don't change the magic indeed.

[What?]

Merv: they did change the rules after a few years making it obligatory for there to be two riders. I think they also had a rule that one of them had to do a minimum time (2 hours??)

Rocketman: you're right, the years don't change the magic indeed.

Them was the days! The 6 hr had min / max riding times, and yes, the 2-man team was made compulsory. I attended every 6 hour from '78 to the last one in '88, bar '82 (bugger). The Hiscocks, Robert Holden, Bob Toomey, the list could go on for a bit, all great riders. The memories are all still clear(ish). A great shame the 6 hour died. It was like Mecca.

[Kickaha]

Them was the days! The 6 hr had min / max riding times, and yes, the 2-man team was made compulsory. I attended every 6 hour from '78 to the last one in '88, bar '82 (bugger). The Hiscocks, Robert Holden, Bob Toomey, the list could go on for a bit, all great riders. The memories are all still clear(ish). A great shame the 6 hour died. It was like Mecca.

I only went to the last two,but remember Aaron Slight in the two hour proddy race on a RZ250 (I think) at the time the 87 event was the biggest motorcycle event I had ever been to,sadly the following year it was more like a club race with very few people attending as the WSBK was soon to be held their.

[LB]

My first six hour was I think in 1977 - it was the year that there was that big pile-up at the start (they didn't do Le Mans starts the first couple of years) and the Norton went up in flames. A very sad sight. I went to every one after that till they finished. Magic races.

[merv]

So who remembers the winners?

Went something like this that I remember starting in 1974:

1974 Ginger Molloy - solo
1975 Graeme Crosby - solo
1976 Graeme Crosby - solo
1977 Graeme Crosby - solo
1978 Dave Hiscock, Neil Chivas first double pair
then didn't they win every year until
1983 Bill Biber, Phil Payne
1984 Alan DeLatour, Dave Martin

then we had kids and my memory goes a bit fuzzy.

1983 race was a cracker because all the fancied runners dropped by the wayside and Bill brought the bike home - that was the year of the VF750F that had more grunt than any of its competitors but it was early days with watercooled bikes and they all seemed to clap out after they pitted. After that teams started squirting radiators with CO2 fire extinguishers. Alan DeLatour was the pace setter streaking off to an early lead only to have the bike refuse to run properly after that first stop. Probably blew a gasket like Mr Melon's bike.

Here's a couple of pics - DeLatours bike number 5 some time soon after the first pitstop and then Bill Biber crossing the finish line on number 6 while the Aussies (who can rememebr their names) were about to push their dead bike number 3 over the line to log a finish.

We were talking on the other thread about racing, sponsorship etc. In the 80s guys like Bill Biber and Phil Payne could race with Honda City sponsorship and we all remember the support of Wellington Motorcylces was immense. Sales funded that kind of stuff. Not any more.

[merv]

... and here's Bill Biber, same leathers 2 months later at Lyall Bay still with Honda City written on the bike.

[merv]

... and you could race anything. My memory is fading but was this Warwick Jamieson (sidecar racer normally) or someone else?

[LB]

Ah Merv....more great memories!

Bill Biber has a t-shirt with all the winners on it. I did write them down somewhere but I've lost it. I'll get the names from him again. Last winners were Tony Rees and Dave Hicks.

Not sure who's on the scooter, but from memory we ran scooter races at Lyall Bay and also at the Shell Two Wheelers at Manfeild.

Dave Hiscock and Neil Chivas did win a number of them, but I think there's someone else in the equation there too.

Wgtn Motorcycles had some really neat innovative ideas for this race - like packing the tanks in dry ice so they could get more petrol in them, and instead of refilling, they put replaced the empty tank for a full (cold) one! They changed the rules the following year so that you had to refill.

[SPman]

Took an A7SS (the street scrambler with twin high level pipes on one side)for a test ride in 72 - went bloody well, but ended up with a new S2 triple - not quite as quick but sounded and handled better! In fact , I reckoned it handled better than me mates RD350's. Plugs that lasted 4-500 miles and and engine rebuild every 4000 miles.........aaah, those were the days!
When it comes to post classic racing, seeing Eric out there, IS a time warp

[Kickaha]

I seem to remember Bill Biber racing a BMW K100 at some meetings as well.

And wasn't it the bikes whose petrol tanks were packed in ice that couldn't use the gas up fast enough to stop the tanks expanding as they warmed up? it the.

They also ran scooter races at Ruapuna at early Bears meetings.


1983 Bill Biber/Phil Payne, was this the year the bike missed post race scrutineering as someone had to be dropped off at the airport and some people reckoned it was so they had time to replace the "illegal" parts with the stock ones before the bikes were pulled down? I'm sure there's more than one story like that about different winners and bikes.