Classic Racer takes you so close you can actually smell the Castrol R. With the world's finest archive, and an editorial team who live and breathe the sport, the only way you'll get closer will be to put on your leathers.
If there should ever be a listing of the nicest people in motorcycle racing, then it is a sure-fire certainty that the name of Paul Smart would be one of those at the very top of the table. Tragically and ironically, after a career covering thousands of racing miles, Paul died in a collision with another vehicle while riding his motorcycle on the A21 near Hastings in Sussex on October 27. The subsequent and immediate reaction on social media to the news of Paul’s death was a massive outpouring of sympathy for Maggie, his wife of 50 years, and their children, Scott and Paula. It was proof indeed of just how much ‘Smartie’ meant to his friends and fans. And those tributes poured in from both sides of the Atlantic…
Wester Steven Cooley, AMA Superbike champion in 1979 and 1980, was always going to go motorcycle racing; after all, his father had done so before him. After the normal trials and tribulations of a journeyman racer,Wes was taken on byYoshimura R&D when they were running Kawasaki KZ1000 machinery in 1976. Cooley would take his first AMA Superbike win in 1977, before Pops and Fujio Yoshimura switched to Suzuki power for 1978. That bike was the Suzuki GS1000S and if anyone was synonymous with a machine and an era, it was Cooley and the bikini-faired Suzuki. The Suzuki’s chassis seemed to work better than the Kawasaki and it was Wes who managed to give Suzuki their first AMA title in 1979. At Daytona, Suzuki had a clean sweep in that year’s…
It is now 25 years sinceTroy Gordon Corser became the-then youngest ever World Superbike Champion aged just 24, as well as the first ever Australian to win the title… Troy started racing late by today’s standards at Oran Park aged 18, he would net a number of wins/State Championships on his proddie Suzuki RGV250 (he’d win the Australian National 250 Production title in 1990) before hitting the four-strokes in 1992, when he raced aYamaha OW-01. Corser would ride for the Winfield Honda team for 1993 where he’d take the Australian SuperbikeTitle, backing this up with the AMA title Stateside in 1994 in his rookie year: impressive and the first non-American to do so… A few wild-card rides that year in WSB showed his talent (he grabbed podiums at Donington Park,…
The need to adapt… Dear CR Our modern world seems to change more often and more rapidly, for example digital books and magazines, which in turn influences critical advertising revenue. Throw in the ongoing impact of a world pandemic and you have a perfect storm of trials and tribulations, particularly in the niche market of Classic Racer. I have to add once more that the essence of ‘classic’ varies by generation: my earliest recollection is racing around on my push bike and my dad calling me in for dinner, shouting: ‘Oi, Geoff Duke, it is dinner time!’ Conversely today’s dad might say ‘Marc Marquez’, and no doubt all decades along the way (Mike Hailwood, John Surtees, Barry Sheene and Valentino Rossi!) Some recent letters to CR have been mildly critical…
LEGENDS ALL! Dear CR The latest issue just landed on the doormat and I have to say it’s getting better and better! The inclusion of articles from the 1980s and 1990s is excellent, I know there are one or two people who complain about more modern stuff appearing, however, 1980 is 41 years ago now so surely fits the criteria of ‘classic?’ I loved the articles on Stavros, the Boost Boys’ battle in 1996, J F Balde and the ‘Whatever Happened to Cyril Smith?’ write up – characters one and all. Keep up the good work. I’ve extended my subscription for another two years! Tim Claridge The Editor says: “Thanks Tim, we know we can’t get the balance right every time but we do listen – so, everyone needs to…
YAMAHA RACING HERITAGE CLUB Yamaha Motor Europe has announced the formation of the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club. Designed to protect and share Yamaha’s racing history with younger generations, the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) will bring together selected collectors from around the world who count some of the iconic racing machines from Yamaha’s storied racing history amongst their collections. From Grand Prix racing the club will admit machines raced between 1955 and the end of the two-stroke era in 2003, while registrations from World Superbike and the Endurance World Championships will be open to machines raced in any of the production classes from 1987 until 2009. From the off-road world the YRHC will be open to motocross bikes raced before 1998 and Paris-Dakar machines that raced in Africa prior to…
