Not trying to contradict thi, Billy, but I thought it was Gauloises that he smoked It was all o'er t'papers when he had a hole drilled int chin bar of his helmet, so he could have a fag ont grid!
Sheene and Hunt brought motor racing to the attention of the masses, no doubt about that! As far as the kit goes, you can't stop the march of progress. Modern road tyres are leagues ahead of the crap the likes of Sheene and Roberts raced on. In the 500 2 smoke era the bikes, especially the last ones, were very difficult to master, tamed slightly with the big bang engines but still a real handfull. It's true the new GP bikes are more powerful and faster but they come with numerous rider aids which do just that. I seem to remember Lewis Hamilton driving Nigel Mansell's Williams a few years back and struggling with it. Three pedals and a proper gearbox, that's it. They should bring that format back IMO. Keep the safety features sure but bin all the push button crap on the steering wheel and lets see who can really drive.
Never done competative Motocross but watched a couple of meeting years ago. Kurt Nichol, Dave, Thorpe, Rob Herring etc. Taming the 500's for a full race those guys were athletes for sure!
Growing up with James Hunt and Barry Sheene as our heroes we had real role-models - bleedin' fast, hard partying, and with a dolly bird or two in the motor home! DS
The road race academies school youngsters how to act/speak in front of tv cameras and languages etc the schooling isn’t solely riding a bike fast. Sponsors nowadays expect a certain standard. Playboys we had them in the 60’s with the likes of Hailwood,Ivy,Read to name just a few.
No mate certainly not the 60’s,no money then and still haven’t got any Are you known as a racing playboy
From Sheene's wikipedia entry... "He even had a hole drilled through the chin-bar on his full-face helmet allowing him to smoke right up to the start of a race."
Nice trip down memory lane @Bad Billy. I was a big Mick Doohan fan with him being an Aussie (won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships) and then followed Kiwis Dr Rodger Freeth, Aaron Slight, and Simon Crafar who did well in Malaysian racing before progressing. Freeth moved to co-driving Rally cars and being a tall man surprised many with his V8 powered Toyota Starlet (he sat in the back seat)
Talkin of Aussies, remember Wayne Gardner, then Graeme Crosby comin over her racing straight barred Moriwaki's. Both were awesome to watch, and both progressed to 500 GP rides. And don't forget the "Angry Ant", Paul Lewis!! He could slide a bike!!
Wayne was pretty special ( I had forgotten about him) and Graeme was a Kiwi (my mates older brother) who excelled in many classes. He now restores Z1 for work/pleasure https://www.graemecrosby.co.nz/
Billy, that's just reminded me of an image I'll never forget. I was spectating at Coppice, and Doohan was going round there sideways, with full opposite lock, every lap. You could see t'tyre smoking, it was awesome!!
Two more of our antipodean cousins, who could ride a bike, were Daryl Beattie and Gary McCoy. Our lass had a Beattie rep Shoei. There's bin loads of good aussie/Kiwi riders over t'years.
Jarno Saarinen, great racer left us early, used to have his girlfriend do the pit signals. View attachment 111578
Jarno Saarinen, great racer left us early, used to have his girlfriend do the pit signals. Actually, think it was his wife
To go along with this . . . there used to be a NASCAR racer named Dick Trickle (yes, that was his real name) who was infamous for smoking as he drove in races -and he drove a LOT of them. He even had cigarette lighters installed in his race cars.
Dick Trickle was a great driver, could drive anything, really good on short tracks. Couple of good guys raced wearing wingtip shoes! Dave Marcis and Bobby Allison too I think.
