Today in motorcycle history, January 9, 2006 & 2007

  




  

  The Dakar Rally claims the lives of two of it's riders.

  On January 9, 2006, Australian Andy Caldecott, riding for the factory KTM team in place of the injured Spaniard Jordi Duran, dies instantly after crashing halfway thru the Ninth Stage, 250km (155.34 miles) into the 599 km (372.9 mile) Special Stage from Nouakchott to Kiffa.
  Caldecott was born in Keith, South Australia. A long-time veteran of motorcycle endurance competition, Andy won the Australian Safari Rally four times consecutively (2000–2003) and was a competitor in the Dakar Rally in 2004 (DNF), 2005 (6th), and 2006.

  The following year, South African Elmer Symons is killed after crashing his privateer KTM at 142 km (88.23 miles) into the fourth stage in his first attempt to complete the Rally as a rider. The emergency helicopter was with him within 8 minutes of his emergency alert beacon triggering, but, sadly, was unable to do anything other than record his death.  He was in 18th place for motorcycles overall, and leading the Marathon class after the previous stage.
  Originally from Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, he began enduro racing in 1996 and moved to the U.S. in 2003. Elmer had success in numerous regional competitions and was making his debut in the Dakar Rally after previously participating in the 2005 and 2006 Rally as a support mechanic.

Today in motorcycle history, January 8, 2006

  

  

  California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, riding his Harley-Davidson (illegally), collides with a car in Los Angeles, ruining his day and his upper-lip. 

  Celebrity/actor/Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his sidecar-equipped Harley-Davidson down Mandeville Canyon Road, a winding, two-lane, dead-end residential street in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood with his 12-year-old son in the sidecar, when a car allegedly backed out in front of him and the Governor was unable to stop and collided with the car totally ruining his Sunday "dad-time". 

  It turns out that Schwarzenegger did not have the proper endorsement on his California driver’s license to operate a motorcycle.

  Los Angeles Police Lt. Paul Vernon said police did not ticket the Governor for a violation because they arrived after the accident, which left Schwarzenegger with a cut on his upper lip that required 15 stitches.  Perhaps the "Governator" convincingly performed mea culpa for never having a motorcycle license and his promise to get one would put an end to "this silly ticket talk" and also end the media's interest in the event.  Where was TMZ?!

   Lt. Vernon said that the officers would refer their findings to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which would determine if the Governor should be cited for an infraction.  Driving a motorcycle in California without the proper license can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more.

  City attorney spokesman Jonathan Diamond said the office somehow had not received the LAPD report.

  Earlier Tuesday, Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he never bothered to obtain a motorcycle license because he “never thought about it.  I'm busy being the Governor for crissakes.”

  California Highway Patrol officers (Ponch and Jon?) accompanied Schwarzenegger on the ride.  CHP Spokesman Tom Marshal said CHiPs officials concluded that the governor was permitted to operate a motorcycle with a sidecar.

 “We’re not criticizing the LAPD,” he said after learning of the department’s finding. “We haven’t seen the report, ... but we read the vehicle code as a motorcycle with a sidecar is the same as driving a car.” (huh?)  Another highway patrol spokesman, Steve Kohler, declined to discuss if officers had checked, or would check in the future, whether the Governor, or any high-ranking politician, had a proper license.  Kohler said he could not disclose such information because it involved Schwarzenegger’s protective detail.  Read as, No.

  Los Angeles police had no immediate response to the highway patrol’s statement, department spokeswoman Sara Faden said.

Today in motorcycle history, January 7, 1960

  

  


  

  The undisputed king of 3-wheels, sidecar champion Steve "Webbo" Webster M.B.E., is born.

  The most successful sidecar racer ever began his career in 1980 at  Elvington Airfield circuit, near York, and along the way he amassed wins and championships at every level, culminating in 2004's staggering achievement of an unprecedented triple crown of British, European and World titles.

  Out of the 172 Grand Prix and World Cup races Steve Webster entered, he has 57 wins, 37 second places and 27 third place finishes, as well as 78 pole positions.  Webster won the FIM Sidecar World Championship on 10 occasions, with Tony Hewitt, Gavin Simmons, David James and Paul "Woody" Woodhead.  

  In 1985 Webster and Hewitt had a massive crash at the Dutch TT at Assen, (a favorite crash highlight shown over and over on sport TV channels), where the sidecar left the track at high speed, slid along the grass before hitting a drainage ditch. 

  On Sunday, September 4, 2005, amid emotional scenes at the Circuit van Drenthe at Assen, Holland, the ten time World Champion announced he was going to hang up his leathers and helmet for good.

  His decision calls to an end a magnificent and unparalleled record-breaking career that had seen him rise from a 19-year-old club racer to the most successful sidecar racer in the history of the FIM World Championships.

  Grown men unashamedly shed tears in the Assen paddock on that chilly, September Sunday evening.

  The end of an era.

Today in motorcycle history, January 6, 2008

  

  

  

  The MV Agusta as Art exhibit closes.  Leaving new-found fans searching Craig's List across America for vintage MVA's.  

  Transportation meets art in The Motorcycle, Italian Style: Riding the Curves with MV Agusta, at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center, Stamford, Connecticut, closes on January 6 after a highly successful 3 month run.
   This vintage motorcycle exhibition traces MV Agusta from its World War II inception to modern day.  More than 30 bikes, most from the Classic era (1945-1980), were on display.

   Between 1948 and 1976 MV Agusta won over 3000 races and an astounding 63 World Championships overall.  In the 500cc Class alone they would win the World Championship in 1956 and then from 1958 to 1974.  With legendary riders John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini (on an MV Three) and Phil Read, all aboard the fire-engine red machines.

  With the death of Count Domenico Agusta in 1971, the company lost its guiding force.  The works won their last Grand Prix in 1976 and by the 1980 Grand Prix season they were out of racing.  Sadly, shortly thereafter they would cease production until being resurrected by Cagiva in 1991.

Today in motorcycle history, January 3, 1938

  

    

  Kelvin "Kel" Carruthers is born in Sydney, Australia. 

  Kel Carruthers was the 250cc Grand Prix Road Race World Champion in 1969.  As a rider, he is well known for winning not only the World Champion title, but also for his victories in the 250cc class at Nurburgring and the Isle of Man (twice '69 and '70).  He went on to have a brief, but highly successful racing career in America before becoming one of the most successful team managers and racing engineers in the history of the sport – heading both US National and World Championship teams during the 1970's and ‘80's.  Kel ran the teams on which a brash kid named Kenny Roberts would win three consecutive 500cc World Championships and then three more with Eddie Lawson on works Yamahas.

  In 1970, he went within an ace of being the first rider to win a world Grand Prix Championship on "private machinery".  He won more GP's on his self-tuned Yamaha than had the previous year on a works bike and set the fastest lap in five races, but broken contact breakers on the TD2’s standard ignition caused several DNF's.

  Carruthers finished third in the 1968 350cc Championship on an Aermacchi single and was runner-up in the 1970 350cc Championship, riding most of the season on a second-hand Yamaha TR2.

  Known as a very keen, precision rider, so much that in five European seasons he never broke a bone, went to a hospital or missed a race due to injury.

  Kel Carruthers was inducted in the AMA Hall of Fame in 1999.

Today in motorcycle history, January 2, 1969

  


  

  Under the watchful eye of Dr. Stefan Bauer, the Norton Commando is given the Isolastic frame.


  The revolutionary part of the Commando, compared to earlier Norton models, was the award-winning frame developed by former Rolls Royce engineer Dr. Stefan Bauer.  He believed the classic Norton Featherbed design went against all engineering principles, so Bauer designed his frame around a single 2.25 inch top tube. Bauer tried to free the Commando from classic twin vibration problems, which had severely increased as the engine design expanded from the original 500cc.

  Dr. Bauer, along with Norton-Villiers Chief Engineer Bernard Hooper and assistant Bob Trigg, decided that essentially, the entire engine-transmission package would be suspended on rubber mounts, attach the swing arm pivot to the back of the engine to keep the chain travel constant and to give the vibration a path to the ground (out the back wheel).  It was baptized the "Isolastic Suspension System" and it made the new 1969 Norton Commando 750 an overnight sensation.

  The Norton Commando became the seminal Norton and the sole model that carried it to its demise in 1975.  In 1973, the ancient vertical twin that started out life as a 500cc for the 1949 Norton Model 7, had been punched out to 600cc for the 1956 Norton Model 77 and Model 99, then again to 650cc for the 1962 Norton Dominator 650SS, and yet one more time to 750cc for the 1962 Norton Atlas, was yet again enlarged, this time to 850cc for Commando duty.  In 1975, it grew an electric starter, then died shortly thereafter (kind of ironic, ain't it).  Norton was in receivership by 1975, control of the factory jostled back and forth, but a few more Commandos trickled out in 1976 and 1977, with the last few finally being sold as 1978's.

Today in motorcycle history, December 31, 1947

  



  

  Britains forgotten four.  The 1948 Wooler prototype, a four-cylinder shaft drive, begins to take shape as the frame is finally ready to accept the latest John Wooler wonder.  

  John Wooler designed his first motorcycle in 1909 – a two-stroke horizontal single-cylinder machine with a double-ended piston. The first production model was a 230 cc two-stroke with front and rear plunger spring suspension and a patent "anti-vibratory" frame. The motorcycle was manufactured by Wilkinson from1912-1914 with a 344cc engine and marketed as the Wilkinson-Wooler. Production was halted with the outbreak of WWI.

  Wooler began it's own production in 1919 with a new and advanced machine which was entered in the 1921 Junior TT where it was nicknamed the "Flying Banana" by the legendary racer Graham Walker.

  Very little was ever heard from John Wooler again. Until the 1948 London Show. One of the sensations of that event was a prototype 500cc Wooler shaft-drive tourer with an extraordinary four-cylinder engine. Horizontally-opposed pistons were connected to its crankshaft via a single main connecting rod and a complex rocking-beam mechanism.

  Although John Wooler was reluctant to admit it, his innovative engine was completely impractical. To salvage the project, his son Ronald designed a more orthodox horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine. The redesigned four has a compact all-alloy power unit with one carb for each pair of cylinders and overhead valves operated by pushrods from camshafts in the lower engine. Drive to the rear wheel from the single-plate clutch and four-speed transmission was by a shaft and bevel gears. Maintaining Wooler’s ‘Flying Banana’ tradition, the fuel tank unit extends forward ahead of the neck and forms the headlamp nacelle. A toolbox is built into the top of the transmission and an oil pressure gauge is located just ahead of it.

  Predating Honda’s Gold Wing flat-four shaft drive tourer by 20 years, the Wooler set out to offer the highest levels of comfort, silence and ease of use. But Wooler lacked the finance needed to develop and make a competitive product. As few as five machines are thought to have been assembled before John Wooler died and his company folded.