Today in motorcycle history, October 23-28, 2014

Vacation calls, see you next week.  Thanks for reading.

Today in motorcycle history, October 22, 1972

  



  

  A special one-off race at Rungis, the fruit and vegetable market district near Orly airport in Paris, is supposed to feature the cream of the crop of the 1972 Grand Prix circus.

  In 1972, Rungis was frequented by a large amount of non-shopping young men on motorcycles, scooters and anything else that moved on two wheels.  They would set up impromptu races on the weekends, often leading to fatalities, so the authorities decided to organize an official event.  However, despite the effort by the organizers, the big-bucks Grand Prix of Paris was a bust. But it was outside influences that caused its downfall.  Saturday practice was scheduled for four o'clock to six o'clock in the afternoon. The truck drivers who use the market had promised to be finished in time but at four they had only just started to leave and so practice had to be cancelled.


  It turned out to be a really crappy site. Within the market area there were drainage ditches across the circuit, let alone the slime left by all the rotten produce.


  An estimated crowd of 40,000 showed up, but more than three times that had been expected.  It rained most of the day and only five of the twenty-five qualifiers for the Formula Libre race finished, which was won by Sweden's Kent Andersson on a 350 Yamaha.


  That evening ex-125cc World Champion Dave Simmonds was killed by an explosion in fellow-racer Jack Findlay's trailer in the GP paddock.  Jack and his wife were away when his mother smelled smoke and raised the alarm.  Simmonds and Billie Nelson had doused the flames when the explosion occurred.






  The Rungis experiment was never repeated.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk