Today in motorcycle history, August 31, 2007

  

  

  The Moto Guzzi Norge 1200 GT is voted "Motorcycle of the Year" by Motociclismo magazine.

  At the 2007 “Motorcycle of the Year” awards held by the influential magazine “Motociclismo” the opinions of more than 36,000 readers put the Moto Guzzi Norge ahead of sacrosanct machines in the GT sector like the BMW R 1200 RT, a bike that had previously won the award seven times.


  Norge 1200 GT is a Gran Turismo bike that takes its name from the original GT Norge famous for making a 4,000-mile test ride in 1928—from the company headquarters in Italy to just inside the Arctic Circle of Norway's Capo Nord — to prove its suspension prototype: the world's first rear swingarm suspension. Moto Guzzi celebrated the Norge introduction in 2005 by re-tracing the 1928 ride. Reinforcing Moto Guzzi's history, the design of the Norge and its fairing was refined in the company's historic wind tunnel at the Mandello del Lario headquarters.

  According to 'Rider' magazine - "...it’s very clear that in 2007 Guzzi does know precisely what it’s doing." 

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Today in motorcycle history, August 30 , 1966

  



  

  Motorcycle extraordinaire, Gus Kuhn dies at 67.

  Gus Kuhn rode or competed in road racing, scrambles, trials riding, sand racing, hill climbs, rodeo riding, sprint riding, Speedway riding, long distance reliability trials riding, Gold Medal winner in International Six Day Trials, five-time Isle of Man racer, rider in the motorcycle Wall of Death, and it seemed every other two-wheeled exploit a man can think of. But it was in Speedway that he attained his greatest fame.


  Kuhn took part in some of the earliest Speedway meetings in the UK and was Captain of the Stamford Bridge team when they  won the first Southern League Championship in 1929. After Stamford Bridge closed in 1932, he spent nearly five years racing for the Wimbledon Dons. Gus did a stint with the Wembley Lions before becoming Captain of the Lea Bridge team in 1938. A combination of age, his *motorcycle business and WWII led to him to retiring from Speedway in 1939 after a brief spell with the Southampton Saints.


  “A wily master of track-craft, a brilliant mechanic, a darned hard man to get past (and not only because of his portly figure), and above all a thorough sportsman and a jolly good fellow.” - Speedway News,  May 16, 1936



  *In 1932 Kuhn founded Gus Kuhn Motors in Clapham Road, Stockwell, London. Dealing in Triumphs, BSA and Nortons.  

  

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Today in motorcycle history, August 29, 1976

  




  

  Italy's Giacomo Agostini wins the 1976 500cc Class German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring Circuit in Nurburg, Germany. The race would be his 122nd and final Grand Prix win. 

  Giacomo Agostini is considered by many to be perhaps the greatest Grand Prix rider of all time. In a career that spanned seventeen years, the peerless Agostini won fifteen World Champion Grand Prix titles (eight in 500cc Class and seven in 350cc Class), twelve Isle of Man TT crowns and took the checkered flag in a jaw-dropping 122 Grand Prix races. Along the way he became motorcycling's first rock star.  


  Agostini made his American racing debut in the Daytona 200 in March of 1974. That year the race was jam-packed with bevy of talent, including Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene. Agostini jumped out to an early lead, but then had to battle Sheene, Roberts and Gary Nixon. For half the race, the quartet staged some of the most exciting laps ever turned in the 200. Eventually, the other three riders fell by the wayside due to bike problems or crashes and Agostini rode to victory in his first Daytona. Winning the 200 not only added immensely to Giacomo’s popularity in America (17th most popular baby name in '74), but it also helped solidify the Daytona 200’s standing as a world-class motorcycle race.




  Did you know, Nurburgring was completed in spring of 1927, and the first motorcycle race took place on June 18, 1927. The race was won by Germany's Toni Ulmen on an English-built 350cc Velocette. 

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 28, 1972

   


     







  The place where legends were born. The last motorcycle race at London's Crystal Palace is held.







  Without mentioning the legendary riders/racers that set legendary lap/race records in legendary races at 'The Palace' here's a snapshot of how motorcycle racing began and ended. 



  The plan for motorcycle racing at Crystal Palace actually was put into play in 1926 when a group of bike "enthusiasts"  under the guise of London Motor Sports Ltd approached the Crystal Palace trustees to see if the grounds of the Palace could provide a venue for motorcycle racing in London.  Incredibly, the trustees voted in their favor and on May 21, 1927 the first races were held.  A crowd of over 10,000 turned out to witness seven solo and three sidecar races on the hastily, and roughly, created one-mile track.  

  In May, 1972 the Greater London Council's Arts and Recreation Committee decided to close the track at the end of that season. The National Sports Centre wanted to expand, complaints of noise pollution, the cost of improving spectator facilities and bringing the track up to the then new 'international standards' were allegedly the factors which had weighed heavily in the this decision.  

  Racing would start again in 2010, the legends and the not-so-legendary who raced/race at Crystal Palace will grace these pages on another day.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 27, 1968

  

  

  That All-American motorcycle daredevil, Evel Knievel, has his plans to jump the Grand Canyon denied by that All-American Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall. 

  "To perform this feat, it will require the building of an access road and ramp on the very rim of the canyon.These encroachments in the park appear to be quite unjustified."

   Outraged, Evel's Fan Club Prez makes his opinion heard (read, actually).




  "On August 27, 1968, a UPI release reported that permission had been denied for the long awaited vault of the Grand Canyon by one Evel Knievel astride a motorcycle.

  Along with many others, I am disconsolate that we should be denied the type of diversion so pacific to rioting in the streets, general unrest and political chaos.

  It is shocking that we have come to a point that "The Impossible Dream" of one man must be shattered by the custodians of the Abyss of Bliss in Northern Arizona without just cause being stated or any right to appeal being offered."





  C. Jones
  Evel Knievel Booster Club Chairman
  Scottsdale, Arizona.






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Today in motorcycle history, August 21, 1969

  


  

  Ten-time Isle of Man TT winner, "The Flying Kiwi", Bruce Anstey is born in Wellington, New Zealand.

  Bruce Anstey's Isle  of Man TT history in itself is the stuff of legends, head-shaking stories told in bars and pubs, tales of epic lap-speeds passed down to children. A professional motorcycle road racing career that has spanned nineteen years. So far.

  Considered by many to be one of the most consistent racers in GP history, he is currently signed to ride for the Padgett's Honda Racing Team having previously ridden for TAS Suzuki Racing, Valmoto Triumph and DTR Yamaha.


  Anstey made his Isle of Man TT debut in 1996, riding a Yamaha 250cc that finished in 29th place in the Lightweight TT. At the 2003 Isle of Man, Anstey won the Junior TT aboard the Valmoto Triumph Daytona, giving Triumph its first TT win in twenty seven years. Twelve years later, on Sunday June 7, 2015, Anstey achieved the highlight of his career, winning the Superbike TT.

  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he is a Ten-Time winner of both the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix.

  In 2015, Bruce Anstey was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to motorsport.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 20, 1977

  




 

  Tragedy strikes the Ulster Grand Prix as sidecar driver George Oates and his passenger John Molyneux are killed at Tournagrough Road on the Dunrod Circuit.

  Two of Isle of Man's sons, sidecar driver, George Oates and his passenger John Molyneux are killed during the Ulster Grand Prix when they crash their 984cc Kawasaki sidecar at Tournagrough , on the Dundrod Circuit at Dunrod, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.





  Dundrod Circuit has been the home of Ulster Grand Prix since 1953. The nearby Clady Circuit, also in County Antrim, was used for the Ulster Grand Prix from 1922 until 1952.

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 19, 1966

  
  

  Former Dutch Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, Wilco Zeelenberg is born in Bleiswijk, the Netherlands. 

  Wilco Zeelenberg began his Grand Prix career in 1986 in the 80cc Class aboard the Portuguese manufactured Casal motorcycle. He would move up to the 250cc Class in 1988, a Class he would ride/race in until he called it a day in 1995. Zeelenberg would race for Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Aprila during his nine year career. It would be on a Honda where he would have the best luck, winning the 1990 250cc Class German Grand Prix and in 1991 finding himself ranked fourth in the 250cc Class World Championship. 

  Though they are not motorcycle racers or fabricaters, Wilco, the band, have played in the Netherlands and appeared on "...later on with Joolz Holland".

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 18, 1955

  





  

  Editor, illustrator, animator and comic strip cartoonist Harry Palmer dies when he's struck by a patrolman's motorcycle in Miami, Florida.

  Harry Palmer was a world renowned and world-class illustrator, comic strip cartoonist and animator. Best known for his strip, "Babbling Bess" which ran in the New York Evening World from November 11, 1909 until April 6, 1912. He directed early animation shorts for Gaumont Studio's of the comic "Keeping up with the Joneses" by Arthur "Pops" Momand. 

  Harry would be credited for work on 76 animation shorts from 1915-1917.

  Palmer illustrated news dispatches of the Spanish-American War for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. During the Boxer Rebellion he went to China to sketch the fighting going on over there. 

  Returning to the States, he drew for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinal (Indiana), the Cleveland Leader, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, the Denver Republican, the Denver Post and the New York Evening World. He would sketch international affairs for the Evening World for 25 years.

  The Miami Patrolman that hit Harry Palmer was riding a 1951 Harley-Davidson FL Hydra-Glide. Panheads rule!

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

Today in motorcycle history, August 17, 1950

      

   

  The August 17, 1950 issue of "Motor Cycling" (the green 'un') features the Norton Dominator, "Bred in the Finest Tradition of British Motor Cycles".

  Inspired by the wickedly popular success of rival Triumph's pre-war Speed Twin, the weight  of Norton's future was put on the shoulders of Bert Hopwood who had worked on the development of Edward Turner's original Speed Twin design. In 1947 Hopwood laid out his design and as hoped, Hopwood came thru, again.

  The Model 7 Dominator was the Norton factory's first twin-cylinder machine of the modern era and made its debut at the 1948 Earls Court Show. 

  Some specs on the Norton; bore and stroke are 66mm x 72.6mm, 497cc, single carb, OHV vertical-twin with 360 degree crankshaft throws (pistons both rise and fall together, but they fire on alternate strokes - all British vertical twins used this except, for arguments sake, the Triumph Bandit, which was never produced beyond the prototype stage. The Bandit used a 180 degree crank, where one piston is up while the other is down). The engine produced 29bhp @ 6000rpm, with minor tweaking 90 mph was easily achieved with a 'flick of the wrist'.

  Original cost in England was £215.

  "The Unapproachable Norton Dominator, the World's Best Roadholder."

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