Today in motorcycle history, April 22, 1957

  

  Mike Hailwood competes in his first motorcycle race at Oulton Park in Cheshire, England. He finishes 11th.

  Within a year he figures out this whole racing thing. At Snetterton on June 15, 1958 he would win all four races he entered, the 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc, raising the lap record during every race, and was the first rider to lap this track at 90 mph. He repeated this remarkable performance at Silverstone on July 5th, winning all four classes and setting a new lap record each time.

  Did you know that Oulton Park can trace its history back to the eleventh century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Aleton'.

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 21, 1932

 
    

   

       







  A pint on the Fulham Road changes Speedway racing forever.

  When JAP began it's motorcycle production for the civilian market in 1919, Herbert "Bert" Le Vack was brought in as Development Engineer/Factory Racer (DEFR) and Val Page rejoined the company as Chief Designer (CD). This led to the radical design of a double overhead camshaft (DOHC) racing engine. On October 27, 1922, Bert LeVack made history by lapping Brooklands at 100.29 mph on a 980cc JAP-powered Zenith becoming the first rider of a British machine to reach 100 mph.

  By 1924 JAP held 95 World and British Records, set up by only eleven riders which included Bert Le Vack and Teddy Prestwich, one of John’s five sons.


  Stan Greening, a longtime member of the JAP experimental department, had begged John Prestwich to take a trip down to the Fulham Road to Stamford Bridge Speedway track. Prestwich was not impressed in the least telling Greening he believed that speedway was little more than a passing fad. But Stan had faith in the sport’s long-term prospects; the factory’s involvement with speedway racing became the subject for further discussion during the 1929 Motor Cycle Show at Olympia when Bill Bragg, Captain of the Stamford Bridge Pensioners Speedway Team, stopped at the JAP booth while John Vivian Prestwich was on duty. Vivian realized that perhaps Speedway had more to offer than his father had suspected. After long arguments that sometimes lasted until morning, and with some further persuasion (ale) John Prestwich changed his mind and gave the project his blessing. Greening soon started working along the lines that Bill had indicated and in about three months an experimental engine was delivered to Bragg. By 1932 the legendary JAP Speedway engine had become a reality, at the time  it was the world’s most powerful un-supercharged engine of its size and one that would dominate Speedway tracks for the next 25 years. That year Fergus "The Flyin' Scot" Anderson picked up an engine which was guaranteed to produce 37.8 bhp at 5,750 rpm, which he installed in a Grindlay-Peerless machine. In his first lap at Brooklands on April 21, 1932 Fergus brought the virgin engine across the finish line at 98 mph and his second was 109.22 mph. Fergus would take home the One Hour Trophy when he averaged 100.52 mph.

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 20, 2003

  



  

       

  2001 250cc World Champion and two-time Suzuka 8 Hour winner Daijiro Kato dies from injuries he sustained after crashing during the Japanese Grand Prix. 

  In 2000 Daijiro Kato, teaming with fellow Japanese rider Tohru Ukawa, won the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan. The 2001 season found Kato totally dominating the 250cc Class, winning 11 races on his way to being crowned World Champion. He would also set a new record for the most points in a single season in the 250cc Class with an unheard of 322 points.  The following season Kato teamed with American rider Colin Edwards to win the 2002 Suzuka 8 Hours for a second time.

  On April 6, 2003, the unthinkable would happen during the Japanese Grand Prix when Kato slams into a wall near Suzuka's Casio Triangle chicane at around 125 mph. Suffering severe head, neck and chest injuries, he would spend two weeks in coma. On April 20, Daijiro Kato would be pronounced dead. He was 26.



  After the 2003 season the FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend", retiring Kato's bike number "74".  Satoshi Motoyama, a fellow Japanese racer and a childhood friend, would wear Daijiro's number on his helmet.

 

  Italy's Misano World Circuit honored Kato in 2006, (he lived part of the season in the area), by naming a new access road to the circuit "Via Daijiro Kato". 

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 17, 1976

 

  Ross Barelli is killed when his Suzuki's front disc explodes on Austrailia's famed Mount Panorama Circuit.

  In the final time trials for the Bathurst Unlimited, Ross Barelli is killed when the front disc on his RG500 Suzuki explodes. The freak accident occurs at the end of Con Rod Straight causing him to strike the Armco barrier.

  His brother in-law, Bob Rosenthal, who had been due to ride the ex-Agostini TZ750 Yamaha, withdraws from the meeting.

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 16, 1956

 

  

  




  The sticker price of a new BMW motorcycle takes effect today and Erwin Vogelsong of East Orange, New Jersey is the first American to open his wallet. 



  Vogelsong purchases a 500cc R-50 for $915.00 (plus tax) from Butler & Smith in NYC. Dealer records show there was no price haggling. Erwin opted for the 6000 mile guarantee over the 6-month warranty. Good call.

  The 1956 BMW line-up shows other than the R-50, there was the R-69 Super Sport, a 600cc 35hp machine, for $1,345.00, the 600cc R-50 for $1,145.00 and a 250cc R-26 listed at $715.00. Side kick-stands and dual passenger seats were additional.




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

Today in motorcycle history, April 15, 1972

  

  


 

  Evel Knievel's X1-Skycycle prototype makes it's first launch attempt.

  Evel Knievel had hired subcontractor and aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to jump across the Snake River, and called it the X-1 Skycycle. Malwecki's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet and Polaris Missile engineer Robert "Bob" Truax.


  Evel joined Truax at Snake River to watch the X-1 prototype's trial launch. The launch starts with such promise before losing speed, then altitude, until finally plummeting into the gorge not even halfway across the river reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote with one of his Acme rockets.



  The decision was then made to have Truax build the Skycycle X-2 and have it take off and fly more like a rocket than a motorcycle.



  Two years later on Sunday, September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT (Mountain Daylight Time) at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, viewed by millions on live television the launch begins with a rumble as the steam that powers the engine is superheated to 500 °F (260 °C). The drogue parachute prematurely deploys as the X-1 leaves the launching rail and induces significant drag. The Skycycle makes it all the way across the canyon to the north rim, unfortunately the prevailing northwest winds cause it to drift back into the canyon. By the time it reaches the bottom of the canyon, it lands only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon from which it had been launched. Then to add insult to injury, if Evel had landed in the water, he likely would have drowned, due to a jumpsuit/harness malfunction which kept him strapped in. 

  

  As Knievel raises his fist in disappointment Meep Meep echo's thru the canyon.

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 14, 1948

  

  

  "The fucker's not much for turning, but it's pure hell on the straightaway. It'll outrun the F-111 until takeoff." - Hunter S. Thompson

  The first production Vincent Black Shadow is completed.

  The Black Shadow Series B was based on an early Rapide that had been re-tuned by the legendary factory test rider/racer George Brown, his brother Cliff, and designer Phil Irvin. The Rapide was ridden, raced and sprinted for nearly a year. One journalist testing it for Motor Cycling magazine was so impressed with it's performance that he borrowed a quote from a Rudyard Kipling poem about an Indian water carrier who saved the life of a British soldier as an introduction to his report:

  ‘Tho’ I’ve belted you an’ flayed you
  By the livin’ Gawd that made you
  You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.’

  After that, George Brown’s Rapide was known as Gunga Din. When Phil Vincent decided to build a production version, he ordered the engine to be enameled black to give the new model a dignified appearance to match the name, Black Shadow.


  Engineer Phil Irving, clandestinely assembled a brace of tuned Rapides. The prototypes incorporated gas-flowed cylinder heads, Comet cams, triple valve springs, polished valve rockers, ports, combustion chambers and connecting rods. 1 1/8" Amal 289 carbs replaced the Rapide's 1 1/16". These changes being good for an output of 55hp despite a compression ratio limited to only 7.3:1 by the 72-octane gasoline that was the best available in the UK at the time. 

  In what turned out to be a brilliant marketing move Vincent specified he wanted a 5” diameter ‘150 mph’ speedometer. A top speed of 125 mph was claimed for the Shadow, and this was soon backed by road tests. 47 mph in first gear, 64 mph in second, 86 mph in third...

  Deliveries commenced in the spring of 1948 and only around 70-or-so Series-B Black Shadows had been made before the Series-C’s introduction at that year’s Earl’s Court Motorcycle Show.

 

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