Today in motorcycle history, April 24, 2010

 










  The motorcycle season in Latvia officially opens with a parade that leaves unfamiliar onlookers wide-eyed and open-mouthed. An estimated 3,500 motorcycles, stretching nearly two miles, makes a circuit around and through Riga city. 

  Founding members of the Motorcycle Club Association (MCA) of Latvia: Free Hawks Latvia, Brothers of the Wind, and Hermejs Latvia lead the group. Riders on all things two-wheel, from Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki to Ural, Jawa and Riga mopeds take part in the season-opening tradition. 

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

Today in motorcycle history, April 23, 1906

 


  

   Triumph Engineering Co. Ltd. registered on April 23, 1906 with a capital of 100 pounds.

 

  The new all-British built Triumph motorcycle hits the market with it's new rocking front spring fork, redesigned frame and a new engine design which features the newly-invented Bosch-Simms high-tension magneto. Five hundred bikes are produced in 1906. Motorcycle journalist 'Ixion' tests a prototype 1907 machine but it proves flawed and the frame breaks. He later used an upgraded 1907 model to ride 1,279 miles in six days.

  53 years later Triumph will introduce one of the greatest motorcycles in the history of mankind, the T120 Bonneville.

  In a sick twist of fate, on August 23, 1983 Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd. declares bankruptcy, unable to out ride their financial woes.

  Enter John Bloor...

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

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