i found these on youtube a good diversion for a winter day my favorite part is in part 2 with bob macintyre in his shop working on a manx norton and then he rides it on the track. here are the links to youtube(embedding has been disabled) : part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ-tKC9dz7w&feature=related part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLXfcvjCyWk&feature=related part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PU6OBFWY7A&feature=related bill 2002 mz skorpian 1972 norton commando 1971 triumph t100c 1967 norton 650ss
I haven't seen that film in a long time...and it was old then! Great footage from an era before today's competition specialization .
Thanks for reminding me I'm getting old. This film came out about the time I got my motorcycle license, but I hadn't seen it before. Pretty neat film. I actually got to see Sir John Surtees ride his MV and drive his Ferrari on the track at Barber Vintage Motorcycle Days last October. He's still pretty quick at 76 and the sound of those old machines was beautiful.
Perfect video for my snowy lunch break, thanks! I have three questions, hopefully somebody is willing to edumacate a noob. 1 - What year is that movie? 2 - Why do they appear to be going slow? I understand it's like 50 years ago, but is it because cornering sucked, or just slow acceleration, what? 3 - Why do those bikes need to be push started?
With few exceptions, no kick or electric starters on GP bikes, even today. Races were dead engine starts until the 1980's.
1. I believe (but not certain) it was 1961. It does mention that one of the races was from the 1960 season. 2. Tires and suspension were nowhere near what they are now, and even the best motors of 1960 pale in comparison to the superbikes we have today. Also, most of the dirt racing in that film is done on bikes no one would even think of racing off road today. They were big, heavy, and basically street machines with about 3 inches of suspension travel. A quick check will find that Harley, Triumph, and BSA won most of the Jack Pine enduros until 1969. Would you want to run the Jack Pine on a H-D big twin? The first Yamaha enduros, which were the beginning of dirt bike popularity, came out in 1968. About the only purpose built racing machines at the time were the road racers. 3. Thumpermeister already got this one.
