Features

Qualifying a written-off road bike on the front row of a Grand Prix grid ahead of Phil Read and Jarno Saarinen was just one high point in a career that embraced some of the best

Where else other than the Isle of Man would you find a top current British Superbike contender, a leading female racer and an OAP all in top-six contention? In five years the Classic TT has

So why would Bob turn down these works rides and instead decide to stay with Joe, working at the back of a funeral parlour in Bellshill, Glasgow? The answer: Bob was a man of his

Initially, the cammy Velocette was anonymous. The bike came about as the result of a discussion between two of the company’s top engineers. It was based on a standard, 350cc overhead camshaft KTT engine but

Moto Guzzi built a total of six complete 500cc V8 motorcycles, and while these differed slightly in design, they all had the same incredibly compact dry-sump water-cooled engine architecture, measuring 44 x 41mm for a

Agostini – 15 times world champion and racing on public roads? Mike Hailwood – able to win anything, in any conditions and against any opposition? Rossi – beating the toughest racers on the planet and

Sideways scrubbing. Looking for traction. Riding what is one of the nastiest machines ever made. There’s a reason why many in the racing world love and fear these things. Not least of all because of

In the ultra-lightweight classes Eugenio Lazzarini was a force majeure, with 27 GP victories, two 50cc titles and another in the 125cc class. He was runner-up eight times and won four Italian crowns. As if

There have been many popular riders in American dirt-track racing across the decades but none have exemplified timeless competitiveness in the Grand National championships across three full decades of continuous racing in the Expert class.

How two men pointed the way to Britain’s racing future, but were eventually beaten by bureaucrats Words by: Pete Parnham Pictures by: Mortons Archive Lincolnshire’s John Kirkby was an extremely able racer and a man