Category: Superbikes

1. Motor sport legend John Surtees OBE roars through Edenbridge High Street

   Posted on 9:53am Sunday 2nd Jun 2013

   Edenbridge, Kent came to a standstill yesterday, as thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on motor sport legend, John Surtees OBE, McLaren test driver Oliver Turvey and ex Formula 3 Champion Robbie Kerr in Surtees Edenbridge built Formula 1 and 2 cars. 

   The racing drivers were joined by noted motoring journalist Steve Cropley driving a McLaren Supercar, and John’s daughter Edwina driving a Gullwing 300 SL Mercedes-Benz, plus two Grand Prix motorcycles from John’s past. 

   Leading the way was an Aston Martin Course Car driven by David Barzilay. The vehicles roared through Edenbridge High Street on Monday 27th May 2013 for 2 laps. The event in Surtees' home town was organized by the Eden Valley Chamber of Commerce as an attraction to the town to showcase what it has to offer. 

   The two motor cavalcades formed part of the Edenbridge Fun Day, which also had an objective of raising awareness of the activities of the Henry Surtees Foundation. Speaking at the event John Surtees said: “It’s not often people get to see Formula 1 cars up close and it was amazing to have the High Street closed on a busy Bank Holiday weekend so we could give them a blast. It was a great turn out, and everybody looked like they thoroughly enjoyed it, I certainly did. I hope that it helps to put Edenbridge on the map.”

   Peter Kingham, Chairman of The Eden Valley Chamber of Commerce said: “The whole event was a huge success and it has always been our intention to make this an annual event centring on the town's racing construction heritage. The day surpassed all our expectations and we were thrilled to see the town packed out with so many happy smiling faces. This event will help us to put Edenbridge on the map to attract inward investment into the town. Personally, I would like to thank John for all the help and effort he, his staff and friends put into making it such a great day. I hope that this will further promote the work of The Henry Surtees Foundation.”

   The Team Surtees and John Surtees related vehicles that took part in the parade included:

   ·       A TS7 Formula 1 car which John Surtees raced at the British Grand Prix in Brands Hatch in 1970 driven by John Surtees.

   ·       The TS15 2-litre Formula 2 car which won the prestigious Interlagos race in Brazil in 1973. Driven by past Formula 3 British Champion and A1 Grand Prix runner-up Robbie Kerr.

   ·       The TS14 Formula 1 car which Mike Hailwood drove to second place in the 1972 Italian Grand Prix was displayed statically.

   Engineers associated with John Surtees’ career on two wheels rode the motorcycles including:

   ·       A 1960 MV Agusta four-cylinder GP motorcycle – John Surtees won seven motorcycle championships riding for MV Agusta.

   ·       A 1954 BMW Rennsport twin-cylinder motorcycle – John Surtees raced for the factory team at the Nurburgring in 1955.

   The vehicles were displayed throughout the day outside the Bradford shop, Station Road, where they were built and designed by predominantly local residents.

   The special event featured static displays and a parade of rarely seen race cars and bikes as well as veteran and classic vehicles. Road cars and motorcycles in the parade ranged from two TVR sports cars to several Lambretta and Vespa scooters. There was also a 1968 Jaguar S Type Police car in its original black livery and complete with radio, bell, klaxons and two 'uniformed officers' (mannequins) in the back! The 1932 Alvis Firefly was one of the first to be built and displayed on the company's stand at the Motor Show of that year – where it was sold for £495 (more than four times the price of a new Austin 7). A 1995 Reliant Scimitar Sabre Mk2 is one of just 30 still in use – only about 60 of them were made. Even rarer was the 1938 Scott Prototype Clubman Special, of which only four were built.

2. Dunlop on pole for the North West 200

   Posted on 3:34pm Friday 17th May 2013

   Honda TT Legends’ Michael Dunlop will start this weekend’s North West 200 Superbike races from pole position, while Michael Rutter and John McGuinness will start from seventh and ninth respectively.

   Today’s second practice went ahead in persistent rain, meaning that there was no improvement on Tuesday’s times from any of the riders. Dunlop was the fastest rider in both sessions and his best lap of 4:33.173 was seven seconds quicker than the second placed rider Bruce Anstey. The two Superbike races will go ahead on Saturday 18 May.

   Neil Tuxworth   Considering the terrible conditions we’ve had for practice here at the North West, which have not only been wet and windy but constantly changing, to have all three riders qualify in the top ten without an incident is an excellent way to go into the races on Saturday. Dunlop’s performance on the Superbike machine in particular has been outstanding in each session.

   Michael Dunlop   I still feel like we’ve got a bit of work to do, but the bike’s working really well and it’s great to be starting the race from the prime position. We’re quickest and we’re ready to go, but there’s not much more we can do now until race day. Let’s just see what happens.   John McGuinness   I mistimed my fast lap and got caught in traffic on Tuesday so it’s a real shame that today’s been wet and I couldn’t improve the time. It’s a little disappointing as I’ve been on the front row many times here. I’ve been going great on the Superstock and the 600 but this is a priority race and it’s not really happened for me. I’m on the third row and if I can make a good start and be strong on the first lap I think we’ll be alright.

   Michael Rutter   It’s a shame we didn’t get the chance to improve on our times today. The conditions have been horrendous but the bike felt good and we’re happy enough with qualifying. I just hope we get some decent weather on Saturday so that we can give it a good go.

3. Dunlop on pole for the North West 200

   Posted on 8:34am Wednesday 15th May 2013

   Honda TT Legends’ Michael Dunlop will start this weekend’s North West 200 Superbike races from pole position, while Michael Rutter and John McGuinness will start from seventh and ninth respectively.

   Today’s second practice went ahead in persistent rain, meaning that there was no improvement on Tuesday’s times from any of the riders. Dunlop was the fastest rider in both sessions and his best lap of 4:33.173 was seven seconds quicker than the second placed rider Bruce Anstey. The two Superbike races will go ahead on Saturday 18 May.

   Neil Tuxworth   Considering the terrible conditions we’ve had for practice here at the North West, which have not only been wet and windy but constantly changing, to have all three riders qualify in the top ten without an incident is an excellent way to go into the races on Saturday. Dunlop’s performance on the Superbike machine in particular has been outstanding in each session.

   Michael Dunlop   I still feel like we’ve got a bit of work to do, but the bike’s working really well and it’s great to be starting the race from the prime position. We’re quickest and we’re ready to go, but there’s not much more we can do now until race day. Let’s just see what happens.   John McGuinness   I mistimed my fast lap and got caught in traffic on Tuesday so it’s a real shame that today’s been wet and I couldn’t improve the time. It’s a little disappointing as I’ve been on the front row many times here. I’ve been going great on the Superstock and the 600 but this is a priority race and it’s not really happened for me. I’m on the third row and if I can make a good start and be strong on the first lap I think we’ll be alright.

   Michael Rutter   It’s a shame we didn’t get the chance to improve on our times today. The conditions have been horrendous but the bike felt good and we’re happy enough with qualifying. I just hope we get some decent weather on Saturday so that we can give it a good go.

4. Honda TT Legends forced to retire from the Bol d’Or

   Posted on 11:35am Sunday 21st Apr 2013

   John McGuinness started the race for the Honda TT Legends and the first few hours saw him, Simon Andrews and Michael Dunlop put in an impressive performance that took them from 28th to third place.

   As evening fell on the Magny Cours circuit in France, light rain caused a few incidents for other teams, but the Honda TT Legends settled into a steady fourth place, where they remained through the night until daybreak.     

   Just after 8am, Dunlop made an unexpected pit stop and the Honda TT Legends crew set to work, eventually identifying and fixing a problem with the heat exchanger. McGuinness re-joined the race in 13th place but unfortunately the irreparable damage to the engine had already been done and it subsequently overheated. He was forced to dismount and push the bike back to the pits on the first lap and the team retired from the race.

   The EWC will continue with the Suzuka 8-hour in Japan on 28 July.

   Neil Tuxworth   This is a very disappointing end for the team after all the hard work and effort everyone has put in. It’s unfortunate but we had a problem with the heat exchanger which caused the engine to overheat and fail towards the end of the race. It’s our first incomplete event in seven races and our first ever retirement from a 24 hour race, but it happens to everyone at some point and the main thing is that everyone is ok. We haven’t had any injuries to anybody and although there was some leakage from the bike, it doesn’t look like it caused problems to anybody else as the safety car came out very quickly. Like I say, very disappointing for everyone but we have to move on and look forward to the road races coming up in the next few months.       John McGuinness   We’re just gutted not to have finished. The lads have done so much work on the bike – new electronics, traction control – all sorts of bits and pieces that they’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on. We’ve had a fantastic run of results up to now with seven races completed and we were looking good in the race. We were top five again and chipping away, but unfortunately we had a problem 18 hours in. I’m just speechless really, just gutted, but we’ll try and take the positives out of it. We were running a lot closer to some of our rivals so we can take that to the next round.     

   Simon Andrews   It had gone well up until that point. I did a good few stints at the beginning to get us up to fourth and I was happy enough with that. It’s a shame what’s happened for everyone because the guys have worked so hard. The chassis was working well and we had the quickest bike out there at some points, so it just would have been nice to reward everyone with a podium. We were third at one stage so to go from that position to coming away with no points at all is not fun, but that’s endurance racing. We can be happy with the hard work we’ve put in and the way we’ve worked together and we’ll look forward to the next round.     

   Michael Dunlop   It’s so disappointing for all the lads after all the hard work they’ve done. I really feel for them because it’s not just about us riders, it’s a massive team effort and they put so much into it. I just got my head down and got on with it, going with the flow really. It was going well up until that point, but we’ll go back and take a look at the bike and come back bigger and stronger next time.

5. Donington Back on Track

   Posted on 12:01am Tuesday 19th Feb 2013

   After a couple of false starts, mainly due to the weather, our events at Donington Park have really started to pick up in recent months and are looking as though they will once again become a staple part of our programme for many years to come. 

   The winter restoration show at the end of December was a great success with 2,000 plus visitors full of Christmas cheer poured through the gate to see around 70 trade and autojumble stands plus an excellent selection of classic cars and bikes on display.   

   The Japanese and Modern Classic Motorcycle Event in February this year was a major success after the snow halted proceedings on the Sunday in 2012 . 

   The building was full to capacity of stalls, club displays and private entries with 3,000 happy visitors attending from all points on the compass. Bike of the show and winner of £100 was Dave Yates with his 1980 Yamaha LC, and winner of best club display and a £100 cheque was The UK two Stroke Club. Traditionally the season opener this event will now have a twin event at the end of the season with a new one day Classic Japanese event being launched on Sunday 15th September at Donington Park. This replaces the car and bike autojumble originally announced for Sunday 22nd September 2013.   

   This coming weekend, Sunday 24th February, we will be back at Donington for a general classic car and bike autojumble, at the time of writing the hall is over two thirds full and with indoor stalls at just £25 (pre paid), not to mention the BOGOF offer on stalls for autojumblers, Donington represents a perfect opportunity for enthusiasts to clear their garages and get unwanted parts back into circulation.

   We are so confident that this event will prove to be equally as successful as the Classic Japanese bike show we will be doing a re run on Sunday 14th April, again on a BOGOF basis on indoor stalls. At both the February and April events there will be a dedicated classic car and bike park right next to the exhibition hall with adult admission being £5 instead of the normal £6.50 so come in your classic, save money and you can even put a sale sign on your vehicle too! 

   We will be running Donington on exactly the same format at the end of the year on Sunday 3rd November and Sunday 29th December so put these dates in your diary.  Donington Park is ideally located right next to East Midlands airport just two miles along the A453 at J23a and J24 of the M1 motorway right in the centre of the country.