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MotoGP™ magic carpet ride to Misano

The drive from Bologna airport to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, is a magic carpet ride through the very heartland of MotoGP™. Every road sign and every town and village on the 120kms frantic drive down the E45 autostrada has a tale to tell. The history of grand prix racing on two and even four wheels just flashes in front of you like a giant cinema screen. Riders’ birthplaces, circuits and team headquarters appear at almost every junction, turning a page of the history book.

Starting in Bologna the home of the all-conquering iconic Ducati factory that is dominating the proceedings this year. Immediately you see signs for Modena. Perhaps best known as the home of Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti but also the home of 125 and 250cc World Champion Luca Cadalora. The World Champion received a congratulatory telegram from Formula One legend Enzo Ferrari after every one of his 34 Grand Prix wins. They also raced on the old Modena aerodrome and I remember watching those bitter rivals Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read battling it out there on a pair of Suzukis in 1976.

Keep driving south and you pick up the signs for the small town of Castel San Pietro the birthplace of Loris Capirossi. The three times World Champion with 29 grand prix wins in all three classes including the first ever MotoGP™ win for Ducati at Barcelona 2003. Just over the hill from his homeland is the legendary Autodromo Imola circuit that was a regular Grand Prix venue and still stages World Superbike Championship and Formula One car Grand Prix.

Next on the historic route is the town of Forli, the home of Andrea Dovizioso. Three times runner up in the Marc Marquez dominated MotoGP™ years riding for Ducati and 125cc World Champion. From Forli you can drive high into hills on the scenic but scary back roads inland to the Mugello circuit. Carry on down the E45 past the towering hills of San Marino. Sixteen times we witnessed the Principality’s flag being raised and the national anthem played following World Champion Manuel Poggiali and Alex de Angelis’s Grand Prix wins.

Then it gets serious as you reach the coast at Rimini, Riccione and Misano. It appears nearly everybody you meet on the beach or promenade have raced motorcycle or have a connection with racing. This is Valentino Rossi country where he grew up with the likes of Marco Simoncelli, Pier Francesco Chili, Loris Reggiani and so many others. His Tavullia ranch now producing the new breed from the Adriatic coast including World Champion Pecco Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini

Long before Vale brought them nine World titles this Adriatic holiday coast has been steeped in motorcycle racing tradition. Before the Misano circuit was built in 1972 they closed the seafront at Rimini and Riccione and raced motorcycles. In 1971 rising Italian star Angelo Bergamonti had already won the 350 and 500cc Spanish Grands Prix for MV Agusta. He was killed at Riccione when he crashed in the rain at a roundabout on the seafront chasing team-mate Agostini. Like so many others the Misano permanent track was built to replace an old road circuit. It staged its first Grand Prix in 1980 but in 1993 tragedy struck again. World Champion Wayne Rainey was paralysed in a crash while leading the 500cc race. Grand Prix racing only returned 14 years later with the track running the opposite way and it has been there ever since.

The circuit was renamed in honour of World Champion Marco Simoncelli who lost his life in Malaysia 12 years ago. His Gresini team headquarters is just down the road from the track. There is so much to remember at Misano. Aprilia, who celebrated their MotoGP™ double in Barcelona this week won their first Grand Prix there in 1987 with Loris Reggiani victorious in the 250-cc race.

Who needs a history book. Just get on the E45 and drive but be warned it’s busy.

By Nick Harris|2023-09-06T18:36:58+00:00September 6th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

THE BIRTHPLACE OF GRAND PRIX RACING

For some it’s just a giant granite rock stuck in the middle of the stormy Irish Sea. For many others world-wide it means so much more. A shrine to motorcycle racing for over 100 years. A shrine to grand prix motorcycle racing where it all began 74 years and over 1000 grands prix ago.

It’s wild. It can be windy and wet. It’s certainly dangerous but this is a beautiful place. A mystical magic Island where you can see the mountains of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland from its highest peak on a clear day. A summit high above the legendary TT mountain circuit on the Isle of Man.

Between the Austrian and Barcelona Grands Prix I paid my annual visit to the Shrine to watch the Manx Grand Prix. It was as it always is. An insight into those pioneering days of World Championship Grand Prix racing around the most famous racetrack in the World. A 60.721 kms road circuit snaking its path through towns, villages, fields, forests and up and down mountains. A ribbon of tarmac diving between stone walls, lamp posts, phone boxes while jumping over bridges and streams.

The TT races go back a long way in history. In 1907 the British government would not close public roads for racing. The Manx government seized the opportunity and closed their roads. The Tourist Trophy races were born, and the rest is history.

Even before you start a lap of the track at the grandstand high above the curving Douglas Bay, you must visit the Fairy Bridge. For over those 100 years the riders have made the trip to ask the fairies in the stream below for a safe race. They have not aways obliged. The famous scoreboard opposite the grandstand that was operated by the local Boy Scouts and had a clock and light indication where each rider was situated on the course, has gone, a scoreboard that had endorsed Freddie Frith as the winner of the very first World Championship race on June 13^th, 1949. The scoreboard that told the crowds in 1957 that Scotsman Bob McIntyre had set the first 100 mph (160.9 kph) lap of the mountain circuit riding the 500 cc four-cylinder Gilera.

From the grandstand the riders plunge down Bray Hill between the houses at over 200 kph. They hit the bottom before racing on to Quarter Bridge over the Ago leap. A bump where 15 times World Champion Giacomo Agostini would wheelie those beautiful red 350 and 500 cc MV Augusta fire engines. In my youth I agreed to one lap of the Mountain circuit as a sidecar passenger to double TT winner Trevor Ireson. The first time I opened my eyes was at Quarter Bridge.

The tarmac then just flows through towns, villages and open roads with mystical romantic names. Union Mills where you can watch the racing in front of the church while receiving wonderful home-made cakes sandwiches and cups of team from the vicar and local ladies. The Highlander, Greeba Castle, Ballacraine and Glen Helen. Onto Sarahs cottage where both Ago and Mike Hailwood crashed on my first visit to the Island in 1965. On through some fast bends such as Rhencullen where the riders travel over four times faster than the 40-mph speed limit signs for normal road uses. Over the Ballaugh Bridge jump on towards Ramsey and the climb up the mountain past the Guthrie memorial. A kiln of stones to celebrate the life of TT winner Jimmy Guthrie who was killed at the Sachsenring in the 1937 German Grand Prix.

Just before the highest part of the course the riders race through the bleak Hailwood Heights, a tribute to the nine times World Champion before plunging back down towards Douglas through bends such as Kates Cottage and Creg-Ny-Baa. The final corner at Governors Bridge passing the front gates of the Governor of the Isle of Man residence.

Every corner can tell a story. Every blade of grass, centimetre of tarmac, stone wall and lamp post has witnessed heroic battles, bitter disappointment and tragedy. Close your eyes and you can touch the very soul of grand prix racing.

It’s a shrine to riders past and present. You have to visit the Isle of Man at least once to understand.

By Nick Harris|2023-08-30T16:13:16+00:00August 30th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|1 Comment

Three GPs in 15 days – I’d never had made it

Never had to check the diary. The last Saturday in June was Assen, followed eight days later at Spa. Thursday night at Assen fired up ten days of total chaos and some brilliant racing. Car races, deadlines, overnight ferries, flights in ancient aircraft, chips covered in mayonnaise, plenty of cold beer and planned parking; all coming into play to ensure back-to-back grands prix at two European classic venues, that somehow produced copy and photographs onto the pages of our respective magazines.

The fun and games started on the overnight ferry between England and Holland. I remember Wayne Gardner having to go to the medical centre in Assen with a strained arm. He told the doctor it was arm pump, but it was caused by an arm-wrestling contest late one night in the middle of the English Channel. The pace hotted up on the Thursday evening at Assen. After a full afternoon of the six classes of Grand Prix practice the Dutch rounds of the TT Formula One and Two races took to the hallowed tarmac. It was Championships dominated by British and especially Irish riders, such as the great Joey Dunlop and Brian Reid. After the prize giving it was time for the celebrations or commiserations usually starting in Assen and often finishing in Groningen with the sidecar boys, always up for a party, joining in

Racing at Assen was always on Saturday, a throwback to the early days when they did not want to affect the attendance at the local churches. Parking early on race morning was a crucial part of the plan. As the final race ended you had to be out of Assen on the road with a bag of films and photocopied results from the 50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc and sidecar Grands Prix on route to the Hook of Holland and the overnight ferry back to England. That 250 km journey was our very own Grand Prix and time was tight. The FIM Stewards would have been very busy. Once back in England on Sunday morning it was drive to the office, write 2000 words of copy, type out the results get the films developed and then sleep.

Two days later we were ready to start the process all over again at the magnificent Spa Francorchamps circuit, carved out of the forest high in the Belgium Ardennes. Often we would fly across the Channel this time. Once we hitched a free flight on an ancient Viscount airliner being used by a certain Richard Branson to set up a new airline. Thank goodness, no TT Formula One or Two races, but just as much fun and games. A Sunday race meant tighter deadlines. We had leave even earlier to catch the flight back. I remember a bag of films being thrown over the track during the sidecar race from the inside of the La Source hairpin so we could get away before the traffic.

So Assen and Spa, the most memorable back-to-back races of the season – well actually not quite. Anybody who was lucky enough, although I might not have used those exact words at the time, to board that overnight party ferry between Finland and Sweden after their respective Grands Prix would agree. Was it the relief of leaving Imatra alive or the worry of leaving Anderstorp with the prospect racing over those Imatra railway lines looming? Was it the fact it never actually got dark as the boat wound its way through hundreds of tiny islands? Perhaps a combination of them both, but the party-loving Scandinavian blond ladies, loud music and beer certainly played their part.

The riders, teams and media have just completed three back-to-back Grands Prix in just 15 days. Back in the day I don’t think my brain, body or liver could have taken the strain. Enjoy the summer break – you deserve it.

By Nick Harris|2023-06-29T09:28:09+00:00June 29th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

The Italian Job

Fifty-four years ago, Grand Prix racing history was being made on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia, although nobody would have believed it at the time. It was only after another Ducati-dominated MotoGP™ race at the Sachsenring on Sunday that it really emerged just how much the tide had turned into an Italian job. Unbelievably there were just three Japanese machines on the starting grid for the 30-lap race on Sunday. It was over half a century ago on September 7^th 1969 that fewer Japanese motorcycle lined up for the start of a premier class Grand Prix. It was only a year ago the then World Champion Fabio Quartararo brought Yamaha their last MotoGP™ win at the Sachsenring.

Alex Rins kept the Japanese flag aloft with wins for Suzuki at Phillip Island and Valencia. Suzuki stepped down from the rigours of MotoGP™ but Rins continued to fly the flag bringing the LCR Honda team victory in Austin, however, that was that for the Japanese factories who had dominated Grand Prix motorcycle racing for six long decades.

Twelve months ago it would have been unthinkable that just three Japanese machines started a MotoGP™ race. Injuries to key players Marc Marquez, Joan Mir and Rins kept them off the grid but you still have to go back those 54 years to find less Japanese machines preparing to start a premier class Grand Prix. At the final round of the 1969 500cc World Championship, Australian Terry Dennehy was the only rider on the grid for the Adriatic Grand Prix riding a Japanese motorcycle. Fresh from a fourth place at the penultimate round at Imola, he arrived at the infamous 6.00 kms cliff-top road circuit at Opatija for the 29-lap race riding the Honda he’d converted from a CB450 cc road bike housed in Drixton frame. Unfortunately, he retired from that race in Yugoslavia but still finished a credible 12th in the final World Championship standings. Not only was the pioneering Australian the only Japanese starter but he was also the only rider to score points in the 12-round World Championship riding a Japanese machine

Ironically the 174 kms race produced the end of an era. British rider Godfrey Nash secured his one and only grand prix win riding a single-cylinder British built Norton. It was the last Grand Prix victory for the British factory and the last time a single-cylinder machine won a Premier class grand prix. Norton had won 41 350 and 500cc Grands Prix and played such a massive part in developing the World Championship in those early days. Their time was up, as the Japanese factories moved in.

In 2003 Honda, led by Valentino Rossi, took the first five places in the Rio Grand Prix. Twenty years later it was Ducati that produced a similar result for the first time since Rio, led by Jorge Martin in Germany. For the last 33 MotoGP™ races a Ducati has been on the podium and they have already won six Grands Prix, which is half the total they won last year. Throw in a couple of Tissot Sprint wins for Brad Binder on the Austrian-built KTM and you realise just what the Japanese factories face in their fight to return to the top.

No way do Honda or Yamaha find themselves in a similar position to Norton half a century later. It is not in their culture or history to throw in the towel. They will return to starting grids and the top step of the podium but there are signs they could be in for a long wait.

By Nick Harris|2023-06-23T07:25:22+00:00June 23rd, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Genius of the Swinging Sixties

This was the Swinging Sixties. A decade of revolution and innovation. A never to be forgotten era embraced by Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Multi-cylinder Japanese designed and built engines. Maverick riders who displayed such skill to ride these mechanical masterpieces to Grands Prix and World Championship victories, accompanied by the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Jimmy Hendrix.

Forget those terrifying 500cc two-strokes, the V8 Moto Guzzi 500cc monster or the 360km/h modern-day MotoGP™ machines, because they were, and are, a doddle to ride compared to that incredible 50cc motorcycle that Hans-Georg Anscheidt coaxed to three World titles. A Grand Prix motorcycle that demanded a genius to ride to the limit. Anscheidt certainly earned that particular title.

In the modern Grand Prix world of electronics, multiple tyre choices, carbon fibre disc brakes and wings it is hard to fully understand just what a jack of all trades you had to be to even ride, let alone win on these 50cc machines. Mechanical masterpieces they may have been, but to harness all that potential you required a skill never witnessed before or after. The RK67 Suzuki on which Anscheidt won the 1967 and 1968 World titles was the perfect example of what was required by the man in the saddle.

Just how did they cope? Let’s start with the 14-speed gearbox. No wonder they wore off so much leather from those left boots. Constant gear changing was vital to keep the 50cc two-stroke water-cooled parallel twin engine peaking at around 17,500 rpm. The tiny engine with pistons the size of eggs which produced an incredible 17.5 hp was totally unforgiving. If you did not keep the engine in the narrowest 1000 rpm power band the speed simply disappeared. Certainly, Anscheidt found the speed and winning the 1968 Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps was reported to have gone through the speed trap at a truly extraordinary 205 km/h on the RK 67 Suzuki. Over 200km/h on a 50cc machine was not enough for Suzuki and they started to develop a three-cylinder version, but then the FIM stepped in to limit the number of cylinders and gearbox cogs to keep the spiralling costs down and the development ended. Just where would it have ended up in all classes? These speeds and gear changes were kept in contact with the tarmac by tiny 5cm wide tyres more suited to a push bike. The engine was housed in an aluminium frame with the whole package weighing just 58kg.

Anscheidt really was the undisputed king of the 50s. He won the very first 50cc Grand Prix at Montjuic Park Barcelona in 1962 riding the Kreidler. He won five more Grands Prix for Kreidler before switching to Suzuki in 1966. Anscheidt won the World title for the Japanese factory that year and retained the title for the next two years and in total won 14 GPs. The 50s disappeared in 1983 switching to 80cc. Many World Champions, and especially those in Britain, started their careers racing 50cc machines before moving on. Mike Hailwood, Bill Ivy and Barry Sheene all cut their teeth on the tiddlers. Sheene’s second Grand Prix win was in a one-off ride for Kreidler at the 50cc Czechoslovakian Grand Prix in Brno. He is the only rider to have won both 50cc and 500cc Grands Prix.

What a decade to grow up in. Five-cylinder 125s, England winning the World Cup, six-cylinder 250s, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, three-cylinder 50cc two-strokes with 14 gears and Hans-Georg Anscheidt.

By Nick Harris|2023-06-15T07:25:28+00:00June 15th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Nice to be so wrong

I’ll put my hands up and admit it. When Andrea Dovizioso brought Ducati just their second MotoGP™ win for six long years in 2016 and his first win for 2650 days, I didn’t have the foresight to realise this was the start of a challenge against the seemingly unbeatable Marc Marquez and Honda. A resurrection of the fortunes of the legendary Italian factory spearheaded by a revitalised Dovi. Of course, the Italian from the Adriatic coast had always been a world class motorcycle racer but, wrongly, I’d only thought of him as Mr Consistency, Mr Reliable, and a really nice guy.

I’d seen him win the 125cc World Championship on the Honda in 2004 fighting off the Aprilia challenge of Hector Barbera and Roberto Locatelli. He was unlucky to face Jorge Lorenzo riding the Aprilia in 2006 and 2007 in the 250cc World Championships. Dovi finished second to Lorenzo both years riding the Honda after finishing third in 2005 behind the pretty impressive duo of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. All three of those 250cc contenders joined MotoGP™ with both Lorenzo and Stoner going on to taste world title successes. In 2009 Dovi, riding the Repsol Honda, won the very last MotoGP™ Grand Prix at a damp Donington Park in England. For the next seven years, he rightly earned the title of Mr Consistency – picking up 30 podium finishes for Honda, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, and Ducati who he joined in 2013

Honestly, I thought that Donington win might be it but there were stirrings in the red side of the paddock. After resting on their laurels for far too long after Stoner’s magnificent World title in 2007 on the 800 cc Ducati, the Bologna-based factory were back in the hunt to fight against the might of Japan. Who will forget that fantastic all Ducati last lap battle at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in 2016 where Andrea Iannone grabbed his one and only MotoGP™ win by less than one second? Iannone disappeared to Ibiza to celebrate. Dovi stayed at home to plot his second MotoGP™ win and he didn’t have to wait for long.

Two thousand six hundred and fifty-three days since that Donington victory he was back on the top step of the podium after a comfortable three second win over Valentino Rossi in the searing heat of Sepang in Malaysia. A more different venue to a damp Donington you could not imagine. Dovi and Ducati, wings and all were back in business and ready to take on Marquez and Honda. Out of the saddle, Dovi was still the friendly pleasant quietly spoken guy but once the lights changed something had altered. He explained a settled personal life had helped but spearheading a patriotic team fighting for a world title must have been such an incentive.

Right from the start in 2017, they were at it. Victory at a crazy Mugello was followed by wins at Barcelona, Austria, Britain, Japan and Malaysia resulting in the Championship fight with Marquez going into the final round in Valencia, where third place for Marquez was enough to keep the title. Second place for Dovi and Ducati perhaps not just rewards for their efforts to push Marquez and Honda off the top step

Two Grands Prix summed up that memorable season. Both last lap, last bend confrontations with Marquez who simply loved these head-to-head last bend scraps because he usually came out on top. The World Champion didn’t at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and in the rain at Motegi in Japan. I’ll never forget the look Dovi gave Marquez when he beat him in Austria but the win in Motegi was the one to savour. Ducati beating Honda at their home circuit in the pouring rain was pretty special. Two weeks later he won again in Malaysia to keep his Championship chances alive, but it was not to be. It was a similar story a year later when four wins gave him second place to Marquez. In 2019 second again behind the Spanish Honda rider and a year later his last Grand Prix victory of 24 including 15 in MotoGP™ in Austria.

Sometimes it’s nice to be so wrong even if it takes 2650 days to realise it.

By Nick Harris|2023-06-07T14:56:16+00:00June 7th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

MotoGP™ fans are a savvy lot

Of course, sunshine helps and there was plenty of it pouring down on that record crowd at Le Mans a couple of weeks back. Good weather is the perfect start to encourage big crowds to witness Grands Prix first hand but there are so many other factors which have changed during the 74-year battle to lure spectators through the gates at circuits throughout the world. Admission prices, quality of racing, facilities, parking, and camping are the obvious ones but over the last seven decades politics, combined Grands Prix with Formula One cars and motorcycles, tradition and national pride have played their part

The 280,000 weekend and 125,000 race day crowds at the Shark French Grand Prix was generally regarded as the biggest in the MotoGP™ era, but a Grand Prix 71 years previously is still regarded to have attracted the largest ever attendance, and the reasons are not hard to identify. On the weekend of July 20, 1952, a crowd estimated at over 400,000 flocked to Solitude for the West German Grand Prix. It was the first Grand Prix to be held in Germany since the end of the Second World War and the first World Championship event to be staged in Germany. British rider Reg Armstrong won both 350 and 500cc races riding Norton machinery.

The World Championship was in its fourth year and promoters were already looking at new ways to attract fans. At the very first Swiss Grand Prix in 1949 at the 7,280km Berne circuit, they staged a joint race meeting with Formula One cars, who started their World Championship a year later. Les Graham, who went on to become World Champion, won the 500cc race while Alberto Ascari brought Ferrari to victory on four wheels. The success of the double act encouraged the promoters to continue with the theme. Combined World Championship Grands Prix were held at Berne from 1951 – 1954. What a weekend for spectators, but impossible and dangerous in the modern day however, what a dream.

While spectators in West Germany celebrated the new post-war era, it was a different story for the population of East Germany and Czechoslovakia as the Iron Curtain separated them from the Western World. Grands Prix motorcycle racing proved their salvation at the Sachsenring and Brno. Vast crowds were allowed by the authorities to flock to these legendary road circuits to catch a rare glimpse of the world outside. I will never forget the pictures of the manmade grandstands with fans perched high in chairs at the top of a pole above a sea of faces. Authorities were never comfortable with the influx of Western riders to compete.

Prize money was paid in local currency and not allowed out of the country resulting in a few beer fuelled clashes between celebrating riders spending their prize money and the local police in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) and Brno. Phil Read once drove to the Sachsenring in a Rolls Royce which caused a right old commotion. In 1971, 125cc World Champion West German Dieter Braun won the 250cc race, and the Police (the Stasi) prevented the West German national anthem from being played over the loudspeakers to the East German crowd although, to their disgust, they had to play it at the podium

There is nothing a patriotic nation loves more than a national hero. The likes of Valentino Rossi, Barry Sheene and Wayne Gardner brought a completely new audience to Grand Prix racing in the World Championship-winning years. The success of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) has sparked enormous interest in France. The Le Mans Sunday crowd was reported to be the largest one-day sporting crowd of the year in France. The former World Champion played a massive part in attracting so many people but there are many other reasons. MotoGP™ fans are a savvy lot, and they appreciate and will support Grands Prix that provide value for their hard-earned money and Le Mans did just that in every way. Of course, that wonderful sunshine did help.

By Nick Harris|2023-06-01T09:47:12+00:00June 1st, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Jarno

It’s a day 50 years ago that many of us will never forget. May 20th, 1973, the day World Championship Motorcycle racing lost a rider who was destined to join the likes of Hailwood, Agostini, Nieto, Rossi, and Marquez as one of the true greats, if not the greatest.

The only rider in the 74-year history of the sport to win his opening two premier class Grands Prix. The likes of Geoff Duke and Max Biaggi are among a distinguished club of riders who won on their premier class debuts, but only one won on his opening two. A rider who was destined to win both 250cc and 500cc world titles in the same season 12 years before Freddie Spencer became the first and only rider to achieve that double.

A rider, it was rumoured, that was even contemplating adding a 350cc world title the same year to make it a treble. A rider who honed his road racing skills back on the frozen lakes in his Finnish homeland before arriving on the World scene to win the 250cc World Championship. A rider who won both the legendary 200 Mile races at Daytona and Imola in 1973 beating the 750s riding a 350cc Yamaha. A rider Yamaha chose to spearhead their first 500cc world title challenge on a four-cylinder two-stroke machine.

Twenty-seven-year-old Jarno Saarinen lost his life in a horrendous multi-rider accident in the 250cc race in the 1973 Grand Prix of Nations at Monza. It was a crash that also claimed the life of Italian Renzo Pasolini, who had finished runner-up to Saarinen in the 250cc Championship the previous year. Grand Prix racing and Finland grieved. Yamaha immediately pulled out of the 500cc World Championship for the season. No wonder Yamaha chose Saarinen to spearhead the two-stroke challenge in the four-stroke dominated 500cc class and he did not let them down.

The Finn arrived in the premier class after dominating the 250cc World Championship and winning five 350cc Grands Prix. Often, we would see this new phenomenon at British circuits where he eclipsed the likes of Barry Sheene at places such as Mallory Park, Silverstone and even the infamous Scarborough Road circuit. He needed the money to finance his Grand Prix racing and we were lucky there were organisers who had the foresight to pay him.

Saarinen’s debut season in the 500cc class was nothing short of sensational. After winning the 250cc race at Paul Ricard in France he went on to beat Phil Read’s MV Agusta by 15 seconds on his 500cc debut ride. He almost doubled that winning advantage at the next round at the Salzburging in Austria with his Yamaha teammate Hideo Kanaya second. Earlier he’d won the 250cc race. It looked a hat trick at the next round in Hockenheim but after a third 250cc win the Yamaha’s chain broke in the 500cc race and his winning run came to an end.

He arrived in Monza for round four with his wife Soili looking to return to double winning ways. On the first lap of the 250cc race 15 riders crashed at Gran Curve after oil it was suggested had been dropped on the tarmac in the previous 350cc race. An ominous pall of black smoke rose above the Grand Curve and slowly the riders made their way back to the start the wrong way round the legendary circuit. Saarinen and Pasolini did not return. We will never know where his World Championship journey would have ended. I’m just thankful I was so lucky to watch a true Champion in action.

Thanks, Jarno, I will never forget.

By Nick Harris|2023-05-25T08:04:42+00:00May 25th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|1 Comment

The birth of a dream in a very different world

I wondered just what Freddie Frith would have made of it. I was stood at the entrance to Chemin Aux Boeufs chicane on the first qualifying lap for the 1000th Grand Prix at Le Mans on Saturday morning when Marc Marquez arrived. Rear wheel showing plenty of clear air from the tarmac as he applied the brakes at over 300 kph before sliding the Repsol Honda left and right. Then he was gone.

Seventy-four years ago, in such a different world, it was dry and clear as 100 350cc riders lined up on Glencrutchery Road. June 13th, 1949, and the birth of a dream. The very first Grand Prix: seven laps and 425 kms of the legendary Mountain circuit in the Isle of Man. Just four years after the end of the Second World War, the FIM launched the motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship one year ahead of their four-wheel counterparts. Four solo classes; 125, 250, 350 and 500, plus of course sidecars, and at European venues Berne, Assen, Spa-Francorchamps, Clady, Monza and the Isle of Man. They had been racing motorcycles on this chunk of granite stuck in the middle of the Irish Sea since 1907. Back then there was a 25kph speed limit on British roads. The forward-thinking Manx government realised that closing their roads for racing could have far-reaching consequences and they were right.

The Lieut.-Governor Air Vice Marshall Sir Geoffrey Bromet dropped the Manx flag to start the race as the riders, all competing on British machines, started in pairs every ten seconds to race between the houses down the fearsome Bray Hill. Every vantage point around the Mountain circuit was jammed with patriotic British fans at last shaking off the devastating effects of war and taking a holiday for the first time in over a decade. Former bomber pilot Les Graham – who had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in 1944 – led by 19 seconds at the end of the first lap, but a broken clutch brought his race to a premature halt. The AJS of Bill Doran took over until his gearbox broke going up the Mountain at the Gooseneck on the final lap. Forty-year-old Freddie Frith, riding the Velocette, had no way of knowing of Doran’s demise and put in a record last lap to become the first grand prix winner. Irishman Ernie Lyons made it a Velocette one two with Artie Bell third on the Norton. Tragically, though, the day provided a dark reminder how dangerous it was to race motorcycles on the Mountain circuit when Ben Drinkwater was killed after crashing on the fourth lap. A different era to the safety standards of today.

Four days later, technical disaster struck again for Graham who appeared on course to make up for his 350cc disappointment by leading on the last lap of the first 500cc grand prix. Four kilometres from the finish with a 90 second lead the magneto shaft on his AJS shattered and he had to push the bike to the finish. Bespectacled Harold Daniell brought the Norton home for a comfortable victory but Graham’s luck changed. He was crowned the first 500cc World Champion at the end of the season.

The atmosphere and racing at Le Mans were a fitting tribute to those riders who have competed in those 1000 Grands Prix. A cacophony of sound and adrenalin generating from those towering grandstands. A Sunday crowd of nearly 120,000, the largest one-day sporting crowd in France this year, embraced what Grand Prix motorcycle racing is and has always been all about. Freddie Frith and all those pioneers who set such a high standard for others to follow 74 years ago would have loved every minute of it. Even the gravel trap altercation between Bagnaia and Vinales. Without a shadow of a doubt, they would have demanded a ride on a modern MotoGP™ machine.

By Nick Harris|2023-05-18T07:34:54+00:00May 18th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Dani made my week

I’m not ashamed to admit I thought there must have been a misprint when the results came through from that first MotoGP™ practice session at Jerez on Friday morning. Dani Pedrosa leading all those young pretenders on the KTM he’d work so hard to develop for the factory team and their riders. Of course, there was no misprint. Dani probably, together with Max Biaggi, the unluckiest rider not to win the MotoGP™ World Championship. Throw in Randy Mamola and the unluckiest rider not to win a premier class world title. Thirty-seven years old and still capable to lead a MotoGP™ practice session, that would do for me because I was still annoyed.

I get annoyed rather than angry these days, apart from when watching football, but a letter from a gentleman to a leading British Motorcycle publication raised the hackles. He suggested that racing had gone soft. That riders in the sixties and seventies often raced with strapped-up limbs and joints that were severely damaged or even fractured. He suggested now we seem to have MotoGP™ prima donnas.

I hope this gentleman was watching the weekend at Jerez. A 37-year-old who had fought back from so many injuries to lead the first practice. Despite those injuries, that probably cost him a MotoGP™ title, Pedrosa won three world titles and 54 Grands Prix. Did he witness the determination and bravery of Enea Bastianini trying to overcome the pain recovering from a broken shoulder blade but finally having to call it a day. The frustration of eight times World Champion Marc Marquez at being told he could not race by the doctors because of his broken hand. Marquez, who has come through three years of major surgery and pain, wanted to race but the doctors said no. The second big accident of the season for Miguel Oliveira in the race which could put him out of action once

It is so easy to recall the past through rose-tinted glasses and I’m probably the worst offender, but I promise you modern day MotoGP™ riders are no prima donnas. Of course, riders from the past were tough. I witnessed first-hand some remarkable brave acts by riders coming from injury. Barry Sheene’s recovery from his Daytona crash to win two 500cc world titles. Then, I was at Silverstone for the horrendous fireball crash in 1982 but Barry returned to race again. Mick Doohan’s 1992 ride in Brazil when he could hardly walk but was determined to defend his lead in the World Championship, I will never forget. In more recent times Jorge Lorenzo flying back to Barcelona in 2013 to have a titanium plate fitted with ten screws to mend a broken collarbone sustained in a practice crash at Assen. The five times World Champion returned two days later and rode to fifth place after 26 laps of the legendary Dutch circuit.

The very nature of the sport means that motorcycle racing always was and always will be dangerous. What had to happen was to make Grand Prix racing as safe as it possibly could be. That is exactly what has happened. Safer circuits, revolutionary improved rider protection, instant medical care and medical staff that are prepared to say no if they think a rider is not fit have been crucial. Surely nobody wants to see riders get injured but accept there will be crashes. Anything that can be achieved in preventing riders avoiding serious injury has to be applauded. Everything that can be done to ensure instant medical attention after a serious accident has to be correct.

Modern day MotoGP™ riders, prima donnas? I don’t think so and Dani, thanks for making me smile.

By Nick Harris|2023-05-04T15:12:20+00:00May 4th, 2023|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

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