Yamaha TZ750 at Daytona Speedway

The story of the TZ750 is a fascinating one that deserves a lengthier examination than this article will provide, but the facts are these: Yamaha dropped a bomb on the AMA and the FIM F750 class racing internationally in 1974 with the introduction of it's 700cc four cylinder two stroke pure race bike.  Other companies were trying to compete with roadster based racers and really, it was no contest. For the next eight years, no other machine would win the AMA Pro Daytona 200 race except the TZ750.  It created a whole new group of heroes and ended the career of many other riders. It was, as they say, a Game Changer.

These days not many TZ750's are still being raced because of rules that haven't allowed for classes where it could be competitive. Of the 450 or so TZ750's made, many have been crashed, trashed and bashed into oblivion. There is a growing respect and resurgence in interest in this wild ,world beating machine and more are being brought out to play again. To go fast, you need to be confident that the machine is up to the task.

Rusty works his magic on his own TZ750 at Daytona where they still push speeds well over  170 mph....in classic racing. Serious business.

All business cockpit. Tach and temp, kill switch on left.

After winning the lightweight race on a borrowed TZ250 at NJMSP in 2009, Rusty let me try on the 750 for size. I was hooked and a year later had purchased my own TZ750, an ex-Skip Aksland E model, but more on that project later.

Tank off, the long monoshock dominates the space. At speed, the four carbs exhale a mixture of Yamalube and 110 octane race fuel.

Waiting for the final call for practice at Daytona, Larry sits on Rusty's Spondon framed TZ750.

This one features updated suspension and modern wheels too.  

John Long on the TZ and Doug Polen on the Ducati 1098 prepare to put the hammer down at Daytona. To say the TZ750 walked away from the big Duc wouldn't be fair. It ran away from the Ducati once it hit it's stride on the banking leading on to the back straight.

                                                                    TZ 750 at rest

2014 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Daytona win for the Yamaha TZ750. People are working now to make sure the event does not pass by without some recognition. If you've got a TZ750, start preparing now.  If you haven't ever seen a TZ in full flight at Daytona, make plans to be there.    

Honda 'Cafe Racers' Big and small

                                      
When I was ten years old, a neighborhood teen had just purchased his first new Honda
550F motorcycle, all screaming Orange metallic and chrome. It wasn't long before the original four into four pipes were jettisoned in favor of a RC Collins four-into-one system that let everyone know of his arrival long before he was visible. Amazing how tolerant the neighbors were. A few years after that I'd test their limits of patience in my 1963 Ford Fairlane while learing the finer points of smoking the rear tires and soon after the clutch too.  I've been enamored by cars since I can remember, but it's the sound of high revving Japanese motorcycles that reverberate in my head when I think back to those innocent times. While another older neighbor had a Harley Panhead and my father a BMW R69, it was the 'all action' noise of those fast boys on Japanese bikes that made me want to ride.














It would be no surprise that when I finally started riding bikes I would find myself drawn to those Honda's that first made my ears perk up as a child. My younger brother had started riding years before me and sparked my interest in riding as an adult. After choosing a Honda V45 Magna as my first bike, I decided that the 'cruiser style' was not for me. The bike was plenty fast, in fact it scared me on numerous occasions, but I'd chalk that up more to my limited skills than the bikes performance. The next bike was a Moto Guzzi T5 which brought me to my local Honda dealer, Keystone Honda of West Chester, PA where I saw a bike that left me standing speechless in the showroom. It was a 1975 Rickman Honda 750 that featured a suede seat and the the legend " Hot Damn Honda' on the sidecovers.

I couldn't believe the salesman actually let me take the bike out for a test ride. He was beside himself, though , as it had been on the showroom floor for over a year. Who wanted such am antiquated machine when you could by a brand new Honda Interceptor? Well, I did, even before I threw a leg over her.







                


After little more than two years on two wheels, I was not prepared for what the level of performance this bike offered. Despite the long reach to the narrow clip-on bars over the two foot and half foot long fuel tank, I was obsessed with it immediately and struck a deal. Goodbye practical Guzzi, hello Rickman Honda.

The Kerker four-into-one pipe that exited very low on the right side was nearly my undoing on more than one occasion and even caused my far more experienced brother to nearly come off when he was surprised to find the limit to the cornering clearance in the middle of a blind right hand turn at speed. The engine was punched out to 860cc and in truth it was more style than speed as I learned when a buddy flat out left me behind on his Honda 550 as soon as the roads turned twisty.

                                 


Despite the brutal ergonomics, I actually commuted on this bike for some time until I took up racing and decided to cut it loose for a handsome profit. A few years later I would return to Honda Fours again, first in 350cc form, then 400 and 550's too.




                                               
Each one has their own unique feel and offered a clean canvas to customize.
This tasty little Honda 350F came about as a result of a someone offering me an old fairing that inspired me to make a very slow motorcycle at least look faster. I cringe to think that I actually drilled holes in the exhaust baffles to 'improve' the sound. Bzzzzzzz, brraaappp, baaahhhh, up thru the gears she'd rev, like a swarm of  angry hornets chasing you down the road. Today, as I get older, and wiser, I preach the gospel of quieter pipes to all who'll listen. Anyone who can still hear, that is.

                           
                                

The compact design of the stock 350F was more to my liking than the longer & heavier Rickman CR750. The performance wasn't as inspiring, but quick enough if you kept it wound on. Cafe Racers are as much about flash as flight.
                                  

Yamaha TZ500

Yamaha has dominated virtually every capacity of two stroke racing at one time or another. Sometimes it was at the privateer level, other times at the World Championship level. In the final seasons of his astounding career, Barry Sheene was paired with Steve Parrish on the TZ500. These were not the 'works' bikes, but the best a privateer with serious finacial sponsorship could buy. It was not enough however, to put Sheene back on the podium.

Rusty Bigley fettles the ex-Barry Sheene TZ500 in his shop surrounded by the 'Big Brother' TZ750's.  There aren't many specialists who've raced big bore TZ's for thirty years.  Hard won experience comes to bear when preparing the machine to run again. Parts are hard to come by but an understanding of how the whole package works is another thing. After a beautiful restoration a few years prior, some details had been left unfinished by the people who did the work, but it would soon be put right again.

The TZ500 had a reputation as an ill-handling, uncompetitive machines according to Grand Prix World Champion Barry Sheene. It does not diminish its value today however, as the provinance is soundly documented.

On display at the Celtic Racing tent at NJMSP in 2009.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Some of the the top production racers of the 1970's included the Aermacchi RR250 and the Yamaha TZ350. Both helped set new standards of performance in handling and two-stroke technology. The water cooled TZ was the logical step forward for Yamaha after the success achieved on the aircooled TD and TR series of production racers.

 Aermacchi tried to duplicate Yamaha's watercooled engine upgrade and succeeded in Grand Prix racing with hand built bikes for World Champion Walter Villa. The original Aermacchi 250 was air cooled and wore drum brakes front and rear. The production RR250 was sold in the USA by Harley-Davidson dealers, did not succeed in the same manner however as the factory team in Europe. Poor preparation and lack of understanding for this somewhat fragile machine meant that Yamaha's comparative user friendliness would help the TZ dominate the grids here in the USA. 

The similarities are many, but the details are quite different. The Aermacchi is lower, narrower, with a seat that puts you 'in' the bike instead of on it. This RR250 is a 1975 model with disc brakes up front but still a drum rear brake, water cooling, and fiberglass tank that's still wearing it's original colors from new.  

This Aermacchi / Harley-Davidson racer awaits a restoration at this point. Its true competitive life behind it, the RR250 begs to be ridden again. The owner hopes to make that happen in the near future.

The RR250 had success with American riders like Gary Scott, but the Yamaha TZ came on strong as the decade wore on to quickly outpace the RR250.

 

Below is former AMA Pro and Team Yamaha racer Gary Fisher #21.  Fisher won the 250cc National at Loudon, New Hampshire in 1972, 19 years after his father, Ed Fisher, won it on a Triumph. He was the first American to test a TZ750 in Japan with American Team manager, 1969 250cc World Champion,  Australian Kel Carruthers.

From  the Gary Fisher collection

Above, chasing the late Jarno Saarinen #10 at Daytona Speedway.

Below, a break in during qualifying on pit lane for Carruthers, Castro, Fisher

Below, Fisher #21, leading Don Castro #11

    photo by Michael Lawless

Gary has rarely done any races in the last decade, but he suffered a dismal weekend at Roebling Road and Daytona Speedway 2010 on the TZ350. The TZ was beset with problems that kept him out of the running. He was back on Yamaha 250 at Mid Ohio Raceway  for a pair of third place finishes at the AMA Vintage Days to redeem himself. It had been thirty plus years since he last raced a two-stroke.  

photo by Michael Lawless

The G model, a piston port two stroke that was the end of an era of 350cc racing at the Grand Prix level. the G, in 250 and 350 form, remained competitive for a number of years in the early 1980's. In today's classic racing, it is a weapon of choice based on it's continued competitiveness. The reputation for high engine maintenance and frames that do fracture are based in fact, although there are modern solutions to these issues.

The sensation of speed is quite intense as you work the six speed gear box, the sound at 12,000 rpm is enough to send shivers down your spine, delivering that true Grand Prix experience of the 1970's, blue smoke and all.   It is truly a surgical scalpel type of machine and must be used as such, with great precision. The reward is worth the effort required when it all comes together for a few good laps. If you get it just right, you get a glimpse of what is was like for heroes like Roberts, Sheene, Saarinen and company.

photo by Joe Clancy

Click this link to see and hear a TZ250 warm up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGhh-FRqCWA

                

###

Honda 350 Four Grand Prix special

The 'Works', Please!

When you think of Honda Grand Prix machines, what comes to mind? If you're of a certain age, names like Jim Redman, Mike Hailwood and Gary Hocking riding machines like the 250/4 or 500/4 comes to mind. But the most magnificent Honda of the 1960's clearly is the legendary 250/6. Was there any sexier machine? Honda wasn't the first to develop a six cylinder Grand Prix bike, that honor goes to MV Agusta. Why, even Moto Guzzi developed a compact V-8, but none enjoyed the success of the Honda.

                        


The Honda RC172 was a 350cc DOHC factory built racer introduced in 1963 and produced 54 hp at 13,500 rpm and it was able to reach speeds of 150 mph. The bike above is the Honda 250/ six which belongs to the Brooklyn based  Team Obsolete which had the bike at Daytona for Jim Redman to ride before his famous dust-up with AHRMA chief Jeff Smith who was trying to prevent Redman from entering the track. How silly.

It was with these imagines percolating in my mind since childhood that led me to build a Honda RC 'special' for vintage racing. In 1998, before replica RC works' style chassis were commonly available, I met Ken Awae at Daytona. The California based team owner was contesting the AHRMA 500 GP class with some very fast riders and some beautiful Honda twins with lovely alloy fairings. After several fairings were crash damaged by his riders, Ken switched to fiberglass and agreed to sell me a spare that he had made for the team in Japan. I packed the alloy faring in my truck for the long ride home while I contemplated what to do from here.

A thousand miles north, I had hatched a plan to build my own Honda Grand Prix style racer, albeit a more modest version running stock a stock 350cc four cylinder engine with a few minor tweaks. I'd run out of money to fund the AMA pro team I was involved with and I was going to return to my roots in classic  racing, where I'd started a decade earlier on a 1967 Ducati 250. But this time, we were  using a compact 350F roadster as a starting point. 
                                                                           

We modified the frame both front and rear by re-positioning the shocks to a more upright position and revising the steering angle at the front end. Unnecessary frame tabs removed and a new front end with a Suzuki T500 drum brake for a more period feel were but a few of the changes made. Kent Riches at Airtech provided the fuel tank, which was revised underneath to fit the frame.

Airtech also provided the seat and clip-ons.

The bike was put together at RBO in Parkesburg, PA in the winter of 1998.

The stock exhaust pipes, which were losing their chrome and dented, were then sanded and

painted after the baffles were removed. The sound is truly amazing at 10,000 rpm. The 350F racer is a SOHC engine that puts out 32 hp and weighs about 340 pounds dry. The factory version has plenty of trick features like a dry clutch and six speed transmission. Shame that Honda never brought that Grand Prix technology to best selling CB350/500/550 and 750F series.  

                                                                                      

             What a thrill it was to meet ex- Honda works rider, six-time World Champion
 Jim Redman at Daytona when he was riding for Team Obsolete. We'd also get a chance to meet the great racing mechanic Nobby Clark for the first time too.

After a minor incident we're back on track at Daytona minus a windscreen. Flat out on the banking, at 110 mph, it was brutal and my neck was sore for hours afterwards.

                                        1999 in the rain at Summit Point Raceway, W. Virginia.
                  A minor crash in the rain at Loudon later that year convinced me to keep the
                               alloy fairing for display and buy a fiberglass unit for competition.

Virginia International Raceway 2003

The Honda350F in action  at

Mid Ohio Raceway, Lexington, Ohio

 350 Grand Prix class

July 2003.

When I remember this weekend at Mid Ohio in July 2003, I can't help but think about fellow

racer Frank Swartout who lost his life that weekend. He and his brother were enthusiastic

 competitors and well liked by all. One positive result of the fatal accident was the mandatory application of the 'belly pan rule' which AHRMA had previously opposed despite the obvious safety improvement. 

I had been running one as WERA required one in their series, but it took a fatal incident to bring about

 a rule change at AHRMA.

The Honda 350 special has been laid up since 2003 when I started to put in more time on a MV Agusta 350 and TZ350 I'd acquired. It is a machine that can still conjure up that feeling of Grand Prix racing whilst stretched over the long fuel tank, immersed in the roar of four open exhaust pipes despite its humble origins.

click this link to hear a real Honda 250/six Grand Prix bike 

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4chNjn01DP8