Well, not quite.. But this is as close as we’re likely to get. The owner of this Bielefeld, Germany velodrome let some vintage boardtrack enthusiasts on his highly banked (albeit paved and not planks) cycling track for a few laps in vintage boardtrackers. Although the pace looks pretty leisurely, I’d imagine the grade of those banks looks a lot steeper when you’re on them than they look in this clip. The onboard footage, complete with flickery, grainy, goodness give us as good an approximation of boardtracking as we’re likely to get these days.
I just love that this velodrome owner let these guys on the track. Imagine walking up to a business owner and saying, ‘excuse me, we’d like to do something extraordinarily dangerous on your business property. Just for fun.’
This Jeff Decker sculpture of a hillclimber in the throes of attempting control (and losing) graces the plaza of the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. It is a mammoth bronze piece. At 150% scale, it is gigantic, weighing over 5,000 pounds and standing at 16 feet.
It is heroic; showing a rider that is dextrous, brave, and almost impossibly flexible. He struggles to control the machine that it uncontrollable; on a racing surface that is rough and unstable and constantly shifting. It’s a brilliant capture of an amazing, if inelegant, moment.
It’s the inelegance of it that I love about it. This is no proud victory posing with his laurels and receiving a kiss from the girl awarding a trophy; it isn’t a stoic lone biker rocketing across a desert highway; it is a competitor struggling to take his machine up the hill—and he is falling. Struggling to regain control, but almost certainly beyond the tipping point, the sculpture captures the instant before failure.
It is an unconventional moment to showcase, but one that I think exemplifies the spirit of competition and the determination of the competitor.
Shortly after the unveiling, there was criticism that this was a fanciful interpretation of the hillclimb. Many suggested that the events didn’t achieve this level of acrobatics or drama, and this was simply another artist’s flight of fancy in turning the mundane into the heroic. Several years have passed, and Jeff Decker recently showed some images on his blog that showcase that, if anything, his sculpture didn’t go far enough to capture the bravery of the early hillclimbers. Looking at these images, I’m inclined to believe him.
Head over to his blog to see the complete gallery.
Check out this stunning photography of a very special Honda RC166 from the Honda Racing Heritage collection. This example bearing number 7, was piloted by Mike Hailwood to victory in the 1966 Isle of Man TT. It wasn’t just on the ring around the dependency that Hailwood brought the 166 in for the laurels. Hailwood won 10 championship races in 1966 onboard RC166. This is an incredible racing machine, which captured the World Manufacturers Championship for Honda in the 250cc category for two years on a trot in the mid-60s.
Looking at these photographs, it’s little wonder that the Hailwood RC166 has become such a popular inspiration for tribute cafe bikes in a variety of engine configurations. The demand for 1960s Hondas remains high as a source for cafe bikes sporting this livery. I must admit, these photos certainly whet my appetite for one of these small displacement racers. Like their 4-wheeled counterparts, the barchettas, these small displacement bikes are the epitome of sports riding for me. Short wheelbases, light weights, and high maneuverability is a recipe for fun on the road or track. There are few machines on two wheels or four that would compete with this Honda RC166 (or it’s many imitators) for a magical afternoon on a twisty stretch of road. Check out the complete gallery, including some video and ringtones(!), on Honda’s MotoGP history gallery.
I found this via the motorcycling photography spotters at Bike EXIF, which also turned up this wonderful 50cc Honda Dream 50R. Hot.
More on this and other early Honda racers at vf750fd.com.
I followed this project—experiment really—as it was being developed in 2005-6. It was an audacious project. More than that; it was a journey of discovery—an archeology of sorts. I was reminded of this sheer insanity of this experiment this morning, and looking back through it again today I am still amazed that it paid off. Paul Bodie’s build of a 1919 Excelsior Auto Cycle boardtracker might be the boldest home engineering and machining project I’ve ever seen.
It’s uderselling it a bit to call Paul a home-engineer. His motorcycle shop, Flashback Fabrications, has spent many years building and maintaining race bikes of unusual origin. Racing takes a toll on any machine. If you’re going to go through the headache of rebuild after rebuild, and burn through a steady supply of disposable maintenance parts, you’ll want to do yourself a favor and pick a race vehicle common enough to not make every rebuild a quest for parts made of unobtainium. Paul is having none of that though, he raced a series of Aermaccis.
All of this ended up being good training for what was to come: building a replica of a 1919 Excelsior. This is a bike with no surviving examples. There are a scant few photos of the bike, all of them from the right side. Armed with the photos and a partial engine case, he set about building the bike. The frame is easy enough, but engineering a overhead-cam V-twin from scratch, from a photo, that’s something else. There is no surviving engine to copy. There is no archive of technical drawings. Just a photo. Madness.
And somehow, he pulled if off. More importantly, he was careful to document it thoroughly for us to enjoy. Dig through the project page-by-page to see how you can mold a combustion chamber from perforated metal and bondo (to be sand cast later), and other seemingly impossible tasks. It’s a mind blower.
The site chronicles the build from photo reference and sketches through the construction of a prototype. Paul has since built 4 more examples (of an eventual 10) which he’s selling at $155,000. That’s no small price for a motorcycle without brakes that you can’t drive on the street. Looking through the chronicle of the work that went into its development though; it’s a bargain.
In the time since developing this replica, Paul has since turned his attention to re-creating an 1896 Roper Steam Bike. I guess the plain-old Excelsior V-Twin was too easy for him.
Anachronism is perfected in this Goodwood Aston Martin garage
Well my friends, The 2009 Goodwood Revival is already in the books. We spent an inordinate amount of time blasting you with every bit of minutia we could a few weeks back for the Monterey Historics. Sadly, the truth is very likely that the world’s greatest classic motorsport festival doesn’t take place on American soil at some desert track. It doesn’t even take place at my beloved Road America. It is almost certainly on the disused service roads surrounding the decommissioned airfield on the country estate of Lord March.
The beauty of the event, as I’ve said many times before, isn’t the tremendous quality of its racing cars and motorcycles, it isn’t the period-appropriate track itself, it’s not even the vintage aircraft that share the spotlight. The sheer enthusiasm of the period-attired participants and spectators for this event are the reason she so outshines her peers.
Enough of my jealousy of having missed Goodwood yet again, on to the booty! Videos and photos have been flooding the interwebs in the past week. Here are links to some favorites:
These Flickr streams were the sources of the photos above and offer many many more lovely captures from the weekend:
Board track cycle footage is exceedingly rare. Board track cycle footage of this quality is virtually unheard of. Makes me wonder what other tremendous racing footage is rotting in the film cans in the basements around the world.
This has been getting some play on the motorcycle blogs, but the sheer beauty of this demands that I share it with you. This 1973 (non-video) arcade game is a thing of engineering and aesthetic joy. In the pre-video era, these remarkable coin-op games were not uncommon, and growing up in Michigan meant I could occasionally visit Marvin’s Mechanical Museum, which is a living museum of classic coin-ops. I don’t think ole’ Marvin has one of these, but if he did, I might have to move in.
This arcade game gives the customer, through a set of handlebars, control over a motorcycle which weaves, through traffic on its way to the finish line. Unlike some arcade driving games of the era, this game does not have small vehicles riding across a spinning treadmill to simulate motion. This game can do away with the visible strings holding the participants by using magnets to push the competitor motorcycles over a static play surface. The video does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could. It’s definitely worth a watch.
Needless to say, I’ve got a new obsession for an object to put in the garage. I’m not sure if this one is more or less expensive than a real race bike from the era would be. I’m also not sure which would be more fun.
An event organizer finally figured out what makes the Goodwood Revival so special. It isn’t the history of the track itself, which is rich and storied. It isn’t the drivers, though Goodwood attracts many of history’s best. It isn’t even the race vehicles themselves, which are undoubtedly among the best in the world.
The Goodwood Revival is spectacular because of the attendees. The crowds almost entirely arrive in period attire. It’s a giant renaissance festival for cars. It’s the best possible cosplay. This extends to the grounds of course, which are staged and prepped in period attire as well, from traditional garages featuring period accoutrements, to classic pubs and barber shops; the entire scene is like a film set and the attendees its extras.
For Laguna Seca’s historic Festival of Legends motorcycle race, the 2010 event organizers have decided to showcase the halcyon days of motorcycle racing, the 1970s. The organizers promise to offer all the “spectacle and glamour of the era and a magical step back in time. The atmosphere, dress, food and music will celebrate life on racetracks in 1970s in a unique weekend celebration”.
Hopefully this isn’t all wishful thinking and the attendees will don their best short-shorts for the series. I’ve long been hoping that this enthusiasm among attendees at vintage events would spread from Goodwood to our shores. Even if the 70s isn’t your personal favorite period for fashion, I hope you’ll get into the spirit if you’re making your way to next year’s event. If it succeeds, we may see more of the classic racing spirit at Stateside events. I hope so.
Hell for Leather has more details, and will no doubt be following the story.
(Photo from Paul’s Place EUPEN’s vintage motorcycle racing Flickr Stream)
