Ah....and here's me getting into MotoGP mode for Phillip Island in a few weeks or so....yes, another great name passes....

One of the last of the IOM TT 'Greats'.
Bugger!!
And don't forget Joey Dunlop Hippy ..... "Yer Mun".
BTW, Bazza would be enjoying the MotoGP rounds this season.
Almost all the four strokes are running with straight-out pipes .... take your ear plugs Jafo.
I noticed all the grid-grommets were using them last weekend.

BoXXi was pretty devastated at this news, the guy was a SUPERB rider and would have me on the edge of my seat with his incredible style and machine control, in other words....he scared the living daylights out of me.

A sad loss indeed.

When Agostini was at PI with the MV's.....on S/F three together came in at 124 db.....and I took OFF my headset just so I could listen to the sound of a 350cc 6 cylinder on full song.....even better than a Duke...

Oh....I should mention Ago was less than 6 feet from me while at 'full-song'...

and you can still hear? lol

i'll disagree on it sounding better than a duck though

Jafo, trawling for some information last night and ended up reading (or re-reading!) some reports from the first arrival of the Japanese teams at the IOM.
The Honda 250 'Six' (17,000 RPM in 1966!) is the one we all think of but how about the Honda 125 'Five' (20,000 RPM in 1967) or even their 50cc aircooled twin (winding out to 20,000 RPM in 1965) .... Himmel!!
The one bike I would really like to see and hear in action is the 500cc Gilera V8 of 1957 ....

I recently went to the British round of the Moto GP at Donington Park, and I must say, I wasn't prepared for the exquisite sound of the Ducatis and the Aprilia's. Pure music!!!

I too have stood just a few feet away from Ago's (and Phil Read's......remember him Jafo?) MV Agusta at Mallory Park in about '73-74, The whole floor shook when they were revved. I was glad I bought a paddock pass that day! aahhhh the memories...............

Phil Read .... the original 'hard man' but a damn good racer.
He had some very nice things to say about Bazza.
"Phil Read:Prince of Speed" is interesting ... his feud with Bill Ivy makes good reading.
And unlike today, 125cc ... 250cc ..... 500cc .... all in a day's racing for men like these.
Shame his Honda let him down in 1978 when he and 'Mike the Bike' lined up for the IOM Senior.
I never realised (until I read his Bio) that Read started racing a 350 Goldie in 1956 and only gave up racing after the 1982 IOM ..... that is 26 years!
And aged 43!!
Not bad .... 7 World Championships at GP level and 1 more FIM title.
Good stuff BoXXi .... at least we were around to see these people.
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Motercycles... Kona will never understand why people love them.

I am sorry to hear about the death. That just outright sucks.

wombat_1: I remember watching Johnny Ceccotto ride in the 250, 350, 500 and 750 races all in the same day! It was pretty standard practice back then........I wonder how todays riders would cope with that scenario?

Kona: each to his own.

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