Classic Racer

With MotoGP being a somewhat sterile environment at the moment, we here at CR love to look back at some of the more colourful characters from Grand Prix racing. And they didn’t come more colourful than Marco Lucchinelli… Marco would take his only 500

There was a time when the Suzuka 8 Hours was the most important race on the calendar for the Japanese factories. This shows in the list of winners – many were the various factories’ golden boys of the time, which is why it reads like a roll-call of t

Mick Hemmings, legendary racer and tuner, passed away on May 17, 2021 and still managed to get a ‘final lap’ in of Silverstone circuit in June. Mick’s final lap was in a private ambulance, driven around Silverstone for two ‘spirited’ laps on Friday J

Road-race star Michael Dunlop is set to take centre stage at the 2021 Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show on October 9-10. The 19-times TT race winner is the first rider to complete a lap of the most famous road racing course in the world in under 17 m

A profile of 1950’s Norton works rider Ray Amm in the 1960 publication ‘The BP Book of Motorcycle Racing’ ends with the words: ‘…his star may only have shone for a short time, but it shone very brightly.’Those words of appreciation could equally have

Even by the standards of Italy’s array of little-known marques that have contested Grand Prix racing down the years, Sanvenero’s meteoric rise to success exactly 40 years ago in 1981, and his equally sudden burnout into bankruptcy the following year,

As I started the first part of the story of ‘Rocket’ Ron Haslam with an anecdote, it’s worth starting this – part two – with another one. It’s 1996 and Ron and Ann Haslam have just started their Honda Ron Haslam Race School at Donington Park, a schoo

Politics have always been a part of the racing scene, usually the average fan is unaware of the ‘goings on’, but sometimes political decisions affect what is seen on the racetrack.The birth of the RS54 was the result of such a decision. Just before t

Yvon Duhamel’s first – and long overdue – win in the 1973 AMA National Championship season came at Charlotte in North Carolina where he rode a smart and consistent race to lead from flag to flag and won at a 103mph average: classy. Then, in the final

No one, but no one was exempt from the Stavros practical joke, not his siblings, nor his own mum… When Bay Parrish passed away in 1988, her wishes were to have her ashes scattered at a beauty spot in Norfolk and – with Stavros otherwise engaged – his

Despite every weather agency in the country predicting heavy rain showers, Cadwell Park bathed in sunshine for much of this mouthwatering race weekend. This meant that – for both competitors and the strong turnout of spectators – both could enjoy two

For the first time since 2017, the Bob Smith Spring Cup was held at the legendary Scarborough road-race circuit of Oliver’s Mount. And while the number of spectators was restricted due to the ongoing Covid/social distancing measures, the bumper entry

Phil Hacker is a name well known in the world of racing and that of Yamaha’s FJ series of sports-tourer motorcycles. Yes, Phil’s skills built this amazing machine, which even he says “is the FJ Yamaha could and should have built!” So, let’s have a lo