Classic Racer

Classic Racer takes you so close you can actually smell the Castrol R. With the world's finest archive, and an editorial team who live and breathe the sport, the only way you'll get closer will be to put on your leathers.

Classic Racer

The Great Escape!

Mighty Mick!

Fast Eddy! • 1982, 83 and 84 World Trials Champion

WEISE OUTLAST SIRIUS 2.0 GLOVES WORTH £129.99 • Put your racing knowledge to the test and complete the puzzle to be in with a chance of winning this great prize. Good luck!

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Whatever happened to? MERVYN ROBINSON • One of the legendary ‘Armoy Armada’, Mervyn Robinson’s popularity is still undiminished, even almost 50 years since his appearance in The Road Racers documentary.

NO MORE HEROES ANYMORE? • In this wrapped-up in cotton wool, namby-pamby, politically-correct world we live in, we make a stand for the bike racing heroes of old, their beautiful steeds and even the amazing battlefields upon which they entered combat… Oh, and apologies to The Stranglers!

MILLENNIUM MARVEL! • After the best part of a decade as the also-ran of the 500cc V4 class, the smallest Japanese factory race team finally came good once more. Alan Cathcart rides Kenny Roberts Jnr’s 2000 title-winning Suzuki RGV500 XR89.

MARVELLOUS MAMOLA!

DANCING DOWN THE PIT LANE • On the eve of the launch of his autobiography, some-time racer, suspension expert, team manager and Mallory Park circuit boss Stuart Hicken gives us a potted history of his time on two wheels.

1962 HONDA RC170 • When Honda arrived in the Isle of Man for the 1959 TT they were met with derision and laughter. Nobody took them seriously and they didn’t set the world on fire. But they learned valuable lessons. Two years later they returned to the Isle of Man and the laughing stopped. The first five positions in the 125cc Ultra-Lightweight and 250cc Lightweight races were all Hondas. Both races were won by a young British rider and future legend Mike Hailwood. The world of motorcycle racing was about to change completely and Honda would soon expand their racing operation into other, larger capacity classes…

FIRST OF THE MANY • Barry Sheene took the first of his 23 500cc Grand Prix race wins 50 years ago this year. It was also the first for Suzuki, and the first of an eventual 49 wins for the iconic RG500. What made it even more special was Sheene’s near-death experience at Daytona just a few months earlier. This is the story of the Grand Prix win that made Barry Sheene a superstar.

BOOM AND BUST.. • ...and back again. In the second part of our three-part series, world champion turned TV presenter Neil Hodgson tells us about his first foray into World Superbikes and why he had to come back to Blighty to rebuild his confidence and his career.

DOING DONINGTON! • Classic Racer friends Tony and Claire Greenslade run Gibson/Allspeed exhausts in Essex – they also run a successful team in the CRMC championship. This issue Tony and the team head to Donington Park.

Fred Clarke PAINTING BY NUMBERS! • In his regular column for Classic Racer, Fred Clarke – for more than 50 years the voice of British motorcycle racing – takes us back in time for some (often fun) recollections.

RECORD BREAKER! • A racer, a veteran of the Second World War and a man called the ‘Boy’s Own’ record breaker. Fred Pidcock looks at the life and times of Noel Pope.

Back in the Day • Welcome to ‘Back in the Day’ where we want to see all your old photographs from way back when. They could be of you racing, or perhaps you meeting your racing idol – or maybe just snaps you’ve taken at a race event from yesteryear: do be mindful of copyright! There’s a prize...