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 Iron Duke!

The final fling...

Fast, fickle…

WEISE RIDGE JEANS £139.99! • 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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Editor’s welcome

Paddock Gossip • Compiled by The Classic Racer team // Send your classic racing news to: editor@classicracer.co.uk

Whatever happened to? BOB FOSTER

Enigma • Phil Read was a real motorcycle racing legend as well as being a complex character. Here, in the first of a three-part series, Bruce Cox delves into the history of both the man and the myth of the ‘Prince of Speed.’

SO NEAR… • …and yet so far! Renzo Pasolini’s 1972 Aermacchi H-D 250 came painfully close to winning the 1972 250cc world title by a single point. And while tragedy struck a year later, the updated bike itself would become a four-time world champion in Harley-Davidson colours.

1954 BMW RS54 • RS54 cylinder head showing the two camshafts, the bevel gear driving the inlet one that then meshes with the exhaust cam. Roller-tipped rockers operate the valves. The positive system of locking the eccentric rocker shafts can also be seen.

Dream machines! • If you ever watched bike racing in the 1980s through to the Noughties, in the UK or in World Superbike or Grand Prixs, chances are you saw more than a few paint jobs flying around the circuits from these chaps…

APRILIA RSW-2 500 • Aprilia RSW-2 500: Aprilia’s 500 GP twin journey began in 1994. This 2000 model was the final version in the series.

WINGED WONDER! • The modern-era MotoGP missiles are not the first machines with wings or aerodynamics taken into consideration. Alan Cathcart recalls the Britten-Denco 1000 Aero-D-One from the late 1980s.

HOLDEN ON! • Talented racer, keen mechanic, engineer, joker and a good friend to all… Robert Holden, a much-loved racer from New Zealand sadly died while racing at his beloved TT in 1996. Welcome to the Robert Holden story – part one…

Slingham! • In part two of our Gary Lingham story, we find out why this talented racer never quite got the factory ride he really did deserve.

DONINGTON PARK • In the second part of our series on classic British racing circuits, we look at Donington Park – the oldest British race circuit still in use today.

TRUE GENIUS... • Regular CR contributor Alan Cathcart recalls the sheer genius of New Zealand racer and engineer John Britten.

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 for the best! Send them to: BSimmonds@mortons.co.uk