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

Paul Smart: 1943 – 2021

Wes Cooley: 1956 – 2021

TROY STORY!

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Editor’s welcome

BOOK CORNER

Whatever happend to? JOHN HEMPLEMAN

BEER MONSTER! • It’s been 20 years since Valentino Rossi’s 500cc title victory and as he retires from MotoGP after 25 years at the top, Alan Cathcart brings us his ride on The Doctor’s Nastro Azzurro-backed Honda NSR500…

Honda NSR500 Specifications

SHORT CIRCUIT! • He’s known as the greatest road racer of all time, but Joey Dunlop was also a quality short circuit racer. He raced in Grands Prix, the World Superbike Championship and various series in the UK against some of the best in the world. Biographer Stuart Barker examines the lesser-known side of Joey’s racing career.

1966 HONDA RC149

MR NICE GUY… • A British motorcycle race legend: we lost Paul Smart in October in a motorcycle road traffic accident so we had to celebrate the man and his achievements.This is part one.

MOTO MORINI 250 BIALBERO • Known as ‘the fastest 250 single in the world’, this is Tarquino Provini’s bike that came within a whisker of beating Honda’s 250/4 in the 1963 World Championship.

GOING COMMANDO! • Just before the final demise of the Norton factory in the late 1970s, a club racing version of the Commando twin was developed. John Nutting tried it in 1975 and tracked down some of the survivors

Origins of the short-stroke 750 Norton twin

TOP GUN! • During the fabled two-stroke era of 500cc Grand Prix racing, one motorcycle stands head and shoulders above the rest: Honda’s NSR500. Statistics show that this bike was Grand Prix racing’s ‘Top Gun’, the best of the best…

ACTION AT ANGLESEY • The classic race scene has had a busy few months on the run-up to the off-season: here’s Classic Racer’s report on the Anglesey CRMC meeting held over September 4 and 5.

CROFT ORIGINAL! • The Croft CRMC meeting held over October 2/3 was to prove the end-game of a difficult season, but one which promises hope for a much more ‘normal’ one come 2022 Here’s hoping, eh?

Back in the Day • Welcome to our new feature ‘Back in the Day’. We want to see all your old photographs from way back when and we’re offering a prize for the best. 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, but do be mindful of copyright. Send them to: BSimmonds@mortons.co.uk

The class of 2000! • We want to see YOUR pride and joy race machine in the pages of Classic Racer EVERY issue. It doesn’t matter if you no longer race, or no longer race the bike anymore – share with us the specs, stories and memories of your time racing your favourite steed! Email your hi-res shots and words to: bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk. Let us know what you’ve done and how you’ve done it, and tell us about your favourite race too!