‘I ALWAYS SAVED ONE FRANC A DAY, SO WHEN I WAS 14 I BOUGHT MYSELF A NEW 50cc GITANE TESTI’
1980 ex-wes Cooley Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000 Superbike, book-ended by Barry Sheene’s factory TR750 XR11 Suzuki and the ex-kenny Roberts 1981 YZR500 OW53 Yamaha.
Bazza’s XR11 is the one on which he finished second to Yamaha-mounted privateer Jack Findlay in the 1975 FIM Formula 750 series(sheene had broken his leg when a paddock wheelie went wrong the weekend before the final round). And KR’S Yamaha is the EVO version of the reversecylinder inline four with which he won the third of his world titles in 1980, but with a lighter square-tube aluminium frame. History on wheels – but the real deal, like everything else in Gerald’s garage.
These three key pieces in top-level road racing’s historical jigsaw were joined under the EGM awning at Le Mans by 13 others. There was the Yamaha TZ750F on which France’s own Patrick Pons won the 1979 F750 World Championship, the ex-christian
Léon 1973 factory Kawasaki H2R F750 two-stroke triple – and the radically avant-garde 1979 BUT 500 twin designed by Eric Offenstadt and
100% made in France, with its HO parallel-twin four-carb engine and trailing-link front suspension with cast magnesium struts. Then, besides an array of MBA, Honda and Yamaha 125GP twostrokes there was a Rob North BSA triple, an ultra-rare ex-works 1963 CZ 250cc two-stroke single – and the ex-boulom/sarron 1976 Godier & Genoud Kawasaki Endurance racer, whose Pierre Doncque-designed tubular steel perimeter frame, complete with rising-rate rear suspension, invented the format for the twin-spar chassis.
Alongside this was a later, very different four-cylinder Kawasaki-engined device that had not long before joined Gérald Armand’s flotilla of historic race bikes, as a reminder of our more recent racing yesterdays. This was the 2013 ex-hector Barbera Avintia Motogp racer, created for the Spanish CRT team using factory ZX-RR parts by Akira
Racing in France. Gérald acquired the GP13 first in 2017, then the two similar GP14 bikes raced by Barbera and Mike di Meglio which followed soon after – compete with spare parts and a massive choice of alternative gear ratios! Last year, at September’s Legend Track Days event on the Serres circuit in Greece, none other than Giacomo Agostini, a frequent guest rider aboard Gérald’s motorcycles, demonstrated the GP14 Di Meglio bike to a Greek public starved of present-day GP racers, let alone those of the last millennium. Ago’s son Giacomino subbed for his dad on an MV Agusta 500 triple.
“I rode the other Avintia we took myself,” says Gérald. “But although I did over 300kph [186mph] on it, the acceleration exiting a turn was literally terrifying! You need to calm everything down to make it rideable today, so I’m arranging for a friend of mine to replace the Marelli electronics with something more rational from IFM in Germany, that we can reprogramme ourselves!” Gérald, 63, has assembled his fabulous collection of race bikes, which currently numbers 46, by being both far-sighted and frugal. He’s a man who’s always ready to seize an opportunity – ducking and diving as needs be to raise extra capital to spend on his bikes. A visit to his home base, south of Paris, demonstrates the effectiveness of this strategy – it’s a rabbit-warren of storage rooms and workshop facilities full of bikes protected by a massive security alarm system. With his long, curly locks, twinkling eyes and matinée idol looks, Gérald comes replete with trademark Gallic charm. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of road racing down the decades, acquired from the more than 50,000 magazines, 500 books and countless tons of paperwork he’s amassed over the years. He’s a self-made man, born in the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral to parents who both left home at 5.30am each morning for a day’s hard work, leaving young Gérald to his own devices.
“My parents were poor, and came from the country to work in Paris, and though they did their best for me, I didn’t have a lot of the things that other kids had,” says Gérald candidly. “At seven years old I started working in the markets close to my home, getting up early to help unload trucks with fresh produce, helping set up stalls, stuff like that. Then I’d go to school! Of course, I’d spend the money I earned – but I always saved one franc a day, so by the time I was 14, and my schoolmates had beat-up Velosolex or Mobylette mopeds to get around, I bought myself a brand new 50cc Gitane Testi – it was every kid’s dream back then to own one! But, almost inevitably, it got stolen 38 days later, by which time I’d invested a lot of time in making it even better – j’ai toujours aimé bricoler avec des motos [‘I’ve always liked to tinker with motorcycles’]!” That passion for bikes had begun at age ten, when a neighbour bought a Honda 125 café racer. “The fibreglass mudguard was what really caught my eye!” says Gérald.