‘LCs were so noisy with Allspeeds...’
McGuinness has fond memories of the two-stroke glory days
Ican’t believe the LC came out 40 years go – wow that makes me feel old. I never actually had one as it was just slightly before my time, but I can remember the ‘older’ lads where I lived all having them. My dad, who owned a bike shop, would have wheeled and dealed in them and whenever we went to a race meeting it was just LC mad, they were everywhere. It was grassroots racing and everyone was on a level playing field. As a bike they were fast, light and I remember them being pretty noisy with Micron or Allspeed pipes. They were always loaded with aftermarket parts. They sounded great and blew the opposition away. And even though the later YPVS that came out was probably a better bike, everyone still wants a LC. But whenever I think about LCs, I think about the Pro-Am series and the riders that came out of that championship. It was unreal, riders including Kenny Irons, Graeme Mitchell, Niall Mackenzie, Steve Chambers, Alan Carter etc, etc. There were loads of them, even Damon Hill had a go at it. It was shown on TV and I can remember seeing the riders pulling keys out of a hat for the bike they were going to ride. And the racing was wheelto-wheel, proper handlebar bashing. It was iconic, absolutely iconic and this was essentially the start of the one-make series and we’ve seen how successful they have been over the years. They’ve been responsible for a lot of riders careers, so they’ve got a lot to answer for. I’m sure there are also a lot of fond memories from the lads that had them on the road too, I bet they were responsible for a serious amount of petting going on for the lads that passed their test and got themselves an LC!
‘THE PRO-AM RACING WAS PURE WHEEL-TOWHEEL ACTION’