Suzuki’s 125s step up
Having found a formula for racing success, Suzuki’s GP wins started to stack up – but the competition wasn’t going down without a fight...
Suzuki’s RT62 proved to be the break the Hamamatsu firm needed and even if the bike didn’t bring the firm exactly what they might have wished for, things were on the up.
Over the 1962 season in various guises the bikes finished anywhere from eleventh right up to a first place for Hugh Anderson in Argentina. Perhaps the icing on the cake was Suzuki gaining second in the 125cc Manufacturers World Championships – they’d finally arrived.
Despite the success of the 125 single, 1963 saw a return to the old parallel air-cooled twin set up, this time with disc valve induction. The all-new design came in two guises: the RT63 utilising the rear facing exhaust port design as per the RT62, and the RT62X with the more conventional forward facing exhaust ports. The X variant produced the same power as the older single from the previous year at 24bhp, but the ‘front port’ model offered 25.5bhp.
Suzuki’s 125 twins were now capable of delivering a consistent 200bhp/ litre, putting out there or close to the same as the inspirational, yet impoverished works MZs. With eight speed gearboxes and weighing in at just 94kg, the future looked well starred and so it was to prove.
With Degner’s knowledge and Suzuki’s finance allied to a race team open and responsive to ideas from a non-Japanese engineer rider, there was little holding them back.
Of the dozen rounds of 125 GP competition that season Suzuki’s RT63/63X took nine wins, leaving the formerly dominate Honda looking a little crestfallen.
To rub it in, Suzuki won their home Grand Prix with Frank Perris on board! Finally, Suzuki were able to add to their TT triumphs as well with Hugh Anderson taking the lightweight win on The Island.
The year ended on a double high with Anderson taking the 125cc rider’s crown and the factory taking the manufacturer’s title.
Buoyed with success, the following year’s RT64 was essentially more of the same, but with the engine now offering a staggering 30bhp at 13,000rpm, bringing the machine up to a mind-boggling 240bhp/litre. Yet despite this and more, Honda had upped their game over the winter and Suzuki took something of a hiding, only managing to take four GP wins but still managed a creditable second place for the manufacturer’s title, but with Anderson relegated to third.
However, Suzuki had also been investing in R&D and Ernst Degner had scored a remarkable first place at Suzuka, this time on the RT64A prototype, a running water cooling which was a portent of things to come.
The year 1965 saw the RT65 upping the ante considerably with the watercooled disc valve twin now boasting a nine-speed transmission and larger carburettors. The bike might have ‘only’ made an additional one bhp, but it was now doing so reliably and consistently, thanks to the new water jackets that kept both pistons and bores at a controlled temperature.
Top speed was now 119mph and the RT65 simply blitzed the opposition such that Honda didn’t win a single race that season, leaving newcomers Yamaha to take just two races out of the 12 on offer. Not too surprisingly, Suzuki regained the manufacturer’s title with Hugh Anderson again No. 1 in the world, Frank Perris at No. 2 and Ernst Degner at No. 4.
The following season Suzuki stuck to what was now a proven formula, fairly confident that they had what it took to repeat 1965’s success, but the Yamaha team had other ideas. They took five wins whilst Honda took seven, leaving Suzuki’s RT66 out in the cold.
Things didn’t improve the following season when the Yamaha’s were dominant. Between them, Bill Ivy and Phil Read took all but two of the 125cc GP races, leaving Suzuki with just a pair.
There were rumours that Yamaha’s 1967 line-up would be featuring fourcylinder 125s and Suzuki were going have to up their game if they wanted to be top dog again.