Vic Eastwood
VIC EASTWOOD, one of the great scrambles stars of his generation, has died at the age of 78 at his home in Kent, UK.
A leading rider of both the AMC and BSA works motocross teams he was part of the winning Team Great Britain at the 1965, ’66 and ’67 Motocross Des Nations and although he never won the British title he was eight times runner up. In 1965 he was fourth behind Jeff Smith, Paul Friedrichs and Rolf Tibblin in the world 500cc championship and in 1968 he won two GPs, claiming victory in the British and Luxembourg rounds on his works replica Husqvarna.
It looked like 1969 would be Vic’s year to challenge for the world championship but sadly before the season began he broke his leg at the televised BBC Grandstand race at Hawkstone Park and was out of action for the next eighteen months. However he wasn’t going to let some limited movement in his leg keep him away from the motocross tracks and for the rest of his racing career – which included the ground-breaking aluminium-framed bikes built by Alf Hagon, two stroke AJS, Alan Clews CCMs, a works Maico and a four stroke Honda – Vic continued to chase GP glory for a further ten years. After he retired from racing in 1978 he opened the successful Vic Eastwood Motorcycles in Kent – which is still in business today – and later he became the county’s main Honda dealer. However motocross was always in his blood and he also found the time to develop a power-enhancing and quieter motocross exhaust system for Derek Elwell and for many years was a regular sight on his local motocross track giving them a thorough testing. For those of us lucky enough to see the sight and sound of Vic at full throttle on his works Matchless and BSAs in the ‘sixties the memory will live forever.
He will be sorely missed by many and all of us offer our condolences to his wife Ann, sons Scott and Mark and all his family and friends. He was one of the greats of that golden era. From Andy Westlake