Archer’s effort

I loved your feature on the Honda VTR1000 in OBA 94, and the piece on Rob Carrall turning a sports/touring road bike into a racing bike in the Formula Xtreme series. We could perhaps go one step further in turning the VTR1000 into a racing bike, as Australia’s Peter Archer raced a VTR1000 as a wildcard entry at the 1999 round of World Superbikes at Phillip Island. Sure, he was up against the factory might of Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser, Colin Edwards (Honda RC45), P-F Chili, Akira Yanagawa, Peter Goddard, Nori Haga, Aaron Slight, etc, on a lightly-modified road bike, and qualified 9 seconds off the pace, however he performed admirably, was never last, and brought the bike home each time. A true privateer effort, the likes of which we no longer see in these times.

Tim Bartsch

Peter Archer’s performance at Phillip Island on 18th April, 1999 was indeed exceptional, considering the quality of the opposition. He finished 19th in the opening leg with a race time of 36 minutes 18.97 seconds, then 21st in the second leg almost a minute quicker at 35.20.47, both times one lap behind the winner Troy Corser and his works Ducati. Not bad at all. Does anyone have a photo of Peter from this meeting? n