HOT LAPS AND COOL CLASSICS
The Bol d’or was, for me – and I’m sure many thousands of other Brits who used to flock to the event – one of the highlights of the motorcycling year. There was the ride there – whether it be at Le Mans or the then Ricard-owned Le Castellet circuit in southern France back in the day – and then, of course, the weekend-long party (I seem to remember them giving out free Ricard at the event), but mostly it was about the incredible array of machinery being raced. Imagine a B50 BSA Gold Star going up against a Z1 Kawasaki. That’s what happened. I’ve seen Gold Wings and a Benelli Six on the grid with TZ350 and TZ750 two-strokes. And there were big-twin Guzzis and BMWS thundering along amid packs of wailing four-cylinder bikes. And don’t forget the British twins and triples had their day, too.
The Bol was always about innovation and it wasn’t just different engine configurations – the crazy chassis ideas, different fork conceptions and outlandish bodywork were just a joy to behold. Along with the other major endurance races, it seemed like an excuse to experiment with machinery – and if you need any proof of that, check out our celebration of the Bol in its centenary year. We’ve picked out some of the great bikes of the 1970s and ’80s to give a flavour of how innovative endurance racing used to be.
Other stuff we have this month includes road tests of a thundering Guzzi V7, first launched 50 years ago, and a Suzuki GT550, probably the most under-rated triple two-stroke of the Suzuki range back in the 1970s.
We’ve also got a very strange story of classic biking in the Antarctic. Yep, that’s right – if you think winters get bad here and you shy away from riding, then check out the guys who braved the icy wastes on their classics!
Enjoy the issue