What happened to P&M Kawasaki #10?
Richard Peckett’s P&M #10 was rebuilt after 1978 and sold to his friend John Page who raced it while updating it each year with mods such as a monoshock rear end, 17in three spoke wheels, Suzuki GSX-R forks, four-piston calipers and a hot 1200cc engine reputedly developing 140bhp. In around 2000, #10 was bought back by Richard, who kept the engine and sold the chassis to Greg Gibson for Classic Club racing. Nick Stratton had been racing P&M Kawasakis since the 1980s, mostly with the Forgotten Era club. A retired former Cadbury Schweppes factory manager living near Harwich with bike-mad wife Stef, Nick had wanted an early P&M and found out about #10 from Richard. Nick’s own P&M chassis, #76, had the modified headstock and monoshock rear end that Greg Gibson wanted, so they did a straight swap of the frames. Rebuilding #10 to its original spec started eight years ago, Richard carrying out the work on the frame using the same jig, converting it back to twin shocks. The bottom end of the Z1000 engine, with a J-model crank balanced and welded and using a Barton close-ratio box, had earlier been built by Richard. As the build progressed, Nick completed the top end with 73mm Omega pistons giving 1105cc, gas-flowing the head, and fitting P&M valves and a Phil Joy camshaft with longer duration and 10mm lift. With 33mm Keihin carburettors, a Dyna 2000 ignition system and with an original spec exhaust the engine was tested on the P&M dynamometer earlier this year, developing between 128 and 130bhp at the rear wheel, says Nick. The chassis uses authentic-looking 35mm Ceriani forks using P&M yokes, and 18in Campagnolo five-spoke wheels made by Marvic. Brakes are period AP Lockheed calipers gripping cast iron discs. The project has been a labour of love for Nick, who is impressed by the quality and fit of the frame. “They say you shouldn’t leave paint on the inside of the rear engine mounts because the clearances are so tight,” he says. “You also have to release the swingarm pivot, or the engine won’t go in. I can’t stress enough the huge input from Richard in nailing down the spec of the bike as it was in 1978.”