As a comparison: Johnson's pole time was a 2.14.1 while his practice time was a 2.13.3 lap record. The fastest time at the 1983 James Hardie 1000 was set in official qualifying by Peter Brock in his Holden VH Commodore SS with a time of 2.15.3 (his Hardies Heroes time was 2.16.27). Brock's time was to that point the fastest touring car lap recorded at Bathurst on the old circuit where Conrod was a 2km long straight without The Chase. The faster bikes were lapping faster than the touring cars at this point.
0:48 Ron Boulden (59) and Gary Coleman (52) were both in the Yamaha team that Yamaha folded at the end of 1983, leading to both Ron and Gary retiring from motorcycle racing, with Gary going on to be a mechanic with Randy Mamola and Norick Abe in the 90's before being hired by Jeremy Burgess, who he had raced with in the 70's, to be a mechanic with the new Rossi team after Doohan retired, until retiring in 2016. Ron Boulden post racing career is a bit controversial, so best left alone.
Raced 83 Katana in 85 as Superbike here in Aus, sleeved down to 1000cc for race regs. Stg 4 yoshi cams, Yosh pistons valves and springs, ran Avgas 105 through 33mm keihin carbs. It was a missile.
Was riding a friends RZ500 two stroke about then and still remember the wheelstand it pulled on me as I was accelerating through a bend in the road. The bikes back then definitely kept your attention when riding.
I'm no bike guy but one of my karting mates has that same thing. Just by cruising behind him in a highway i can see you need experience for those bikes.
@@mihajlovucinic011 RZ500 was the heaviest and slowest of the 550 replicas but could still lift the front wheel pretty easy. RG500 was fantastic. RG00 150 kg RZ 178 KG
Is there anyone who has footage of the 85 Centenary Au Grand Prix at Mt Panorama ? Michael Dowson and Johnny Pace going toe to toe, Mal Pitman's mighty TZ with it's FJ front end pulling 300 down the straight and flying for 50 meters through the cutting, was AWESOME to watch. Dowson's unfeasibly large testicular volume with the 750 stomping all before them. Pace would catch up till the beginning of the straight, the 750 would have taps opened and all would eat dust and Castrol R. I believe 15 laps and no one came close.
l Drove this track on a previous gen. nameless video game console in a V8 supercar config. & this is crazy putting bikes on that narrow cement wall & tree infested track the cars was bad enough but bikes like these is simple maddness. but i'd enter fur sure & that ain't no Mountain come to the Rocky mountain range in Alberta / Bring cash BC then you'll see True Mountains.
l wonder how many of these Production race bikes RS500's are still intacked & Sitting collecting dust in someone's barn & or garage out there. l'd love to see one, we got for 2 years in canada the castrated version the NSR400/399cc 3 cylinder job ,but l preferred the other two bikes the RG500 GAMMA & RZ350/500's Bought a New one a 1986 RZ500V4 Steel framed bike, & the fabulous year before a Brand new 1985 RZ350R full fairing older yamaha Exspansion chambered Exhaust bike, that bike was wheelied crashed or low sided at 20mph in Crossnest Pass,Blairmore Alberta the year later after l let someone ride it. Worst decision in your life letting other's ride your loved bike.
@@ronanrogers4127 Here's a late reply, but the 500 replicas are worth a fortune now. Particularly the Suzukis. My RG500 Suzuki was $4995 new in 1985. I sold it only 3 years later with only 12,000 klms and only got $2700 for it. Last one I saw on Ebay was bid to $44,600 reserve not yet met. Suzuki Australia kept the first one they imported and it was offered about two years ago at $80,000
@@AuMechanic hey thanks for that. yep those 350 2strokes were great. a mate had an RD350 the V4 RZ500 and the Suzi RG500 were quick on the street in the 80's. i had a 4stroke kwaka Z750Turbo back then... i went to Calder with my dad for cars and my uncle for bikes quite a few times '74 to '80... i loved bikes, and that racing stink you only get at a big 2stroke meet. no major emissions drama back then... as a little kid it was awesome, like a chainsaw on steroids stink but wilder... soon it'll all be electric except for vintage meets.
@@AVportau I stared on an RD LC 350, as did almost everyone else in 350 and 250 class in early 80's Few seasons later moved to 1000 Superbike Katana I also raced at Calder.
@@AuMechanic you must've had a great time racing... i would've loved to have been a sidecar jockey.... it looked so hectic back then... it's crazy to think that modern bikes are putting out near double the HP of those 80's bikes... it was nice to have ridden some long hwys in Vic in the 80's knowing that there was no chance of high speed pursuit... i did get addicted to the 750turbo and also liked the "all in, no waiting" type raw power from big bores like the Katana1100... but i learnt some serious respect for 2strokes from an angry IT490 back then too ha ha.
Andrew Johnson (AJ), team Honda Factory Rider, a true legend in Aus road racing. To add to that his right hand is deformed after a Bullbozer controller let go and nearly blew has hand off and he nearly lost his arm. His right thumb is stitched back on at an odd angle and when he races for long periods it bleeds. I used to work for a MC shop owner (Ray Quincey) that was good friends with AJ and he used to drop in now and then and Ive seen his hand and you wonder how he races with it. #7 AJ and Rob Phillis #32 were serious rivals on the track for years, I was a fan of AJ of course and the other Honda Rider Mal Campbell (usually runs #3)
Damn the new GP Gran Prix tracks really suck. I'm not trying to those annoying old heads but MotoGP bike on the Nurburgring, Isle Of Man and MT Panorama would be absolutely awesome.
@@topcat4643 Grand Prix existed long before there was a work championship and national Grand Prix events continued to be organized outside of the world championship. This is the Australian Grand Prix - a national event.
@@topcat4643 Australia had both Motorcycle & F1 official Grand Prix for decades before they were points paying. They were classified as "non championship races", which were much more common in those days. Generally they'd happen during the GP off-season. The F1 races would often have F1 teams and drivers show up, but it'd be mostly Australian & Kiwi designed cars and drivers. The Moto GP would attract less international talent, but had a lot of backing from the GP manufacturers. It was the smaller of the two yearly events.
