Glory days of Australian road racing! A few these fellas are no longer with us ! I was very lucky to have seen most of these guys race! Thanks for the memories!
USA here! I was age nine at this time and obviously never watched it but I loved bikes and would see old Kaw triples around and Z1's, a Z1R's. As I got older my older by ten years friend had/still has an 80 GS1000E. Another older dude we knew as "BOBO" had a first year Eddie Lawson Replica KZ1000R. As a young adult I bought an 86 GSXR750 in 88 and crashed it 3 months later resulting in my becoming a T4 paraplegic. My down the road neighbor has his bought new 73 Z1 900 Kaw with over 250,000 miles on it and counting.
Geez - sorry to hear about your accident, I hope your doing Ok! I happen to own a '85 GSX-r750 & '86 GSX-r1100 Great bikes but prolly not the greatest handling compared more modern machines! Awesome Power : Weight for Mid '80s Machines - iconic bikes! The 1st of the "Modern" era Production Superbikes available off the showroom floor! Cheers 🇦🇺👍
ECH Thanks for posting these old races, it brings back a few memories. I watched it live and kept thinking that Gardner had webbed feet. Makes me realise what gonads they had.
Love this era of Super bikes. Still looked like a big cruiser bike yet with the modified engines were 100~120hp and just obnoxious to ride at full power. Skinny tires upright riding position and no brakes. Back in the day my old Z1000 would need counter steer at WOT due to the frame twisting up. Good Times
Naked race bikes. Suspension was absolutely crap then, not only by comparison to today, as at the time we all said it was crap. EFI, suspension, and tyres make today’s bikes incomparable to 40 years ago. These guys could really ride! Doohan a decade later is my all time favourite.
Thank you for posting this! It is so great to see the best road racing era with these exceptionally talented riders on these massive thorough breeds. Pure talent riding these on the limit. Also, so nice to hear Will Hagon and John Smailes commentating.
I wish there were more videos like these available. TOP 3 Favorite riders. Dennis Neal, Wes Cooley, Eddie Lawson! Loved watching these guys as a young tike.
Totally agree. Perfect way to learn your apprenticeship. Saw him race in the UK on a flat barred Moriwaki Kawasaki in 1981 taking on all the works Honda's and Sheene on his 500 t-stroke Yamaha GP bike and beating them all as he was learning all the new tracks. He went on to join Honda GB the following season and then GP's in 1983. Fantastic to watch!
Old man was a fire marshal during the 70s here. Super track, I remember eating about 10 snow cones a day. Spent all day in the Pits unsupervised sitting in race cars. Until a driver or machanic found me & booted me out. They got use to it eventually, called me the Pitrat.
Boy, I miss these motorcycles. The way they ride and the sound they make is awesome. A total different riding technic than today's machines. You actually could ride these bikes on the street with the necessary lighting. I had my Kawasaki muffled but a lot did not.. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Real racing, real racers, no tantrums or race tactics objections, for bikes ridden at 11/10ths they seemed to handle pretty well. Now all under suburbia. Great days to have had the enjoyment of watching.
Loved this track in its day. I may have been there this day...I had a Z1R....see one on front row. . Great days...and the voices of racing....Smailes and Hagon...awesome
I used to photograph the V8 Utes and Supercars racing here not long before it was closed. There were a few more gravel traps towards the end of its days than we see here. Those walls have a bit of a habit of not being very soft.
These guys could ride! Look at these bikes squirming so much...what a handful! 100% credit to the riders. Now, todays racing...as a biker, watching the Isle of Man TT leaves me in awe every time I watch those guys! Nuts!
I remember the 750 two strokes here. Hansford got killed in a car. Mum's friend told her her son's were OK when they rode bikes but didn't have cars. Video clarity is absolute garbage.