Correct. He died in a tragic crash at Monza (1973) that also took the life of Finnish great Jarno Saarinen. Good segway for this however....another racer inspired machine.
Honda RC 30 , one of the best bikes I've ever ridden. Just effortless speed. I borrowed one from a friend one day and was riding around some backroads in Lincolnshire near Cadwell Park race track. I was riding briskly but not going crazy and thought I was doing maybe 70-80 MPH. A quick glance at the speedo... 130 MPH !! It would do 85MPH in first gear.
Those certainly aren't Rothmans or Gauloise leather colors! Quite a change...from "smoking" riders with no tobacco advertising to non-smoking riders with tons of advertising!
They were pretty exotic at the time. A serious race bike for the street, or more likely the track! A generation or two earlier Honda developed their DOHC CB models in endurance racing, subsequently naming the resulting production models (in some markets) the "Bol d'or" or "Super Bol d'or" in name of that particular race.
Dirt track styling also got the nod for awhile with Honda also...using the "Ascot" track for inspiration.
Another "dirty" race replica for the enduro crowd this time. Ossa "Six Days" replica named after the famed ISDT. Also done by KTM in more recent times....
Super Bol D'or CB1100F, was originally in my hands just as in roadholder's post above; here in its first iteration toward becoming a racer not racer rep: (Phillip Island, Siberia is the corner). And in its current form, a la superbike 1982: (Hampton Downs, T3).
Yikes! Do they ride 450 lb bikes in the brutal Erzberg event? Sounds like a recipe for a heart attack and a double hernia!
The aren't 450lbs but yeah.. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hvVMX-QfvTY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As I understand it the E.R. is the reason the SER was built. They have a twins class and KTM was tired of the Bavarians winning in their back yard. Not a race for the faint of heart or weak of constitution.
