Table of contents
- The most beautiful race track in the world: Bikers Classics in Spa 2012 Bikers Classics in Spa 2012
- Info
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26th pictures
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The perfect weekend – Bikers Classics in Spa.
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A fairy in the neighbor’s box: Wendy Newton from California does the screwdriving herself and drives motorcycle races in the USA.
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The beautifully built DHolda Honda came in a remarkable 14th place.
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All in a group and yet each for himself – start of night training on Friday.
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Sharp sword: the Suzuki Katana from the Bike Side / MOTORRAD Classic team. Good for lots of fun and a respectable 20th place.
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As in the past: Ambition knows no age limits, the now historical machines give everything again.
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Spa is a real spectacle for the spectators.
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Magic: out at night for the four-hour race.
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There’s plenty of style life, but none for three days. Re-encounter with six-time world champion Jim Redman.
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Hundreds of fantastic classic motorcycles could be seen in Spa.
11/26
Gripping story: Gary di Pietro (63) was already racing in the 1960s. The Groucho Marx in the paddock came with a Suzuki GS 1000 from the USA. When their engine died, the Dutch lent him their Kawa Z 1000.
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Luigi Taveri does a few more laps here. But in 2013 the three-time world champion wants to finally retire into private life.
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Exciting technology: MV four-cylinder at the pre-start in free driving, ex-racer with admirers.
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This experience changes you: a race at night is unforgettable, simply magical.
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The ex-endurance world champion Richard Hubin started this time on a four-stroke Suzuki instead of a two-stroke Yamaha.
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Lonely moment: It’s good if you can still make it into the box yourself if the technology goes on strike.
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Champions chatting, but not shielded: Phil Read (left) and Steve Baker.
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The marshals are indispensable. A Dieter Braun also has to submit to their signals.
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Freddie Spencer still pulls a lot on the cable even at 50.
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Inspiring technology – visitors take a closer look at the machines.
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The heroes of yore drive through historical sites and are close enough to touch.
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For the first time: the superbike class from the 1980s.
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A perfect weekend in Spa.
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No less a person than Freddie Spencer presented the trophies after the CSBK run (left). Good spirits in the pit lane: the multilingual Belgians Christian and Rene (right).
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Object to be seen: This is what it looked like when the racers thundered past with their voluminous front panels in the 50s.
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Real friends: the Bike Side / MOTORRAD Classic team.
Sports & scene
Events
The most beautiful race track in the world: Bikers Classics in Spa 2012
The most beautiful race track in the world: Bikers Classics in Spa 2012
Bikers Classics in Spa 2012
Content of
The recipe for a couple of exciting days? See and hear hundreds of fantastic motorcycle classics, talk to legendary warriors, meet many fine people – and of course thunder down the most beautiful racetrack in the world!
Thomas Schmieder
08/30/2012
Saturday, June 30th, 2012. In a few minutes, the high point of the year begins for me, which I have been looking forward to for months. It is shortly before half past eight in the evening, a wonderful, radiant summer evening in Spa-Francorchamps. My heart beats up to my neck, I tense fixate the machines lined up on the opposite side at a 45-degree angle to the pit wall – together with 68 other battle-tested racing veterans and endurance rookies, who will start with me at the Le Mans start Motorcycles from the 1970s and early 1980s will crash for the four-hour race.
begin!
Just a minute. Ghostly silence. Klaus, the head of our Bike Side / MOTORRAD Classic team, holds the rear of the 1100 Katana at position 34. At 8.30 p.m. at exactly, the starting flag falls, I jump across the track with my colleagues, jump on the Suzuki, press the start button and am right in the middle of it in the hectic, roaring swarm of hornets that stabbed the hairpin “La Source” in wild confusion. It’s getting tight, very tight. Braking, finding the line, then full Lotte, past the well-occupied grandstands, down into the depression of Eau Rouge. There, far to the left, stay close to the curbs, and throw the fully springing katana to the right at the right moment so that the line still fits for the subsequent, steeply uphill left turn of Raidillon. Fourth gear, fifth gear, diving down – goes really well, our made 1100, which burns up the long Kemmel straight with taste. Pure adrenaline, this Ardennes roller coaster, which the three-quarter moon bathes in a pale light in the cloudless sky.
Sharp sword: the Suzuki Katana from the Bike Side / MOTORRAD Classic team. Good for lots of fun and a respectable 20th place.
Full concentration
Where am I? A question that you have to be able to answer immediately at full speed, even if the headlights – later at night – do little to illuminate the route. You drive by feeling, guided by the memory that you saved on your own hard drive during the training laps. Full concentration, just don’t fall. What counts is arriving first. It goes without saying that you want to grab more opponents than you want to overtake yourself. But already in the first few laps, many yellow flags are waved, a few over-motivated people have already been hit, and with them some of the reflectors, which are supposed to show the right way in the dark.
Suddenly red flags with a white cross – the field lines up behind the safety car. Time to think about your switching strategy. No pilot is allowed to drive more than two thirds of the race. Our katana burns around one liter per lap of seven kilometers. To be on the safe side, we take turns every 45 minutes. A quarter past nine, I have to pit. Remus fills up in a fire-proof suit as prescribed, Matthias holds the fire extinguisher, a “pit steward” monitors everything. Then Gabriel jumps into the saddle, a clap on the shoulder, and he’s gone.
The ex-endurance world champion Richard Hubin started this time on a four-stroke Suzuki instead of a two-stroke Yamaha.
It’s going quite well
The tension slowly subsides, revealing the very special atmosphere in the pit lane. In a confined space – three teams share a box – hectic bustle meets inner contemplation. The drivers nervously long for the next change. Everything went well out there? Gabriel comes in at ten, according to plan. Jack up again, refueling, visual inspection. Then I go out into the night again. Everything feels good. With its 130 hp from 1200 cubic centimeters, the katana burns down the straight as if a little devil is pushing along from behind. The Lockheed brakes are also devilishly good, as they have no problems with the Suzuki’s 210 kilograms, even though they only have two pistons each. The regulations do not allow more.
Also required: a closed oil pan under the engine, the second rear light that is independent of the on-board electrical system and 18-inch wheels with a rear tire that is no more than 150 millimeters wide. Our Suzuki also make Ohlins suspension struts and inners suitable for racing for the series fork, as well as the LSL handlebar stubs and the special MRA windshield. That makes around 10,000 euros for our low-budget racer. Well, there is also a hefty 1200 euros entry fee per team.
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A fairy in the neighbor’s box: Wendy Newton from California does the screwdriving herself and drives motorcycle races in the USA.
A lot of money, for which the nightly spectacle fully compensates. Because the image of the people in front illuminating the Eau Rouge with their red taillights and white cones of light will probably never be forgotten by anyone involved. Round after round goes by, after two scheduled changes I’m back in the saddle for the last turn. Now, after over three hours, something like routine comes into play. And trust, especially in the famous Continental radial tires. The “Road Attack 2CR” are a stunner and give the Suzuki extremely precise handling. Unfortunately not an advantage for us, because most of the competitors also love the Contis.
Inspiring technology: MV four-cylinder at the pre-start in free driving, ex-racer with admirers.
Done!
The digital clock in the cockpit now shows 0.29 a.m. One more round. The longest of them all. Don’t fall down now, or months of work will be gone! Finally, at 0.32 a.m., the start number 16 was waved off, we did it! Cheers under their helmets, applauding spectators, marshals waving their flags – a lap that gets under your skin. In the box, then, a single ecstasy of joy. Helmet down, the buddies hug, a beer as a reward, moments for eternity. We are overjoyed and landed in 20th place out of a total of only 40 teams. The whole night is celebrated, together with Belgians, English, Italians and Spaniards.
Luigi Taveri does a few more laps here. But in 2013 the three-time world champion wants to finally retire into private life.
A feast for all the senses
The four-hour race, however, is just one aspect that makes Fun the perfect weekend for me. It’s unbelievable what’s going on over the three days, from Friday to Sunday you can experience more here than anywhere else in two years! The huge paddock with over 750 motorcycles, numerous racing veterans and committed hobby pilots makes you the protagonist in a film about motorcycle history from 1950 to 1988. Everywhere life is seething and vibrating, open intake stacks rattle with roaring four-stroke engines and screeching two-stroke engines. Here a Norton Manx quakes with a dull rumble, there a four-cylinder Benelli racing machine roars, and a few meters further a Honda CBX warms up with a sonorous whisper. A feast for all the senses, which this year, the tenth since the premiere of the Bikers Classics, brings a completely new flavor to this great European classic event with the superbikes of the 80s like a Ducati 888 or the legendary Honda RC30.
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Inspiring technology – visitors take a closer look at the machines.
And another delicacy is celebrating its premiere in 2012. On Saturday evening, at 6 p.m., all registered participants are allowed to ride the entire 14-kilometer long traditional route. In a leisurely parade, hundreds of motorcycles roll past farms, bus stops, through small villages and along narrow country roads. Hard to believe that Redman, Read, Taveri & Co in the 60s and early 70s with well over 250 things thundered over this narrow full-throttle route, which was lined with trees, boundary stones or telegraph poles. A great experience when thousands of spectators wave at hundreds of drivers up close.
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Champions chatting, but not shielded: Phil Read (left) and Steve Baker.
Read, Redman, Taveri & Co
What would a successful weekend be without the many interesting encounters? In Spa, they practically arise by themselves. Visiting Jim Redman? No problem, he has time for everyone. Did the six-time world champion, now 80 years old, come back with a strange feeling because he fell so badly here in Spa in 1966? “No, how come? The crash ended my career – some say. Today, however, I tend to think that he saved my life. “
A 250cc Honda is screaming next door. It is none other than Luigi Taveri who lets the four-cylinder replica of the legendary RC 162 warm up at 6000 to 8000 tours. When he turns the engine off again, the audience applauds with enthusiasm. Afterwards, the 82-year-old finds time for autographs and a chat, surrounded by his charming wife Tilde and daughter Blanca. What a charismatic guy, this Luigi Taveri, time flies by talking to the living legend. I am glad that I had the opportunity to do so again, because in the coming year he wants to retire for good.
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The heroes of yore drive through historical sites and are close enough to touch.
Wonderful Wendy
Wendy’s not that far yet. On the contrary, at the moment the 46-year-old Californian is suffering because she has nothing to drive with. In the USA she drives races, off-road and on asphalt, in her garage there are 18 motorcycles. But unfortunately none here in Spa. Well, every perfect weekend has its fairy godmother. On this one, it is Wendy from the neighbor box who sweeps everyone away with her smile and her warmth. Of course, I’ll give her my 900 Bol derOr to ride freely. Two turns of 20 minutes later I look into two bright eyes, even though the petite brunette struggled with the wobbly Honda.
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No less a person than Freddie Spencer presented the trophies after the CSBK run (left). Good spirits in the pit lane: the multilingual Belgians Christian and Rene (right).
Wendy actually came to Spa to work on their white and blue Suzuki GS 1000 for their American compatriots Ralph and Gary (with painted fingernails!). But the timing chain jumped over them during training, the engine was junk. And that after this long journey! A Dutch team offered the brave US boys a Kawasaki Z 1000 without further ado. With the indicators and license plate still on, Gary drove the timed night practice. Just as impressive: the Vietnam veteran’s calf, which after various gunshot and fall wounds has similarities with a multi-cylinder crankshaft.
Hecker
Real friends: the Bike Side / MOTORRAD Classic team.
Sunday afternoon. First we romp around the course while driving freely, then we watch the old fighters. Freddie Spencer, Steve Baker, Heinz Rosner, Dieter Braun, Luigi Taveri and Phil Read chase their former racing machines around the course, everyone as fast as they like. At 6 p.m. the vans are packed and the pit lanes deserted. An almost unnatural silence spreads. And with it the realization that there are faster and more professional teams. But probably no better one for a perfect weekend. No question about it, we will be here again in 2013.
Info
Bikers Classics 2013
In 2013, the classic event will start its second decade from July 5th to 7th. Further information is available at
www.bikersclassics.be
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