46 / CYCLE WORLD

tal bragging rights among competing countries based on

a team-structured points system. The motorcycles vary,

but the prominent platform is a Suzuki XR69 chassis—

the 1980 steel-tube chassis responsible for bringing

grand prix technology to superbike racing. These bikes

are burly, heavy, brutal and fun, while also being tre-

mendously different from a current-day superbike. And

they are wicked fast.

How fast? International Challenge race winner Aaron

Morris, on a 1982 Suzuki Katana, lapped just 3 seconds

slower than 2018 Phillip Island Grand Prix Moto2 race

winner Brad Binder—1:36.730 versus a 1:33.822. Peak

speeds are equally impressive, with the fastest retro

superbikes hitting 174 mph, just shy of the typical 176-

mph of a Moto2 bike. On 420 pound superbikes that

weigh some 100 more than a Moto2 bike.

B

Billows of smoke drift across the track, plumes soon
brought to life and given color by the yellow sparks drag-
ging parts as 40-year-old air-cooled superbikes rip some
of the finest tarmac in the world. The race to Turn 1 is
on, and yet I can’t see a thing—my vision blurred by the
streaks of motor oil that coat my windscreen. This rac-
ing time travel at the Phillip Island Classic in Australia is
just about as far as I can get from modern-day superbike
racing, and yet it remains beautiful, two-wheel art being
played out at 170 mph.
The Island Classic is a unique event. Like most vin-
tage race gatherings, there’s a massive variety of motor-
cycles and classes, but the headliner is the International
Challenge that brings together national- and world-level
racers and puts them on classic 1970s and ’80s-era
big-horsepower, air-cooled superbikes for intercontinen-