Classic Racer — September — October 2017

ClassicRacer 23

Words:FrankMellingPictures:Mooorton'sMediaArchive

A

gostini –15times world champion

and racingon public roads?

MikeHailwood –able to win

anything,inany conditions and

against anyopposition?

Rossi –beatingthe toughest racersonthe

planet and on equalmachinery mustbe the

greatest of the modernera –but Vale has

neverwon aTT?

But forme, one beacon standsout since

of motorcycle racing.What greater

mentcan thereeverbethanwinning

ands Prix in one day, on threevastly

motorcycles –Jim Redman’s triple

the1964Dutch TT?

oing500km (over300 racing miles)

dthree hoursof racing in oneday –

very secondabattle forevery inch

of the trackagainst the best riders in

the world and competingwith the

ultimateinfactorymachinery–is

beyond comprehensiontoday. This is

howithappened.

irst,aprologue

964Jim wasnot only Honda’s top rider

othe teamcaptain and manager.In

carried alot of responsibility.Jim tells

:

“I came to Assen following twowinsin

the Isle of Man.As farasIwasconcerned,

Ishould have wonthree races becausethe

throttle cameloosein the 125race and Luigi

Taveri, who wasHonda’slead 125rider, only

beat me by three seconds.But Ididn’twin and

that’s racing.

“People saidIwas tootall and heavy fora

125but Ithought,‘Let‘em saywhatthe hell

they want.The results will show whetherIcan

ride a125 ornot.’

“Whenwegot to Assen it wasbaking hot –

absolutely on fire! Luigiwasinjured in practice

soAika San (theHonda teammanager) said I

would have to ride the125 race and just keep

HughAnderson,on the Suzuki,fromtaking

too manypoints fromLuigi.Aika San’s idea

wasneverfor me to win but just to keep the

Suzukis andYamahasoffLuigi.

“Luckily,the 125race wasmylast race of

the day, so Icould dothe 250 and 350 races

first,whichweremymainjobs, and then get

on withhelping Luigi.

“My real targets were the 250cc and 350cc

racesbecause Honda had givenmethe job of

winning thosetwoworld titles.The250 race

wasgoingtobetoughbecause Phil Read was

riding the RD56Yamaha, whichwas streets

fasterthanmyHonda4.TheYamahawas

15kph (10mph)faster down the straightthan

even my really quick 250 Honda4, whichwas

thebestone by farthat Aika San had provided

forme.

“The 350 race wasn’t aproblem.Theonly

real challenge wasfromMikeHailwood and his

four-cylinderMV. This wastoo slowand heavy

to causeme anyconcern, evenwith Mike

riding it.

“The 350cc racewas first and then the 50s.

This meantthat Icouldhave abit of abreak

between thetwo races.

“Then therewas the250ccrace,whichwas

goingtobehardbecausePhil’sYamahawasso

muchquicker.

“I could have another breakduringthe

sidecar race and then there wasthe 125class.

My jobwas nottowin but justtokeep the

Suzukis andYamahasfromtakingtoo many

pointsoff Luigi and Itoldeveryone this was

whatIwas goingto do.Imade surethat the

wholepaddockknewthisplan.

“But, of course,this wasnot whatIwas

really planning, because Ionlyeverracedto

win. Rightfromthe start Iwas aimingtobeat

thembut it waseasier if everyone thought I

wasnot going to ride to thelimit.

“I often rode in all three classes at GPs.

If the circuits were twistyenough to keep

the distance under500km we couldride all

we wanted.

“You couldn’t do it at fast circuitslike

Hockenheim, whereyou covered alot of miles,

so Ionlycompeted in twoclassesthere.

“A tAssen,the races were shortenoughto

runfor justoverthe compulsory hour and still

stay underthe mileage, so Ijust aboutkept

under the 500km maximumracingdistancefor

awhole GP.

“I knewitwas going to be atoughdayat

theoffice but Iwas aprofessional motorcycle

racer,and Hondaworks rider,sotoughwas

what Iexpected. In my position, there were no

easydays.

“It also wasn’t anything particularly special

to race 500km in aday.Idid it. Otherriders

didit. We raced motorcycles forajob so that’s

what we did.

“A ssenwasnodifferent fromanyother GP

forme. Giacomo (Agostini) neverused to have

sexfor 10 days before aGPbut thatdidn’t suit

me. Ihad no hesitationinthis respect. Ago

wouldgouptoMarlene(Jim’swife) and say,

‘Yes or no?’

“Then he’d go awaywhenMarlenealways

said yes.”

Raceday

“Itwas over30°as we linedup forthe 350

race but Iwas very relaxed. Ineverdid any

physical training becauseIrodesomuch.

Iwouldstart atover100 races ayear –

anywherewhere therewas moneytobe

earned and every weekend and sometimes

midweek too. Alot of racing,and sex, kept me

very fit.

“A flagstart is very differentfromstarting

withaclutch.The silenceon thegrid is

deafening.You’vefiddled withyour goggles

and got your glovescomfortable and the

tension builds.Then youcarefullypullthe bike

backoncompression.With the Hondafour it

wastrickytoget apistonactually at top dead

centre by feel.

“You tenseyour legs andget ready to

hurl yourselfforward likeone of those

bobsleigh pilots.

the starto

achievem

three Gra

differentm

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the story

June 12 , (^1964) :JimRedmanwithhisw
ifeMarleneafterhisgreatwininthe 350 cc
inwhichherode 226 m JuniorTT,
ilesatanaveragespeedof 98. 50 mph.
022 Jim Redman_SEP.indd 23 02/08/201710:36:47