116 amcn.com.au
Rolling Relics
AMCMCCNNIInttettrnattttioi naIsII llllan Cl i PhillipIslandWade Boyd and Christine
Blunck//Formula 2 Norton
Rotary 588 sidecar
Doyou have to be a bit crazyto
race sidecars?Americans Wade
BoydandChristine Blunckdon’t
think so, but then again Wade
hasracedhisYamahaYZF-R1
flat-tracker on the Sacramento
Mile and Blunck is the only
Americanfemaleracertoearn
an Isle ofMan TTfinisher’s
medallion. So it only seemed
logical for the pair, who has
racedasidecar at recordpace up
4000m Pikes Peak, to campaign
oneofthemostunusualoutfits
in existence. There are onlythree
Norton Rotary poweredsidecars
intheworld. One is in theUK,one
inIrelandandtheotheristhisone
builtandownedby Australian
sidecarlegendDoug Chivas.
It was the fifth time Boyd and
Blunckhadraced at thisevent
but thefirst time on the Norton,
whichis a strangebeast tobe
sure. One side of it the engine
is water-cooledandtheother
relies on airfunnelled through
the fairing. After sortingout some
gear linkage and tuningissues,
the pair ran stronglyallweekend.
“Dougused to be one of our major
competitors here, now he’s our
sponsor and bestfriend. How
cool is that?” said Boyd.Clive Harrop// 1938 Ariel Red Hunter,
1 961 Ariel Special
One of the original campaigners of the Island
Classic 25years ago, Clive Harrop has stayed
loyal to one brand. Ariel. “I can’t afford an
$80,000 Manx Norton,”he saidwithagrin
as he twirled the spanners on the 80-year-
old Red Hunter he has racedfor the past 27
years. “It’sfinished hundreds ofraces around
Australia and I’ve won a few championships
alongthe way.” The Red Hunter was one of
the best performance bikes ofthe 1930s. Its
engines were used in speedway sidecars andRedHunter solos ran inbeachracing and
reliabilitytrials but decades of full throttle on
Australia’sfastest tracks has turned Harrop
into a one-man cottage industry.“My biggest
issue earlyon was cracked crankcases,” he
said. “Now Iget myown cases cast, along
withbarrelsandheads. The next project will
be to developafour-valve head, which Ariel
offered on some of its models in the early
1930s. Harrop’s Period 3 special is a later
500cc single in a Nortonfeatherbedframe. He
maynot be able to afford agenuine Manx, but
he can challenge them on the racetrack.Tom Bramich// 1968 Paton
500, 1973 Paton 50 0
The 500cc DOHC, eight-valve
parallel-twin Paton holds a
unique place in motorcycle
racing.Fromthe 1950s rightinto
the 2000s the Paton familybuilt
andraced a series of four-strokes
followed by two-strokes. It was
a classic case of apassion for
racing being distilled into some
very clever engineering. The
four-strokes carried the fight
against a tidal wave of two-
strokes, upgrading tofour-valve
technology in thelate 1960s. ThePatons are true classic racers,not
replicas, as they are stillmadeby
the original familyin a business
that has gained a new impetus
thankstotheworldwide network
of vintage racingenthusiasts.
Ron Angel, along with technician
RodTingate, owns two examples
of this famousgreen racer and
younghotshot Tom Bramich
rides them. The 1973 example
is the last version ofthe twin
beforePatonswitchedtotwo-
strokes andfeatures aBimota
frame. Bramich says that while
the engines are very close inspecification they are radically
different to ride. “It’s amazinghow
disc brakes, a more rigid frame
andmagnesium wheels can
change a motorcycle,”he said.Hayden Fitzgerald//
1961 Matchless G50,1976 TZ350
One ofthe highlights ofthe history ofthe Island
Classic is 2006 when GP folk hero Wayne Gardner set
anew Classic 500 lap record of 1m49.75s on a Fred
Walmsley Matchless G50 single. It was the result ofa
wheel-to-wheeldice withKiwi Dave Cole. RidingRoss
Graham’s G50, Cole was then considered the kingof
Australasian vintage racing. This year those memories
cameflooding back when Graham returned with
another top Kiwi rider, Hayden Fitzgerald and another
version of the G50. This one has an engine built and
designedbyGraham andhislong-time race partner
AllanPowell. Thecombinationoftheirsurnamesin
the name Grawell on an engine cover isjust a hint of
what’s inside the engine.“Only the crankcases are
standard,” says Graham.“Over three years we have
designed, machined and built an entirelydifferent
version of the G50 engine.” This included machining
the head by handfrom a solid block ofalloy. Modern
valve angles combine with a short-stroke engine
configuration. Not content with that, Graham has
also taken up racing two-strokes,buying Kiwilegend
Trevor Discombe’s multiplechampionship winning
TZ350. Fitzgerald described what it was likejumping
from one very different bike to the other: “It was going
fine until I started hitting the rear brake on the TZ
thinking it was thegear lever.”