In those days there were no wet tyres, everyone
used the dry tyres which were much more all-
rounders. Being a C-grader, I started from mid-pack
and after about three corners I was in the lead, I
couldn’t believe how careful everyone was being!
My heart was pumping and I felt at one with the
bike. I discovered I was pretty good in the wet – until
I came in to Mallala’s Northern Hairpin, grabbed
the front brake too hard – and ate dirt.
I had the whole of the back straight as a lead and
just one lap to go, so I should have slowed down,
but as an 18-year-old who knew it all – I had to learn
the hard way. Luckily the bike was only slightly
scuffed since I threw myself under it to protect my
pride and joy – and I still owed lots of money on it!
Nevertheless, that bike was the best and most
thrilling bike I had owned and ridden and, in my
mind, it was better than the GSX-R750s all the other
racers had. Gee, I had to ride hard to beat them –
but eventually I did.
The day my Gamma died
My final ride on the RG came at an AIR practice day.
I remember it vividly. I paid my $25 and was scooting
around on bald tyres (I used them till the canvas
showed), accelerating past the race cars on the
straights and getting rounded up again in the braking
area and corners. At some point in the day I flicked
into second gear, which had always been a bit hit-
and-miss, when I lost all power.
It felt like the chain had come off but when I looked
down at my boot there was bits of gear and metal
all over the place. The damage looked – and was –
terminal. I was gutted, my 500 was destroyed, I owed
money on it and worst of all, there was still half a day
of track time to go. But little did I know that moment
would lead to my first free racebike.
A guy called Carl Bevlander came up to me with
one of those new GSX-Rs and said, “go for a spin”.
Oh man, it was so easy to ride compared to my
bike. I smashed my PB time by miles and Carl wasThe Suzuki RG500 Gamma
SUZUKI’S 500CC TWO-stroke roadbike
was only produced from 1985 until 1987.
Ultimately, less than 10,000 were built for
sale, with the vast majority – over 70 per
cent – built in the fi rst year. Over 6000 of the
Japan-only RG400s were also built during
the same period, using identical frames,
suspension and bodywork.
The water-cooled square-four engine
used twin crankshafts and rotary inlet
valves; the six-speed gearbox was a
cassette type. Suzuki used an aluminium
box-section double cradle frame with
castings for the steering head and
swingarm mounts. The 38mm fork had pre-
load adjustment, as well as a rudimentary
anti-dive system called PosiDamp which
had the unhappy tendency to stiff en the fork
almost to lock-up under hard braking. Rear
Full Floater suspension was via a single
central shock and an aluminium swingarm.
All up, the Gamma weighed just 154kg.
Although not a real racebike, at least
Suzuki made an eff ort; the engine’s design
was very similar to the XR45 raced by Sheene (above), Crosby and Mamola, sharing
bore and stroke numbers.
Power was boosted by the Suzuki Automatic Exhaust Control (SAEC), a servo-
powered valve which opens a chamber in each cylinder, increasing the volume of the
exhaust. The valve is fed by signals from the CDI, using a stepper motor and cables to
each valve. The rotary valves work below 7500rpm when they are fully open.
This was Suzuki’s answer to Yamaha’s YPVS exhaust valve and Honda’s ATAC
system. The SAEC gave the Gamma an impressive spread of power from 5000rpm
with things getting interesting around 7000, before getting ballistic near the
10,000rpm redline. It was possible to rev to an awesome-sounding 12,000rpm –
although, according to Suzuki, there was no power advantage past 9500rpm.A 154kg bike is still a hell of a
thing to bump start off the line