Motorcycles with Mat Oxley

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

Current page

165

Current page

166

Current page

167

Current page

168

Current page

169

Current page

170

Current page

171

Current page

172

Current page

173

Current page

174

Current page

175

Current page

176

Current page

177

Current page

178

Current page

179

Current page

180

Current page

181

Current page

182

Current page

183

Current page

184

Current page

185

Current page

186

Current page

187

Current page

188

Current page

189

Current page

190

Current page

191

Current page

192

Current page

193

Current page

194

Current page

195

Current page

196

Each spring the convivial atmosphere of the Goodwood Members’ Meeting is rent asunder by a sound unknown to most car-racing enthusiasts: the banshee wail of two-stroke Grand Prix bikes.

The grid for the Mike Hailwood Trophy is always dominated by Yamaha TZ250s and 350s, which should come as no surprise, because these machines ruled 250/350 GPs from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. In fact the bikes not only dominated, they also democratised the sport, allowing talented privateers to challenge for world titles on production-line race bikes.

No other racing motorcycle has sold in greater quantities than the TZ. The machines became the mainstay of racing for more than a decade, from Snetterton to Suzuka and from GPs to national events and club meets.

During 1973, the first year of the water-cooled TZ (which followed the air-cooled TD250s and 350s), all but three of the 47 riders who scored points in the 250 world championship rode TZs. Ten years later, about two-thirds of points scorers still rode the bikes. In little more than a decade, TZs won 18 world titles in the 250 and 350 categories.

The water-cooled parallel twins were ridiculously cheap, considering what they could achieve. In 1976 a TZ250C cost £1500, while the 350 cost an extra 50 quid. That’s roughly £10,000 now, which wouldn’t even buy a suspension set for a modern GP bike.

 Although two-strokes are long gone from the world championship, the TZ has a link to modern-day MotoGP. One of the founding principles of Moto2 was to recreate the age of TZ racing, when a good rider could win without worrying about going bankrupt. 

An important factor in the success of the TZ was that Yamaha made near-identical 250 and 350 versions, so riders could buy one of each and work their way around the national or international circuits, earning enough start and prize money from doing both classes. Race paddocks were full of the machines, with riders and mechanics working day and night to keep them running at their prime.

A whole industry grew up providing trick bits for TZ riders who wanted to get ahead: Bartol barrels from Austria, Hoeckle crankshafts from Germany and so on. And then there were the road-bike derivatives: the RD250LC and RD350LC, which launched the careers of top racers like Mick Doohan and Niall Mackenzie.

Many TZ riders had the time of their lives: driving around Europe, scraping a living doing what they loved. GP winner Mick Grant remembers his TZ privateer years fondly, even though he later enjoyed lucrative factory deals with Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki. “My TZs gave me the happiest time of my career,” says Grant. “I had a V6 Transit and a caravan, with a 250 and 350 in the back and a big box of spares. With that you went off and did GPs. They were good times. You got a couple of hundred quid start money, if you qualified, then you came home and did the British meetings. You could just about make a living and you had nobody telling you what to do. You just went where you wanted.

“TZs were reliable and easy to work on. I had a hydraulic press in the back of my Transit so I could rebuild cranks between GPs. You could have an engine out, fit a new crank and have it all back together in a couple of hours.

“It took me a while to work out how to get the best out of them. When I bought my first TZ350 it was a flying machine, but as the season went on it didn’t go so well. I recall seeing Jarno Saarinen [250 world champion in 1972] working late in his tent with his mechanic Vince French. I thought they were grinding away at the cylinder ports, but all they were doing was fitting new parts; that was the trick to keeping a TZ flying.

“The first TZ350 rewrote the rules for race bikes when it came out in 1973. It was the most unbelievably nice bike to ride. First time out I finished eighth in the Daytona 200; I was the first non-works rider. Later that year I was fourth at the Dutch TT and I never finished outside the top three in an international. You took the bike out of the crate, swapped the front drum brake for a disc, went down four sizes on the main jet and you could win UK championship races without batting an eye.

“It was John Cooper [former BSA rider] who offered me the 350, along with a 250. I told him I couldn’t afford them, so he said, ‘Pay me when you can.’ At the end of the year I went back with a big roll of cash and gave him £2500. I never looked back after that.”

But nothing lasts forever. Other firms wanted 250/350 glory, so the TZs came under increasing pressure from full factory bikes. First were Kawasaki’s KR250 and 350 twins, then Honda’s NSR250 and eventually factory bikes from Yamaha, Aprilia, Suzuki, Gilera and KTM. In 1982 the 350 class was dropped from GP events, drastically reducing the income of a 250/350 privateer. The (relatively) egalitarian age of GP racing was over.