yamabob Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Before MotoGP the blue ribbon class was 500GP. Most riders were on factory teams riding works prototypes. Sadly these bikes were fed to a crusher at the end of each season in order to maintain secrecy! Yamaha would sell replicas to privateers. Here is the TZ500, the baddest bike money could buy. King Kenny abandoned the AMA dirt tracks and was world champion [attachment id=35" thumbnail="1]his rookie year of Grand Prix racing on this machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may2nd Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I would love to see 500cc racing again! the film "Fastest" featured a lot of footage from the 500cc races. I missed out seeing a lot of those races back then because all I wanted to watch was "wide world of sports" surfing, and motocross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may2nd Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 my mistake, "fastest" wasn't the documentary featuring the 500cc class. I watched it on Netflix a while back but the name of the film I cant remember. it was a good history lesson though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may2nd Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 hah! try "faster". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamabob Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Valentino Rossi is the only rider take championships on both the 2 & 4 stroke machines. He is now competing in his third decade! To understand the 500GP search for THE UNRIDEABLES series on Velocity TV. It is still in circulation as they release their IOM coverage. The show focuses on the years from Roberts to Rainey and the dominance of American riders and their dirt track style. Sadly it ends before the greatest of lion tamers, Doohan. Mick was so driven that he had his legs sewn together to survive injuries and returned after the August break attempting to score enough points for his championship reign to continue. The little Spaniards, Marc and Lorenzo, are impressive on their 220mph machine but they have crash suits with air-bags and wheelie control on the 250hp engines. Racers were broken every weekend and Rainey has not walked since 1992. Imagine a set up where the power came on like a light switch at 12,000rpm and off 1500rpm later, that's right, the throttle functioned like an kill switch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may2nd Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 those guys embody the saying "go big or go home" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruizin Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Any of you guys into watching the Isle of Mann Races? Micheal Dunlop is a Moto God. Yamaha MT-10 ForumYamaha Tracer 900 Forum Yamaha Ténéré 700 Forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator Guru Posted July 14, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted July 14, 2014 Talking about Isle of Man. Everybody should see TT3D: Closer to the Edge You will not believe what you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
may2nd Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Just watched "Charge" about the electric TT races at Isle of Man. Good watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jollyj Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Any of you guys into watching the Isle of Mann Races? Micheal Dunlop is a Moto God. I was gonna say. Micheal has blown my mind. 600cc races he goes through? ugh. holy shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MXRider Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 How about a modern 500cc GP machine? http://www.ronax500.com/en/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator Guru Posted July 25, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted July 25, 2014 How about a modern 500cc GP machine? Wow. What a machine. A German Two stroke. And it's street legal too. I'm scared just looking at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MXRider Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I bet it's a real handful. They claim 160 bhp, so it is a fairly mild engine relatively speaking. 500cc V4 2 strokes aren't exactly known for being forgiving bikes. 100,000 euros plus 19% VAT sure is a steep price tag though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yamabob Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Technology has come a long way from when Rotax was a chain saw engine with wheels! After the vintage event here, memories of the two stroke RING-DING-DING-DING exhaust still echo in my head. Nothing could compare to the scream of my H-2 750 triple after I mounted the expansion pipes. That's old school terror! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator Guru Posted July 25, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted July 25, 2014 I don't think Ronax uses a Rotax engine but I could be mistaken. You're right, 2 stroke has come a long way. More info here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator mjh937 Posted July 25, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted July 25, 2014 Man, I misread that too. I thought it said Rotax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruizin Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I love two strokes. But this isn't new technology. MotoGP used to be dominated by 500CC Two Strokes. Motocross too was all Two Stroke. Two Strokes are great, less moving parts. Cheap to rebuild. Lightweight. But they burn oil with fuel and are not good for emissions so everyone started switching to Four Strokes. I prefer Two Strokes. Love em. Yamaha MT-10 ForumYamaha Tracer 900 Forum Yamaha Ténéré 700 Forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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