Cathcart Test

V

Vince

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There was a scrum years back at Eastern Creek when the Laverda Works bikes were in Oz at The Barry, this scrum was surrounding Alan Cathcart and we were having a great chat and he was asking all where Steve B might be as he was keen to test THAT twin. I have been waiting to read his test so here it is. This bike got me fired up to get my 3c back on the road after seeing and HEARING it at Mt Panorama Bathurst. What a sound it makes.
bikereview.com.au

Throwback Thursday | Laverda 915 SFC Racer Test

Throwback Thursday | Laverda 915 SLC Racer Test, Alan Cathcart rides this rare bike in a world exclusive test.
bikereview.com.au bikereview.com.au
 
Vince said:
There was a scrum years back at Eastern Creek when the Laverda Works bikes were in Oz at The Barry, this scrum was surrounding Alan Cathcart and we were having a great chat and he was asking all where Steve B might be as he was keen to test THAT twin. I have been waiting to read his test so here it is. This bike got me fired up to get my 3c back on the road after seeing and HEARING it at Mt Panorama Bathurst. What a sound it makes.
bikereview.com.au

Throwback Thursday | Laverda 915 SFC Racer Test

Throwback Thursday | Laverda 915 SLC Racer Test, Alan Cathcart rides this rare bike in a world exclusive test.
bikereview.com.au bikereview.com.au
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That's a few years old.
Paul
 
The first time I saw this video, it must have been before Steve did the livery change. The odd thing was that change had been done well before The Barry and Alan was saying he hadn't test-ridden it then so time-wise it confuses me.
 
Have the Laverda mob from Italia have been out to the Barry twice? The one I went to when the Breganze mob were there there was no sign of Alan Cathcart - and his review was at Broady, not the Creek.

How Vic Vassella raced that SFC with a std SF1 front drum is beyond me. All the factory bikes had big Fontana or Grimeca 4LS fronts.
 
They have only been once, the timeline I don't understand. I am pretty sure Cathcart said at The Barry when there was a bunch of us hanging around the Club Stand where the T-shirts were for sale that he had been chasing a test ride of Steve's bike for ages. So it must have been after that Barry and sometimes when both were at Broadford after that Barry.
 
I went to that (Not the) Barry on the little Kwaka, Vince. Steve will confirm that the 917 hasn't been run since then - or at the Broady Bike Bonanza where Steve was on his RGA/S. The article to me sounds like it was from further back in time than any of that - and even before Drmsby raced the Island Classic. Steve - info please!
 
That makes sense, Cathcart was asking were Steve was it's been a while but I was almost sure he was saying Steve's bike was one he missed out on and was keen to test.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Have the Laverda mob from Italia have been out to the Barry twice? The one I went to when the Breganze mob were there there was no sign of Alan Cathcart - and his review was at Broady, not the Creek.
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Alan Cathcart was there, he approached us to see if he could arrange a test ride on the Scorch's
we swapped details, just never happened

May have to see if he is in Aussie Dec-March and still keen, may be possible
See what he thinks of an old Laverda clunker with a Slipper clutch and a 180 rear tyre slick
Be interesting, sorted out a lot of issues since the 2017 International Festival of Speed (not the Barry Sheen) was on

Promoters were not allowed to use the Barry Sheene title anymore in 2017 and into the future
 
redax5 said:
Promoters were not allowed to use the Barry Sheene title anymore in 2017 and into the future
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That sort of thing causes problems in the future. There was a strong movement here to do a Marlboro series reunion meeting.
Marlboro declined permission to use the name - and fag advertising is now illegal here too.
Didn't happen.
 
Chatted with Alan at the „not the Barry“ 2017 and showed him the 750 special with the works engine, he wasn’t particularly interested.
piet
 
GregT said:
Last time I talked to him, he was on a stretcher after dropping the Britten. Long time back now.
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That would have made him really popular, Greg! Such things come to mind when I think about offering the keys to the SFQ. I guess racetracks are a different environment to a spin on a public road. How did Sir Alan manage to chuck the mighty Britten down the road?
 
I think they had an issue with the carbon frontend snapping at one point, that might have been early on though.
 
I was standing on the bank watching his ride. Alongside Ron Grant. We both thought he'd lost a gear as he was quick/slow/quick exiting corners.
Then he dropped it. Back at the pits there was a group around him on the stretcher. I said Ron and I had thought he'd lost a gear.
His answer was that he'd get on the power, it would run wide and he'd back off. Then back on the throttle. Till too much throttle tossed him.
Turned out it was set up for the hippy - McEwan - very steep front end like a trials bike. Jason liked it like that. Rode around the oddities by powersliding it everywhere.
I was standing with Ron cos he'd just offered me a job at Honda Britain. All I could do was laugh and tell him I was already 20 years too old - and wouldn't be able to stand the hours. He'd come out with Richard Scott and an RS500 for the kiwi summer races. And an all - kiwi crew. Who'd all just told him they weren't going back to the UK. I'd built the bike which won the NZGP the day before so he'd seen my work.
 
Vince said:
I think they had an issue with the carbon frontend snapping at one point, that might have been early on though.
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Yeah, it broke when Chris Haldane was testing it. John's mistake bending carbon fiber laminates.
It nearly cost Chris his only NZF1 title. He rode about 10days later with a broken collarbone. 3rd on his OW01 was enough to secure it.
Watched his crew catch him in the pits and lift him off the bike. The boy had guts.
 
Thanks for the heads up Vince, a shame they didn't at least vaguely update it, especially given the unfortunate passing of the original driving force Chris Cutler. Also, they should know I'm not from Canberra, I'M FROM BUNGENDORE!! :LOL:

Regarding chronology, the test was way back in 2006, on what was basically Chris Cutler's "the Replica" (which I latterly call the '915' since the other bike got built) as it was when he sold it to me in 2002. I had made a few small mods for the modest track day runs I was doing at the time but it was almost exactly how Ken Watson won the Aussie titles etc on it. Gotta say, Alan was an absolute gent, no airs or graces, just a lovely enthusiastic guy.

Alan regularly recycles his articles and resells them, and he updated it around 2011 when I had started campaigning the bike with Drmsby on board - that's the article which has been republished again above. In that period the bike got a number of developments, mainly aimed at reliability and ergonomics for the new rider, and gearbox improvements.

That revised 2011 article pre-dated the building of the black bike - what I call the 917 - in late 2011/early 2012. The 917 re-used most of the same engine, the swingarm and the wheels from the 915, but was otherwise all new, not just a livery change. Built around a custom Cr-Mo frame it was 17kg's lighter than the "915" tested above, 152kg on the Phillip Island FIM certified scales IIRC. That was the bike Alan wanted to re-test but the engine blew up at Broadford after the Island Classic and it hasn't gone since. One day.
 
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