Laverda racing in England and Oz

V

Vince

Hero member
Just for shit and giggles while twiddling my fingers in lockdown anyone got the definitive reason why a Jota dominated production racing in Britain and didn't do much in Oz. What tracks were used in Britten and were they more suitable than Amaroo in Oz for the success of Laverdas? Or was it better-prepared bikes. Its always mystified me, this result?
 
Jotas weren't imported to Oz until much later than they were raced in UK. Stanco just raced 3C type, and the mechanic was a scrutineer and refused to cheat like the opposition for major Oz races. Stanco neither used SFC750 when it would have done well. The TTM Jota was right on the tail of CB1100R Honda teams in Qld with Pete White (a really fast C grader!) on it. Had Croz or similar been on it would have beaten them. By the time the RGS came Lavs weren't competitive on the track. Stanco just weren't interested. There weren't any people in Oz preparing Laverdas for superbike at that time afaik.
 
History even invented more countries than Australia and the UK. (Not just England)

Europe was more interested in endurance racing than production racing. No hope for a Jota in that.
Which is why Laverda built a V6.

Paul
 
Vince said:
..  why a Jota dominated production racing in Britain and didn't do much in Oz. Its always mystified me, this result?
Click to expand...
Vince, obviously you did not go out to the Lakeside circuit in the early '80s!
TTM-S2-trophy-02.JPG

If you had watched Peter.W on the TTM Jota power sliding out of The Karrassel after overtaking a Honda CB1100R or two, you would remember. It's etched in my memory.  :D
Any bike is not competitive unless it has the rider and the team. As per Tippie's comments, I reckon T.T. MOTIQUE did well considering the shoe-string budget.
Pete said the Jota was slower with that 3 into 1 exhaust and they preferred running the Slater exhaust. It usually had the Slater system for the meetings I went out to.
 
Amaroo was a bit of a Go-Cart track where top speed was nearly 160kph. What type of tracks were used in the UK for the Avon Series? There was plenty of win on Sunday sell on Monday thinking by some back then. Not sure the size of the budget would be all-important other than hiring the best riders, how professional was the job of bike racer back then. The reason why I posted was some comments on another site, not particularly nasty but implying the reason why Laverda failed in Oz production racing was mainly unreliability in the 6hr. How long were the Avon races in duration? I just don't get why such success in the UK, was it completely down to the ability of one rider or was there more to it. What's the back story, he won is all I know. How strong was the opposition, was the big Japanese teams competing.
 
When did Laverda break down in the 6 hour? Ducati did, famously when lined up for a possible win. Jotas also did great in Sweden against GSX, CBX etc.
 
Think I remember correctly - Jotas were mythology in Oz during the time they were well on the map with Slaters in the UK. I met a pommie guy in about 1977 who had a silver UK Jota here. It was legendary stuff. It would have done really well against the Japanese opposition at that time ... but you had to find the right rider.

We raced a 1200 in the 4-Hour in Perth (probably more as a showcase that a real threat) and I don't think Stanco had even imported a Jota until 1979 or 1980(?). I would have much preferred to race a Jota in 1978 but regardless, I was a C-grader and my boss who co-rode was not fast, and the bike was too slow in a straight line to really compete - so even if we'd ridden a Jota the hot shots from 'over east' on basically factory backed Japanese bikes would have won. With a really good A-grader it would have been a different story. The broken 3-2-2 collector was a minor hitch, but the broken x-over gear linkage was more of a hindrance. Just teething probs on a bike straight off the showroom floor.

You have to remember that proddy racing in Oz was HUGE and the Japanese factories were more than willing to give any assistance necessary to dealer teams (who spent PLENTY!). As Lee says, Stance had zip interest in real racing, so it makes it all the more amazing what Pete W AND TTM did in Qld - just wish he'd been brought further south - or west, to co-ride with me on a Jota!!
 
I posted up the rampant cheating comments on another site and that got poo-pooed. No chance there was any rule braking as they promised not to do that kind of stuff. It might not be CHEATING full on but I bet they went right up to and past good manners. Winning was a huge deal, winning meant having THE BEST and that sold a lot of bikes. And that was the downfall in the end of Production racing. Too many lawsuits after the race arguing about having the winning edge.
 
Never heard of that when I was at Stanco, maybe an Eades bike?
Reading the article on P Davies it is clear production racing was very different in UK than Oz. Regardless Slaters built a highly tuned bike anyone could buy much earlier than the Japanese factories did. It could have been sold and raced in Australia had Stanco had the will, while the others were cheating to achieve it. Unreal Vince that they are sensitive about the cheating still now, it was a fact, not just allegations, and most of it never got found out at the time. 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top