hi, this might be a bit of biased question from myself but ill give it a go,

as my username suggests i have an rd500lc which i have owned for a long time now and i am always trying to find out a bit of what they done on the race tracks of the world ( nothing probably ) , i know where i live i only seen 1 at knockhill in 86 or as far as i can remember anaway, i know that hizzy rode one in the senior tt in 85 and finished 10th, doohan raced one in oz and im sure alex crivilles uncle raced one, Phil Mellor and Des Barry im sure ran them aswell under the padgetts banner. if you guys have any info at all who raced them and what positions they got or even if they were successful it would be a great help. thanks in advance. PS.... speaking of knockhill does anyone remember the hulk that used to race there.

That was the year I went to the TT - I'll try to find a pic.

Meanwhile..........



Paul M

Steve Parrish seems to be aboard a 500 RDLC production-based machine, which prompts me to ask if anybody knows details about that other ( or is it the same ) RDLC-based racer that he campaigned in 500cc Grand Prix for a while . I know Stavros retained for many years an ex-factory 500 in-line 4 Yamaha (which he may have gotten through his Barry Sheene connection ) which he campaigned way past its sell-by date, and later (1985 ? ) used this notorious RDLC-based machine . Wonder how it could have been competitive against what was then still a rather good field of private RG's and RS's . Does anybody know more about this specific bike ? Engine preparation, frame, etc ?

Pics of said bikes on Manfred's site :

the vintage factory bike used in 83 :
http://www.highsider.com/textlager/uk_text...rrish_83_02.htm

the 1984 machine : is this still the same machine as the previous year ?
http://www.highsider.com/textlager/uk_text...rrish_84_02.htm

the 1985 bike : definitely an RDLC-based machine
http://www.highsider.com/textlager/uk_text...rrish_85_01.htm

And then of course there is the mysterious RDLC-based racer used by Steve Parrish in the 500cc Grand Prix, that we have discussed on many occasions

http://www.highsider.com/textlager/uk_text...rrish_85_01.htm

thanks for all the info folks , you have jogged my memory of parishes rd project, i think it was in bike magazine or something, i do remember reading about it. wasnt parishs in line 4 500 called son of slug? . do we think then that the yamaha he rode at some of the british meetings in 83 or 84 an rdlc based motor?

(Actually I have just about every technical article and photo on racing bikes that appeared in any British mag from '77 to '85, and a few more - so if anyone wants to see pics of the Barton Phoenix-4 and Sparton-3 that were discussed recently, to see how much they were like any other motors, just ask........also the Exactwelds, various Rotax's, Scitsu 125, etc.)

Paul M

I've still got the MCN article and photo of the Parrish RD from when it first appeared, if anyone is interested I could scan it. There were several privateer RD500s as well, I posted some photos I took in '85 somewhere or other on TNF, Ron Storey rode one with 'Superbike' mag sponsorship and I have the SB mag article about that too.

(Actually I have just about every technical article and photo on racing bikes that appeared in any British mag from '77 to '85, and a few more - so if anyone wants to see pics of the Barton Phoenix-4 and Sparton-3 that were discussed recently, to see how much they were like any other motors, just ask........also the Exactwelds, various Rotax's, Scitsu 125, etc.)

Paul M

Yes, this was built for the then Formula 1 class by Dave 'Mushroom' Johnson when Steve rode for Mitsui Yamaha UK with the engine using some TZ internals but the project came to nowt due to the weak RD500 crankcases, as opposed to the Suzuki RG500 Gamma as campaigned with great success by Darren Dixon in '88 when he trashed the diesels in the UK championship.

I sent Dave the following e-mail :

Do I understand correctly that the original ex-Van Dulmen OW53 machine was equipped with a normal round steel tube frame, then? And that you later used the ex-Sonauto square alloy frame? Or did you have two different machines , the van dulmen one AND a alloy framed / Standard TZ engine bitza ? ( plus of course the F1 RDLC 500 )

to which he replied :

Good Morning Philippe
The dulman bike had already a alloy frame we just put modified tz500j cylinders on it .
On the standard tz500j got a alloy frame and a pair of works forks and electronic power valve motor
On both bikes I put a extra front radiator on them
Best regards Dave

So it seems Stavros indeed had two different 500 Yamaha in-line 4's : the ex-van dulmen factory bike equiped with production TZ500 cylinders, and a bitza made from a TZ500 engine fitted in an ex-sonauto alloy frame with factory fork . One machine called "slug" and the other "son of a slug" if I understood everything !