never mind Phil...I just stumbled across this notice on a German site....would not be able to identify him, it's a lot easier if you have the answer in advance, isn't it

There have been quite a few non German MZ pilots, especially Brits and thems from our colonies ;) Hailwood, Hocking, Crooks, Hemplemen, Sheperd, Woodman and did Minter have a ride? Who else?

Peter Williams, winning the 350 UGP in '71

Ah, of course.... Didn't Luigi Taveri also have some rides?

Yes, but he was not impressed with their reliabillity then...Dieter Braun was also on a MZ when Neckermann (something like the German woolworth...) was MZ importer in W-Germany..

Forgot Aussie Harry Hinton jr.....

In the old mag which carried the Hailwood ad posted today, there's a report on Kaadens decision to withdraw the 250 bikes from the lightweight TT because the altitude changes were screwing up the carburation so much.......

back to our birthday boy..his major GP results

1959 NOR 350 cc D 5 - UL 6 - I 4

1959 NOR 500 cc D 5 - I 5

1960 MZ 125 cc TT 4 - B 2 - UL 6

1960 MZ 250 cc NL 4

1960 NOR 350 cc NL 6

1960 NOR 500 cc D 5

well Russ... 2-strokes bear some constructional defects, don't they

Er.....yes

das ist gut

In 1962 I was outside my apprenticeship age 22 and with full city and guild engineering certificates employed by a large engineering firm. My hourly rate was 5 shillings and 6 pence old money which equated to
£12 -1s for a 44hr week Mind you we could treble that if we worked 80 hr week which we frequently did.

Silvio Grassetti?

Blimey Arthur....so the wage for most blokes likely to go racing was a fair bit less. No wonder we had so much industrial unrest....

Ah yes...I think?

Yes, Silvio was a MZ rider in the swansong era...Tapio Virtanen in '75 the very last, IIRC

Ah yes, Silvio Grassetti.
I was chatting to that fine old campaigner, John Dodds, on an occasion, and he told me a story I found hard to believe.
He said Silvio was once contracted to ride the Jawa at Bruno, and wanting to give the locals a bit of a thrill. There wasn´t a warm up lap in those days, (anyway the track was 14 km´s long), but he went off in the opposite direction, and, after turning the bike around, gunned the machine towards the assembled grid.
Now, this is where the hard to believe part comes in. Evidently, Grassetti always took a good old shot of the hard stuff before a race, and was, on accasions rather, shall we say, pissed, on the start line.
On this occasion he was more than a little under the influence, and cresting the brow before the start, suddenly realised he couldn´t stop in time. The result was he pilled into the back of the grid, wiping out a few back markers, including a young Canadian who was having his first start in GP´s, and who had to go home afer the incident due to a lack of finance.
Evidently, the machine, which sported a 7 gallon tank, burst into flames and caused mayham, delaying the start for quite some time. Grassetti was led away, and, because it would have embarresed the sport, nothing more was said about his condition
Can any one add to this story?

No Rhodie, but lets hope it's apocryphal....if not, he should have had his gonads removed - slowly.

Rennmax, I remember Tapio Virtanen, wasn't he another rider (like Dale Singleton) who had a penchant for strange pets?

Some more on the 1970 Czechoslovakia 250 GP
I think John has used a little "licence" in the story, Silvio did enjoy a glass of wine with his lunch, prior to the start, but not "pissed", however, in this instance he was late coming to the line, on leaving the pit exit he popped a wheelie but went over backwards, tank came off and either split or the cap opened, the pix show the result, but NO fire for which, on the line, we were very thankful. In pic 1 the Jawa has just brought down Frank ?, Rod Gould, waiting to go to the front, looking across as it happens, Silvio sliding to a stop, pic 2, Frank is looking to give Silvio a knuckle sandwich as Rod Gould paddles his way out of the petrol lake, is that scary or what!
Pic 3 is the rostrum 1969 350 Czechoslovakia GP, Giacome 1st, Rod 2nd Silvo 3rd on a Jawa.
Silvio did ride the 250 & 350 MZ during 71 & 72 but not many results I remember

All three pictures by Jarda Sejk

great pics and great story Bonzo, thanks for that

I remember Dale and his farrow, please tell us about Tapio's strange preferences...has nothing to do with pets, at least directly, but reminds me of Walter Migliorati (?) and his use of knickers as balaclava....

Well, he scored the last two victories for MZ in 1971 ( Austria and Belgium ) , and a 2nd place at Imatra in 72 ;)

Thanks for the complete story and the pics, Bonzo

Re Silvios successes on MZs (Position, not points)

1971 MZ 250 cc A 1 - B 1 - GDR 8 - I 3
1971 MZ 350 cc I 2
1972 MZ 250 cc I 5 - NL 7 - CS 5 - S 9 - SF 2
1972 MZ 350 cc A 9 - GDR 4 - CS 8

In "defence" of Silvio, I would like to point out that he (and Jack Findlay) took over as Jawa riders one week after Ivy's crash, when the technical problems which caused the crash (poor big end and/or crankshaft bearings) were not solved...quite gutsy, I suppose... Findlay crashed at his first outing in Brno when water poured on the rear tyre, breaking his collarbone ...

Thanks for that bonzo. John was obviously having a bit of fun at my expense . It really could have turned nasty though if that lot had ignited. Must have been damn scary for those involved I imagine.

Poor Rod, riding with 2-stroke mixture soaked tyres...

Werner Haas ??

Hello,!
It´s bit out of this thread(MC racing 1949-68), but my countryman Estonian(then part of Soviet Union) Mati Reinup was "factory racer" on MZ for 1976.
But MZ was not that competetive anymore then, so 13-th in Belgia was his highest result.
He was Soviet Union champion in roadracing 1971, when serving his time(2 years) in army.
Soviet GP racer Nikolay Sevostjanov was their racing coach in army.There were sports units(racing included) in Soviet army then.Sevostjanov gave all his Vostok and other racing stuff to Reinup when he quit racing in 1970?.
Reinup was called 1974 to East Germany to be the testdriver for MZ and later became full time racer for them.
I just tought, maybe this is interesting for TNF motorcycle racing enthusiast, because theres not much Soviet Union motorcycle racing information here.

Hi Tony and welcome to the forum.

Thanks, nice to be here !

Werner Haas retired from road racing when NSU withdrew after the '54 season. After that, he switched to enduro ISDT style. The pic shows him mountaineering with a NSU Max to the hilltop of the Nebelhorn (altitude ca 2200 m), which he did in 1 h 45 min. Wonder how they brought the bike back...

Hi Toni, welcome to TNF and thanks for yout input

Thinking of racers of the Soviet Union, my mind springs to Endel Kiisa and his impressive debut at the German GP (Nürburgring Südschleife) in '65, were he clinched pole position (ahead of Ago, Redman and Hailwood !) and finally 5th place in the 350 cc class on a Wostok. Wonder if you could give us some more information about this guy and the bike (4 cylinder in-line ?)
Thanks

Hi Tony ,and welcome to the Forum Hope you stay with us and we look forward to reading your imput

Thanks Rennmax and fil2.8!

Well, I try to write some storys about my countryman Endel Kiisa soon(but I need check some things before).

The 4-cylinder 350cc Vostok(the model name was C-364)looked most likely like this(it´s ex Kiisas bike as far as I know)-
http://www.kakeh.com/imatra/2008/imagepages/image46.htm
http://www.kakeh.com/imatra/2008/imagepages/image47.htm
Photos are taken in Imatra memorial 2008 and Kiisa was there too(can´t find the photo of him sitting on that same bike there right now).

There is funny story about Kiisas and Sevostjanovs first trip to race in Nürburgring.
They had van with bikes and stuff plus map.When they started the journey from Soviet Union, they all thought, that Nürburgring is in Nürnburg!So they drove to Nürnburg and found out that Nürburgring is quite a distance(about 500km?) from there.They drove all night and made to Nürburgring in Thursday evening, so still missed the training day.So without any practice or track knowledge next day, Kiisa clocked the pole before some great names.As far as I know Kiisa lead with nice distance to the very end of race, but was forced to back off thanks to clutch problems and scored just 5-th place.

Thanks Tony.

this ones might be of interest too

http://www.p-3motorsportphotos.com/en/cate...12/display/1324

that's a shot from that before mentioned event

and



Shot made in Imatra in '68, Endel on the 500 cc Vostok

Do you have any technical details of the bikes ?

Welcome Tony - fascinating stuff. Army motorcyle racing coach.... love it !

Ropey quality picure, but never mind - the location is easy but who's the guy on the Manx?

easy ??... hmmm... location: hairpin of Dundrod circuit ?...the lid of #34 looks like the traditonal CZ/Jawa rider design, but the bike does not... no clue who the Manx rider is

Your'e right, it is Stastny on the Jawa at Dunrod. The other bloke was/is well known, at least in Britain.

Ron Langston?

that may apply to quite a lot ...may we have a bit more information please ?

It is, well Done Im recalling this of the top of my head but I think it was 1960 when he almost won the Manx at his first attempt after setting the fastest lap in practice. Think he got a second ?

Renn, do you recall Ron ?

Not really, I've to admit


Found his GP results:

1961 AJS 350 cc S 5

1961 MAT 500 cc TT 5 - B 5 - UL 4

1962 NOR 500 cc UL 4

I remember Ron If my memory serves me right was'nt he also a top trials competitor as well as a road racer

Your'e right Arthur he was, and although a briiliant road racer I dont think he raced beyond '62ish.

Pic would be from 1962, Langston on a Manx with the 4ls brake, and Stastny scored points in the 500 class. In 1961, Ron would have been on a G50.

This was on another thread, good in it!!