006 From the archive
This month we have three stunning images from
the world of Classic Racer, two of which are from
deep within our huge archive and the third having
a much more recent flavour to it (but it’s still very
much on topic).

012 ReadersWrite
Another passage of time passes us by and some of
you have chosen to mark the past few weeks with
a missive to Classic Racer. Good on you and thank
you very much for the correspondence – we enjoy
every single letter, email and pigeon that lands at
Racer Towers.

014 Paddock Gossip
Our Malcolm has been visiting the paddocks of
the scene to see the what, the why and the who of
things going on. He’s also been over to the Island
to stay abreast of everything on the road scene. It’s
been hectic. He loves it.

022 Line Art
This month we have another superb piece of work
from the mightily-talented Mick Ofield. For this
issue of Classic Racer it’s the Paul Smart Ducati Imola
200 winner. Beautiful.

024 Subscribe to Classic Racer
It’s a great idea to subscribe to your favourite
classic motorcycle magazine. Do it and you get the
magazine earlier than it appears in the shops, there’s
no going out in the cold and wet to get it because
it’s delivered to your door and it’s a bit cheaper too.

026 Jim Curry. Pushing it.
The story of a man who wouldn’t let‘no’be the
answer to anything. Not even when he got his hands
on a write-offroad bike and had a plan to get it to
the front of a Grand Prix grid.

036 Riding the Six
Our very own Steve Plater was the only man out on
a real Honda 6 at the Classic TT. Not only do we mark
the moment on these pages but we look at what
made the iconic Honda such an amazing machine
both here and in the huge 32-page
supplement that you have free
with this issue.

038 Magnificence in motorcycle form
– the Suzuki XR96 RGV250
One of the rarest motorcycles on the planet, this is
Steve Wheatman’s Suzuki RGV250. A factory racebike
now looked after by the expert hands of Nathan
Colombi, you won’t see another one of these – we
promise you that. It’s utterly delicious and a genuine
work of mechanical art.

046 Sheene Unseen: Part two
The final part of our look at some incredibly personal
images from the Sheene life. These come from a
terrific book which we urge you to add to your
collection. Full details on how to do that are included
in this article, so get to the pages to find out all you
need to know.

050 Funny front end…
The Bimota Tesi YB wasn’t what you’d call successful
out on track, but as a piece of track-inspired
engineering it deserves its place in the annals of
history. Not just for the cleverness around the whole
bike but the sheer audacity of that front end…

058 The Bennetts Classic TT
Our resident Island expert John Watterson and
snapper legend Peter Faragher were on hand, on site
and on a roll as the Classic TT happened. Here’s their
report into what has become a huge event (due in
no small part to the efforts of our Malc Wheeler).

066 GP back in the day: Hockenheim 1975
One of the most memorable races of the year comes
under the eye of Jan Burgers, for another expert slice
of the good, the great and the‘gosh I never knew
that’of GP racing from decades ago.

072 Len Ireland
A real fan favourite at the Irish motorcycle road races
throughout the 1960s, Len was one of the men to
go wheel-to-wheel with if you wanted silverware
at races like the North West 200 and Carrowdore
100. His story is a fascinating account of a man who
loved his racing and was as hard as nails.

078 On Track
Reports on recent racing in the classic scene
including Bob Mac, CRMC and BHR plus a cracking
report on the Irish road racing scene across the
middle of the season.