Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• , • • • • • ~ -~ 'iii ~ " '«: V) ~ ~ ~ U :.... U Making a debut at Farlelgh Castle In England during the British Grand Prix of the In te rna tI onal 500cc Moto-Cross Championship, an exclUng new engine conversion for the BSA Victor was Installed on Don Ric km an 's Metisse scrambler. Developed for the Rickman Bros. by Weslake Engineering (designers of Dan Gurney's Formula V-12 engine and Ford head conversions}, the concept Is revolutionary for motorcycle engines. Power has proved stronger than the BSA factory " wor ks" engines ridden by that firm's team, yet final tuning Is yet to be sorted out. Installation In the bike was only made a dozen hours prior to the race In order to assure secrecy. Unusual Conversion The Weslake-Rlckman Victor conversion consis ts of a light alloy cylinder barrel with steel liner, alloy head with big valves and new rocker arm assembly with cover, large diameter exhaust pipe, and special piston. Bore diameter has been Increased to 84mm, which with the standard BSA 44lcc crankshaft stroke raises the total displacement to 498.5Occ .. ,nearly a full 5001 A 32mm carb Is employed to handie the phenomal breathIng capabilities of the head. The striking feature of the package Is Its complete departure from the usual motorcycle practice of a hemispherical combustion chamber I The two valves are located Inline, and the piston Is flat topped, a common automotive practice. Thus far , about $4000.00 has been spent In R& D, lb1d the Rlckmans are now committing themselves to an additional $25,000 for production tooling. Word Is that these conversion kits for the standard Victor will be available by late summer and will be marketed Stateside by Rickman's U.S. agents, Steen 's tnc.; of Alhambra, California. Price Is estimated to be In the $300.00 range. An Inherent feature of the design Is Its low-speed torque characteristics; Ideal for the moto-cross circuits or any rough cross-country bashing where high rev s with peak hp available only In the upper rpm range Is next to useless. Evel Jumps Again Evel Knlevel, renowned motorcycle stunt man, Jumped thirteen cars at Fairgrounds Speedway In Utah to the delight of some 6,618 excited and satisfied fans. Evel Is now traveling across the country doing shows and promoting the good Image of motorcycling. The Grand Canyon Jump Is still tentatively set for Labor Illy weekend In September of this year. Watch this column for further reports on Evel Knlevel. Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Stein of San Bernardino Is on vacation In Europe realizing . an upcoming moto-cross rider's dream, competing on the continental moto-cross tracks. Jim Is now In Czechoslovakia training at the CZ motocross factory. Word Is that Jim's trainIng consists of one heck of a lot of swimming, working on the bikes, and a vast amount of riding. Rumor has It that Jim was paid high start money at his first meet across the pond of720 crowns which equals $140.00 InAmerican money. There were a reported 65,000 fans viewIng the meet. Well, with less than 40 points separating the top three professional AMA riders In the race for the number one plate for next year, It's sUll anyone 's guess as to who comes out on top, Gary Nixon (now sporting the number 1 plate) Is still leading this year's race with California's Cal Rayborn a close second • • Knlnel and Indians dI scuss upcumlng leap. and Bart Markel right behind. Fred Nix has manage d to get the full support ofthe Harley facto ry and It seems to mean a difference as flying Freddie has copped the last two Nat' l mile events a t Portland, Or egon and Santa Rosa, California. Fred Is now four th In the standings to date and Is right In ther e battling for the coveted number one. As far as TT racing Is concerned It looks as If no one Is going to beat the fantastic Skip Van Leeuwen; he just copped the Nat' l at Asco t Park last saturday, July 25 only to beat It up to compete In the Pacific Coast TT Championship and win that also In Oregon. Moto-Cross On The Rise A fantastic entry of 230 riders showed up for last weeks Carlsbad moto-cross event at Carlsbad, California. A total of 720 paid spectators made the scene that worked out to be one of the finest moto-cros s programs to be put on In Southern Califor nia , especially consider ing that the Cal iforn ia Moto-Cross Club and the track owner hos ted a mere 23 entries only seven races ago for the clubs first try. These guys deserve a lot of cr edit for a fantastic amount of work and thoughtfulnes s that goes Into every one of their runs. With a pe rmanent loudspeaker sys te m nowInstalled, s howers for the guys, full restroom facilities, a sunken watering system for the course, not to mention the complelely flaglined course, It has to outrank any other cour s e In the Southland , If you're looking for s omething exciting to do on a sunday, come out to the next Carlsbad motocross for a gr eat day of spectating or racing. Next posted event Is onAugus t 11, with a $250.00 purse a t stake. Make It a dayl .,

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