Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Carruthers at Daytona, 1973, on his way to second place. Carruther.s and Roberts, tutor and student, 1972. lovakia, fourth in Finland, first in Belfast, and second in Italy, to go into the last round in Yugoslavia needing to win to take the series. And on the now defunct seaside public road circuit at Opatija, Carruthers won. Kel's place with Benelli looked assured, although the FIM's decision to limit 250s to no more than two cylinders meant the company would have to concentrate on the 350 class. (The decision also practically guaranteed that Carruthers was the last rider to win the 250 crown on a fourstroke.) "I was supposed to ride Benellis . again in 1970. But then they had a big strike at the factory and weren't able to prepare enough bikes. So I had to get a pair of Yamahas, and the only place I could get them was in the States," Kel said. "I bought a new 250 from Yamaha America, but they didn't have any 350s left, so I had to buy a u~ed one from Don Vesco. Anyway, he said that as I was coming to America to get the bikes, why not ride his bikes at Daytona." Carruthers won the 250 International at Daytona, and received an offer that proved a turning point in his career. "At Daytona Don and I got to talking, and he said if I ever came back to America I could operate out of his o With Nobby Clark and Roberts, admiring Ago's TZ500 at Assen, 1974. workshop and we'd run a race team between us." Carruthers did one more season in Europe, finishing second to Rod Gould's semi-works Yamaha in the 250 championship and second to Agostini's MV-Agusta in the 350, then took up Vesco's offer. "Jan (Mrs. Carruthers) and I talked about it while we were in Europe in 1970. We thought we'd about had enough of Europe, and thought we'd drop in to the States for a year on our way back to Australia, just todo some races there. "The good thing was that I did really well. I think I did seven races and made more money than I had made in three or four years in Europe! At the end of the season Kawasaki wanted to sign me, then Yamaha wanted to sign me, so I signed a contract with Yamaha. "I just happened to get lucky, I guess. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, because the races in America dropped off for a while after that and now they're in limbo. It was really good in the early 1970s when all the Japanese and British factories were in there. "Now the European thing has picked up," Carruthers said. "The two main differences from my day are the amount of money involved and the amount of work. That about covers everything other than that there's not that much difference, per se. "Money-wise, today, a few guys can make enough money to retire on - that never used to happen. On the other end of the scale, it can cost so much now that a guy can be ruined financially. And in the middle, what I think happens is you spend a lot more money and make a lot more money, so you end up not making much profi t. "When I raced you didn't spend much and you didn't make a lot. And if you were any good you ended up with a small amount of profit. Now you have extremes at both ends; where you can retire a millionaire oryou can go completely bust. In the middle the profit at theendof theyear is probably about the same, because you've spent more to make more," Kel said. "As for the riders, they ride differently today because the bikes and the circuits are different. But I guess if you could put guys into different eras the guys who were good when I rode would be good now and--vice versa. "The big difference now is the tracks are smaller and slower, and ~=.;.,.~ ~';.:y_i;a_v~!l2.~I!..t~&:':tC?~t;;~;.~.}~:~J With Bruce Maus and Wayne Rainey, 1984 Belgian GP. ' Pushing off Roberts, 1983 French GP. rode in Europe most of the circuits were public road circuits, normally five, six and seven miles to a lap, and with surfaces ranging from good to bloody awfull Normally they were just high-speed circuits. Even if they had some slow corners, basically they were all quick. "The important thing was picking your line, being able to use all the road. If you had a 150-mph motorbike, you had to be able to judge the high-speed corners and make use of that speed. "Now there's a lot more braking involved and, especially with the 500s, it's how well you can judge acceleration out of corners. You've got to get the bike to the stage where it's actually sliding. Then you've got to be careful that you don't highsidel" Carruthers noted. And how long did he give himself continuing with a job that kept him on the road? "I don't know. Every year I say I probably won't do it againl I've been with Yamaha now for 13 years. The job I have now is with Marlboro, in that I'm paid by Marlboro and Agos-, tini, but the work I do is for Yamaha. My involvement with the team is most directly involved with Yamaha. I've had that job since I came back to Europe in 1978, when I formed the team to bring Kenny over. My title changes from year to year, but basically my job is the same. These days I don't have to worry about the financial side of it - I used to be the one who had to pay the bills. I don't have to do that anymore because it's not Yamaha's money any more - Marlboro and Agostini have to pay. "So I've been doing this job for a long time, and when you're involved with a job it becomes fairly easy to you, and unless you have something else you really want to do, it's diffi(Cult to stop.,l • l 0 .. ~ __ t. i ~ a..t:...¥~_-_-_:::o. _.4l; _ ,. Congratulating Lawson, 1984 Austrian GP, "I'm lucky in a way that I live in America. Put it this way, if I lived in Australia I couldn'tdo thisj<;>b because the school summer vacation there is a t Christmas time. As it is now I do Daytona, and my wife Jan can come with me. Then I go off to South Africa and do maybe a month in Europe alone. Then Jan and my daughter Kerry can come over for a couple of weeks at Easter. They go back borne and Kerry goes to school for another month then, with the long summer vacation in America, they're 'able to come over from June all the way through to the end of the season. "If I lived in Australia, Kerry would have to go to school for that period. Frankly, I wouldn't do this job if Jan and Kerry couldn't be here for at least 50% of the season. I wouldn't like to live in Europe full-time - six months a year is enough. And of course I have my motorhome, which is fairly good. "That's also something that is mfferent to when 1 was racing, There is enough money that you can live more comfortably - the way people are supposed to live. Even now people still say, boy, your motorhome is big. But I say, I could park three of them in my bedroom at home - and you have to live in ,the damn thing for six months! It's just the way you look at it, but it is comfortable and that makes the thing more pleasant," Car. rlllthers said. .. .{. • ...... L. ..... -:: "1Io ............. C:~"7""" . . ~......-aol

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