Rohan,
That quote was mine. I think Acotrel pulled it incorrectly.
Either way, I stand by it. Here's my only point to all of historic racing and my personal views and opinion on it:
These old Nortons and other bikes used in historic racing for organizations like AHRMA, are simply that, historic. And what I mean is, that when these bikes were new, they were being raced competitively in their day. Even a number of years after they were new, tuners and privateers continued to develop them and race them competitively in the circuits of the day. At some point, the bikes that we're talking about, stopped being competitive, and were either replaced by newer racing motorcycles, or in some cases, the companies went our of business entirely.
So each new year and with each new competitive line of race bikes being manufactured and raced, the older bikes became obsolete. Fast forward many decades, and these bikes are simply historic, which I think is great, because I love them. But some people continue to develop them as if they were still current racing machines, which they aren't. So to race an old Norton in a HISTORIC racing organization like AHRMA, and continue to develop the machine well past the cut off date, or well past anything that the machine ever was, seems incorrect to me.
As far as new parts, I've nothing against that. If someone was racing for instance and old Dominator or Atlas, and needed to replace pistons and other components, that's fine. These things wear out. So there's no problem in my mind with keeping that old bike running with replacement parts. I just think they should be replacement parts of the era. For instance, carburetors can easily be replaced by brand new Amals, and they'd be correct to the bike. There's no need for flat slide Mikuni carbs etc. It simply isn't appropriate to the age and era of the bike. And even though I'm a purist, in a racing situation, I make room for improvements when it comes to safety. For instance, running a belt drive primary and dry clutch is a safety concern with a Dominator. The stamped steel primaries are well known to leak, so I think that's a safety factor. I think modern tires are also a safety factor. So even though I'm a purist, I'm not a fool, and would certainly concede those topics.
But at some point this development becomes an inaccurate representation of history. Which doesn't line up with racing in a historic organization. The same applies in my mind to replica bikes. And although I personally wouldn't chose to race a replica bike, I have no problem with them. That is, if they are a faithful reproduction of the original, and that it replicates something that actually existed.
There's no doubt in my mind that anyone racing out there, is having a good time. And they earn my respect for that. I simply just don't see how turning a blind eye to the history of these bikes, does anyone any justice. It certainly doesn't portray the bikes in a factual /historical way.
As far as some of the other little details that get brought up, like Scitsu tachs and Japanese levers on British bikes etc, I don't like those either. I wouldn't make a stink of it out loud, but I certainly wouldn't use it on my bike, and I certainly don't like it. But to me, it's not a big enough of a deal to bring notice to. I'm more concerned with the major components be correct originals (frame / motor / brakes / carbs / ignition).
At the end of the day, anyone can do whatever the hell they want with their bikes. And the extremely lax rules of organizations like AHRMA allow it. There's plenty of semi-dishonest people that will bend the rules and get away with whatever they can, and claim that it's in the spirit of racing and being competitive. I don't think that's anything to brag about. The first place trophy on a fake bike that doesn't represent the era, would mean nothing to me. I'd tip my hat to the guy on a bone stock Norton that's been safety wired and came in last place.
I think that anyone that wants to race "competitively" in the true sense of what that means today, should then stop messing around with AHRMA, and go out on a real modern bike and race in a current competitive class. That would be real racing. Or at least real racing for today.
