Listening to the grreat coverage from Manx radio and watching the live dashboard today for the F1 race,on the dashboard it says "MD 1986 Suzuki gsxr " " Ansty 2013 yam yzr " "Russ Mountford 2015 kwak zxr750" the interview with Bruce he said it was not bad for a twenty year old bike, why does the dashboard give a lot of the bikes to be so young, just curious.

A very good question there,

I had clocked it during practise week,
Have my own ideas, as to why,
But iam sure that there are better people about to give you a full explanation,

Cracking days racing though,
Well done to all involved,

Thing is that "Classic" Racing (as I see it) is for bikes that are based on classic designs and that is it.

I am pretty certain that the XR Suzukis would not have a single component that dates back 25-30 years. (Correct me if I'm wrong).

It was a cracking race though, glad that a F1 spec machine won this year.

For me it comes down to having a competitive grid with good looking reliable machines or not. Every one of us would be waiting a very long time for a complete grid of true period bikes that were ready for a good beasting around the TT Course .. look at the discussions we have now, imagine the fuss if every bike had to have true period components and how/who would regulate it all - like it or not the event wouldn't happen, I guess for some that wouldn't be a problem but for me seeing and hearing the bikes works very well. On the other hand if there is a big number of period bike owners/riders who can't get a ride or want to let somebody else ride their bike lets see hands in the air please ..

That Suzuki that won the race has a GSXR1100 engine in it I think, although I've also seen a 1200 Bandit engine mentioned too.

Apart from the colour, anyone know the difference externally between a GSXR and a Bandit engine ?

I would have a half informed guess at cams, pistons, compression ratio, valves, intake size  and gear ratios. 

All of which are free under the rules anyway. (and they are internal !!!). If Dunlops bike had a Bandit engine I would imagine that it would be awesome with a GSXR engine!!

Those early GSXR 750/1100 oil cooled motors are a doddle to work on too, screw/locknut valve adjustment - no fannying around with shims and micrometers or having to remove cams, no water jackets/plumbing or big radiators getting in the way only the oil cooler, the bottom end and transmission are very strong and there's loads of relatively cheap easily available tuning parts out there - that's why they are so popular with drag/sprint racing. The even earlier GSX motors were much the same, a good mate had a Harris Suzuki 750 F1 in the early 80's and the bottom end was exactly the same set up as the 1100 motor - very strong.

(03-09-2015, 06:56 PM)rc30alfie Wrote: All of which are free under the rules anyway. (and they are internal !!!). If Dunlops bike had a Bandit engine I would imagine that it would be awesome with a GSXR engine!!

Externally the engines are pretty much identical, are you thinking that MD runs a standard 1200 Bandit engine???

What sort of engine did the XR69 use to run back in the day?

Started on GS750 and then moved up to GS1000

Don't remember them being a great success on Isle of Man in their day.

(03-09-2015, 11:04 PM)AntG Wrote: What sort of engine did the XR69 use to run back in the day?

GS1000 I believe.

I love the old oil cooled GSXR'S fantastic bikes. I have a slabside and a slingshot that I'm currently doing up as my winter project. The bandit 1200 is effectively the same motor as the gixer apart from a different cam and more displacement, it has exactly the same external dimensions, a mate of mine put a 1200 bandit motor in to a gixer and it all lined up a treat he changed the cam on it for a Gsxr one. These motors can be tuned to some mad crazy power and are as stated in another post fantastic to work on. The XR69 originally started life I believe in 76 as a GS 750 but by 78 it's was using a GS 1000 power plant. It's great seeing bikes from this era race on the mountain course once again, and no maybe not truly a 100% Formula one spec but still great to see.

(03-09-2015, 11:10 PM)DBD 34 Wrote: Started on GS750 and then moved up to GS1000

Don't remember them being a great success on Isle of Man in their day.

They have always been 1000cc and were first raced in 1980 by Graeme Crosby.
I think Grant. Crosby and McElnea might disagree about them not being having  much success on the Island.!!  Even Joey won at the UGP on one after helping Croz win the F1 World Championship 

Thank lads for clearing that up for me , you learn something new every day.

(04-09-2015, 06:32 AM)rc30alfie Wrote: They have always been 1000cc and were first raced in 1980 by Graeme Crosby.
I think Grant. Crosby and McElnea might disagree about them not being having  much success on the Island.!!  Even Joey won at the UGP on one after helping Croz win the F1 World Championship 

They started out as a 750, also when I say success I am talking about wins, I think Croz was the only one to win a TT on one (possibly Rob McElnea might have) so when you compare that to the Honda's of the day I would not call it a great success.

Also UGP is not in IoM.

Crosby won two TTs on one , the 81 TTF1 race and the 81 Senior Classic. He should have won the 1980 F1 but for Grants Honda 'fuel tank controversy'. He was also the first rider to complete a six lap TT in under two hours after being made to start at the back of the grid and overtaking nearly the entire field on the road. He also won the TTF1 World Championship on one in 80 and 81 and the Suzuka 8hr on an endurance version, (Yes I know thats not in the IOM either!)
McElnea won TTs on one in 83 and 84 in the Men Only colour scheme despite also doing 500cc Grand Prix.
I think you could call it a sucessful bike.
Incidently it was never 750cc, there was no need as F1 was 1000cc until 1985.

Nothing in the above post that I haven't already said.

By the way the xr69 did actually start life as a 750 in 1976 and switched to 1000 in 1978.

Sorry you are wrong. The xr69 was always a 1000cc bike and was first raced at Daytona in 1980. It was supplied by the factory following Paul Dunstalls rather unsuccessful Yoshimura powered attempt in 1979. Even Sheene could only manage a 4th place on the Dunstall.
Prior to 1980 they were Yoshimura prepped GS1000 framed superbikes. These did start off as GS750S before the GS1000 was introduced.