Mick Walker's British Racing Motorcycles - Softcover

Mick Walker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0953131106 ISBN 13: 9780953131105

Publisher: Brooklands Books Ltd., 1998

Synopsis

Author: Mick Walker. With foreign-built motorcycles generally dominating road and track today, it is perhaps difficult to appreciate that the situation was not always so. There was a time when virtually every manufacturer in Great Britain listed a racing machine in his catalogue and British machines dominated the scene. Between the world wars, Norton, Rudge, Sunbeam, AJS and Velocette shared the spoils of victory despite the efforts of Italy, Germany, Sweden, France and Belgium. It was not until the mid 1930s that success began to come the way of the continentals, at first in the lightweight class, when Guzzi and Benelli from Italy appeared in the list of winners, along with Germany’s DKW. For many years after her decline as a force in world motorcycle manufacturing, Britain (and the Commonwealth) continued to provide great riders; Surtees, Hocking, Hailwood, Read and Sheene, to name but a few. Contents: AJS 7R, BSA Gold Star, Manx Norton, Matchless G50 & G45, JPS Norton, AJS Porcupine & 3-valve, Rocket 3 & Trident, Specials, Triumph GP, Two Strokes, Velocette, Vincent HRD & Thruxton. With over 800 pictures.

About this title

Review

Avid readers, like myself, will recognise the title and realise that British Racing Motorcycles as a reprint of Classic British Racing Motorcycles. Don't be put off, the resemblance between the original and this latest version is limited! Over 80% of the new edition is totally new, including additional text and new photographs. However, for me what made the book stand apart from what went before is the thought that has gone into the layout and design... Many established book publishers could learn something from the layout and design, which coupled with Mick Walker's informed writing make the 208 page British Racing Motorcycles good value. -- Old Bike Mart, April 1998

It's packed with pictures, all incorporated into a well-designed 200-odd pages (sorry to go on about it but it really is different). Great looks, great read. What more can I say - except to mention that I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the range when it is published. -- Classic Racer, May/June 1998

There is a lot more here than just a long list of the racing machines themselves. What I found more fascinating was the glimpse into a vanished world of competition, a world where motorcycle team owners and sponsors not only prepared the bikes for their riders, but often modified them and developed them in ways which are just not seen today... Redline Publishing are to be congratulated for bringing this, the first in a new series, to market. The book is very well laid out, is printed on good heavy paper and comes with a staggering arry of illustrations. -- Classic Bike Guide, April 1998

There's a good mix of technical information, competition history, and manufacturing background. However much or little you already know about British road race bikes, there will be plenty of interest. -- Classic Bike, May 1998

From the Publisher

High quality, informative and very readable, over 400 photos
Due to the demand from motorcycle enthusiasts, Mick Walker has teamed up with Redline Books to reprint his series of six Racing Motorcycle books. First to be published is Mick Walker’s British Racing Motorcycles, but it is nothing like the original book published in 1990. This new edition is a high quality, 208 page book, which has been extensively updated and completely redesigned in a style which breaks the mould of motorcycle marque history book design. The text is typical of Mick Walker’s detailed, yet entertaining style, and with over 400 photographs in colour and black and white, many of them previously unpublished, the book offers a wealth of information. It is both a work of reference and an enjoyable read. Models covered include the AJS Porcupine and R7, The BSA Gold Star, Manx Norton, Norton Commando and Rotary, Matchless G45 and G50, the Rocket 3 and Trident and many more, including a section on ‘specials’ and the garden shed engineers who developed their own exotic machinery for competition. Mick Walker’s Italian Racing Motorcycles, the second book in the series, was published in November 1998. It follows a similar style, with twice as much text as in the original edition and over 800 pictures. Other titles will cover German, European, Japanese and American.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brooklands Books Ltd.
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0953131106
• ISBN 13: 9780953131105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208