Finest 10 bike racers of all time?

[Rob 131 Sport]

Tango13 said:

In no particular order...

Fogarty, got off his arse, got out there and made his career happen. Won a world endurance championship to pay the bills for his private WSBK effort.

Surtees for winning on two wheels and four and not taking any st off old man Ferrari.

Hailwood, could win on pretty much anything and managed to finish 1st & 2nd in a sports car race.

Roberts, won three on the trot and made everybody raise their game with his unrelenting professionalism.

Lawson, also for his unrelenting professionalism, being the first ever rider to win back to back titles for different factories and being one of only three riders to win a 500GP race for three different manufacturers, see Hailwood above.

Joey Dunlop, won on the Island on everything from a 125GP to a TZ750 to a WSBK V-twin to a F1 RVF. The top brass at Honda thought he was some sort of god, Dunlop thought he should spend the off season delivering food and blankets to East European orphanages.

Doohan, made Lawson and Roberts look like a pair of slackers with his Terminator like focus

Hislop, for being faster round Donington on a 998 than Rossi on a full factory Honda RC211V and being far better than he was ever given credit for.

Hickman for being so bloody fast on the Island.

Michael Dunlop, first man to lap the Island under 17m, 19 TT wins but most of all for winning the 250 race at the 2008 NW200

Great Piece.

[TCX]

Have I missed something....top ten n no Kenny Roberts?

[LukeBrown66]

Hr was in mine, the man who singles headedly moved GP to a new level.

I would also add Spencer but his latter career ruined it all

I did not include Marquez for all the downsides and controversy.

[Tango13]

LukeBrown66 said:

Hr was in mine, the man who singles headedly moved GP to a new level.

I would also add Spencer but his latter career ruined it all

I did not include Marquez for all the downsides and controversy.

I included Roberts for exactly the same reason.

[hepy]

Tango13 said:

In no particular order...

Fogarty, got off his arse, got out there and made his career happen. Won a world endurance championship to pay the bills for his private WSBK effort.

Surtees for winning on two wheels and four and not taking any st off old man Ferrari.

Hailwood, could win on pretty much anything and managed to finish 1st & 2nd in a sports car race.

Roberts, won three on the trot and made everybody raise their game with his unrelenting professionalism.

Lawson, also for his unrelenting professionalism, being the first ever rider to win back to back titles for different factories and being one of only three riders to win a 500GP race for three different manufacturers, see Hailwood above.

Joey Dunlop, won on the Island on everything from a 125GP to a TZ750 to a WSBK V-twin to a F1 RVF. The top brass at Honda thought he was some sort of god, Dunlop thought he should spend the off season delivering food and blankets to East European orphanages.

Doohan, made Lawson and Roberts look like a pair of slackers with his Terminator like focus

Hislop, for being faster round Donington on a 998 than Rossi on a full factory Honda RC211V and being far better than he was ever given credit for.

Hickman for being so bloody fast on the Island.

Michael Dunlop, first man to lap the Island under 17m, 19 TT wins but most of all for winning the 250 race at the 2008 NW200

Bonus points to Hailwood for resucing someone from a burning car, and getting the George medal! Road and track on bikes, plus multi-discipline in cars.

Doing a top ten is hard, 3 or 4 pick themselves, but the rest is tough. Even a top ten British riders would be difficult.

Great theread!

[Maximus_Meridius101]

hepy said:

Bonus points to Hailwood for resucing someone from a burning car, and getting the George medal! Road and track on bikes, plus multi-discipline in cars.

Doing a top ten is hard, 3 or 4 pick themselves, but the rest is tough. Even a top ten British riders would be difficult.

Great theread!

Agreed, it’s hard to limit it to ten. I really needed to put John McBeer in there, but at the expense of who?

[Maximus_Meridius101]

tight fart said:

Don't see how Foggy would get anywhere near the top 10, not sure he'd make the top 50!
You wouldn't put him above Freddie Spencer and he's barely mentioned.

Edited by tight fart on Saturday 19th June 16:01

Foggy vs. Hislop, that is really all that needs to be said to justify both of their appearance on my list. It isn’t known as ‘the greatest race ever’ for nothing.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ihbMOFh2f8

In case you missed it.

Edited by Maximus_Meridius101 on Sunday 20th June 13:55

[tight fart]

No ones mentioned Edgar Jessop!!

[Tom Logan]

Two riders whose careers were tragically cut short deserve a mention...

Jarno Saarinen

Norman Brown

[Rob 131 Sport]

Tom Logan said:

Two riders whose careers were tragically cut short deserve a mention...

Jarno Saarinen

Norman Brown

You could also add Kenny Irons to that list.

[Tom Logan]

Rob 131 Sport said:

Tom Logan said:

Two riders whose careers were tragically cut short deserve a mention...

Jarno Saarinen

Norman Brown

You could also add Kenny Irons to that list.

Agreed.

[dickymint]

No mention of Mick Grant

Edit: or Ron (Rocket) Haslam

Edited by dickymint on Tuesday 13th July 13:30

[Rob 131 Sport]

dickymint said:

No mention of Mick Grant

Edit: or Ron (Rocket) Haslam

Edited by dickymint on Tuesday 13th July 13:30

Both great riders, but you would have to put Niall Mackenzie in front of both of them.

[tvrolet]

Did nobody race motorcycles before the 60s? I kind of wonder if in a number of years time will todays 'greats' be forgotten/unknown like most of the early riders now have been, or will the fact they've been on TV, video etc keep them fresh?

As an example I propose Jimmie Guthrie and Cannoball Baker

[blade7]

Rob 131 Sport said:

Both great riders, but you would have to put Niall Mackenzie in front of both of them.

And I'd put Shakey in front of him.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

tvrolet said:

Did nobody race motorcycles before the 60s? I kind of wonder if in a number of years time will todays 'greats' be forgotten/unknown like most of the early riders now have been, or will the fact they've been on TV, video etc keep them fresh?

As an example I propose Jimmie Guthrie and Cannoball Baker

I think the lack of speed from the older ( pre 60s ) will count against them. That’s one key difference between cars and bikes. The speeds are far more important with bikes ( for obvious reasons ). It’s harder to tell how good a lot of the earlier riders really were, because they weren’t at eye watering speeds, so it’s harder to judge the test they were put to. Admittedly the mechanical situation was important for the older stuff, and they needed much more mechanical sympathy to get the bikes round, but over 130mph average, is about all you need to know for the current guys.

[srob]

Maximus_Meridius101 said:

I think the lack of speed from the older ( pre 60s ) will count against them. That’s one key difference between cars and bikes. The speeds are far more important with bikes ( for obvious reasons ). It’s harder to tell how good a lot of the earlier riders really were, because they weren’t at eye watering speeds, so it’s harder to judge the test they were put to. Admittedly tye mechanical situation was important for the older stuff, and they needed much more mechanical sympathy to get the bikes round, but over 130mph average, is about all you need to know for the current guys.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

srob said:

Something funny poppet?

[srob]

Maximus_Meridius101 said:

srob said:

Something funny poppet?

You think they were mechanically sympathetic?! You think they’d ‘nurse’ their bikes home? Guess you’ve never read anything about Mike Hailwood and his complete lack of mechanical knowledge? He was renowned for it. Those riders in the fifties and earlier rode just as hard as anyone does now, which is why most modern racers you’d speak to have massive respect for them.

And you do know they were averaging 100mph in the late fifties around the TT course on 500cc bikes? Their straight line speed obviously wasn’t as high, their acceleration way worse and their corner speeds wouldn’t be as high due to tyre and suspension quality (not to mention road conditions) but if you think that’s not on the edge of skill, bravery, determination and ability you deserve another which is what you’d get from anyone who knows anything about bike racing outside of what they’ve seen on tv.

[smifffymoto]

Go and watch some old 750 races and you will see some damn good riders,even just British races.
No traction control,no electronic suspension,no electronics full stop.
No one doubts the skill of todays riders but without electronics I do wonder if they would be as good.