Why do I keep banging on about the Six Hour? Why is the Six Hour group on Facebook one of the most active? Simple, the Castrol Six Hour race for production motorcycles (1970-1987) remains one of the most iconic racing series in Australia’s racing history. It drew together the best riders from Australia and New Zealand as well as many of the best overseas riders, all vying to capture the crown of the best production race in the world.
So I thought today I’d share some statistics from just one of those races and see if they can shed some light on how the race assumed the mythical reputation that it still has today. Now statistics can be dreadfully boring things but I think you will find that these are quite fascinating.
To begin with the 1973 race (the 4th one since the race’s inception) was held on Sydney’s Amaroo Park raceway, a track on which all but the last 4 six hour races were held. It was small, only 1.9km around per lap and it was tight, having very little run-off and a couple of ferocious corners. Most notably, Stop Corner, where most of the outbraking took place, was a 90 degree right-hander which had a pronounced camber towards the concrete wall on its outside. The trick was to get the braking done early, gently guide the bike OVER the camber and THEN apply the power again. Doing it any other way usually resulted in a crash. AND, given that one was on entirely the WRONG line if one was passing down the inside of the corner, getting it right was tricky.
The other very tricky part (the whole TRACK was tricky) was the Dunlop Loop around the back part of the track. Riders arrived at it at top speed and blind, having crested the Bitupave Hill before cranking right. In the early days, the run-off area was minimal and the track was (again) cambered towards the outside of the corner and the track also dropped from the top of the hill down towards the “normal” level of the main part of the circuit. With the limited ground clearance that the early bikes had, “touching down” usually led to a slide off into the gravel and the unyielding earth bank around the outside of the corner.
Here’s a map of the circuit so that it makes more sense.
When told about the Six Hour race, touring car star, Dick Johnson, remarked that holding a six hour bike race around Amaroo was pretty much like running a marathon around your clothes line.
So, those stats. In 1973 there were 164 rider entrants for the race. Of these several were to drop out before the race began for one reason or another. Apart from the two significant Unlimited Class entrants of Kenny Blake (Z1 Kawasaki) and Tony Hatton (R75/5 BMW) all the entrants in the class had two riders per bike. In the 500cc Class, Joe Eastmure (T350 Suzuki) also opted to do the race solo.
The Unlimited Class had 64 entrants, the 500cc Class had 44 entrants and the 250cc Class had 54 entrants. Given that concepts such as track loading were probably not invented at that stage, the idea of having well over 60 riders starting the race on this tiny track is horrifying in itself. That said, 40 of the 68 starters made it home.
Oh, and the 500s and 250s, yes. It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure up the speed differential between the Unlimited bikes and the little 250s. Kenny won after having completed 342 laps, riding solo, negotiating 67 other bikes and completing 663kms in the process. The 500 Class was won by Smoking Joe on the Suzuki, completing 334 laps. That means he got lapped 8 times.
The 250 Class was won by the Sayle brothers (Murray and Jeffrey) completing 326 laps in the six hours. That means they got lapped 16 times in the six hours.
The Z1 Kawasaki had narrowly missed being eligible for the 1972 race but was there in force in 1973 and Blake’s win on one was the first of four straight wins by the big Kwaka, a feat no other manufacturer was able to duplicate in the race’s long history. Hatton’s 2nd place, riding solo on the unfavoured R75/5 BMW was a testament to his brilliance and to the economy of the BMW and the superiority of its tank size compared to the Japanese “fours”
For those of us who SAW a Six Hour race, these figures take on a whole new meaning, but even for those who haven’t seen a Six Hour they show just how great the race concept itself was, a race for stock, standard production bikes, ridden on a totally unsuitable track by the very best riders of the day. Is it any wonder that we look back in amazement at them?
