Racing GL1000

[starket]

Nice piece of history. Anybody else notice this in the listing
"Last MOT’d in 1999 at 41,382 miles recorded and less than 100 miles use since. Cam belt changed at 40,000 miles."
The Belts are atleast 10 years old. I hope whoever buys it changes the belts

[octane]

Hi folks ! I'm back, and I'm here to make you digest
nerdy GL'-stuff:

.-)


The brainchild of Honda UK Ltd. executive Ken Hull.
The frame is a duplex cradle frame
made by frame builders Dresda Autos of London
who also made the four-into-one exhaust.
Note the 'tilted' position of the engine.
Most of the rest of the stuff was taken from a crashed K1 GL1000.
Standard swinging arm retained, 18inch wheels fitted,
standard Wing front-fork.
The pic is from the 1976 Formula One TT
at the gruelling Isle of Man TT circuit,
were, in the hands of Hugh Evans,
"..it astounded the critics by turning in 90mph laps
with a top speed around 155mph (!).."
Later it retreated with a broken oil pressure relief valve.




Standard Wing front-fork and brakes (!)
(with 'racing fluids'...probably silicone based)
Another source says the were Lockheed.
The picture shows something not quite standard,
and the rotors are clearly drilled.
Maybe the brake set-up was changed at some point?

S&W gas-filled shocks at the rear.
Later on replaced with S&W air shocks


No fancy supercharger stuff.
Standard four carb set-up.
Engine mods were "relatively conservative":

..con-rods shot-peened
..cylinderheads skimmed and gas-flowed
..racing cams from Russ Collins
..larger Honda RC competition valves
..standard pistons

It was fast...very fast, and could keep up with the RCB racing Honda.



It's bit sketchy, as to what other races it did.
There is mention of racing the Thruxton 500mile
endurance race, retiring with a broken crankshaft
and of later leading a life as a sidecar racer(!)
where it, on its first outing,
finished third in a race at Brands Hatch.

Later it was converted to street legal specs
at London Honda dealer Mocheck, and sold as a
"devastatingly quick" Cafe Racer.

[Rat]

Welcome back Octane.

We've been missing you around here.

Gord

[Cookie]

Glad to see you are back! What are you working on now?

[FirstYearDeek]

Oh please tell us tales of salt-flat orgasms and screaming Indians!

-Deek

[Boufie]

Welcome back Octane! Good to see ya'...

[Roady]

Nice to have you around again, Lars.

I hope your time away was very productive. Though I'm sure that it was!

[octane]

Thanks ya'all !

Glad to see you are back! What are you working on now?

Cookie, my man, if I told you, I would have to shoot you
.-)
but here's a hint:

Oh please tell us tales of salt-flat orgasms and screaming Indians!

-Deek

Deek, I'm afraid you will have to wait till after September.

[FirstYearDeek]

Oh this is going to be good.

-Deek

[octane]

...I so hope you're right !

.

[skydog]

Hi Lars! great to see ya back!

[octane]

Thanks Skydog !


BTW, here's another racer:




It's a K1 based racer backed by the Swiss Honda importer
and entered in a number of European long distance events in 1976
(hence the large fuel tank)
The 'frame' is a specially constructed steel thing
with rising rate monoshock (!) rear suspension
by Pierre Doncque.
No mention of engine mods, but clearly the carb set-up
is standard (extenally, at least).

[ElPiloto]

Good to see you back. --EP

[sunnbobb]

They had not discovered fork braces yet, in that picture... i bet they would have loved that mod.

[Phil Clark]

I own the "Biggin Hill Mcs" Dresda Gold Wing discussed above. I have spoken to Hugh Evans several times about the "wing thing" as it was called here in England. The engine was originally supplied by Honda in Japan to Ken Hull who ran the Honda (UK) race shop. It was specially prepared for the 1976 IOM TT but there was no class that it was eligible for so it had to wait till 1977. It was not an "official" Honda Entry, that was Phil Read who went on to win the race. Honda wanted to evaluate the bike, possibly with a view of using it as an endurance racer. Honda paid the bill and, it appears, every part was pretty special. The GL100 forks have much re-worked internal cartridges, the rear gas shocks were made by Girling (now Marzocchi), the discs are skimmed to just 6mm, the front callipers and master cylinder are Lockheed Racing, tacho is Krober, etc. It's fastest lap was 102mph. I shall put it back on the track where it belongs. I haven't taken it apart but it all looks original - there are no engine numbers so I guess it is still fitted with the original engine. Classic Endurance racing anyone?