The classic racing scene is gettingbigger by the season, so much so that even Guy Martin’s been able to tear himself off your TV screens to compete on Te am Yo rk Suzuki’s endurance ra cer.

WORDS: BOOTHY

RACE FEATURE

The GSX-R1100 takes some muscling round.

IMAGES:PETERWILEMAN

TEAM YORK SUZUKI

You might nothave heardofthe new European Endurance Legends Cup (EELC), but youprobably have heardofGuy Martin and the ardent bike racing fans among youmay alsohaveheard of Pete Boast. We ll, experiencedracersand good matesGuy andPete have started there assault on the newclassic endurance championship in style,storming to an impressivesecond place finish atthe recent Donington Park round.

With agrowing number of topracers dipping theirtoes in thewatersofclassic bikeracing, we crashedTeam Yo rk Suzuki’s partytosee what the fuss is allabout. In the70s and 80s, with events like the Suzuka8-Hour, theBol d’Or,and Le Mans 24H, motorcycle enduranceracingwas a big dealand attracted loads of topridersand factory teams. The EELC aims to recreatethe glory days of endurance racing by bringing together race bikes ‘built’ uptoand including December 1986,soexpect to seemachines likeKawasaki GPZ1100s,HondaVFR750Fs, and Ya mahaFJ1100s.

Theproblem is that most race bikes built 30 or more yearsago areeither in motorbike heavenorinfar from original condition, with manyofthe bikeshaving beenbuiltalot morerecently,ascopies of theoriginal models. Team Yo rk Suzuki’sGSX-R1100XR69 is no exception to therule. Okay, thecrank cases mightbefromthe original 1986 ‘Slabside’ but the rest of thebike, including the frame,has beenmanufactured retrospectively using modernmaterialsand manufacturing techniques. It’s been kitted out with bespokereplicasofperiodXR69 factory forks complete with Maxton cartridges,fully adjustable for preload, compressionand rebounddamping, which have been modified to allowall the adjustabilitytobemadefromthe top,and a fullyadjustable Maxton shock absorber. The fibreglassfairings whichhavebeensupplied by Te am Classic Suzuki arebased on the RG500 bodywork, just with the holes bunged up in the seat unit where the RG’s twin cans would have poked out. It’s even running Dymag wheels and a full titanium Pipe Werx exhaust for some weight saving and a bit of added bling factor.