| Anglo-American Match Races | |
| Category: | Motorcycle road races |
| Country: | UK |
| Inaugural: | 1971 |
| Classes: | AMA/F750 |
| Manufacturers: | BSA/Triumph |
The 1971 Anglo-American Match Races was the inaugural running of the Anglo-American Match Races (renamed Transatlantic Trophy in 1972), an annual series of motorcycle races between the United Kingdom and America which were held from 1971 to 1988 and again in 1991. The match was held 9-12 April 1971 (Easter weekend) with rounds at Brands Hatch, Mallory Park and Oulton Park.[1] The event was heavily sponsored by BSA/Triumph. They also supplied the 750 cc racing triples that the riders competed on. The motorcycles were to AMA/F750 specification. Most of the competitors were work BSA/Triumph works riders.
The UK won all the races and the series 183-137. Ray Pickrell and Paul Smart won three races each and were the top scorers.[2]
British journalists, Gavin Trippe and Bruce Cox, ran California based Motor Cycle Weekly and promoted motorcycle races in the US. The pair were keen to promote American racers in the UK. They met with Chris Lowe of Motor Circuit Developments (MCD), who ran Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Mallory Park circuits, and Jim Swift of the British Motorcycle Racing Club at the 1970 Daytona 200 and the plan for the Transatlantic Trophy was formulated. Ron Grant, the leader of the US Suzuki team supported the scheme. Lowe approached BSA/Triumph who agreed to supply 750 cc racing triples for the riders[3] and to financially support the series out of their $2 million racing budget for 1970/71.
The event consisted of three rounds over the Easter weekend at different tracks: Brands Hatch (9 April - Good Friday), Mallory Park (11 April - Easter Sunday) and Oulton Park (12 April - Easter Monday) Each round consisted of two 12 lap races.
Each team consisted of 5 riders. The Americans had a squad of six riders team so not all riders could compete in every race. However, American captain Gary Nixon fell in practice two days before the first race and broke his wrist so was unable to ride in any of the races.[4]
Points were awarded for each race, the winner receiving 10 points, 2nd place points etc down to 1 point for 10th place. Prize money was also awarded for each race with the winner receiving £150 down to £15 for 10th place. A bonus of £50 was given to the rider who had set the fastest lap over the series. The total prize fund was £5,000.
| UK | USA | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rider | Machine | Rider | Machine |
| Percy Tait (captain) | Triumph | Gary Nixon (captain) | Triumph |
| BSA | BSA | ||
| Triumph | BSA | ||
| BSA | BSA | ||
| Triumph | Triumph | ||
| BSA | |||
| References[5] | |||
Gene Romero, the current A.M.A. Grand National Champion[6] and runner-up at the 1971 Daytona 200 was to have led the US team but withdrew.
The home team had the advantage of knowing the tracks that were to be used and also in the nature of the circuits. The American riders were more used to dirt tracks, ovals and road races.
In September 1969 Triumph’s chief development engineer, Doug Hele, suggested the factory should switch its emphasis from production racing to the new F750 open class that was being suggested. Acting on his suggestion, BSA-Triumph announced it would develop its 750cc Rocket III and Trident triples for this series. The factory worked against the clock to get machines ready for the 1970 Daytona race. The factory failed to get results in Daytona due to unreliability.
The factory had entered 10 riders for the 1971 Daytona race. A new specification machine had been developed. At Percy Tait's suggestion Rob North had built a new frame for the triples changing the steering head angle by 2 degrees to 28 degrees. Shorter forks were fitted, the engine moved forwards and upwards by 40 mm to put more load on the front wheel and increase ground clearance. This shortened the wheel base and a longer swing arm fitted to compensate. This was known as the lowboy frame. The engines were also modified to produce slightly more power. Disc brakes were fitted to the front wheel. Only four of the new machines were available which were allocated to Gene Romero, Paul Smart, Dick Mann and Mike Hailwood. Mann won the race with BSA/Triumph taking the top three places.[11]
The machines were airfreighted in from Daytona and Smart and Hailwood's bikes converted to short-circuit specification.[12]
Smart used his Daytona bike for the matches, Ray Pickrell used Hailwood's Daytona machine and the other three members of the British team had new "lowboy" machines. Mann used his lowboy Daytona machine and Gary Nixon Romero's machine. The rest of the American team used the older spec machines, although, with the exception of Jim Rice's machine, they had been fitted with disc brakes. All the American machines were fitted with the larger Daytona tank and seat.
The disparity between the two teams' bikes led to claims that the Americans were disadvantaged. Don Emde is quoted as saying “We got beaten so badly that it was close to an ambush situation, but we gave it a good shot, and if we had all been on the same bikes as Pickrell, Smart and Cooper, it would have been closer."
Britain lead the Americans 61-49 after the first round.
Britain beat the Americans 53-48 in the second round.
Britain beat the Americans 69-40 in the third round.
Britain won all three rounds and the series 183 points to 137 points. Ray Pickrell and Paul Smart won three races each and were joint top individual scorers with American Dick Mann third.
| Rider | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Pickrell | 48 |
| 1 | Paul Smart | 48 |
| 3 | Dick Mann | 46 |
| References | ||
| Brands Hatch | Mallory Park | Oulton Park | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 1 | Race 2 | ||||||
| 1 | Ray Pickrell | 1 | Ray Pickrell | 1 | Ray Pickrell | 1 | Paul Smart | 1 | Paul Smart | 1 | Paul Smart |
| 2 | Paul Smart | 2 | Paul Smart | 2 | John Cooper | 2 | Ray Pickrell | 2 | Ray Pickrell | 2 | Dick Mann |
| 3 | Dick Mann | 3 | Don Castro | 3 | Dick Mann | 3 | John Cooper | 3 | John Cooper | 3 | John Cooper |
| Fastest lap: Ray Pickrell 56.2s/79.43mph | Fastest lap: Dick Mann 58.3s/76.70mph | Fastest lap: R Pickrell & P Smart 53.6s/90.67mph | Fastest lap: John Cooper 52.0s/93.46mph | Fastest lap: Paul Smart 1m 42.3s/92.76mph | Fastest lap: Paul Smart 1m 48.2s/91.80mph | ||||||
| References | |||||||||||