The motor sport world recently lost a gem when John Surtees, one of the most talented racers on two and four wheels, left for his heavenly abode on 10 March 2017, exactly 14 years after the demise of another legendary racer, Barry Sheene.

John Surtees’ contribution to the world of motorcycle racing goes beyond just winning championships. His exceptional talent was complemented by his bravery and will to achieve what others could only dream of. John Surtees was the only racer in the world who managed to win a Formula One championship (1964) and also numerous motorcycle Grand Prix championships in his racing career.

Born on 11 February 1934 in Surrey, England, John Surtees started racing at a very young age. In fact, he first participated in a sidecar race with his father and won. Unfortunately, they were disqualified when the race officials discovered that John Surtees was underage for the class. However, that did not dampen the teenager’s dream to go racing. His racing career, which started in the early 1950’s, lasted for more than two decades.

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Vespa has long been credited with creating the scooter, but a little-known American manufacturer from Nebraska may have beaten the iconic Italian brand to the punch.

The first mass-produced scooter, the Vespa, what means ‘Wasp’ in Italian, was created in 1946 by Piaggio, an Italian aircraft manufacturer. After the end of World War II, Piaggio had a surplus of landing wheels and wing panels, and gave its engineers a quirky but simple brief: ‘Develop a motorcycle which could be ridden by a woman or a priest.’ And so the step-thru scooter was born. Or was it?

Founded in 1901, Cushman Motor Works made engines for industrial and farm use. One of its first engines was a two-stroke for small boats. In about 1936 Cushman decided it could sell more engines if ti made a cheap, easy-to-use motorcycle, and the result was a scooter.

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In the past 40 years, a friend of my has always owned at least one Honda GoldWing. He started out with a Honda GL1000 in 1977 and, as you might imagine, he’s owned quite a few since then alongside many other types of motorcycle. But there’s something about the original Honda GoldWing which keeps him coming back for more – and that says something significant about Honda’s achievement.

Aimed squarely at America, the Honda GL1000 was so successful that Honda sold more than 25,000 original GoldWings each year in the USA and ended up building the things in America. The Honda GoldWing is a lot like the Range Rover: it’s almost a marque in its own right.

After stealing the scene with the Honda CB750 in the late 1960s, Honda then had to share the spotlight with the superbikes of the early Seventies. The CB struggled to keep up with Kawasaki’s Z1 and couldn’t match the long-distance capability of BMW’s touring twins. So in 1975 Honda introduced a revolutionary motorcycle: pressurized water-cooling, a decade ahead of its time, equipped with an unobtrusive shaft drive that followed – a giant leap forward. And, by the standards of the era, simply gigantic.

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I know what you’re thinking: how can you claim the turbo models from the four Japanese manufacturers were ‘overrated’ when nobody actually bought one?

The answer lies partly in the technology, partly in the marketing and partly in the timidity of the manufacturers.

Expectations were high when rumors swirled in the early ‘80s that motorcycles with turbochargers would soon be available. Evidence from the car world suggested these would be giant-killers, with acceleration to make you scared.

At the time, engine development was well ahead of chassis technology and hwat the really powerful motorcycles needed most wasn’t more horsepower but a way of getting the power to the ground. Had turbocharging been patient enough for perimeter-alloy chassis technology to emerge, history may have written differently.

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Leopoldo Tartarini, 83, designer of the most iconic Ducati's ever made, including the 1971 750 Sport, the green-frame 750SS street version of Paul Smart's 1972 Imolo 200-winning factory racer, the 350cc and 500cc parallel twins (which were built in his Italjet factory) and the 900cc Darmah V-twins, passed away 11 September, 2015, at his home outside Bologna, Italy.

Tartarini's motorcycle career began at the age of 20 in 1952, when he won the sidecar class in the grueling 18-hour, single-stage Milano-Taranto open-roads marathon riding a BSA 650 Golden Flash outfit he designed and built himself. After a test a Monza, Count Domenico Agusta offered him a place in his MV Agusta factory race team for the 1954 GP season – an honor Tartarini was obliged to refuse after his mother asked him to stay home and manage the family motorcycle dealership in Bologna.

In 1955, Tartarini signed to race with Bologna-based Ducati as a works rider and development engineer working alongside another new arrival, the legendary chief designer, Ing. Fabio Taglioni. A severe injury in 1956 brought Tartarini's racing career to a premature halt, so in 1957 he embarked upon a 13-month long, 59,545 kilometer round-the-world trip publicity stunt with Ducati export sales manager, Giorgio Monetti, riding two 175cc Ducati singles.

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