Racing Line – British Motorcycle Racing in the Golden Age of the Big Single

Racing Line – British motorcycle racing in the golden age of the big single is ranked one of the 75 Best Motorcycle Racing Books of All Time and one of the 94 Best Motorcycle Books of All Time by BookAuthority.

Racing Line is the story of big-bike racing in Britain during the 1960s – when the British racing single reached its peak; when exciting racing unfolded at circuits across the land every summer; and when Britain took its last great generation of riding talent and engineering skill to the world.

The decade between 1960 and 1970 saw British racing singles reach the peak of their development, a time in which exciting racing unfolded at circuits across the land every weekend, and the decade of Bob McIntyre, Derek Minter, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Bill Ivy and Peter Williams.

Racing Line documents the period from the introduction of the G50 Matchless, up to the advent of the Yamaha TR2, and the birth of the two-stroke era – a period of immense change. Britain during the 1960s wasn’t only a nation of pop music and fashion; it was a decade crammed with the most competitive racing in the history of motorcycle sport. Racing Line tells this story – the riders, the machines, the drama and the excitement.

• British racing of the ’60s in facts and figures
• Tuners’ tales: making fast bikes faster
• On track: the evolution of Britain’s race circuits
• Charting the great rivalries: Minter v McIntyre, Hailwood v Read
• Reliving the toughest races of the decade
• The irresistible rise of Production racing
• Aermacchi: how a lightweight Italian single challenged Britain’s heavy brigade
• Private ventures: the sagas of the Weslake and Lynton engines
• Game changer: the advent of Yamaha’s TR2 super two-stroke

About the Author

Bob Guntrip discovered that motorcycles could send shivers down his back while he was still in short pants, and has never really recovered. After more than 30 years editing and contributing to sports magazines on three continents, he knows his love for motorcycle racing is total and irreversible.

He has on occasion sought cures in science journalism, lesser forms of sport and even interior design; each has lasted no longer than the first bark of an Italian V-twin or howl of a Japanese four to pass his office window. In 2015 Bob tried writing bikes out of his system with his book ‘Racing Line’: his follow up book ‘Slow Burn’ was the inevitable result.