If you are one of those motorcycle enthusiasts that longs for the days back when men were men, and bikes were carbureted, then vintage endurance racing at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps should be right up your alley.
Throw in a superb-looking Katana race bike, with Guy Martin at the helm, and well…you’ve got some YouTube gold right there, that’s what you’ve got.
Such is the case with Suzuki and its Team Classic Suzuki Racing squad, which came out to Belgium for the second round of the European Classic Endurance Championship, at the Spa Four-Hour endurance race.
There are so many iconic names at play here, it’s amazing that the event didn’t get more coverage. Thankfully, Suzuki made a video to help share the experience, which we think you will find highly enjoyable.
With road racer Guy Martin (his first time at Spa) and flat track champion Pete Boast (his first time on the Katana) at the helm, Suzuki did well to finish seventh against the endurance racing specialists – especially when you consider that the race ended 20 minutes early, with a red-flag situation from an oil spill.
“The red flag was the only decision. Lots of oil down, a lot of oil down. I nearly came off on it, and on a wet track, how were they going to clean that?” said Guy Martin. “Really good fun though. It’s been one big learning process, from everyone’s side; for me, for the team, for Pete.”
“We had to learn how the stops were going to work, how the bike works in the wet, and when the dark came we struggled a bit with the lights, so there are lessons learnt there. The hardest part was probably knowing how hard to push, and where the limit is.”
“You don’t get any warnings in those sorts of conditions and it’s a long way back to the pits from some parts of this track if you go down. But I’m happy. You always think you could have done better and I made a few daft mistakes, but no one crashed, we finished, and the team did a mega job. It’s been really good craic.”
Source: Suzuki Racing
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