Slow Burn – The growth of superbikes and Superbike racing 1970 to 1988


Slow Burn tells how the big names of the motorcycle industry used Superbike racing to test their street bike designs, with the beginnings in the 1970s with the F750 class, and its development into what became the Superbike class that vied with Grand Prix to be the most spectacular motorcycle race series on the planet.

While a book such as this could easily be little more than a list of race results, Slow Burn has some fascinating behind-the-scenes information and detail, featuring some of the greatest riders of their time – Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz and Eddie Lawson all started out on big, unruly superbikes, and learned how to powerslide their way around some of the world’s toughest tracks.

While the cut-off year of 1988 pre-empts the British domination of the World Superbike championship with Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea, there’s still plenty of Brit content, from Doug Hele’s triple-cylinder development, and Pete Williams, John Cooper and Percy Tait playing their part before Phil Read and then Ron Haslam enter the stage on Formula One steeds.

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Priced at £25 for the 256 pages (with 102 colour pictures), and written by the wonderfully named Bob Guntrip, it is available from Veloce Publishing at www.veloce.co.uk

Read more News and Features at www.oldbikemart.co.uk and in the May 2020 issue of Old Bike Mart – on sale now!


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