In the early 1970s, a new category of road racing was gathering momentum: Formula 750 was conceived as a production-based class to promote the new range of ‘superbikes’ which major manufacturers were then embracing.
This brought an exciting new dimension to road racing – and the British were quick off the mark with their new racing BSA/ Triumph triples. Then, in 1971 Motor Circuit Developments launched the hugely successful Transatlantic Match Races which pitted British factory riders against their American counterparts over the Easter weekend in three rounds at Brands Hatch, Mallory Park and Oulton Park.
The howl of the triples had barely faded when MCD boss Chris Lowe announced a Motorcycle News-backed British Superbike Championship, which would include the triples but open up the series to other new ‘superbikes’ from other manufacturers.
Meanwhile, over in America, the Grand National Championship (which encompassed dirt track racing as well as road racing) was always for production-based bikes so as the ‘superbike’ era began their ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ ethos meant they had already embraced the new 750s.
Their national road races boasted bikes from the BSA/Triumph group with triples based on the Rocket III and Trident respectively; Norton with the Commando; Harley-Davidson who enjoyed some success with the alloy XR750 (loosely based on the Sportster architecture); Honda with their four-cylinder CB750; and even BMW with its boxer twin.
But the two-stroke threat was gathering pace with Kawasaki’s 500 triple, Suzuki’s 500cc twin and Yamaha also in the competition. Even with their 350cc twin, Yamaha were able to win races, as Don Emde proved when he won the 1972 Daytona 200.
The sheer variety of engine configurations and different chassis permutations, not to mention intense factory interest, meant the class had the ability to threaten the ailing 500cc Grand Prix World Championship, which at the time was dominated by the MV Agusta multi-cylinder four-strokes. It was only in 1973 that the class had some fresh impetus injected when Yamaha unveiled its 500-4 two-stroke racer…
Back with Formula 750, Kawasaki had debuted its air-cooled H2R 750 triple, based on the H2 road bike in 1972.
