I had an email months ago from an Italian chap regrettably whose name escapes me ...he was writing a book on the BMW R90S and was interested in photos of Helmut Dahne, I had some in an earlier post on my 1974 and 1975 IOM TT negatives. I knew I had taken extensive photographs of the 1976 Castrol 6 Hour race here in NSW at Amaroo Park Raceway on the outskirts of Sydney, but where they were stored in the mess I call my office eluded me.
Well I found them yesterday and again like a treasure trove they have never been printed, only a contact print sheet made by me....
My photographic enlarger is now gone, so I succumbed to hours of time consuming scanning of some and they are worth a look....
I utilised Jim Scaysbrook's complete history of the race from 1970-1987 and a page of two follows....
I'll just tantalise you with the first page of the 1976 report of the 11 on that years race, prolifically illustrated with photographs, several of which are mine from some of those negatives....
I mentioned the top German rider Helmut Dahne was out for the races...
There was a big push by BMW in collaboration with Metzeler Motor Cycle Tyres Australia, whose principal, my good friend John Galvin, felt this was the year for both his tyres and BMW...
Four R90S's were entered and they all had good riders....Tony Hatton and Kenny Blake; Helmut Dahne and Bryan Hindle; Joe Eastmure and Dave Burgess; Maurie Taylor and Dave Ralph....
The downside for BMW and Metzeler was Lindsay Walker of Team Avon was also on a push, had some quick Z900 Kawasakis and equally good riders....Murray Sayle and Greg Hansford; Jim Budd and Roger Heyes to name a few....
At the end of the day, despite the BMWs one less pitstop, Hatton and Blake were beaten into second place by a lap with Jim Budd and Roger Heyes coming out victors....
A bitter pill for BMW considering the effort put in....
Enough waffle and comment from DQ...lets look photographically at the BMW effort.....
This is the first public or private viewing of them for that matter...
Murray Sayle, Bryan Hindle with back to camera, Greg Hansford and Helmut Dahne...
Don Bain in white overalls...you'd have to think him the tactician in the BMW camp...a highly successful racer in the 1930s,40s and 50s and ran the NSW BMW Distributor, Tom Byrne Pty Ltd workshop...makes a point to Dave Burgess while Joe Eastmure looks on...
Photos taken during practice....
#8 Joe Eastmure
#4 Helmut Dahne
#8 Joe Eastmure
#2 Kenny Blake
The following are two different refuelling and rider change sequence obviously 2 hours apart, as the BMWs could do three, 2 hour stints, whereas most of the Japanese machines did four 1.5 hour or even five 1 hour stints....
Helmut Dahne is the rider coming in with co-rider Bryan Hindle preparing to take over....
In the five photo sequence below, Bryan Hindle is the rider with Helmut Dahne taking over...
I mentioned the "tyre war" between Avon and Metzeler...the word in the pits was the rear Avon tyre on the leading Z900 was "shot" and the stewards should force them to change a rear wheel...quick as Team Avon was in rear wheel changing... they did 11 seconds fuel stops only in their hey day, it would likely loose them the race...
In came the Budd/Heyes Z900..the following photo shows the chief steward, Chris Peckham running to try to see the tyre and make a decision, but that lightning fast last pitstop saw them out of his reach and onto victory...
What were the respective first and second tyres like after the race....6 hours of a virtual sprint around Amaroo Park...?
The second placed BMW R90S's Metzeler.....
The winning Kawasaki Z900's Avon.....
