Armstrong sets foot on the Bikers’ Classics.
Armstrong Motorcycles’ history starts at the end of the seventies, when two small companies, Cotton and Barton, join forces.
Terry Wilson, the boss of Cotton, builds a very competitive 250cc based on an Austrian Rotax engine. Later on he also develops a 350cc. The first successes are mainly local, with Steve Tonkin winning the IOM TT Junior and Jeff Sayle finishing 4th in this same championship. In 1981 Tonkin wins the title in the British Championship and he repeats that same achievement in 1982. Two successive titles also for Niall Mackenzie in 1985 and 1986, aboard an official 250.
Two extremely successful seasons for the brand, ‘cause thanks to Donnie McLeod they finish not only first but also second in the English Championship.
But the most important achievement takes place on the track of Francorchamps. At the G.P. of 1986, McLeod takes on the battle with the Spanish rider A. Pons and finishes second, in front of Cornu, Dominique Sarron, Alan Carter and Cardus.
And so it happened that a small English company challenged the big Japanese brands. Armstrong also made their mark with their technical innovations with which they convinced several big names of that era, such as Carter, Chas Mortimer, Tony Head.
They were also the first to develop a chassis and swingarm in carbon fibre, a technique never applied in racing up till then. They also developed a patented suspension system and used fuel injection.
The many novelties engine-wise were the merits of the engineer Barry Hart, who also developed a 500cc three cylinder that served for Niall MacKenzie. That same engine was adapted to a 750cc for its application in the sidecar of Nigel Rollason who won the ’86 TT with it.
The season of 1986 was Armstrong Factory G.P. Team’s most fruitful season yet also its last complete season. The reason therefore is simple: after its sale to Harley Davidson it started the production of military motorcycles (later on known as Can AM). The racing division came in the hands of Colin Hopper, who continued developing for as good and as bad as he could. In 1990, Hopper sold the division to a kart manufacturer.
It took almost twenty years before, in 2009, the name Armtrong appeared once again on the motorcycle scene, via Rave Motorsport: a few friends who decided to blow new life into the brand by restoring two motorcycles based on the engines used in 1983.
And thanks to Rave Motorsport, we’ll be able to admire those two 250cc’s at the 9th edition of the Bikers’Classics that’ll take place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July at the track of Spa-Francorchamps. No less a person than Donnie McLeod will return to the track of Armstrong’s best achievement ever.
Information: www.bikersclassics.be
Tickets with discount: www.tickets4sale.eu
