Speed Craft: Marine Engineering Propelled Kim Newcombe’s König

[weeksy]

https://www.bikeexif.com/kim-newcombe-konig-500

[The Spin Doctor]

Is that Barbara Windsor with her hands on the kid's shoulders?

[mangocrazy]

Kim Newcombe was a challenger for the 1973 500cc World Championship, but crashed after his brakes failed going into Stowe Corner at Silverstone and he hit unprotected railway sleepers; the very same obstacle he had specifically complained about to Vernon Cooper, clerk of the course. Instead of taking on board these safety concerns Vernon threatened Newcombe not only with expulsion from the race meeting but future events in the UK if he tried to interfere further.

That was the lot of GP riders in the 1970s.

[Ian]

[mangocrazy]

That's decently rapid, even by today's standards. And I notice he was changing up well before 10k rpm. Didn't see anyone come past him, either.

[Ian]

I was impressed with how tractable it seemed, he wasn't struggling to keep it in the power band like some old two strokes

[Count Steer]

Made me smile that Mr Belly held him back while the other bikes came through.

If he'd let him go at the right time all they'd have seen was a dot in the distance.

[Tricky]

Kim Newcombe' s story is just so cool , and tragic in equal measure, but as Mango says, really was how it was for riders in the 70s, unfortunately- we lost a fair few brilliant riders and real characters back then

As for the bike, I absolutely loved that vid and would so like to have been the person riding it , fabulous - cheers for posting it @Ian

[mangocrazy]

Kim Newcombe' s story is just so cool , and tragic in equal measure, but as Mango says, really was how it was for riders in the 70s, unfortunately- we lost a fair few brilliant riders and real characters back then

As for the bike, I absolutely loved that vid and would so like to have been the person riding it , fabulous - cheers for posting it @Ian

In the same year as Kim Newcombe's totally avoidable death, we lost Jarno Saarinen and Renzo Pasolini, again to a clerk of the course failure of catastrophic proportions. Both came off in a multi-bike pile up on dropped oil from a previous race that the clerk of the course new about but decided not to act on.

So sad. Jarno Saarinen was probably the fastest guy for sheer natural ability that I've ever seen. He would have re-written the record books had he lived.

[The Spin Doctor]

Back when Chimay ran over the full length circuit, there was a great viewing spot just in front of those cottages... the road was on a bit of a slope dowhill and there was a path along the front of the cottages. By the time you got to the front door of the one nearest the bike, the road surface was roughly shoulder height... I remember watching a race, elbows on the road surface on the outside of the bend... in the wet!

I figured I could probably duck fast enough if someone slid off there.

When they shortened the circuit, they blocked off spectator access

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