Books.
From T.T. to Tokyo
The fact that this book certainly won't be reviewed by Mr.
Tuomioja tells that anyone interested in motorcycle racing should read it.
Tommy Robb tells about his racing life from fifties to early seventies.
How seriously Honda took racing is told by their ex-works rider Tommy Robb.
Yes, he did race in Finland, too. And the Imatra outhouse incident is covered.
The names are though not revealed.
Those that are not aware of the Imatra toilet read on
On the eastern boarder of Finland small town of Imatra there were Wolrd
Championship races until about ´'82.
The track was just roads and streets, you could not talk much about the
facilities etc. They did have a lot of spectators, though. Here is a
link to
Imatra pictures.
The competitors had an old wooden toilet which was causing much grief. Then one
year during the closing seremonies some competitors thew gasoline on the
outhouse and burned it down. The message was heard and the facilities had
improved by the next year.
Tommy Robb has done a good job (assisted by Jimmy Walker of
Belfast Telegraph) in writing this short book. Actually, you would like to learn
more about those days racing and especially of how they did manage to keep the
bikes running and were able to race at all for the meager money.
The book was first published in 1974. Tommy Robb predicts
that in the future, if they are interested in coming to race abroad, the
American riders will be standing on the podium. I am certain that many people
did then not believe that.
Well, Tommy Robb proved to right and probably even more that could have believed
himself. Or have you not heard of Kenny Roberts (two of them), Eddie Lawson,
Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Freddie Spencer , John Kocinski, Pat
Hennen, Nick Hayden and others.
You can get that book from the man himseff with his autograp.
It is available at varoius motor book sellers, too.