Who is this guy

[arkline]

and what motorcycle racing innovation did he invent?

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/100529472-M.jpg

Once invented, who perfected the innovation?

[fganger]

Well let's see - its been a long time.

My guess is that it is a 1970 picture of a young Finish rider named Jarno Saarinen. A quiet, steady racer who changed the face of GP riding forever. As I recall he was the first to drag body parts while he was in the turns. He was also able to do some drifting as well. However, he was not quite as good as those who followed him - King Kenny for one. But it's only a guess.

I hope I get an A.

Frank

[arkline]

Frank,

A+ on counts. Yes, this Finn, who died in 1973 won a lot of road races and was 1972 250cc champion, invented the hang it all off style of roadracing that is dominant today some thirty years after. I have seen quotes from King Kenny that he had invented it, but the truth is he began the perfection of the technique and it took him a long way. He's not called the King for nothing.

This one seems to have been too easy. I'll have to find a toughie to confound the gallery...

[Dallara]

~


Well, Guys...

Nobody is a bigger Kenny Roberts fan than I am, and I was equally as big a fan of Jarno Saarinen. But that said...

Kenny can claim to have been the first to *Hang Off*...

And some historians can say Jarno did it first...

But there has always been a pretty big debate on the point that EITHER of the two of them actually did it first. If one believes photographs, then NEITHER Roberts nor Saarinen were the first to *hang off*.

That title appears to belong to one Paul Smart. Remember the Imola 200 in 1972, for instance???

http://www.toti-bcn.com/ClassicMotors/Ducati/750/imatges/750PaulSmart-Imola1972_h488.gif

http://www.tomotorsports.com/catalog/images/PaulSmart1972Ducati750Imola.jpg

http://www.ducati.com/docs_eng/model05/sportclassic/SMART1000-05/images/story_05.jpg

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/newsandupdates/122_0607_02_z+monterey_classic_bike_auction+ducati _paul_smart_racing.jpg

http://www.motorrad-bild.de/images_textbildarchiv/marken/ducati/Klassiker/750ss_1972/imola1.jpg



Now contrast those pics with some of Saarinen from 1973...

http://www.motor-forum.nl/forum/misc/68026

http://www.bike70.com/Pilotes/Saarinene72.jpg

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~peer/Images/racer-jarno.jpg

http://www2.yamaha-motor.fr/actu/IMG/jpg/ym50_doc-10-saarinen-1.jpg

http://www.classic-motorrad.de/Fischer/Saarinen/Saarinen-Autogramm.jpg



As you can see, Saarinen didn't *hang off* so much as *stick a knee out*...

Story goes that Paul Smart developed the *hang off* technique to deal with riding the relatively ill-handling production road racers of the time he started off on. He claimed that the less he had to lean the bike over the less they wobbled...

Understand, I am not trying to start a debate here. Honestly, I doubt any one of the three were the very first to use the technique. I imagine somebody, somewhere decades before tried it, along with many along the way before it became sort of the mainstream line of thought. I just thought I would toss one more piece of timber on the historical fire to spark the discussion and get some additional illumination! :pftroest:

No matter who did it first, all three of these guys were fantastic riders!

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NAABSPCAPNNOROBCD)




~

[arkline]

History is never as clear as we want it to be...

Here's one of Jarno and it definitely looks like his backside is off the seat in this one.

http://www.ozebook.com/mcnews/jarno71.jpg

You've just got to admire these folks who won races on equipment we would think of as absolutely primitive by today's street bike standards, let alone the bikes running in MotoGP...

[fganger]

In any case, comparing them to the AMA racers who were using two sets of bars - one for the turns and one for the straights, they were light years away. BTW, in the 60's I saw Mike Halwood drifting corners at Watkins Glen and at the Isle of Mann.

So there you go, it's always something.:pftroest:

Frank

PS - I'm glad I get an A+ :)

[Steve Carlton]

Wasn't it touching down his knee that Kenny claimed to have done first? And maybe steering with the rear (which I don't think he was first to do)?