Road Racing History of the Triumph 500 Unit Twin by Claudio Sinitch |
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| Monday, 16 August 2010 09:29 | ||||
 Triumph’s racing history has of course been covered before, but mainly as chapters within books about the overall company. It has of course been well documented in books about racing in general, but it has never been brought together in one book that allows you to understand the significance of the 500 unit twin in the overall picture and be able to follow it through in detail.There have been countless articles and chapters written about the larger racing triples, but as this book shows the team that went onto produce these started with the small compact unit construction 500. An engine that achieved success at places like Daytona, beating the established Harley Davidson’s. Witten by Italian motorcycle dealer Claudio Sinitch, a lifelong Triumph fan, he has dawn together all the information from many sources to provide a unique timeline of this powerplant in some depth. As well as using extracts from previously written books, he has sourced press cuttings, adverts and so on, but more importantly he has spoken to those involved at the time. As a result it gives a totally unique insight into the team that battled on without any support from senior management who were none the less willing to bask in the glory from their efforts. The softback uses many period images not seen before, along with documentation, notes and drawings that have come from those persons involved. Interviews with the likes of legendary tester and racer Percy Tait help bring the whole story alive, as does newspaper reports from the time. Published by Panther Publishing, it is well laid out and presented on quality gloss paper giving the whole book a quality feel to it. More importantly it makes you want to pick it up and read it, the problem being that when you start it you do not want to put it down. Still 196 pages just fly by as you become immersed in the fascinating story. Even if you have numerous Triumph books on the shelf this is well worth adding to the collection as it shows exactly how racing really did have an effect on road bikes and help develop them. Racing fans obviously will also enjoy this book, but any British bike fan will enjoy finding out more about the personalities that made Triumph great. A good read overall and well worth the £ 22.95 cover price. ISBN 978 0 9564975 0 5 Available from all good bookshops, or direct from Panther Publishing www.panther-publishing.com Review by Ian Kerr
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