lee
12-24-2008, 11:26 AM
The British have always done the eccentric thing better than anyone else, with the exception of Salvador Dali, of course. These days, however, true British eccentrics are a bit thin on the ground. Mostly youll find them in ramshackle stately homes, very occasionally you'll find one in a British racing paddock.
Steve Linsdell has always had a wilful streak, determined to do things differently. His contrary nature has seen him race some frankly bizarre motorcycles. Most famously he raced a hub¬centre-steered Yamaha GTSlooo tourer at the IT.
His determination to be different has also seen him ride some other weirdo machinery round the world's most challenging racetrack. He made his Island debut in 1981, riding a 22 year-old Royal Enfield to second place in the Newcomers' race against a grid-full of TZ5oos and RG5oos. At last year's centenary IT he was the only rider on the Island racing a two-stroke, though sadly his 2001 Paton V4 50O didn't go the distance.
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Linsdell puts his maverick streak down to a liking for being the underdog and a hatred of homogenisation. "It's nice to do something different, you need to entertain the crowd. There's a danger that all the bikes look and sound the same, just like every town looks the same."
Linsdell also likes to see the positive points in a machine rather than the negatives, which is why he ended up racing the GTS at the IT. The previous year he had frightened himself stupid doing the IT on a Yamaha Y2F7S0. "It wobbled so badly I decided 'I'm not going through this anymore', then I rode a GTS on the road and it was so stable that I thought it would be fantastic through the bumpy pits towards Ramsey, and it was." In 1995 Linsdell rode the GTS to sixth in the FI race, behind four Castrol Honda RC4SS. "I did nearly n8mph without a steering damper," he adds. "There was something inherently quite right about that' design, it was immensely sad that Yamaha didn't follow it up."
Steve Linsdell has always had a wilful streak, determined to do things differently. His contrary nature has seen him race some frankly bizarre motorcycles. Most famously he raced a hub¬centre-steered Yamaha GTSlooo tourer at the IT.
His determination to be different has also seen him ride some other weirdo machinery round the world's most challenging racetrack. He made his Island debut in 1981, riding a 22 year-old Royal Enfield to second place in the Newcomers' race against a grid-full of TZ5oos and RG5oos. At last year's centenary IT he was the only rider on the Island racing a two-stroke, though sadly his 2001 Paton V4 50O didn't go the distance.
161
Linsdell puts his maverick streak down to a liking for being the underdog and a hatred of homogenisation. "It's nice to do something different, you need to entertain the crowd. There's a danger that all the bikes look and sound the same, just like every town looks the same."
Linsdell also likes to see the positive points in a machine rather than the negatives, which is why he ended up racing the GTS at the IT. The previous year he had frightened himself stupid doing the IT on a Yamaha Y2F7S0. "It wobbled so badly I decided 'I'm not going through this anymore', then I rode a GTS on the road and it was so stable that I thought it would be fantastic through the bumpy pits towards Ramsey, and it was." In 1995 Linsdell rode the GTS to sixth in the FI race, behind four Castrol Honda RC4SS. "I did nearly n8mph without a steering damper," he adds. "There was something inherently quite right about that' design, it was immensely sad that Yamaha didn't follow it up."