Some of you may remember that in 1970’s, in addition to the FIM world championship series that covered Grand Prix’s for 50, 125, 250, 350 and 500 cc motorcycles, and the AMA series in America, there was also a 750 cc motorcycle world championship.
The Idea of the Formula 750 Championship began in 1971. But it was based on a collaboration between the AMA in America and the ACU in the UK that had been developing since 1968.
The British and Japanese manufacturers were beginning to have more influence within the AMA and in 1968 we got the end of the 250cc penalty clause for overhead valve engines that had existed since the founding of Class C racing in the early 1930s.
That meant the British and upcoming Japanese manufacturers could run the same 750cc displacement as the side-valve Harley KR’s, which meant machines like the new BSA and Triumph Triples and 750 Norton Commando were eligible to race.
The other major development that helped produce Formula 750 class came in October 1970.
The AMA was accepted as a member of the FIM.
The Idea Of The ACU and AMA
The British manufacturers were taking part in racing in the United States but the rules were completely different to those in force in Europe and the ACU and AMA saw the opportunity to bringing the AMA under the FIM umbrella could open up.
The FIM asked the ACU to try to find a formula, which could provide the foundation for a set of racing regulations that could be applied on both sides of the Atlantic, and early in 1971, representatives of the ACU and the AMA met and the concept of the Formula 750 class was born.
The new class would be open to “all solo motor cycles from 251cc up to 750cc and took its name from the maximum capacity permitted.
Formula 750 rules stated that all major components should be those used in standard production motorcycles and a minimum of 200 of each of the bikes had to be built.
MV Agusta were still the dominant force in the 500cc class in Europe and this gave the other manufacturers a new chance to challenge them on the world stage.
The FIM had little choice but to recognise it and in 1972 organisation of the new series began.
The Prix FIM Begins
By 1973 the series was given full FIM status as a European world championship series, but the AMA riders and then the Australians all came to the party.
In that first year it was won by the legendary Barry Sheene on a KR750 Suzuki. The bike was roughly based around the GT750cc road bike, but almost none of the components were shared.
The Flexi Flyer as it became known was fast, but handled like a pig, and it was only the masterful hand of Sheene that could tame it.
In 1973, the inaugural year of the new 750cc class, races were held at 7 different circuits.
The first race was in Italy at Imola, followed by a French Grand Prix at Clermont Ferrand, a Swedish round at Anderstorp, the Finnish Grand Prix at Hämeenlinna, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, then to Hockenheim in Germany with the final round at the fabled Montjuic Park in Spain.
The points system was complicated to say the least. Each round had 2 races, and points would be awarded based on the aggregate times of the two races. Then, only the four best results achieved by a rider counted towards the championship standings.
The first race was a whitewash that showed the unbelievable riding of the great Jarno Saarinen. He stormed to victory in both races on his TZ750 Yamaha, in what was possibly his most glorious days racing. Sadly, it became his swansong, because less than a month later in one of the darkest days of motorcycle racing, he was killed along with the equally great Renzo Passolini.
This race showed the world how good the great Jarno Saarinen really was.
Sheene took his only victory of the year at the next race at Clermont Ferrand, but in Anderstorp it was Jack Findlay who took the victory.
When the riders went to Finland it was Saarinens countryman Tepi Lansivouri who unbelievably took a TZ350 to victory. The fast corners suited the smaller bike and Lansivouri had the local advantage. The track had almost no straights and in some riders eyes was the hardest and most dangerous race track in the world at the time.
Silverstone came next and it was Paul Smart who romped home first. Again it was the Suzuki that was best suited to the fast track and Smart won both races.
Next it was Germany. The points system had worked until at Hockenheim, but in Germany, Jack Findlay won the first race but crashed in the second. As there was no aggregate time over the two rounds for him he wasn’t awarded any points.
Suzuki objected and the points were then awarded based on the riders positions in each race. So it was all a bit of a mess really.
The great Stan Woods brought his Suzuki home first in the second race and was awarded the aggregate victory, so the title was still wide open.
In the last race of the year at Montjuic Park it was John Dodds who came home first. Again it was the little TZ350 Yamaha that was suited to the tight twisty circuit nestled on the top of a hill in Barcelona. But Sheene brought the Suzuki home second and his overall results gave him the title.
The final standings were Barry Sheene first with 51 points counted out of a total of 61, because only the best 4 results counted. Second was John Dodds with 47 points on the TZ350. Third was Jack Findlay with 45 points on his 750 Suzuki and in fourth was Stan Woods on another Suzuki with 41 points.
The sadness of loosing the great Saarinen and Passolini did cast a shadow over the racing that year, but the victory of Sheene was emphatic. His consistency through the year meant even after disqualification at Silverstone his results were enough.
He didn’t score at Imola, but along with his win at Clermont Ferrand, he came second in Finland, Germany and Spain and took third place in Sweden.
That consistency is what won him the title and began his march into the hall of fame.
A year later in 1974, the second year of the series, the organisers failed completely. The championship was unfortunately raced at only 3 circuits, they were Jarama in Spain, Hämeenlinna in Finland and Silverstone in England.
John Dodds from Australia came home first with 27 points on his TZ750 and it was the year that the TZ showed its dominance for the first time.
French genius Patrick Pons came home second overall with 22 points and Jack Findlay gave Australia a third place too on 16 points. Pentti Korhonen came home fourth equal with Paul Smart with both on 15 points.
Findlay and Smart were the only riders on the Suzuki, with Yamaha dominating the field.
Korhonen won on his home turf in Finland and Smart did the same at Silverstone, but this was the year that Canadian Yvon Duhammel first showed his face on the European stage.
He was central to the development of the KR series of Kawasakis and although he only came home sixth overall. His second place at Silverstone was an astonishing ride and he cemented his name as a true giant with the British racing fans.
There were a few other names to mention who came in further down the field.
Victor Palomo came in seventh on the only Ducati that was racing and brother José María Palomo managed one finish on the only Norton entered. This was also the year that Tony Rutter was given a second Kawasaki KR750 and his finish at Silverstone sent the home fans into raptures. He was a well known young racer who everyone knew would go on to great things, but his speciality was street circuits and in the end he went on to win 7 isle of man trophies.
In 1975 Sheene was back and the championship was run over 9 rounds. Final points would be awarded on the 5 best results for each rider.
This was the first year that the racing went to America but it still had only European championship status. But it was as close as we had ever got to a true world championship series.
Daytona was the first race of the season and it was the Americans that dominated. Gene Romero brought the Speedblock Yamaha home in first and the Daytona yellow paint scheme imprinted itself on the public. Steve Baker came home second and a young, relatively unknown Venezuelan came home third. Venezuela wasn’t known for much of anything at the time, but the great Johnny Cecotto would make sure that everyone knew about them afterwards.
Unfortunately, for many UK fans Daytona would be remembered for less happy reasons. Sheene had a horrific crash and very few people thought he would survive never mind recover. But recover he did, and just 3 rounds later at Magny Cours he was back on the top step of the podium.
To call that ride heroic is like calling blind guy short sighted. Sheene was held together with nuts, bolts, wire and angle iron, the pain he was in was palpable by any who got close or could even see his face. That familiar smile was a wincing grimace as he folded his broken body onto the bike.
He proved all the pundits who said he would never complete the race wrong. But that is after all what he always did best.
After Romero’s win at Daytona it was Johnny Cecotto who won at Imola at the Italian Grand Prix. Patrick Pons took the third round at Mettet in Belgium before Sheene’s unbelievable victories at Magny Cours and Anderstop.
Tapio Virtanen won at home in Finland at Hämeenlinna before Sheene stood on the top step again at Silverstone.
In the last 2 rounds, Yvon Duhammel got his first 750cc victory at Assen in the netherlands and Patric Pons was on the top step again at Hockenheim in Germany.
Sheene came home second place in the championship just one point behind Australian Jack Findlay, who unbelievably won the championship without winning a single race.
The final standings were Jack Findlay first on 46 points, Barry Sheene second on 45 points, Patrick Pons third on 42 points, and Christian Bourgeois fourth on 29 points. All except Sheene were riding the TZ750, John Newbold was the next best Suzuki rider coming home in fifth on 27 points.
The championship leaderboard at the end of the season read like a hall of fame roll call. Johnny Cecotto was sixth with 4 riders sharing seventh place. They were Steve Baker, Barry Ditchburn, Victor Palomo and Tepi Lansivouri.
Tapio Virtanen was next followed by Chas Mortimer, Dave Potter, John Williams, Gene Romero and Yvon Duhammel.
Ditchburn and Duhammel were the only Kawasaki riders on the leaderboard and Sheene, Newbold and Lansivouri were on Suzuki’s. The rest were all TZ750 Yamaha’s, right down to 39th place.
1976 was the last year of the original Prix F.I.M. 750cc series and it was raced at 9 circuits, but as you will hear, the results from San Carlos were dismissed, so effectively there were 8 scoring rounds.
It started at Daytona before moving on to San Carlos in Venezuela, then on to Imola in Italy and Jarama n Spain. The fifth race of the season was to be at Nivelles in Belgium before going on to Nogaro in France, Silverstone, Assen and finally Hockenheim for the final race.
The title winner would be crowned European champion, but with an ever widening reach this was a real world championship.
This time the points system got even more complex with the best 3 results from the first 4 races and the best 3 results from the second 4 races being added together for the final points tally.
Spanish rider Victor Palomo came home first and was the last rider to be crowned as the Prix F.I.M. 750cc champion. But it was mired in controversy. He won three races on aggregate despite not winning a single heat.
This was the first time I had come across the great Niko Bakker and it was a Bakker Framebau TZ750 engined bike that helped Palomo finally get the title he had been fighting for since day 1 of the championships.
Johnny Cecotto won at Daytona and it was Steve Baker who was credited with first at San Carlos, although at the time it appeared that Gary Nixon had won.
If Nixon had been awarded the victory in the Venezuelan round, he would have won the world championship by one point. Nixon protested the results in Venezuela, and in the end the FIM threw out the results of the event, thus denying his appeal but cancelling all points for the event.
Michel Rougerie won at Imola and then John Newbold incredibly came home first on Sheene’s old Suzuki at Jarama,
That meant at the halfway point of the season Victor Palomo was way out of touch with only 12 points to his name while the leader, Michel Rougerie already had 32 points under his belt.
Even after the Belgium Grand Prix Palomo’s chances looked slim, but with 3 aggregate wins in the last 3 races he managed to finally lift the title he had fought so hard for over the years.
The final official standings were Victor Palomo of Spain on 57 points, Gary Nixon from the USA on 47 points, John Newbold from the UK on 37 points, Michel Rougerie of France on 32 points and Dave Potter from the UK on 26 points.
The Formula 750 World Championship
From 1977 the series was renamed as the Formula 750 World Championship and was given full World Championship status. It retained the controversial aggregate points system though.
11 rounds were scheduled but race 2 at Daytona and race 2 at the Salzburgring were abandoned due to rain and Jarama was run as a single race as had become standard.
It was a long season with many new circuits added including a second American round and even a round in Canada.
The season started at Daytona, Steve Baker won overall, with fellow American Kenny Roberts finishing second and Japanese rider and future fan favourite Takazumi Katayama finishing third, when the second race was not run due to rain. Full points were given on the results of the first race.
Then In Italy at Imola, Roberts celebrated a double, Baker was second and the now ageing Giacomo Agostini, favourite of the home crowd came in third.
In Spain at Jarama, there was only one race on the program and Baker won, with Frenchman Christian Sarron second and Hubert Rigal from Monaco finishing third.
Christian Estrossi used home advantage to celebrate a double at the new French circuit at Dijon-Prenois. with Swiss rider Philippe Coulon finishing second, and championship leader Baker third.
Baker fought back with a vengeance at Brands Hatch in England, where he had a double win. Up and coming star Ron Haslam came home second and another Brit, John Newbold on the ageing Suzuki was third.
At the Salzburgring in Austria, only one race was run due to rain, Baker won again, with Agostini second and Christian Sarron third.
Baker got another double win at Zolder in Belgium, where the Italian new boy Marco Lucchinelli was second and Katayama third.
In Assen, at the cathedral of speed, Baker and Lucchinelli both got one win and one second place in each of the two races. But Lucchinelli was given the overall win with Sarron in third again.
On their return to the States at the iconic Laguna Seca track, local legend Skip Aksland won overall, with Baker in second overall and Australian Gregg Hansford with his Kawasaki coming in third.
Spurred on by his result at Laguna Seca, Hansford did even better at Canada’s Mosport Park, where he pulled off a double win. This time the home avantage helped Yvon DuHamel bring the second Kawasaki home in second overall and Baker finished third.
In the finale of the season for the first official world title of the 750cc class at Hockenheim, Giacomo Agostini pulled off a very unexpected double, with Katayama claiming second and Italian Armando Toracca was third.
That meant that Steve Baker had the most emphatic title winning season we had ever seen. His final points tally was 151 points and the second place rider, Christian Sarron of France had just 55 points.
Agostini came in third on 45 points with Marco Luchinelli in fourth on 40 points. Takazumi Katayama rounded out the top 5, who were all riding Yamaha’s,
Gregg Hansford was the only non Yamaha rider in the top ten, finishing seventh overall. His team mate Yvon Duhammel was back in 16th place tied with the up and coming Ron Haslam from the UK.
Steve Baker was the only rider to score points at every round and was crowned the new World Champion. The first time that title really meant the world too.
He won 9 races overal and 5 rounds on aggregate score, finishing in second and third on aggregate in all the other rounds. His consistency was unbelievable, especially when you consider he had never even tested or raced at several of the circuits.
The second year of the Formula 750 World Championship in 1978 saw some major changes and Daytona was dropped as the season opener.
It was held on 10 different circuits and unlike the previous year, when Steve Baker won absolutely convincingly, this time it was decided only in the last race of the season.
The season began instead at Imola in Italy and Johnny Cecotto won race 1 and Christian Sarron in race 2, but the aggregate score meant that Cecotto won the round ahead of Steve Baker and Christian Sarron,
There was only one race at Le Castellet in France at the next round, and Cecotto was again the winner, This time ahead of Kenny Roberts and reigning champion Steve Baker, who had now become the championship specialist.
The third round took place in the UK at Brands Hatch and Kenny Roberts celebrated a double win ahead of Johnny Cecotto and Patrick Pons from France.
The fourth round was now at the Österreichring in Spielberg in Austria. Roberts won again ahead of Cecotto in second, and this time it was the Italian Gianfranco Bonera who joined them on the podium. All the leading bikes were the Yamaha TZ with only Gregg Hansford and Yvon DuHammel on Kawasaki’s. Yamahas dominated not only the starting field but the results as well.
The fifth round returned to Jarama in Spain and as usual was run as a single race. Roberts celebrated a hat trick with his third win in a row. Cecotto finished second for the third time in a row, and Sarron completed the podium this time.
This meant that Roberts and Cecotto were neck and neck in the championship with the rest of the field falling behind.
The sixth round was in Germany, at Hockenheim, which had traditionally been the final race of the year. In 1978 that honour was given to Mosport Park but already it seemed like a 2 horse race.
However, Sarron won in Germany ahead of Gianfranco Bonera and Gregg Hansford, who unbelievably managed to bring his Kawasaki home in third place. Roberts came home in fourth and a DNF from Cecotto meant Roberts was closing the gap in the championship.
The seventh round was at Nivelles in Belgium. Here Cecotto celebrated a double win, but the surprise was when local rider Hervé Moineau finished second. Bonera took third, and because Roberts came away with no points, Cecotto extended his lead again, but it was still far from over.
The eighth round was in Assen and often threw up some surprises.
Gianfranco Bonera took his very first Grand Prix victory in the Netherlands storming home to victory followed by fan favourite Takazumi Katayama in second.
Championship leader Johnny Cecotto came in third and a second no points round for Roberts just seemed to confirm Johnny Cecottos place at the top of the points table in the championship.
This meant the title would be decided in the America’s.
The last two rounds of the 1978 championship would take place at Laguna Seca in the USA and Mosport Park in Canada.
Laguna Seca helped Kenny Roberts revive his championship chances with a double win. And as Cecotto did not score at all the gap was closed by a significant margin.
None of the Europeans travelled to race at Laguna Seca so it was an all American whitewash.
The previous year’s champion Steve Baker came home second and Mike Baldwin got third.
At the final round of the year the points tally was so close that it could have been an epic decider.
Mike Baldwin was the surprise winner in the end with Roberts chasing him home in second.
Yvon DuHamel came home third and this was one of only 2 podium places for Kawasaki but more significantly. That meant every podium place for the whole year other than those two were riders on Yamaha TZ750’s. They really had dominated like never before.
Johnny Cecotto came home 10th overall ,which gave him 6 championship points, just 5 points ahead of Kenny Roberts.
Cecotto was the champion and won with 97 points ahead of Kenny Roberts on 92 points. They were miles ahead of everyone else but the championship was marred by the European riders not travelling to the States. The prize money put up meant that it just wasn’t financially feasible for them.
Remember, this was during a time when riders were paid a pittance, Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene were determined to make that change, but it hadn’t happened yet. They argued that they were the ones taking the ultimate risks but the FIM and circuit administrators were still taking the lions share.
Christian Sarron took third place on 55 points, Gianfranco Bonera was fourth on 53 points, Patrick Pons was fifth on 40 points and the previous years champion Steve Baker finished down in sixth with just 38 points.
The top ten were all Yamaha TZ750’s
The Final Year
In the final year of the Formula 750 championship there were many changes but the biggest was a complete change to the points system. All points from every race would be counted so the aggregate system was scrapped, as well as the idea of only counting points from a limited number of races.
This time more than ever before, consistency and entry to the maximum number of races would be rewarded most. The championship would be run over 10 rounds, with a total of 20 races, and the circus began at Mugello in Italy.
At Mugello, Christian Sarron won race 1 and newcomer Virginio Ferrari on a Suzuki won race 2.
It showed immediately that the new points system was going to be a wild ride. Because Ferrari was second in race 1, so he came away with the biggest points tally of 27 points.
A second and third place put Johnny Cecotto second with 22 points, and Sarronc, who had a poor race 2, was down on just 18 points. Patrick Pons was next on 12 points. So the leaderboard was spread out immediately and with a maximum of 30 points available from every race weekend, this championship could change fast.
Next it was Brands Hatch in the UK and we saw Johnny Cecotto pull off a double win, Gregg Hansford on his Kawasaki finished second overall on 16 points, followed by three riders on 12 points. They were Markku Matikainen from Finland, Swiss rider Michel Frutschi and Mike Baldwin from the US. Christian Sarron picked up just 10 points with another inconsistent weekend.
That meant Cecotto was storming ahead in the championship with 52 points, already 24 points ahead of Sarron in second on 28 points.
The next race was in Nogaro, France, Patrick Pons won race 1 and was second in race 2 so scored 27 points overall. His countryman Christian Estrosi got a second and third place for 22 points and Gregg Hansford brought the Kawasaki home as winner in race 2 which put him third best on points over the weekend on 15. Ceccoto was a non finisher in both races.
For some reason the Swiss decided to hold their race at Paul Ricard, the French circuit at Le Castellet and Cecotto was the overall winner again with 27 points, Michel Frutschi was second overall and the another newcomer, Sadao Asami from Japan finished third with 22 points overall. Swiss rider Jacques Cornu was the only other rider to finish both races and collected 9 points. Although Patrick Pons did pick up 10 points for his 3rd place in race 2.
The next stop was the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring, home fans saw an unexpected double win by local hero Werner Nenning, who scored 30 points. A second and third place earned Patrick pons 22 points total and Hubert Rigal from Monaco came away with 16 points with a weekend that was more consistent than spectacular. Cecotto had his second non scoring weekend so the championship was tightening up now.
A transatlantic journey took the riders to Canada’s Mosport Park next and the weekend belonged to Patrick Pons, With a first and second place he was the top points scorer with 27 points.
The second race was won by Michel Frutschi who collected 21 points overall, but the second highest points tally for the weekend went to an unknown Steve Gervais who came away with 22 Points and a very unexpected second and third place. Cecotto didn’t score again so the title was looking wide open.
Kenny Roberts came back as a disrupter just to say I’m still the fastest, at the American round in Laguna Seca. He scored a double win and although some of the Europeans did come over, the Americans took full advantage on home soil.
Richard Schlachter came home second in the first race and scored 20 points in total, with Dave Aldana taking third place on points with 16. Michel Frutschi managed 15 points but Pons only scored 6 and Cecotto, Asami, Bonera all scored nothing.
Gene Romero proved another disrupter taking second place in the second race to score 12 points, so it was a weekend for the Americans to shine.
The Dutch round at Assen belonged to Boet van Dulmen who scored 27 points with a win in race 1 and second in race 2, Michel Frutschi and Gianfranco Bonera both collected 18 points and it was a rare non scoring weekend for Patrick Pons so it was off to Germany with the title still there for the taking.
At the Hockenheimring, Pons got a double win, and because Frutschi only scored 1 point he secured the title of Formula 750 champion, Sarron scored 22 and his countryman Marc Fontan, who had had a steady if not spectacular season came away with 18 points.
The final was an unusual race in the then Yugoslavian city of Rijeka. Michel Frutschi won race 1 and Johnny Cecotto won race 2, both finishing second in the races they didnt win, but 2 third places meant Patrick Pons took 20 points, and he was already champion and everyone knew it.
Pons had come second in his first year of the championship in 1974 and it took him 5 long years to get his hands on the trophy. He would be remembered as the last ever Formula 750 World Champion.
The final standings were Patrick Pons first with 154 points. Michel Frutschi second on 132 points. Johnny Cecotto came home third on 126 points and Sadao Asami was fourth with 73 points. Gianfranco Bonera rounded out the top 5 with 70 points, with Marc Fontan, Christian Sarron and Raymond Roche following close behind.
The idea of creating a championship superior to the other Grand Prix classes just didn’t quite work out, because after Sheene in the first year, only one brand and one model of motorcycle dominated,
That bike was the Yamaha TZ 750.
What it did do, was highlight the riders, who had to be the best to tame the unruly TZ750’s. It put the title in the hands of the specialists, who could do something to improve the TZ package. Along with the riders, it was the tuners and frame builders that were the often unsung heroes of the day.
Sadly the FIM discontinued the 750cc class after the 1979 season.
The Formula 750cc World Championship was a series that shaped the future of racing and the final points scoring scheme is still used pretty much unchanged until today. Stars were born and black clouds were inevitable, but it raised the profile of the riders above the bikes in a way that many race series failed to do.
The Formula 750 class became about how good the riders were, and how well they could learn a new track quickly.
When you have names like Johnny Cecotto, Steve Baker, Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene, Christian Sarron, Patrick Pons, Boet Van Dulmen, Victor Palomo, Jack Findlay, John Dodds, Tepi Lansivourie, Jarno Saarinen, Gregg Hansford, Yvon Duhammel and even the great Agostini and more on the roll call, you can see that it was a truly historic race series.
Many tried, but there was only room for 9 winners.
Heroes one and all and they should always be remembered.
As well as the winners, it gave many future stars a springboard from which they could launch their careers.
I hope this helps you remember the titanic battles that took place over those golden years, and I hope you will search out footage of individual races from the series to help you re live those moments of joy, desperation and heartbreak that happened all those years ago.
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