Cal Rayborn 1970 Harley Davidson XR750 [Archive]

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 07:52 AM

ElCoyote

02-01-2013, 08:08 AM

A friend of mine is looking at buying said motorcycle. However we need some help verifying its authenticity. Does anyone know how we would find out any information? I have several photos however they are crrently on my partners phone and I cannot work it, will post them soon.

I will look through the album there is sure to be some of that day. I was with a group in the grandstand who saw the accident but realised the marshalls were unsighted so we leapt the fence trying to attract some reaction but with Cal prostrate he was basically invisible to them. Sadly while we attended to him the worst happened. He was a definite star to be. I spoke at length to him prior to the meeting and did take some photos of the bike so I will dig deep this week-end

Haga

02-01-2013, 08:13 AM

I would be contacting Rob Ianucci - Team Obsolete....if they are still around?

I read it quickly but I think it said there were 6 bikes.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_1010_the_ex_rayborn_xrtt_calvin_and_rob/viewall.html

http://www.teamobsolete.com/

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 08:28 AM

15767

15768

15769

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 08:30 AM

I should add I suppose this is a replica built in Oz by Bob Jolly.

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 08:34 AM

I will look through the album there is sure to be some of that day. I was with a group in the grandstand who saw the accident but realised the marshalls were unsighted so we leapt the fence trying to attract some reaction but with Cal prostrate he was basically invisible to them. Sadly while we attended to him the worst happened. He was a definite star to be. I spoke at length to him prior to the meeting and did take some photos of the bike so I will dig deep this week-end

Thanks for that, the photos would be great, although he was riding a Suzuki that fateful race at Puke, some sources I have seen allege its the same bike Geoff Perry was killed on in Tahiti.

John McKechnie

02-01-2013, 09:33 AM

References say Geoff Perry killed in plane crash not on a bike. I was a huge fan of his at the time and remember the news at the time. Check with Steve Holmes, he did a painting of him.

GD66

02-01-2013, 10:15 AM

I would be contacting Rob Ianucci - Team Obsolete....if they are still around?

Why would you do that ? The bike was built in Adelaide, based around a set of Sportster cases in a featherbed frame. It has never been to the US, is not a factory bike and has never been raced : built as a tribute by the late Bob Jolly for Grey Chandler who has lamented for years that he didn't hang on to it.

GD66

02-01-2013, 10:17 AM

Thanks for that, the photos would be great, although he was riding a Suzuki that fateful race at Puke, some sources I have seen allege its the same bike Geoff Perry was killed on in Tahiti.

WHAT ?

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 12:45 PM

Yeah I know, it was clearly someone who did not know what they were talking about.

SPman

02-01-2013, 01:18 PM

I was at the same meeting, but over by the hairpin at the time. We were stunned! He was riding a local TR500 Suzuki running on methanol. Getting in his hand before taking up a Suzuki works ride. Not Geoff Perry's.
Interestingly, a guy I worked with here in Perth, was at the same meeting (he also rode a TR500 Suzuki). He reckoned that Cal's mechanic adjusted the carbs, just before the race, but inadvertently leaned them out, as he would have on the Harley, instead of making it a bit richer. Lack of experience with 2 strokes?? The bike seized at speed.........!

Powder

02-01-2013, 06:35 PM

Why would you do that ? The bike was built in Adelaide, based around a set of Sportster cases in a featherbed frame. It has never been to the US, is not a factory bike and has never been raced : built as a tribute by the late Bob Jolly for Grey Chandler who has lamented for years that he didn't hang on to it.

If I've read the thread correctly, then seaqnmac27 is looking for info on the original US built bike so that he can verify how close the replica is to the original.

Haga

02-01-2013, 07:51 PM

Why would you do that ? The bike was built in Adelaide, based around a set of Sportster cases in a featherbed frame. It has never been to the US, is not a factory bike and has never been raced : built as a tribute by the late Bob Jolly for Grey Chandler who has lamented for years that he didn't hang on to it.

Read the 1st thread mate, which all I had to go on....did not say replica at that time......grrrrr

seaqnmac27

02-01-2013, 10:49 PM

Right now I am trying to work out the value of this bike. The owner believes that it has additional value as he thinks it was built for Rayborn himself to ride in series that he was killed prior to. This I believe to be wrong as everything I have seen says he had ended his association with Harley Davidson, that being said, this bike was built up around a Norton frame.

GD66

02-01-2013, 11:16 PM

Indeed. After a couple of years of being blown off by the Japanese two-stroke fliers, Rayborn had left Harley and signed for US Suzuki for the 1974 season. The one-off ride in NZ on the TR500 Suzuki was arranged by series organisers and Ron Grant as Rayborn was in New Zealand to drive an outdated Lola T190 in the Tasman Series, and the opportunity to get his eye in on a two-stroke seemed irresistible. The folly of learning a new bike, then attempting to convert it from petroil mix to methanol on race morning was soon evident. The stark horror of the crash was compounded by repeated calls over the PA for a doctor to please attend, none was in place for the event ! NZ bike racing's darkest day.
As a positive, with this crash coming in the same season we lost Saarinen and Pasolini, track safety standards finally began to improve...

John McKechnie

02-02-2013, 12:24 AM

That is almost beyond belief about the doctor...

fullnoise68

02-02-2013, 12:55 AM

References say Geoff Perry killed in plane crash not on a bike. I was a huge fan of his at the time and remember the news at the time. Check with Steve Holmes, he did a painting of him.

I could be wrong, but I thought Geoff Perry and Alan Woolfs son John were both killed in the same plane crash.

Oldfart

02-02-2013, 01:11 AM

John Woolf was killed in a rally crash, not a plane.

John McKechnie

02-02-2013, 01:25 AM

And quite a few years apart.

fullnoise68

02-02-2013, 01:27 AM

So I was wrong.

seaqnmac27

02-02-2013, 01:53 AM

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_1010_rayborns_last_ride/viewall.html

GD66

02-02-2013, 02:55 AM

That's pretty accurate. John Stein is a racer who has competed several times at the Pukekohe classic festival, so has had the opportunity to speak to some of those involved, unlike the American journo Dean Adams who has had several pot shots at Pukekohe and NZ over the years, without ever doing much in the way of informed research. To return loosely to the theme of this thread, Scott Brelsford was recently interviewed about the incident by Adams, and his recollection of that day at Pukekohe was that he felt bad Rayborn was faced with riding the Suzuki under these circumstances, and felt inclined to offer Rayborn the ride on Brelsford's factory XR-TT Harley, which was scheduled to take part in the series, but in fact it was three weeks later at the series' fourth round at Ruapuna by the time the bike was unloaded and cleared customs, so this was never any more than a forlorn, time-distorted wish. Again, very sad.

seaqnmac27

02-02-2013, 03:21 AM

Why would you do that ? The bike was built in Adelaide, based around a set of Sportster cases in a featherbed frame. It has never been to the US, is not a factory bike and has never been raced : built as a tribute by the late Bob Jolly for Grey Chandler who has lamented for years that he didn't hang on to it.

Do you actually know when it was built up for Grey Chandler? We are really trying to work out what sort of money this bike is worth, I suspect the current owner has a slightly overblown idea of its value, but any clues would be a huge help.

GD66

02-02-2013, 03:48 AM

I suspect late-1980s, but am having a poke round. There's an article on the build in an old issue of Classic Racer mag, but finding it could be another matter...

fullnoise68

02-02-2013, 04:34 AM

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_1010_rayborns_last_ride/viewall.html

One thing I am not wrong about though, is in this article they state that Rayborn hit the guardrail. There was no guardrail near Champion at Pukekohe at the time of his accident, there was white wooden fences on both sides of the track, and the steel guardrails were not installed until the late `80s as a result of John Osbornes RX7 Sports Sedan accident where a part of the timber fence went through the floor of his car.

seaqnmac27

02-02-2013, 05:35 AM

I suspect late-1980s, but am having a poke round. There's an article on the build in an old issue of Classic Racer mag, but finding it could be another matter...

Thanks for your help

Sean

Rod Grimwood

02-02-2013, 09:57 AM

I could be wrong, but I thought Geoff Perry and Alan Woolfs son John were both killed in the same plane crash.

Steve, John Woolf and Grant Whitaker were unfortunately killed in a collision with a hunters 4 wheel drive that they meet on a blind crest in a rally in States, the hunters were also killed. This was a tragic accident and took two promising, charming young fellows from us (the NZ motorsport family)

Steve Holmes

02-03-2013, 08:13 PM

References say Geoff Perry killed in plane crash not on a bike. I was a huge fan of his at the time and remember the news at the time. Check with Steve Holmes, he did a painting of him.

Wow, I'm impressed! How did you know that? Indeed I did do a painting of Geoff Perry for a guy to give to his son for his 21st birthday. The son's name is Perry, named after Geoff Perry.

15801

CUSTAXIE50

05-01-2013, 11:20 PM

I will look through the album there is sure to be some of that day. I was with a group in the grandstand who saw the accident but realised the marshalls were unsighted so we leapt the fence trying to attract some reaction but with Cal prostrate he was basically invisible to them. Sadly while we attended to him the worst happened. He was a definite star to be. I spoke at length to him prior to the meeting and did take some photos of the bike so I will dig deep this week-end

It did say in the paper Cal hit some drums fill of water with his head,you say you went over the fence to help him did you see any drums at that part of the track.As for Geoff Perry my understanding is the plane he went down in the water, was so deep they could not get to them so thats where he rests today, if this is so very sad for his mum and dad not to get there son back.There is one of Geoff Perrys bikes at Len Southwards.

GD66

05-02-2013, 02:39 AM

Cal slid backwards into the barrier in a sitting position and then bounced back out onto the track. There were some water-filled drums there, but they were further on, on the far side of the elbow, up against the stables. Poor Neville Landrebe met his fate when he crashed his Yamaha and hit them in 1970.

gray chandler

06-14-2016, 05:00 AM

Let's put the record straight. The XR750 tt was built by Myself with the help of Bob Jolly and Peter Taylor[ machinist ]. It was built with the approval of Harley Davidson Race Manager,Dick O'Brien. Who,by the way wished he could have used a similar frame, but was constrained by the regulations of the day. Thankfully we had a original XR750 to copy. This was on loan from Team Obsolete to be restored and was done by me along with building the my bike. This endeavor took 5 years and won the approval of Ron Alexander,Cal Rayborns chief engineer. We did a couple of sessions at Mallala where i rode it as well as Murray Johnson and Bob Jolly. All up a good bike all round and would easily run to 8000 + rpm . This was a mammoth project and would not have been possible without the talents of both Bob and Peter and the engine and gear box parts from Team Obsolete. We did the heads in house.That is another story !!! We took the factory bike to Phillip Island but it suffered catastrophic cam bearing failure. Hope this sorts out all the bullshit. cheers,Gray Chandler.

seaqnmac27

06-14-2016, 05:49 AM

Thank you, Gray, I gave Gill, the owner, your details and I believe he has been in touch with you.

Regards

Sean

GD66

06-14-2016, 05:49 AM

Wow ! Great to hear from you Gray, Sean will be stoked to have this sorted out. As I alluded to, I could not find the Classic Racer article about the two bikes, I suspect it would have been the work of Hamish Cooper. I do recall seeing somewhere that you wished you'd hung onto it : any idea where the bike ended up ? And do you have any pics you could share ?
Regards GD