THE EXHILARATING 80S
1983
The American rider Freddie Spencer claimed the 500cc World Championship on his Castrol lubricated Honda. At 21 he was the youngest rider to win the title and his bike, the NS500 three cylinder, two-stroke was an evolution of the NR500 that Castrol had helped Honda develop.
1984
Honda joined Suzuki and Yamaha with a four cylinder two stroke, creating a regular three-way fight. Occasionally other players, the Italian Cagiva team being one of the main ones, would join in at the top. The quality of the racing was superb but from a technical view little real progress was being made. At the same time emissions laws were working against the two stroke and GP racing was losing it’s value as an arena for developing new technologies for road bikes.
1986
Whilst the manufacturers and governing bodies debated the future direction of the sport, Castrol continued to support some of the most successful riders. For example, in 1986 the Venezuelan Carlos Lavado took the World championship with his Castrol lubricated Yamaha 250.
1989
At the end of the 80s the manufacturers continued to search for a way to re-establish the link between their racing activities and their day-to-day road going products. GP racing is expensive and needs justification and, while most technologies can be developed without going near a racetrack, manufacturers gain valuable insights from the racing environment.
