More at kakeh.com via Death Spray Custom.

The swan song of the great Italian race bike makers, 1976 was in the middle of the transition to Japanese maker dominance. But let’s raise our glasses for the Guzzis, Agustas, and Gileras.

You could have done worse things with your summer of 1966 than perch yourself around the bends of Charade. There’s footage from the May MotoGP meeting, and a July 1966 saloon and sportscar race that set the stage for the filming of Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix. Which makes this film not only a great series of clips from the storied track, but a prop in the camera operator’s position among the 3,000 extras that served as the crowd for the faux French GP. Lucky for us, our cameraman was close to the action too, there’s clear shots of Françoise Hardy in the pits, as well as Frankenheimer himself (I think that’s him in the camel sportcoat). Marvelous!

I love it when old ideas are re-examined alongside new innovation. After being banned in 1957, the dustbin fairing is returning to the contemporary motorcycle racing scene on the 2010 Agni E1 electric race bike.

Just look at this video. With the rider’s simple black racing suit you can almost make yourself believe you’re looking at 50′s footage—until you see the back half of the bike anyway.

Limited power? Limited range? Sounds like electric bikes will, somewhat unexpectedly, give the modern world a return to old-time racing.

Hell for Leather has the complete story.

As soon as you see all those racer bikes crammed onto the ferry boat dock, you know it’s going to be good.

Well, not quite.. But this is as close as we’re likely to get. The owner of this Bielefeld, Germany velodrome let some vintage boardtrack enthusiasts on his highly banked (albeit paved and not planks) cycling track for a few laps in vintage boardtrackers. Although the pace looks pretty leisurely, I’d imagine the grade of those banks looks a lot steeper when you’re on them than they look in this clip. The onboard footage, complete with flickery, grainy, goodness give us as good an approximation of boardtracking as we’re likely to get these days.

I just love that this velodrome owner let these guys on the track. Imagine walking up to a business owner and saying, ‘excuse me, we’d like to do something extraordinarily dangerous on your business property. Just for fun.’

My hat is off to you sir.

It’s the inelegance of it that I love about it. This is no proud victory posing with his laurels and receiving a kiss from the girl awarding a trophy; it isn’t a stoic lone biker rocketing across a desert highway; it is a competitor struggling to take his machine up the hill—and he is falling. Struggling to regain control, but almost certainly beyond the tipping point, the sculpture captures the instant before failure. It is a unconventional moment to showcase, but one that I think exemplifies the spirit of competition, and the determination of the competitor.

Shortly after the unveiling, there was criticism that this was a fanciful interpretation of the hillclimb. Many suggested that the events didn’t achieve this level of acrobatics or drama, and this was simply another artist’s flight of fancy in turning the mundane into the heroic. Several years have passed, and Jeff Decker recently showed some images on his blog that showcase that, if anything, his sculpture didn’t go far enough to capture the bravery of the early hillclimbers. Looking at these images, I’m inclined to believe him. Head over to his blog to see the complete gallery.

Regardless, some great footage here. Mostly BMWs and Benellis from the 1969 championship. Sidecar riders show a bravery not often seen since the days of barnstormers and their aerial acrobatics. Their balance, agility, and sheer bravado always impresses me.

Looking at these photographs, it’s little wonder that the Hailwood RC166 has become such a popular inspiration for tribute cafe bikes in a variety of engine configurations. The demand for 1960s Hondas remains high as a source for cafe bikes sporting this livery. I must admit, these photos certainly whet my appetite for one of these small displacement racers. Like their 4-wheeled counterparts, the barchettas, these small displacement bikes are the epitome of sports riding for me. Short wheelbases, light weights, and high maneuverability is a recipe for fun on the road or track. There are few machines on two wheels or four that would compete with this Honda RC166 (or it’s many imitators) for a magical afternoon on a twisty stretch of road. Check out the complete gallery, including some video and ringtones(!), on Honda’s MotoGP history gallery.

I found this via the motorcycling photography spotters at Bike EXIF, which also turned up this wonderful 50cc Honda Dream 50R. Hot.

More on this and other early Honda racers at vf750fd.com.