This month Bike magazine have printed their 500th issue. I remember following reports of Team bike back in the 1980’s as they campaigned a tuned CB900, a FZ750 and an RC30 in the 24 hour endurance championship. They raced at Le Mans, SPA and the Paul Ricard. This year former team and club member Ian Martin was joined by Stephane Mertens, they resurrected the original team, pulled the RC30 out of storage and rode it to a Race win in the Classic Bold’or at Magny-Cours. There’s a good report on their adventure and a promise to return for next years event, which returns to the Paul Ricard 18th September 2015.
Hi Keith
The CB1100R lookalike is the tuned CB900 I mentioned. The article refers to it as a CB1000 so you are probably right many RSC parts fitted. My understanding is Ian was part of the original Team Bike/Howard Lees Racing. Ian had the CB1000 at Mallory on display but didn’t want to damage the original bike so his idea was to build a replica. He joined the club and bought a Dutch CB1100R which he raced very successfully in standard trim, however due to him making contact with many of the Team they have now started Classic racing on the original Team Bike Machines. Clearly a win at the Classic Bold’or on an RC30 shows that once a racer always a racer. Good luck to them all.