Suzuki T500 Jack Findlay Race Replica…
Talk to any dedicated motorcycle racer and you’ll soon realize there’s a lot more to racing — and winning — than being fast on the track. From the weekend clubman to Marc Marquez himself, motorcycle racers must face and overcome mechanical failures, sponsor woes, wrecks, injuries, and the maddening mysteries of why the bike isn’t as fast as they’d like. It takes a bellyful of grit and perseverance to make it to the track weekend after weekend, and true champions are born through such adversity.
One racer who had grit in spades was Australian Grand Prix racer Cyril John “Jack” Findlay, a Melbourne native who only became “Jack” after “borrowing” his father’s road license at age 15 and using it to obtain a racing license from the ACU of Victoria…two years underage! In 1958, at 23 years old, with several crashes and limited road racing experience, Jack quit his job at a Melbourne bank and set sail for England to become a motorcycle racer.
Jack got a job at the BSA factory in Birmingham and joined the Grand Prix circuit with a 350cc Norton Manx.
“He rode as a privateer against the might of the factory teams but his talent and dogged persistence saw this Mooroopna man competing against the best in the world.” –Greater Shepparton Hall of Fame
In 1968, Jack finished second to none other than Giacamo Agostini in the 500cc premiere class, but he still hadn’t won a Grand Prix race. In fact, his first win didn’t come until the 1971 Ulster Grand Prix…after a record-setting 189 GP starts. Not only was it Suzuki’s first win in the premiere class, but Jack’s bike wasn’t a factory racer — it featured a tuned T500 Titan street bike engine in a custom-made frame!
“Jack’s win at the Ulster Grand Prix was the closest we’ve ever come to a production street bike winning a premiere class Grand Prix.” -Ron Corey
That perseverance served to inspire our friend Ron Corey, a racer and aerospace propulsion engineer from Bethel, Washington.
“As a club racer who never tasted the Prosecco, I really identified and admired someone who has the singular mindset to grind for decades without losing hope.”
Ron, whose Honda RS125 Norick Abe tribute racer we featured back in 2022, decided to build a street-legal “what-if” T500 Titan tribute to Jack Findlay’s milestone victory.
“The idea for the bike I built shown here was to imagine ‘what if’ Suzuki decided to celebrate this win with a race replica street bike, as they were to do a decade later with the RG500. I looked at images of Jack’s bike from that year and tried to imagine what a race rep would look like in an early 70’s theme.”
Ron gives us the full story below. Just obtaining the donor bike was an adventure itself, involving a 900-mile ride home from the San Francisco Bay area! Without further ado, we’ll let Ron take the writing reins from here. What an incredible tribute to one of the world’s toughest privateers. Bravo, Ron!
In the Builder’s Words…
For nearly 50 years Jack Findlay held the record for the highest number of Grand Prix starts without a win, 189, until Aleix Espargaro recently broke this record in 2022, getting his first win after 284 starts. As a club racer who never tasted the Prosecco I really identified and admired someone who has the singular mindset to grind for decades without losing hope.
Jack’s first win came at the 1971 Ulster Grand Prix. This was also a significant day for Suzuki; it was Suzuki’s first win in the premiere class and the first win for a two-stroke in the premiere class, ushering in the wild and crazy “unrideables” era of Grand Prix racing. Finally, in addition to that list of firsts, a case can be made that Jack’s win at the Ulster Grand Prix was the closest we’ve ever come to a production street bike winning a premiere class Grand Prix. Although there were factory Suzuki production racers at the time competing, the TR500, Jack’s bike, featured a tuned T500 Titan street bike engine in a custom-made frame.
The idea for the bike I built shown here was to imagine “what if” Suzuki decided to celebrate this win with a race replica street bike, as they were to do a decade later with the RG500. I looked at images of Jack’s bike from that year and tried to imagine what a race rep would look like in a early 70’s theme.
This was a budget garage build so a custom Seely replica frame and Fontana magnesium brake were out of the question. On the other hand, since I was imagining this as a factory race replica street bike, I’m guessing Suzuki would have kept the stock frame and used the GT750 double leading shoe front brake similar to what I put together.
The Journey
Road-going two strokes are few and far between. Unlike the more popular RD/RZ series, the Suzuki two-stroke twin doesn’t command much of a premium. This one popped up on craigslist for about $2200 in the Bay area. I contacted the seller and negotiated the price with a new set of tires and had my dad go pick it up for me. I flew down to the Bay area with the plan to ride it back to the Seattle area. The bike also happened to be a 1973 model, which is the same year of manufacture as me, so I had the idea to restore it for my 50th.
Picking the bike up and heading up I-5 for Seattle, the first 20-30 miles were no issue. The bike ran well, but things went downhill from there. At 80 mph the trip takes about 12 hours, but after the first 30 minutes of operation issues began to crop up. The first issue was a fuel starvation one. I later found out the filter on the petcock was clogged with rust particulates. So, every 50 miles I had to top off the tank to keep it going freeway speeds. After a full day of constantly pulling over I parked it for the night on the Oregon side of the California border. At this point I couldn’t get the bike over 60mph.
The next morning, I could not get the bike to start. After about 20 minutes of kicking, I pushed it over to a steep hill and got it going by bump starting. Crossing through Grants Pass in April, I had grossly underestimated how cold it would be at the pass. My teeth were chattering so hard my glasses kept falling off inside my helmet and I had to reach down and grab the heads of the engine to keep my fingers from freezing.
As day two progressed the top speed of the bike continued to decrease to the point, I could only manage 30 mph so was limited to riding on the shoulder of the road. I was able to go faster by riding within a few feet of a semi, by using the draft I could coax it back up to 50 or 60 mph. By this point I has lost the crank seals and oil was pouring out the base of the cylinders. However, thanks to the archaic level of technology this engine represented, the bike never completely stopped, and I actually made the full 900-mile distance back to my house. There are zero electronics involved as this is the second to last year this model came with points. Fuel, spark, and some limited compression meant it continued to run, although not very well.
Parts?!?!?!?
Parts were very difficult to find, however there was a lot of information online. The major online parts suppliers like Partzilla and Motosport had a surprising large amount of the smaller piece parts. For major items like side covers, insignias, etc, eBay was the main source. For custom items like the stainless expansion chambers and the custom tank, Fast from the Past has a big selection of custom goodies.
A good source for rubber parts is Knalnaarpotz in the Netherlands, and for T500 specific custom parts like rearsets and headlight brackets, Titan Performance in the UK has a nice selection. Finally for really hard to get parts like new GT750 fork tubes, brake, throttle and tach lines Cruzinimage.net in Japan was the source. I think it’s fair to say I spent more on shipping than for the parts.
The cylinders were sent out to CW Racing in Cabbell, CA for porting. A custom aluminum kickstand bracket replaced the stock five-pound iron unit and is taller to clear the chambers was made by Superior Machine in Snohomish, WA. Custom root beer metallic paint was done by Fenders and Fins in Woodinville, WA, with vintage correct vinyl stickers by I Say Ding Dong in the UK. Finally, the showcase of the bike are the wheels with the powder coated drums, chrome spokes and gold rims, custom laced by Full Circle Racing in Snohomish. Photography credits go to Dan Lamont of Tatoosh Media.
The ride home up the coast was surprisingly comfortable with no much vibration making it to the rider, much more comfortable than the same trip I took on a CBR1000RR. As such I wanted to keep a similar riding position, so used a wide flat seat and high bars.
The stock bars are rubber mounted to the triple clamps to damp vibration but it makes the handling a bit vague. The rearsets put your feet below you instead of in front of you and the riding position is a little more aggressive but still comfortable.
The addition of the chambers and the porting make the bike a blast to ride when it’s on the pipe. I missed my 50th by a couple years but I’m happy with the result, and really enjoying having one of the few two-stokes on the road with a legitimate Grand Prix pedigree.
More Photos
Nicely done! Love the front brake, as that was about the nicest looking drum brake ever.
Very hep machine!
I always liked them .
I have a 71 T500 I’m going to bring back to the dead. Everything is there except the tank is rusted and done. Would love to get any info you may have scrounged up along the way. Feel free to e mail me at [email protected]. Where did you get those rear sets?
Love these old street bikes turned into race bikes
Jack Findlay also won the 1973 Isle Of Man Senior TT on the same bike, although by then all of the factory teams had shunned the IOM, but still a great win on what was basically a tuned street bike.
Literally (and subjectively!) the nicest-looking Suzuki 500 twin I’ve ever seen.
Brilliant effort!
Jack, as you say, a great racer in his day and led the way for future overseas successful Aussie racers, eg Gardiner, Doohan and Stoner. Thank you for building a bike that remembers Jack.
Thanks for the kind words everyone, very much appreciated!