My first serious race bike (
I can't count the Sherpa S as serious) was a yellow stripe genuine RT1MX I bought off touring car racer Pere Geohegan. Apparently he'd imported it into Australia in the boot of a Ford Mustang when both were brand new. I only raced it a couple of times before I bought my precious old 350 Maico but kept it for a while until I sold it to a mate. I agree with Vandy and Graeme the black tank RT1 is the goods in the looks department. The memory of that bike prompted me to build the 'Dt1 from Hell' (
christened that by Geoff Eldridge) in 1990 for vintage racing. GE had picked up a clean original '68 model so we decided to do a dual build for ADB, mine a racer and his a street legal full resto. While GE kept getting side tracked with other projects, I finished mine and raced the bike with mixed results, the best a second to Boagy in pre 70/250 at the 95 Nats and 2nd at the Cherabah Nats again to Boagy and his CZ sidepiper with Kevin Flood on board. This is the bike that ended my racing career when while practicing at Pacific Park the throttle stuck on sending me over a berm flat tap in 4th. I ended with 4 broken ribs, a broken collarbone, badly broken elbow and three broken fingers. Ironically, my crash happened the same day GE was killed in Nevada.
Eventually I came into possession of the unrestored GE DT1 and I restored it in his honour. Because the DT1 had a Warren Willing ported barrel that was like a light switch I had planned to fit an RT1 engine but the crash ended that dream. Now, 16 years later the engine is sitting in my under construction Cheney Yamaha which will hit the dirt sometime soon.
Below are some photos of the DT1 when it was first built. By the end of it's racing days it'd gained a Webco head, a politically incorrect Peter Reynolds fat pipe, 2"extended square section swingarm and gone on a diet of methanol. The frame modification are many including grafting front downtubes and steering head from an OSSA SDR, lowered the engine cradle 2", reduced the rake from 31 degrees to around 28 degrees, OSSA triple clamps and forks, Phantom dampers, OSSA front wheel (hopeless brakes), Yamaha MX250 back wheel, Boge shocks later replaced with Works Performance, NOS tank '69 model tank found in Melbourne, genuine rare as shite GYT alloy front guard, fibreglass replica rear.
The engine has a YZ250 A gearbox, YZ250A clutch, radically ported barrel by Warren Willing, Webco head, DT2MX,Peter Reynolds modded GYT head and ACK heads at different times, DT400 CDI with MX250 black box, GYT pipe at first then a Bassani then Peter Reynolds fatty pipe. I've got 2 RT1 engines #1 has mildly modded ports, RT2MX head, DT2MX gearbox, YZA clutch DT400 CDI ignition . Engine # 2 has a stock NOS GYT barrel, ACK head, DT2MX gearbox and clutch, PVL or DT400 ignition. I'm using a Pro-Form YZ360A pipe which fits the unique Cheney frame and airbox almost perfectly.
