BMW ISDT winning enduro racer 1980
The BMW factory has always had a semi-official interest in ISDT racing, but as a boost to the launch of the R80GS, a full works team was fielded for 1979 that earned its keep by dominating the unlimited class of the ISDT and the European Enduro Championships. A feat the marque repeated in 1980. Even as it did so, the writing was on the wall for the big BMWs. As ISDT events become increasingly closer to motocross events, the BMWs were at a disadvantage, particularly since the big-bore, two-stroke opposition was becoming more manageable and more competitive every year
The 1980 model pictured won the German and European enduro championships, plus the prestigious ISDT. The big, shaft driven, monoshock, 800cc beast, pumped out 50 bhp and apparently weighed just 132 kg, which is bit hard to believe, looking at all that steel.
It’s also worth noting that, at the time, the International Six Days Trial was still a reliability trial and it was a big deal to actually get a bike to the finish of the event. Something BMW’s marketing men were quick to seize on and utilised effectively to build the legend of the ultimate adventure machine, the R80GS
Often forgotten when considering BMW’s wins in the 1979 and 1980 ISDT events was the fact that, back then, the ISDT was organized according to capacity bands and the 500cc plus was, de facto, restricted to big, heavy four-strokes. It was this segregation of the bikes which also allowed the BMW to do so well.
Via Bike EXIF
Tags: 1970s, 1980s, Classic Racing Motorcycles, Offroad Bikes
A few people laughed when BMW first launched the GS, but it has proved hugely popular, selling over 500,000 units. Despite its weight, the GS is the bench-mark in big-bore off-road tourers – just ask Ewan and Charley!
Ducati is testing a GS-type model for release next year – surprised it took this long to jump on the bandwagon.
Will be interesting to see the new Duke. Yeah it seems strange that no one has really gone up against BMW except maybe KTM. Speaking of KTM I bet they are kicking themselves that the didnt hand out a couple of bikes to Charlie and Ewan. How many BMW’s must they have been sold on the back of the long way series?
I remember the scene early on in Long Way Around where Charley rips up the KTM posters after they declined to supply bikes for the trip(which I think was their first choice). I bet KTM has been ripping up a few posters themselves ever since! A lot of non-biking friends really got into LWR, bought the books, DVDs…and T-Shirt.
Here’s the video of Charley going off over KTM. It all starts at 5.00 mins in. “They think we might fail….” says Ewan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPfxk7x_HQU&feature=related