Throwback Thursday: The Sound of Silence
Rennie Scaysbrook | October 21, 2021
Here’s a little throwback Thursday for you!
The 1986 500cc Austrian Grand Prix gets underway in front of a gigantic crowd nestled around the hills of the beautiful but daunting Salzburgring with a front row consisting of polesitter Eddie Lawson (2), Randy Mamola (6), Rob McElnea (9), Wayne Gardner (4) and Freddie Spencer (1). Behind them, you’ll find the likes of Mike Baldwin (11), Raymond Roche (7) and Sunji Yatsushiro (54). Lawson went on to win the race over Gardner and Mamola, in a season in which he won the second of his four World Championships.
Dead engine starting was the norm from the beginning of the world championship in 1949 until the end of 1986, with clutch starting taking over in 1987. The tension in these races was enhanced dramatically by the silence of these motors, right before they roared to life and the races, which often went for over an hour, got going.
MotoGP has certainly come a long way since then!
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