![]() No Briton played a greater yet more fleeting role than Bernie Ecclestone, who was brought in (with some trepidation) by IRTA to lead the wrangle over TV rights. The Nogaro circuit was way below standard, for all sorts of reasons ranging from safety to hygiene.īut the joint influence remained an important factor, and they mostly backed one another up, applying pressure to an increasingly beleaguered FIM on issues including TV rights. One major event was a walkout by leading riders at the French GP of 1982. He had started as riders’ representative in the early 1980s. Trimby was probably the single most important of the above because he stayed in the same position throughout. The FIM won that battle but made important concessions along the same lines … it was the start of establishing a new order. Until then only a handful of top riders made decent money: the World Series would turn the prospects of mid-field runners from an expensive hobby to a commercial possibility. This came close to wresting control from the FIM, the dreaded “blue-blazer brigade”, offering not just safer circuits but most importantly a distribution of earnings. Kenny, along with Barry Sheene, had been a leader of the proposed breakaway World Series of the early 1980s. IT wasn’t only the British: among prominent American and Australian riders and engineers, the stand-out was former triple champion Kenny Roberts, by now a team owner. ![]() The trio were key to the foundation of IRTA (International Racing Teams Association), a massively influential power group that, under Trimby’s control, not only organised grand prix racing to become a successful commercial entity, but most importantly led a revolution in both rider safety and rider pay. ![]() This left just one of an important triumvirate – former Team Roberts manager and later race director Paul Butler, now retired and resident on the Isle of Man. Taylor had run the team from the 1980s until 2004, encompassing world championships for Kevin Schwantz and Kenny Roberts Junior, and an era when motorcycle racing grew up.įive months earlier, on the eve of the San Marino GP, IRTA secretary general Mike Trimby died suddenly at dinner with members of his predominately British IRTA staff. Most recently, late in January, legendary Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor succumbed to the effects of a long illness. It was not always so, and two deaths in the past 12 months are reminders of a time when Dorna’s involvement was in its infancy, and when Englishmen and anglophone allies were the greatest influence and played the major part in creating the modern racing landscape.
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