NEWS
DUNLOP TO PILOT TEAM CLASSIC SUZUKI 750 SRAD
Team Classic Suzuki and 21-time Isle of Man TT Race winner Michael Dunlop have confirmed that they will continue their long-standing association for an assault on the RST Classic Superbike Race at the 2022 Manx Grand Prix, using a Suzuki GSX-R750 SRAD for the first time.
Embracing a change in regulations that have seen the classic superbikes change from pre-1993 to pre-1997 machinery, Steve Wheatman’s Team Classic Suzuki have taken on the challenge of racing an unproven machine.
Built around a former factory endurance racer, the 1996 SRAD features a host of unobtainable and exotic parts, including a factory dry slipper-clutch, a lightweight generator, a magnesium offset sump, close ratio six-speed gearbox, and a factory Yoshimura exhaust system.
Dunlop, who has won the Superbike class at the Classic TT on three previous occasions with Team Classic Suzuki’s XR69s, tested the bike at the Cartagena circuit in Spain earlier this year.
Alongside Dunlop, Team Classic Suzuki will also support Phil Crowe, who will be campaigning one of the team’s XR69 machines.
Steve Wheatman, owner of Team Classic Suzuki said: “We’ve worked with Michael for a long time and have an excellent working relationship. We know what he is capable of, and I think he knows our commitment to giving him a bike he can win on around the Mountain Course. After much success with the XR69 it was time to move onto something new, and the SRAD not only gives us a new challenge, being that bit more modern it obviously has a racing advantage of the old F1 bike. But, practical and competitive benefits aside, it’s also one of the most iconic superbikes of all time, and it defined a generation of superbike fans. We’re just as excited as they will be to see a GSX-R750 SRAD race around the Isle of Man again.”
Raced by the likes of James Whitham and John Reynolds in World Superbikes and Chris Walker in BSB, the GSX-R750 SRAD epitomises 1990s sportsbike-obsessed Britain, in part thanks to its bulbous seat unit and now-iconic silhouette. The ‘Gixxer’ became an incredibly frequent sight at bike meets up and down the country.
The Team Classic Suzuki SRAD livery is inspired by the Lucky Strike-sponsored endurance bike it began life as, a livery more commonly associated with the RGV500s ridden by likes of Kevin Schwantz in Grand Prix.
