The 1973 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 25th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
Season summary MV Agusta factory rider Phil Read won the first 500 Class World Championship of his career, denying his teammate, Giacomo Agostini, a chance at an eighth consecutive title. Read's victory made him the first competitor to win world championships in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc classes, a feat only matched by Valentino Rossi. However the season was marred by the deaths of Jarno Saarinen and Renzo Pasolini at the 250 cc Nations Grand Prix held at Monza. Saarinen had won the 250 cc World Championship by one point over Pasolini and their deaths shocked the motorcycle racing community. The 500cc title runner-up, Kim Newcombe, also died while competing in a non-championship race at Silverstone late in the year. 1973 marked the first year that most of the top competitors joined Agostini in boycotting the Isle of Man TT event over safety concerns.
For the first time in years, MV Agusta's dominance of the 500 Class faced a strong challenge in 1973 from the Yamaha factory team. The Yamaha team fielded riders Jarno Saarinen and Hideo Kanaya aboard their new four-cylinder, two-stroke Yamaha YZR500 motorcycle. The MV Agusta team produced the new four cylinder MV Agusta 500 Four for Agostini and Read. Eric Offenstadt continued to campaign a Kawasaki H1R modified with a monocoque chassis of his own design. Suzuki supported rider Jack Findlay racing a Suzuki TR500. Kim Newcombe developed a motorcycle of his own design using a two-stroke outboard motor designed by Dieter König. Numerous privateer racers chose to compete using the Yamaha TZ350 motorcycle bored out to 352cc to make them legal for the 500cc class.
Saarinen demonstrated the new Yamaha's potential with victories in France and Austria to start the 1973 season. Agostini crashed in France while pursuing Saarinen and had to withdraw with mechanical issues in Austria. Read scored his first victory of the year at the third round in West Germany when Saarinen's drive chain broke while he was challenging Read for the lead. Yamaha and Saarinen were leading the World Championship when an accident at the 1973 Nations Grand Prix claimed the lives of Saarinen and Pasolini. The loss of Saarinen caused Yamaha to withdraw their team from the World Championship out of respect for their fallen rider.
Most of the top contenders joined in Giacomo Agostini's boycott of the fifth round at the Isle of Man TT over safety conditions. Agostini's absence allowed 38-year-old Jack Findlay to win the first Isle of Man Senior TT of his career after 15 previous attempts. Against a field of more powerful, twin cylinder motorcycles, Peter Williams rode an obsolete, single cylinder Matchless G50 to an impressive second place behind Findlay. In the wake of the Monza tragedy, the MV Agusta, Suzuki and Harley-Davidson teams chose to sit out the Yugoslavian Grand Prix over safety conditions at the Opatija Circuit. Kim Newcombe won the Yugoslavian Grand Prix against a reduced field of competitors.
Agostini's mechanical issues along with the cancellation of the 500cc Nations Grand Prix after Saarinen's death and the subsequent boycotts of the Isle of Man TT and the Yugoslavian Grand Prix over unsafe conditions, meant that he did not score any points in the first seven races of the season. Meanwhile, his MV Agusta teammate Read proved to be less than willing to play a subordinate role to Agostini by scoring points at every opportunity, including a victory in Sweden where he relegated Agostini to second place.
Agostini took three victories in the final five races of the season; however, he was unable to overcome his early-season points deficit which allowed Read to claim his first 500 Class World Championship. Read's victory also marked the first time that a World Championship had been won by a motorcycle equipped with disc brakes. Newcombe finished the season strongly to climb to second place in the final championship points standings, five points ahead of Agostini in third place. Newcombe's result marked the third time in four years that a New Zealand rider finished second in the premier class – Ginger Molloy in , Keith Turner in and Newcombe in 1973.
In the 350cc class, Agostini was able to win his sixth consecutive World Championship although he was no longer as dominant as in previous years. Yamaha introduced the Yamaha TZ350 which in subsequent seasons would become the dominant machine in the 350 class. Yamaha rider Teuvo Länsivuori used the new motorcycle to relegate Agostini to second place with victories in Czechoslovakia and Sweden. In the wake of the death of early championship points leader, Saarinen, Yamaha privateer Dieter Braun won the 250 cc World Championship ahead of Länsivuori.
Kent Andersson gave Yamaha another title in the 125cc class while, 38-year-old Tommy Robb (Yamaha) won the 1973 Ultra-Lightweight TT, marking the first TT victory of his career which began at the 1958 Isle of Man TT. After the Derbi factory withdrew from World Championships in 1972, Jan de Vries (Kreidler) dominated the 50cc class.
Monza tragedy
When the Grand Prix season arrived at the Monza Circuit for the fourth round of the World Championship, Saarinen led both the 250 and 500 classes. The Monza Circuit, first opened in 1922, was fast and lined with steel barriers which left no room for error for motorcycle racers. The steel guardrails lining the circuit were installed as a result of demands by automobile racers following an accident which occurred during the 1961 Italian Grand Prix when racing driver Wolfgang von Trips and 15 spectators were killed. Most automobile racers believed steel barriers would improve safety for the racers and spectators, but they had the opposite effect for motorcyclists. When he arrived at Monza, Saarinen had complained about the guardrails, but no action was taken. Despite the installation of two new chicanes for cars during the previous year's Formula One season (placed before the Curva Grande and at Vialone) they were not used for motorcycle racing at Monza.
On the first lap of the 250cc race, tragedy struck when the second-placed rider, Pasolini's motorcycle lurched sideways and crashed into the guardrail, killing him instantly. Pasolini's motorcycle then bounced back onto the circuit and struck Saarinen on his head. The impact knocked off his helmet and he subsequently was hit by another motorbike sustaining fatal injuries. The crash caused a chain reaction accident in which more than 14 riders were involved including; Hideo Kanaya, Walter Villa, Victor Palomo, Fosco Giansanti, Börje Jansson and Chas Mortimer with several of them suffering serious injuries. The race was stopped and the following 500cc race was cancelled in the aftermath of the accident.
Over the years, the cause of the accident was the subject to significant controversy. The original cause of the crash was attributed to a thin layer of motor oil left on the track during the 350cc race when Walter Villa's Benelli began smoking and leaking oil on the penultimate lap. Race officials failed to clean the track prior to the 250cc race, and one rider, John Dodds, made his concerns known to authorities, only to meet with threats of ejection from the circuit by police. However, some articles have appeared showing photos of Pasolini's bike consistent with engine seizure, locking the rear wheel and causing the crash. Further the official inquiry into the accident, issued in September 1973 found that the cause of the accident was the seizure of the engine in the motorcycle of Renzo Pasolini.
The tragedy at Monza was a shock to the motorcycle racing community. Two of the sports best riders had been lost and the factory racing teams of Suzuki, MV Agusta, Harley Davidson, and Yamaha joined to demand safer conditions at race tracks. One month after the Nations Grand Prix, race teams took a stand and boycotted the Yugoslavian Grand Prix held at the Opatija street circuit due to dangerous track conditions.
The death of Gilberto Parlotti at the 1972 Isle of Man TT and the deaths of Saarinen and Pasolini in 1973 highlighted the need for improved safety standards for motorcycle racers. At the time, many motorcycle Grand Prix races were still being held on street circuits with hazards such as telephone poles and railroad crossings. Dedicated race tracks of the time were also dangerous for motorcycle racers due to the steel Armco trackside barriers preferred by car racers. Tensions over safety issues continued to simmer throughout the 1970s between the Grand Prix racers, race organizers and the FIM, as riders showed their increasing dissatisfaction with the safety standards and the way races were organized by boycotting several Grand Prix races.
1973 Grand Prix season calendar Round Date Race Location 50cc winner 125cc winner 250cc winner 350cc winner 500cc winner Report1 22 April French Grand Prix Paul Ricard Kent Andersson Jarno Saarinen Giacomo Agostini Jarno Saarinen Report2 6 May Austrian Grand Prix Salzburgring Kent Andersson Jarno Saarinen János Drapál Jarno Saarinen Report3 13 May West German Grand Prix Hockenheimring Theo Timmer Kent Andersson Jarno Saarinen Teuvo Länsivuori Phil Read Report4 20 May Nations Grand Prix Monza Jan de Vries Kent Andersson Race cancelledThe 250cc race was stopped, following an accident on the first lap that resulted in the deaths of Jarno Saarinen and Renzo Pasolini. The race meeting was ultimately cancelled. Giacomo Agostini Race cancelled Report5 8 June Isle of Man TT Snaefell Mountain Tommy Robb Charlie Williams Tony Rutter Jack Findlay Report6 17 June Yugoslavian Grand Prix Opatija Jan de Vries Kent Andersson Dieter Braun János Drapál Kim Newcombe Report7 23 June Dutch TT Assen Bruno Kneubühler Eugenio Lazzarini Dieter Braun Giacomo Agostini Phil Read Report8 1 July Belgian Grand Prix Spa Jan de Vries Jos Schurgers Teuvo Länsivuori Giacomo Agostini Report9 15 July Czechoslovak Grand Prix Brno Otello Buscherini Dieter Braun Teuvo Länsivuori Giacomo Agostini Report10 21 July Swedish Grand Prix Anderstorp Jan de Vries Börje Jansson Dieter Braun Teuvo Länsivuori Phil Read Report11 29 July Finnish Grand Prix Imatra Otello Buscherini Teuvo Länsivuori Giacomo Agostini Giacomo Agostini Report12 23 September Spanish Grand Prix Jarama Jan de Vries Chas Mortimer John Dodds Adu Celso Phil Read ReportSources:
Footnotes
Final standings
Scoring system Points were awarded to the top ten finishers in each race. Only the best of five results were counted in the Sidecars championship, while only the best of four results were counted in the 50cc championship. The best of seven results were counted in the 125cc championship while only the top six results were counted in the 250cc, 350cc and 500cc championships.
(key)
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
500cc final standings