The boys who invented the future

The idea was to deal with the Suzuki RG500 XR27 starring in the 1979 British GP – yes, there was a show at Silverstone even before MotoGP landed there – but then the scenery changed: it spontaneously transformed and evolved, so an old story became incredibly relevant today.

Yes, a fitting affair for this period, namely the start of the 2023 season that marks a major change in the format of the premier class. The plan was to celebrate in our own style the 20-year anniversary of the death of Barry Sheene-celebrating it in his way, well, that’s out of our reach-but this early part of 2023 also falls on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy of Jarno Saarinen (and Renzo Pasolini, which we’ll deal with separately, though, in a moment). What to do, then? Indeed, how to do it?

The challenge was to bring something new to old stories. The undertaking seemed to us to be very hard, considering the vastness of literature: everything and more has been said, written, shown about these characters (the ocean of the web is filled with everything, between true and other verisimilar things).

Since we obviously cannot change the course of historical events, we have tried to re-study history to look for new elements to make reflections. Here, it is in this area that we decided to insert ourselves.

We changed the point of observation: instead of looking at them as individual stories (as has always been done) we told how they were connected and how their careers intersected. So did their lives. At that point, of course, the third main character emerged, whose name is Kenny Roberts (and like the other two, he doesn’t need to be introduced). Because it is obvious: if you mention Barry Sheene, the thought goes to Kenny Roberts; if you mention Roberts, the connection goes to Jarno Saarinen; if you think of Saarinen, there Roberts and Sheene pop up again.

It was like putting drops of mercury next to each other: as soon as our characters approached each other, they joined spontaneously. Exactly as they had done when they were kids half a century ago.

So we rewound the tape: we decided to see Barry Sheene through the eyes of Kenny Roberts, but at the same time we studied Jarno Saarinen through the eyes of the other two. That’s why Volume #20 became a book.

They are many stories, but together they form one. And what a story!

One travels through an extraordinary decade-the psychedelic 1970s-not only in search of excitement but mostly in search of explanation. Because those three guys did more than their job: they adapted to the spirit of the times, and so while the whole world was changing, they turned the world of motorcycling upside down. Jarno Saarinen, Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts (citing them in order of their appearance on the world stage) were the guys who were needed in that period there: visionary and rebellious people.

This decade was traversed by winds that fueled an extraordinary energy. The 1970s was the decade characterized by an explosion of creativity so powerful that it expressed timeless symbols and icons: from music to film, from design to fashion. Free radios arrive, Ska and Reggae mix with Punk and Rock, record covers (the real ones, on vinyl) become-are works of art for collectors. Hollywood makes people dream with Star Wars, scares them with Jaws, moves them to tears by cheering for Rocky, while with Saturday Night Fever it drives kids to the disco. And then The Godfather comes out.

And then comes the Sony Walkman, the daddy of the iPod, which changes the way you listen to music: you are free to do so by walking around.

Here again, then, is that sense of freedom and change that characterized the youth of that decade. This vibrancy changed motorcycling as well, producing (among others) our three resounding characters: a born hippie with annihilating talent (Jarno Saarinen, from Finland), a rugged cowboy with rebellion in his blood (Kenny Roberts, from San Francisco), and a likeable, over-the-top English eccentric (Barry Sheene, from London). Together, they brought together such a wealth of talent that in the span of a single decade (the 1970s) they invented the future.

“Speed” as we see it today also originates from insights, from studies, By the rebellion, of those three boys. They invented, then inspired others to invent. They have taken care of everything from riding technique (you know the knee to the ground and the body shifting?) to clothing protection (soap bars!), from the evolution of engines (2Ts wiped out the old 4Ts) to frames (monoshock and aluminum, say anything?), through to tracks and conditions for rider safety (you rode with death at your side, so you succumbed with an ease that makes you cringe), also evolving communication and changing the image of the motorcycle racer.

Here, this is the story we tell in Volume#20: well-known and lesser-known events emerge, but they all become study material for those who want to understand how and why we arrived at today’s MotoGP.

A story like this probably had not yet been told. It sounds like a movie script. In fact, of a book. After all, things in life often take on the connotations of the novel.

In fact, Volume#20 is a bit more book-like than usual, since a story like this should be told this way: the book way. Without being trite, but by discovering and explaining. And in the whirlwind of such inspiring, it is nice to think that those three characters were after all in search of an author (Pirandello’s copyright here).