Great thread!
I used to race RD's at the local track way back when.
I had a 74 rd350 as my daily and race prepped 350/400's.
Would love to find another one to bring back the memories, but they're like hens teeth these days and if you do find one, they want the moon for it.
On second thought, maybe another one wouldn't be a good idea. Truth was; I was better at building them than racing them. I was always a middle pack type racer.
One spectacular get off ended my racing "career. Was going into a turn in the pack and someone washed out my front wheel when they lost their line. Suddenly, I was looking at sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky (oh look there goes a piece of the bike), ground, sky, hey here comes my crotch again to hit me in the face) ground, sky, ground. I had stopped tumbling and every thing seemed to have stopped. Tried to plant my feet and nope, still sliding. Up and over I go and another face-plant in the grass.
Everyone watching thought I was dead. IN the end, I just got a bunch of bad bruises and strains/sprains. The bike? there was literally NOTHING salvageable on it. Frame destroyed, wheels racked, bodywork busted, trans case punched through, even the heads and barrels were broken.
that was really the end of racing for me......