Three E27 Wire Wheelers at Mansfield

Kiwialfa

Kiwialfa

Carl Coleman has just joined a forum I'm a part of and posted this pic, his explanation follows.

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"In New Zealand, the premier production racing class back in the 1970s-1990s was the "The Open Class Production Championship". The No1 team which South Pacific Suzuki Distributors Ltd (referred to as "Coleman Suzuki" by most people) supported was the Wellington Motorcycle Centre Race Team. The riders of the team were David (Dave) Hiscock, Neville (Nev) Hiscock, Robert Holden and Bob Toomey. The photograph shows Dave Hiscock #1 leading, with Bob Toomey #4 and Robert Holden #3 in hot pursuit. All three are riding GSX1100SXZ-E27s. The circuit is Manfeild, located in New Zealand's North Island. The 1981/82 NZ Open Class Production Championship was won by Dave Hiscock riding a GSX1100SXZ-E27, easily beating the Honda CB1100RBs. By memory, GSX1100SXZ-E27 riders won all races during the championship. Again, by memory, it was Suzuki's sixth consecutive year of winning the NZ Open Class Production Championship - in order - GS750B, GS1000EC, GS1000EN, GSX1100ET, GSX1100T, GSX1100SXZ. Very much to the annoyance of Honda and Kawasaki, who tried to win with Honda CB900F, CBX1000 and CB1100R, and Kawasaki with Z1000 and GPZ900R. SUZUKI beat them all."
 
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Hey Pete, what Carl has been sharing in the SXZ FB group has been fascinating and answers a lot of questions like why NZ for the hot rod SXZ? And in essence it was due to the personal and business relationship between the Coleman family and the Suzuki family. In a post Carl shared a personal letter of condolence from Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Suzuki Motor Corporation from 1978 - 2021, on the passing of Carl's dad, Rod Coleman in 2019. In 1952, Rod Coleman finished fourth in both the 350cc and 500cc world championships, and then in 1954 had a career-high third place finish in 350cc while coming fifth in 500cc riding for AJS. In 1954 he won the IoM Junior TT on a 350 AJS 7R, New Zealand's first IoM TT winner.

It seems that Coleman's NZ was one of the first to sign a distribution deal with Suzuki Motor Corporation in 1959. There were two others that made up the initial international sales network, one from Australia and one from France/Belgium. At the 1960 or 61 IoM TT, NZ rider Hugh Anderson's bike blew up terminally in practice, which was a bit of a problem as he was relying on winning and using the prize money from the TT and subsequent races to get home to NZ. Percy Coleman, Carl's grandfather, upon hearing of Anderson's plight purchased a brand new 7R and had it delivered to Hugh's lodgings, much to his surprise and delight.

Rod Coleman also convinced Suzuki to give a works ride to Hugh Anderson in the 50cc and 125cc class for the world championships. Hugh won in Argentina in 1962, and delivered Suzuki it's first Grand Prix Constructors titles in 1963, in both 50 and 125 classes. To quote from Osamu Suzuki's condolence letter some 56 years later, "But we will never forget your father's exclusive and incessant support and attention was always behind Anderson's successful career and that is what made our dreams come true in motorcycle racing." Wow!

Later Rod also convinced Suzuki GB to give a fella called Graeme Crosby a test ride on the GS1000R XR69, even though directors of Suzuki GB were adamant they wanted a GB rider for the F1 program, going on to win the World Championship in 1980 and 1981. The early 80's also saw Suzuki motorcycle new registrations outstrip Honda for the number 1 spot in New Zealand. Another first for Suzuki.

So little wonder when Rod asked for a 'production' bike to beat the Honda CB1100R in NZ domestic racing, the GSX1100-SXZ-E27 was delivered.
 
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Wow that’s some history! Sounds like Rod Coleman’s a bit of a legend too!
 
Hi Drillit, I've posted and asked Carl. In his first post he did say "... I will provide some information on how the SXZ-E27 came to being produced, plus it's predecessors, the GSX1100T-E27 and GSX1100X-E27" So stand by.
 
drillit said:
Hi Darryl,
Awesome ta.
Can you also please ask about the GSX black pipers?
Click to expand...
"The Black Pipers (produced in two batches: 1980 5 x GSX1100T and 1981 20 x GSX1100X) had the same camshafts, carburetors, clutch, wire spoke wheels and exhaust modifications as the later SXZs. The BPs did not have the braided brake hoses, nor the GS1100GZ front brake calipers of the SXZs, as the GS1100GZ had not yet entered production. At another time I will post the activities which led up to the production of the GSX1100T and GSX1100X."
 
I never heard of alu tanks and adjustable engine mounts on the BPs, and I'm sure Carl would have mentioned this if they existed. The SXZ-E27 don't have this. The E27s were homologation specials for production racing and the modifications are about adding a little more power (cams, carbs, pipes, clutch and airbox), grip (wider rims) and later some more braking (calipers and lines). They had enough of an advantage to win, but not enough to make everyone else look silly. I would think if they were too far from stock, the ACU may have raised the number required to be available for sale for homologation. The rules changed from 5 units to 20 units sold for 1981.
 
The alu tanks would have been ex-Japan but ovalised engine mounts may have been locally developed.....
 
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