Motorsport rebels: their non-conformity made them legends

Obedience has never been a prerequisite for achieving immortality in motor racing. On the contrary: some of the industry’s most influential figures built their careers precisely by refusing to conform. They boycotted race tracks, provoked officials or preferred to build their own motorbikes rather than submit to a manufacturer – and were loved by the fans for it.

If I want to see road bikes, I’ll go to Trafalgar Square

Barry Sheene on superbikes

Barry Sheene, two-time 500cc world champion in 1976 and 1977 on a Suzuki, was a playboy, superstar and rebel all rolled into one. The Brit rebelled against the establishment and made headlines not only in the saddle. After his first appearance, he refused to take part in any further Tourist Trophy races because he considered the 60.8 km Mountain Course on the Isle of Man to be outdated – die-hard TT fans held this refusal against him for a long time. In 1976, he also skipped the World Championship round on the 22.8 km Nordschleife at the Nürburgring because he had already secured the title. Following the 1977 Salzburgring Grand Prix, at which the Swiss rider Hans Stadelmann was killed in a crash, Sheene publicly campaigned for larger run-off areas, rescue helicopters and improved safety – against the opposition of FIM officials.

Valentino Rossi (li.) und Barry Sheene 1997

Foto: gold & goose

Sheene had no time for the four-stroke superbikes, which were becoming increasingly popular in Britain. “If I want to see road bikes, I’ll go to Trafalgar Square,” he quipped. In the end, the rebel got his way: in 1977, the Grand Prix moved from the Isle of Man to Silverstone – without Sheene’s persistent refusal, the dangerous circuit would probably have remained on the calendar for years to come.

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Marco Simoncelli: “Sbatti i coglioni”

Marco Simoncelli, the 2008 250cc World Champion on a Gilera, was also unyielding. The Italian had adopted the rather unusual expression ‘sbatti i coglioni’ – roughly meaning ‘I couldn’t care less’ – as his motto in life. A non-conformist, a rebel, a daredevil, a fighter – his charisma rivalled that of Valentino Rossi. His irreverent riding style and his feuds with his Spanish rivals during the 250cc era were notorious; he had a public row with Jorge Lorenzo ahead of the 2011 Portuguese Grand Prix. When Dorna rescheduled the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and many in the paddock were afraid of radiation, Simoncelli provocatively had his photograph taken in the pit lane holding a Geiger counter.

The Italian’s death at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang moved the motorcycling world more deeply than any racing accident had since Ayrton Senna’s in 1994. The number 58 has not been allocated in the MotoGP class since then, and the Grand Prix circuit in Misano bears his name.

Kenny Roberts: “I was always ahead of my time”

Kenny Roberts Senior demonstrated that rebellion in motorsport doesn’t just happen on the track. The three-time 500cc World Champion (1978, 1979, 1980) parted ways with Yamaha on bad terms in 1996 after 20 years. “There are some people at Yamaha I wouldn’t even piss on if they were on fire,” Roberts stated bluntly. Rather than submit to a factory team, he built his own GP machines: first the 500cc three-cylinder Modenas, funded by the Malaysian manufacturer Modenas, and later the Proton-KR with a V5 engine. The small-scale operation stood no chance against the Japanese manufacturers and Ducati – yet in 2002 in Australia, Jeremy McWilliams secured the last-ever 500cc pole position in history on the V3 Modenas, beating the then-new 990cc four-stroke bikes.

Kenny Roberts senior 2019

Foto: gold & goose

“I was fed up with always singing the same old tune,” said Roberts, explaining his split with Yamaha. “I can’t sleep any more, so I’m going to change that.” To this day, he has no regrets about his costly experiment: “Perhaps I wanted to change certain things in my life too soon. I’ve always done that. I was always ahead of my time.”