03 Feb RIP Robbie Adams
The final chequered flag has come down for a champion racer, with the passing on Saturday 31 January of 1972 WP Motorcycle Champion Robbie Adams, at the age of 81, after a long illness.
Robbie was a talented engineer, having qualified as a motor mechanic at Robb Motors in the late 1950s, and brought that expertise to bear when he began racing in the early 1960s, riding a modified BSA Gold Star road bike.
It wasn’t until the great Japanese invasion of the middle Sixties, however, that he came into his own, winning the Western Province title in 1972 on a Honda CB750 four that he prepared himself.
After that there was no stopping Robbie: the Honda was eventually bored out to more than 900cc and fitted with a variety of experimental modifications. These included, at one stage, a big Weber carburettor from a car – which worked well on the straights but not in the corners, because car carburettors are not designed to work when leaned over!
He even tried running the bike with a turbocharger – long before the Big Four built turbocharged models!
Robbie continued racing throughout the 1970s; the lower image shows him at Killarney in 1974.
In later years Robbie joined the Cape Town Traffic Department as a driving licence examiner, before entering a well-earned retirement.
His passing leaves a hole in the fabric of motorsport at Killarney that can only be partially filled by good memories and old photographs; our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Yvonne, son Ryan and daughter Michelle in this difficult time.
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