1977 British motorcycle Grand Prix

1977 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 13 of 13 races in the; 1977 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	13–14 August 1977
Official name	John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility; 4.711 km (2.927 mi);
500 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Barry Sheene
Time	1:32.990
Fastest lap
Rider	Steve Parrish
Time	1:34.270
Podium
First	Pat Hennen
Second	Steve Baker
Third	Teuvo Länsivuori
350 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington
Time	1:35.770
Fastest lap
Rider	Kork Ballington
Time	1:36.060
Podium
First	Kork Ballington
Second	Olivier Chevallier
Third	John Williams
250 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Takazumi Katayama
Time	1:38.290
Fastest lap
Rider	Eric Saul
Time	1:38.270
Podium
First	Kork Ballington
Second	Aldo Nannini
Third	Eric Saul
125 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Harald Bartol
Time	1:45.650
Fastest lap
Rider	Eugenio Lazzarini
Time	1:44.780
Podium
First	Pierluigi Conforti
Second	Eugenio Lazzarini
Third	Jean-Louis Guignabodet
Sidecar (B2A)
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Rolf Biland
Time	1:39.860
Fastest lap
Rider	Werner Schwärzel
Time	1:57.180
Podium
First	Werner Schwärzel
Second	Rolf Steinhausen
Third	George O'Dell

The 1977 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the thirteenth and final round of the 1977 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 13–14 August 1977 at Silverstone Circuit.

1977 marked the beginning of a new era, as it was the first time the event was held on the British mainland after the Isle of Man TT had represented the United Kingdom on the FIM Grand Prix calendar for the previous 28 years since the championship's inception in 1949.^[5] Once the most prestigious race of the year, the Isle of Man TT had been increasingly boycotted by the top riders, and finally succumbed to pressure for increased safety in racing events.^[5] It was also the final grand prix for 15-time world champion Giacomo Agostini.

Steve Parrish retired from the lead after his teammate and close friend Barry Sheene famously wrote "gas it wanker" on a pitboard.^[6]

500cc classification[edit]

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	3	Pat Hennen	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	45'31.960	15
2	32	Steve Baker	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+41.590	12
3	2	Teuvo Länsivuori	Life Racing Team	Suzuki	+1'02.790	10
4	13	Gianfranco Bonera	Team Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	+1'22.960	8
5	35	Steve Wright		Suzuki	+1 lap	6
6	24	Alex George	Hermetite Racing International	Suzuki	+1 lap	5
7	28	Derek Chatterton		Suzuki	+1 lap	4
8	46	Max Wiener	MSC Rottenberg	Suzuki	+1 lap	3
9	10	Giacomo Agostini	Team API Marlboro	Yamaha	+1 lap	2
10	31	Kevin Wrettom		Suzuki	+1 lap	1
11	37	Helmut Kassner	Boeri Giudici Racing Team	Suzuki	+2 laps
12	42	Franz Meier		Yamaha	+2 laps
13	43	Odd Arne Lände		Suzuki	+2 laps
Ret	9	John Williams	Team Appleby Glade	Suzuki	Accident
Ret	24	Steve Parrish	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	Accident
Ret	41	Wil Hartog	Riemersma Racing	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	7	Barry Sheene	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Hervé Regout	Hervé Regout	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	15	Christian Estrosi	Marlboro Masche Total	Suzuki	Accident
Ret	42	Stuart Avant	Sid Griffiths Racing	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	49	Michel Rougerie		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Jean-Paul Boinet		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	11	Johnny Cecotto	Team Venemotos	Yamaha	Retired
Ret	18	Boet van Dulmen	Pullshaw	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	20	John Woodley		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	11	Warren Willing		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	George Fogarty		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	34	Leslie van Breda		Suzuki	Accident
Ret	??	John Weeden		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Steve Manship		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	20	Børge Nielsen		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Kaj Jensen		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	43	Franz Rau		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Kees van der Kruijs		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	6	John Newbold	Maurice Newbold	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	8	Jack Findlay	Hermetite Racing International	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Ron Haslam		Suzuki	Accident
Sources:^[7]^[2]^[8]

350 cc classification[edit]

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	11	Kork Ballington	Yamaha	28	45:32.10	1	15
2	9	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	28	+16.31	9	12
3	32	John Williams	Yamaha	28	+16.42	10	10
4	34	Eddie Roberts	Yamaha	28	+24.52	2	8
5	42	Alan Stewart	Yamaha	28	+29.55		6
6	28	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha	28	+38.19	8	5
7	29	Michel Frutschi	Yamaha	28	+54.84		4
8	44	Helmut Kassner	Yamaha	28	+1:03.90		3
9	49	Eero Hyvärinen	Yamaha	28	+1:08.19		2
10	33	Austin Hockley	Yamaha	28	+1:23.29		1
11	47	Alain Terras	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
12	5	John Dodds	Yamaha	27	+1 lap	14
13	24	Les van Breda	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
14	46	Graham Hobbs	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
15	12	Reino Eskelinen	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
16	40	Kaj Jensen	Yamaha	26	+2 laps
		Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha			3
		Tom Herron	Yamaha			4
		Christian Sarron	Yamaha			5
		Jon Ekerold	Yamaha			6
		Alan North	Yamaha			7
		Vic Soussan	Yamaha			11
		Patrick Pons	Yamaha			12
		Michel Rougerie	Yamaha			13
		Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha			15
		Giacomo Agostini	Yamaha			16
		Bernard Fau	Yamaha			17
		Víctor Palomo	Yamaha			18
		Chas Mortimer	Yamaha			19
		Ken Nemoto	Yamaha			20
46 starters in total
^[7]

250 cc classification[edit]

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	20	Kork Ballington	Yamaha	26	43:37.08	17	15
2	47	Aldo Nannini	Yamaha	26	+2.47	5	12
3	25	Eric Saul	Yamaha	26	+4.85	8	10
4	13	Franco Uncini	Harley-Davidson	26	+13.66	4	8
5	8	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	26	+13.66	7	6
6	21	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	26	+13.81	11	5
7	22	Guy Bertin	Yamaha	26	+22.20	12	4
8	36	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha	26	+24.42		3
9	1	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson	26	+26.32	15	2
10	23	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	26	+34.56	19	1
11	19	Eddie Roberts	Yamaha	26	+34.66
12	27	Michel Frutschi	Yamaha	26	+1:03.64
13	41	Alan Stewart	Yamaha	26	+1:03.82
14	16	Jean-Claude Meilland	Yamaha	26	+1:16.74
15	26	Denis Boulom	Yamaha	26	+1:37.21
16	34	Seppo Rossi	Yamaha	26	+1:37.21
17	39	John Weeden	Yamaha	26	+1:37.86
18	28	Ian Richards	Yamaha	25	+1 lap
19	45	Graham Hobbs	Yamaha	25	+1 lap
20	38	Warren Willing	Yamaha	25	+1 lap
21	4	Ron Kirkham	Yamaha	24	+2 laps
		Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha			1
		Tom Herron	Yamaha			2
		Mick Grant	Kawasaki			3
		Alan North	Yamaha			6
		Jon Ekerold	Yamaha			9
		Hans Müller	Yamaha			10
		Christian Sarron	Yamaha			13
		Bernard Fau	Yamaha			14
		Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha			16
		Barry Ditchburn	Kawasaki			18
48 starters in total
^[7]

125 cc classification[edit]

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	12	Pierluigi Conforti	Morbidelli	24	42:46.53	7	15
2	7	Eugenio Lazzarini	Morbidelli	24	+2.02	2	12
3	6	Jean-Louis Guignabodet	Morbidelli	24	+16.01	6	10
4	16	Hans Müller	Morbidelli	24	+28.89	4	8
5	8	Gert Bender	Bender	24	+33.46	11	6
6	9	Stefan Dörflinger	Morbidelli	24	+41.63	3	5
7	28	Thierry Noblesse	Morbidelli	24	+42.22	9	4
8	5	Anton Mang	Morbidelli	24	+42.58	12	3
9	34	Bengt Johansson	Morbidelli	24	+57.98	17	2
10	10	Julien van Zeebroeck	Motobécane	24	+1:00.76	13	1
11	15	Ermanno Giuliano	Morbidelli	24	+1:01.42	10
12	50	Patrick Plisson	Morbidelli	24	+1:08.48	8
13	17	Per-Edward Carlson	Morbidelli	24	+1:18.78	19
14	20	Laurent Gomis	Morbidelli	24	+1:32.59	16
15	26	Maurizio Massimiani	Morbidelli	24	+1:33.38	15
16	33	Enrico Cereda	Morbidelli	24	+1:40.19	18
17	3	Clive Horton	Maico	24	+1:40.40
18	18	Matti Kinnunen	Morbidelli	24	+1:41.46	20
19	32	Claude Wilette	Morbidelli	24	+1:41.93
20	38	Alfred Schmid	Morbidelli	24	+1:44.74
		Harald Bartol	Morbidelli			1
		Thierry Espié	Motobécane			5
		Sauro Pazzaglia	Morbidelli			14
41 starters in total, 28 finishers
^[7]

Sidecar classification[edit]

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	2	Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	Aro	27	53:53.94	2	15
2	1	Rolf Steinhausen	Wolfgang Kalauch	Busch-Yamaha	27	+39.90	10	12
3	8	George O'Dell	Cliff Holland	Windle-Yamaha	27	+1:25.25	3	10
4	17	Göte Brodin	Bengt Forsberg	Windle-Yamaha	27	+1:35.09	5	8
5	19	Jean-François Monnin	Edouard Weber	Seymaz-Yamaha	27	+1:51.05	11	6
6	18	Walter Ohrmann	Bernd Grube	Yamaha	26	+1 lap		5
7	33	Mick Boddice	Chas Birks	Yamaha	26	+1 lap		4
8	4	Rolf Biland	Kenny Williams	Schmid-Yamaha	26	+1 lap	1	3
9	6	Helmut Schilling	Rainer Gundel	Aro	26	+1 lap	9	2
10	27	Yvan Trolliet	Pierre Muller	Yamaha	26	+1 lap	12	1
11	11	Bruno Holzer	Don Williams	LCR-Yamaha	26	+1 lap	13
12	5	Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	Yamaha	26	+1 lap	15
13	12	Mac Hobson	Stu Collins	Suzuki	25	+2 laps	8
14	20	Jeff Gawley	Ken Birch	Fowler-Yamaha	25	+2 laps
15	7	Dick Greasley	Mick Skeels	Chell-Yamaha	24	+3 laps	6
		Hermann Schmid	Kenny Arthur	Schmid-Yamaha			4
		Alain Michel	Gérard Lecorre	Yamaha			7
		Cees Smit	Jan Smit	König			14
31 starters in total, 31 finishers
^[7]

References[edit]

^ "Alle Grand-Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden, van 1973 (het jaar dat Jack begon met racen) tot heden". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ ^a ^b "1977 British MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "1977 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ "Silverstone Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^ ^a ^b Noyes, Dennis; Scott, Michael (1999), Motocourse: 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix, Hazleton Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-874557-83-7
^ "Ten fascinating facts you didn't know about Barry Sheene". British GQ. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Carter, Chris (ed.). Motocourse 1977-1978. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 0-905138-04-X.
^ "BRITISH GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1977". Motogp.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

Previous race: 1977 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	FIM Grand Prix World Championship 1977 season	Next race: 1978 Venezuelan Grand Prix
Previous race: 1976 Isle of Man TT	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1978 British Grand Prix

[1] "Alle Grand-Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden, van 1973 (het jaar dat Jack begon met racen) tot heden". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

[motorsportmagazine.com-2] "1977 British MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

[3] "1977 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

[4] "Silverstone Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

[Motocourse:_50_Years_Of_Moto_Grand_Prix-5] Noyes, Dennis; Scott, Michael (1999), Motocourse: 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix, Hazleton Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-874557-83-7

[6] "Ten fascinating facts you didn't know about Barry Sheene". British GQ. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2023.

[motocourse-7] Carter, Chris (ed.). Motocourse 1977-1978. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 0-905138-04-X.

[8] "BRITISH GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1977". Motogp.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

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