Surtees "prime mover" for China’s new GP challenge

Motor sport giant John Surtees M.B.E., the only man to have won both car and motorcycle World Championships, was a crucial prime mover and honoured guest at the launch of China’s first-ever purpose-built grand prix machine in Shanghai today.
The vehicle is a motorcycle, built for the competitive, classic and important 125cc Grand Prix class, and scheduled to race next year.
With a British chassis and an innovative European two-stroke engine, the all-new Maxtra GP 125 is a serious challenge to the existing European dominance. But it is a direct Chinese factory effort, by Haojue motorcycles, a leading Chinese manufacturer with staggering production figures. The company makes in excess of 3-million motorcycles each year, with major further growth under way.
Haojue chose the new brand name Maxtra as having greater international appeal, in line with future expansion plans. The company, which has a very close technical co-operation with Suzuki, already exports motorcycles to 70 Asian countries.
Seven-times World Motorcycle Champion and once Formula One Champion John Surtees was a founding member of what will start as a joint project with the Chinese factory. The intention is to integrate Chinese engineers, to develop a full factory race department.
At the launch, during the Chinese motorcycle Grand Prix, Surtees recalled his motorcycle racing days in the 1960s. “That was when the fledgling Japanese industry first came to world attention via GP racing. The Maxtra has many echoes of those times,” said Surtees.
A full house of international media covering the race as well as local press applauded as the pretty but purposeful new racer was shown for the first time.
“This is a very important day for the Chinese motorcycle industry, and for motorcycle racing,” said Simon Wei, managing director of Haojue Racing.
“This is just the start. We aim to become competitive with a three-year programme, and to extend our racing activities,” he continued.
The state-of-the-art prototype has an innovative downward-pointing cylinder, easing gas flow for the single-cylinder two-stroke engine. It was designed by Dutch engineer Jan Witteveen, winner of more than 40 world championships in off-road and GP racing. The compact chassis and wind-cheating bodywork are by foremost British racing manufacturer Harris Performance Products.
“The 125 class is very competitive, but our aim is to challenge for wins in the second year and the championship in the third,” said team consultant Garry Taylor, formerly the most experienced MotoGP team manager in the paddock.
“Bringing top racing technology to the new Chinese team will short-cut this process, giving the factory engineers a fast-track course in race engineering.”
The Maxtra 125 begins a programme of shake-down testing in Britain and Europe in the coming weeks and for the rest of 2008, in preparation for a full Grand Prix debut in 2009.