Rotax’s first venture into Grand Prix engine manufacture was at the behest of Terry Wilson. Wilson owned Cotton and wanted to go racing, so commissioned the Austrian company to build a 250cc v-twin two-stroke race engine. The resulting machine was raced by Ron Haslam at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, and although only one of its type was ever made, proved sufficiently promising for Rotax to undertake volume production of a 250cc race motor. The v-twin layout however, was abandoned in favour of a tandem twin, a layout already proven by Kawasaki. Designed by Hans Holzleitner and introduced in 1980, Rotax’s Type 256 engine was taken up by an entire ‘cottage industry’ of independent race-bike manufacturers and provided Aprilia with the means to go Grand Prix racing. Constructed originally with a Nico Bakker frame, this Rotax-engined machine is believed to have been raced first by the Austrian Grand Prix rider August Auinger and then by Günther Flach, who rebuilt it around the current Harris chassis. Bought from a Viennese motorcycle dealer and cosmetically tidied, the engine being left untouched, it has been on display in the Museum for many years. The machine is offered with (copy) magazine article about Auiger.
Rotax’s first venture into Grand Prix engine manufacture was at the behest of Terry Wilson. Wilson owned Cotton and wanted to go racing, so commissioned the Austrian company to build a 250cc v-twin two-stroke race engine. The resulting machine was raced by Ron Haslam at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, and although only one of its type was ever made, proved sufficiently promising for Rotax to undertake volume production of a 250cc race motor. The v-twin layout however, was abandoned in favour of a tandem twin, a layout already proven by Kawasaki. Designed by Hans Holzleitner and introduced in 1980, Rotax’s Type 256 engine was taken up by an entire ‘cottage industry’ of independent race-bike manufacturers and provided Aprilia with the means to go Grand Prix racing. Constructed originally with a Nico Bakker frame, this Rotax-engined machine is believed to have been raced first by the Austrian Grand Prix rider August Auinger and then by Günther Flach, who rebuilt it around the current Harris chassis. Bought from a Viennese motorcycle dealer and cosmetically tidied, the engine being left untouched, it has been on display in the Museum for many years. The machine is offered with (copy) magazine article about Auiger.
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