Tributes to the late Barry Sheene have been paid on what would have been his 70th birthday.
Thanks to Mortons Archive, we delve into Sheene’s biggest career defining moments with rare and previously unseen photographs of the two-time world champion.
Here are some of the best photos of Sheene in action.
Sheene and Kenny Roberts are two of motorcycling’s all-time greats.
They first raced against each other at Daytona in 1974 and over the next decade they met more than 100 times and on four continents. The biggest and most famous meeting of them all was the British Grand Pix at Silverstone in 1979.
Arguably the greatest Grand Prix of all time, Sheene and Roberts changed hands on several occasions but the latter ultimately won by just 0.03s.
In 1975, Sheene began the season is devastating fashion, breaking his left leg an ended it back on crutches after breaking his right knee.
Between those two disasters he delivered the goods on the RG500, winning the first two 500cc GPs of his career.
The steel pin Sheene had inserted in his left leg following his Daytona crash remained in place until December 1976. He said it was a pain in the a*** because its positioning meant he had to sit on it.
Nevertheless 1976 was a good year for Sheene. On July 25, 1976, Barry wrapped up his first 500cc world championship at Anderstorp in Sweden, after winning the race by 34 seconds from Australia’s Jack Findlay.
His second world title came the year after. With Suzuki for his fifth consecutive year, Sheene continued using his famous number seven. He ended the year as World Champion with six wins being taken in Venezuela, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and Sweden and, at the conclusion of the 11-round series, he was 27 points clear of runner-up Baker.
The lap record of 137.150mph Sheene set in winning the 1977 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps remains the fastest ever at a motorcycle Grand Prix and due to changes in track design it is highly unlikely that it will ever be bettered.
Spa was the scene of Barry Sheene’s first ever GP win in 1971 and he is pictured leading Roberts in 1978.
