Kelvin Carruthers (born 3 January 1938) is an Australian former professional Motorcycle racer and racing team manager. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1966 to 1970, and in AMA road racing competitions from 1971 to 1973. Carruthers is prominent for winning the 1969 250cc World Championship. After his motorcycle riding career, he became race team manager for world championship winning riders Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson. In 2016 he was inducted into the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

Motorcycle racing career Carruthers, as the son of a motorcycle shop owner, learned how to work on bikes from a young age, started riding at 10, and entered his first race at 12. By the early 1960s he had won the Australian 125 cc, 250 cc, 350 cc and 500 cc National Championships.

In early , Carruthers moved to Europe with his family to compete in British and International short-circuit races,Motor Cycle 13 December 1964, p.45 Still on form. "As a final warm-up for his forthcoming European race debut, Australian star Kelvin Carruthers won four races on his two-fifty Honda four at the Victorian Grand Prix". Accessed 24 May 2014 including Grand Prix World Championship events riding a Drixton Aermacchi,Motor Cyclist Illustrated, May 1968 pp.10, 12 Accessed 24 May 2014 and for early 1969 season riding bikes for the Aermacchi factory. Halfway through the season, he was offered a ride with the Benelli factory and won the Isle of Man 250 cc TT race. After the Isle of Man TT, Aermacchi released him from their contract to continue as a factory rider with Benelli and, he went on to win the 1969 FIM 250cc road racing world championship after a tight points battle with Santiago Herrero and Kent Andersson.

After the Grand Prix season, he accepted an offer from Yamaha to race in America. By the 1973 season, Carruthers had taken on a wide array of responsibilities for the Yamaha team besides racing motorcycles. He had also become team manager, crew chief, as well as a rider coach for his younger Yamaha teammates, Kenny Roberts, Don Castro and Gary Fisher.

For the 1973 Daytona 200, Carruthers was responsible for preparing road racing machines for the entire Yamaha team, including the 250cc bikes to be run in the lightweight race. The Yamaha factory also asked him to prepare a motorcycle for the 250cc World Champion, Jarno Saarinen. Despite having such a full workload, Carruthers was able to place second to Saarinen in the Daytona 200, marking his best result in the race, which at the time was considered one of the most prestigious motorcycle races in the world.

Carruthers stopped racing after the 1973 season to concentrate fully on his role as team manager and racing mentor for Roberts, who would win the 1973 and 1974 Grand National Championship for Yamaha. When it became apparent that Yamaha didn't have a motorcycle capable of competing with the dominant Harley Davidson dirt track team, they decided to send Carruthers and Roberts to Europe to compete in the road racing world championships. With Carruthers tuning the bikes and offering guidance, Roberts went on to win three consecutive world championships in , , and . Carruthers also managed Eddie Lawson to a 500cc World Championship in .

Carruthers went on to work for several Grand Prix teams through to . In 1996, he took a job with the Sea-Doo watercraft factory racing team, helping them win several national and world titles. He returned to motorcycling in 1998 running a Yamaha satellite motocross team.

In 1985, Carruthers was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results Source:Kel Carruthers Isle of Man TT results. Iomtt.com. Retrieved on 14 July 2014.

Points system from 1950 to 1968: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1969 onwards: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins 1966 125cc Honda ESP- GER- NED- DDR- CZE- FIN8 ULS8 IOM12 NAT7 JPN- 0 – 0 350cc Norton GER- FRA- NED- DDR- CZE- FIN4 ULS- IOMNC NAT- JPN- 3 18th 0 500cc Norton GER- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- IOM11 NAT- 0 – 01967 125cc Honda ESP- GER- FRA- IOM5 NED- DDR- CZE- FIN5 ULS4 NAT7 CAN- JPN- 7 8th 0 250cc Suzuki ESP- GER- FRA- IOM12 NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- CAN- JPN- 0 – 0 350cc Aermacchi GER5 IOM10 NED6 DDR4 CZE- ULS4 NAT- JPN- 9 7th 0 500cc Norton GER- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- ULS- NAT- JPN- 0 – 01968 125cc Honda GER6 ESP- IOM3 NED- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS6 NAT- 6 10th 0 250cc Aermacchi GER- ESP- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- 0 – 0 350cc Aermacchi GER3 IOMNC NED- DDR3 CZE4 ULS2 NAT- 17 3rd 0 500cc Norton GER- ESP- IOM6 NED5 BEL5 DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS6 NAT6 7 11th 01969 125cc Aermacchi ESP6 GER10 FRA- IOM2 NED- BEL- DDR- CZE9 FIN- NAT- YUG- 20 10th 0 250cc Benelli ESP- GER- FRA- IOM1 NED2 BEL3 DDR5 CZE3 FIN4 ULS1 NAT2 YUG1 89 1st 3 350cc Aermacchi ESP2 GER6 IOMNC NED7 DDR7 CZE7 FIN- ULS- NAT- YUG- 29 7th 0 500cc Aermacchi ESP- GER8 FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- YUG- 3 44th 01970 250cc Yamaha GER1 FRANC YUG- IOM1 NED- BEL2 DDR- CZE1 FIN- ULS1 NAT2 ESP- 84 2nd 4 350cc Yamaha GER2 YUG2 IOMNC NED4 DDR3 CZE4 FIN4 ULS- NAT- ESP- 28 2nd 0

References

Bibliography

External links

Kel Carruthers Interview at superbikeplanet.com