The famous and rare Quantel Cosworth raced by Paul Lewis to second place in the 1986 Daytona AMA Battle of the Twins race (Greg Sickmeier photo)
A first in a series of photos from the Greg Sickmeier Collection. This is the famous and rare Quantel Cosworth raced by Paul Lewis in the 1986 Daytona AMA Battle of the Twins race. It one of the surprisingly frequent times that a BOTT motorcycle created the most buzz at Bike Week.
The Quantel Cosworth dripped with what seemed state-of-the-art technology, but the power plant was actually a 1973 Cosworth-designed motor commissioned by Norton in a last-ditch effort to save the failing British brand. The machine languished for years until revived by former World Champion John Surtees. The fuel-injected, liquid-cooled Twin was essentially two cylinders from the famous Cosworth auto racing engine.
Lewis was runner-up to Cagiva/Ducati rider Marco Lucchinelli at Daytona that year. Lewis had a controversial run in with AMA BOTT Champ Jimmy Adamo, which resulted in Adamo crashing on Daytona’s Tri-Oval at over 160 mph late in the race, while the two were battling over second.
The Quantel Cosworth returned to win the 1988 Daytona Pro Twins(BOTT) race with Brit Roger Marshall at the controls.