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What is Golden?
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For the author, Formula One in the early ’70s represented a Golden Era, when nearly half of the grid had the capability to win. Here, Niki Lauda, in a Ferrari, leads the pack away from the start of the 1974 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Photo: Pete Lyons
Fast Lines

What is Golden?

 Pete Lyons

While indulging one of my secret vices the other day – watching motorcycle racing on TV – I started thinking about something a commentator mentioned. This is the last year of 2-stroke engines in the Grand Prix bikes. Next season they start using 4-strokes.

Not that anyone asked me, but it’s a move I applaud. It’s a matter of aural aesthetics: something in me has never liked listening to “ring-dings.” I just love the eerie howl that comes out of a proper big, complicated, finely-machined amalgamation of cams and valves. So I’ll tune in to the bike GPs even more eagerly next year.

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Pete Lyons
Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.
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