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In celebration of 75 years of Formula One competition, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has embarked on its most ambitious automotive project to date, the meticulous recreation of Lotus Type 49 chassis No. 1.
One of the most important racing machines of all time, the Type 49/R1 was an extraordinary collaboration between four of the greatest minds in F1 history: Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Team Lotus, and Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth of Cosworth.
Barber has commissioned Classic Team Lotus, headed by Chapman’s son, Clive, to recreate the Type 49/R1 using the original design drawings and incorporating period components for a fitting 60th-anniversary celebration of this visionary machine.
“This isn’t a restoration, it’s a resurrection of one of the greatest racing machines ever built, guided by the very hands that carry on Colin Chapman’s legacy,” said George Barber, founder of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Lotus #ColinChapman #FormulaOne
Jun 12
In celebration of 75 years of Formula One competition, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has embarked on its most ambitious automotive project to date, the meticulous recreation of Lotus Type 49 chassis No. 1.
One of the most important racing machines of all time, the Type 49/R1 was an extraordinary collaboration between four of the greatest minds in F1 history: Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Team Lotus, and Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth of Cosworth.
Barber has commissioned Classic Team Lotus, headed by Chapman’s son, Clive, to recreate the Type 49/R1 using the original design drawings and incorporating period components for a fitting 60th-anniversary celebration of this visionary machine.
“This isn’t a restoration, it’s a resurrection of one of the greatest racing machines ever built, guided by the very hands that carry on Colin Chapman’s legacy,” said George Barber, founder of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #Lotus #ColinChapman #FormulaOne
Hey, we’re on TV! The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is featured prominently in the debut episode of “Generation Speed: MotoAmerica’s Road To MotoGP,” a 10-part documentary produced by the Wayne Rainey-led national road-racing championship.
According to MotoAmerica, the series will take viewers behind the scenes as up-and-coming Talent Cup racers embark on a path to greatness. Team Roberts entry Kody Kopp and his father, Joe, are interviewed at the museum, as is team principal Kenny Roberts.
Three-time 500cc GP world champ Rainey sat for the camera in the Barber Advanced Design Center. “We thought there was a real lack of young racers coming up into the MotoGP category,” he says, recalling a decade-old conversation with his partners.
Highlights from “Superbikes at Barber,” the second round of the Talent Cup held at Barber Motorsports Park, are sprinkled throughout the program, previewing the challenges this international field of riders, aged 14 to 21, will face this season.
Both Roberts and eldest son Kenny Jr. now call Birmingham home and often visit the museum, where their world-beating 500cc GP bikes, along with decades of priceless family racing memorabilia, are part of the permanent collection.
Photos by Joe Avila
https://youtu.be/Q5qN46PhY8M?si=wC0wavNere7nxoWV
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #MotoAmerica
Jun 9
Hey, we’re on TV! The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is featured prominently in the debut episode of “Generation Speed: MotoAmerica’s Road To MotoGP,” a 10-part documentary produced by the Wayne Rainey-led national road-racing championship.
According to MotoAmerica, the series will take viewers behind the scenes as up-and-coming Talent Cup racers embark on a path to greatness. Team Roberts entry Kody Kopp and his father, Joe, are interviewed at the museum, as is team principal Kenny Roberts.
Three-time 500cc GP world champ Rainey sat for the camera in the Barber Advanced Design Center. “We thought there was a real lack of young racers coming up into the MotoGP category,” he says, recalling a decade-old conversation with his partners.
Highlights from “Superbikes at Barber,” the second round of the Talent Cup held at Barber Motorsports Park, are sprinkled throughout the program, previewing the challenges this international field of riders, aged 14 to 21, will face this season.
Both Roberts and eldest son Kenny Jr. now call Birmingham home and often visit the museum, where their world-beating 500cc GP bikes, along with decades of priceless family racing memorabilia, are part of the permanent collection.
Photos by Joe Avila
https://youtu.be/Q5qN46PhY8M?si=wC0wavNere7nxoWV
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #MotoAmerica
Come one, come all: Have you purchased tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival, October 3-5? Legendary racer, tuner, and team owner Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for this year’s 20th anniversary event.
The genial octogenarian, whose many achievements under the “Fast by Ferracci” banner are well-represented in the museum, remains an integral member of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati team competing in the MotoAmerica series.
Reminder: Children 15 years of age and under receive free entry to the Barber Vintage Festival when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
https://www.barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival/
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #EraldoFerracci #FastByFerracci #BarberVintageFestival
Jun 3
Come one, come all: Have you purchased tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival, October 3-5? Legendary racer, tuner, and team owner Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for this year’s 20th anniversary event.
The genial octogenarian, whose many achievements under the “Fast by Ferracci” banner are well-represented in the museum, remains an integral member of the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati team competing in the MotoAmerica series.
Reminder: Children 15 years of age and under receive free entry to the Barber Vintage Festival when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
https://www.barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival/
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #EraldoFerracci #FastByFerracci #BarberVintageFestival
Membership: What’s in it for you? By supporting the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, you help continue our dedication to the exhibition, history, interpretation, and preservation of motorcycles, vintage vehicles, and motorsports.
Benefits include admission to the museum and discounts on additional admissions, access to seminars and the online video archive, discounts on merchandise in the gift store, and a digital copy of the quarterly Vintage Insider News.
Membership further affords discounted hospitality packages at specific ticketed events. Plus, up to four times per year, you will be able to purchase Porsche hot laps around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course.
#BarberMuseum #membership #motorcycle #Porsche
May 29
Membership: What’s in it for you? By supporting the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, you help continue our dedication to the exhibition, history, interpretation, and preservation of motorcycles, vintage vehicles, and motorsports.
Benefits include admission to the museum and discounts on additional admissions, access to seminars and the online video archive, discounts on merchandise in the gift store, and a digital copy of the quarterly Vintage Insider News.
Membership further affords discounted hospitality packages at specific ticketed events. Plus, up to four times per year, you will be able to purchase Porsche hot laps around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course.
#BarberMuseum #membership #motorcycle #Porsche
Was life better—or perhaps, even easier—in our glorious youth? Psychologists call this “rosy retrospection,” a phenomenon in which the memories of days gone by seem more wonderful than actual reality. Motorcycle competition can be like this, too, the cherished recollections of emerging on top of a hard-fought podium battle all but erasing more common tip overs or mechanical failures.
Not so Kenny Roberts Jr.’s reacquaintance this past April with the Team Roberts KR211V that he raced in the 2006 FIM MotoGP World Championship. “That bike wants to be on the track,” he confirmed after five laps of the Barber Motorsports Park road course on the Honda-powered machine. “With the abundance of power, it’s so much fun to ride. The bike is exactly as I remembered it.”
Scoring podium finishes in Spain and Portugal, Roberts Jr. finished sixth overall in the final points standings, six years after winning the 500cc GP crown. The bike is now part of the museum’s permanent collection, along with his father’s title-winning 1980 Yamaha YZR500 and his own 2000 Suzuki RGV500, as well as the two-stroke, three-cylinder Modenas KR3 that he campaigned during the 1998 season.
Photos by Joe Avila
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #Honda #MotoGP #MotoAmerica
May 27
Was life better—or perhaps, even easier—in our glorious youth? Psychologists call this “rosy retrospection,” a phenomenon in which the memories of days gone by seem more wonderful than actual reality. Motorcycle competition can be like this, too, the cherished recollections of emerging on top of a hard-fought podium battle all but erasing more common tip overs or mechanical failures.
Not so Kenny Roberts Jr.’s reacquaintance this past April with the Team Roberts KR211V that he raced in the 2006 FIM MotoGP World Championship. “That bike wants to be on the track,” he confirmed after five laps of the Barber Motorsports Park road course on the Honda-powered machine. “With the abundance of power, it’s so much fun to ride. The bike is exactly as I remembered it.”
Scoring podium finishes in Spain and Portugal, Roberts Jr. finished sixth overall in the final points standings, six years after winning the 500cc GP crown. The bike is now part of the museum’s permanent collection, along with his father’s title-winning 1980 Yamaha YZR500 and his own 2000 Suzuki RGV500, as well as the two-stroke, three-cylinder Modenas KR3 that he campaigned during the 1998 season.
Photos by Joe Avila
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #KennyRoberts #Honda #MotoGP #MotoAmerica
Please note: The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum will be closed on Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day. The museum will reopen to the public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #MemorialDay
May 25
Please note: The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum will be closed on Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day. The museum will reopen to the public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27.
#BarberMuseum #BarberMotorsportsPark #MemorialDay
In recognition of a lifetime of exceptional contributions to motorcycling as a racer, an engineer, and a team owner, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is delighted to announce that Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for the 20th annual Barber Vintage Festival, Friday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 5.
Barber has a special relationship with Ferracci. With 1991 AMA Pro Twins GP2 champ Stephen Mathews at the controls, the Barber’s Dairy Race Team won three AHRMA titles on a Fast by Ferracci Ducati, as well as the 1993 WERA Unlimited Twins Expert National Championship. Mathews’ winning 888 Corsa is part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Details for this year’s Barber Vintage Festival will be finalized in the coming weeks. Attendees can expect unique fan experiences, including BMW Motorrad Days Americas, Isle of Triumph, demo rides and new-product unveils, plus gravity-defying stunt shows, a kids’ zone, live music, and more crowd favorites, such as the “Wall of Death.”
Friday’s evening’s exclusive annual “Motorcycles by Moonlight” charity fundraiser, with its wine tastings, five-course meal, and live auction in the museum’s “Grand Atrium,” is once again expected to sell out. Charity funds raised will be earmarked for the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum education programs led by Dr. Liz Johnson.
Tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival are available for purchase at
barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival.
#motorcycling #Ferracci #AMA #AHRMA #Ducati #WERA #BMWMotorrad #BarberVintageFest
May 23
In recognition of a lifetime of exceptional contributions to motorcycling as a racer, an engineer, and a team owner, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is delighted to announce that Eraldo Ferracci will serve as grand marshal for the 20th annual Barber Vintage Festival, Friday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 5.
Barber has a special relationship with Ferracci. With 1991 AMA Pro Twins GP2 champ Stephen Mathews at the controls, the Barber’s Dairy Race Team won three AHRMA titles on a Fast by Ferracci Ducati, as well as the 1993 WERA Unlimited Twins Expert National Championship. Mathews’ winning 888 Corsa is part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Details for this year’s Barber Vintage Festival will be finalized in the coming weeks. Attendees can expect unique fan experiences, including BMW Motorrad Days Americas, Isle of Triumph, demo rides and new-product unveils, plus gravity-defying stunt shows, a kids’ zone, live music, and more crowd favorites, such as the “Wall of Death.”
Friday’s evening’s exclusive annual “Motorcycles by Moonlight” charity fundraiser, with its wine tastings, five-course meal, and live auction in the museum’s “Grand Atrium,” is once again expected to sell out. Charity funds raised will be earmarked for the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum education programs led by Dr. Liz Johnson.
Tickets for the 2025 Barber Vintage Festival are available for purchase at
barbermuseum.org/barber-vintage-festival.
#motorcycling #Ferracci #AMA #AHRMA #Ducati #WERA #BMWMotorrad #BarberVintageFest
Time to get duded up for the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride this Sunday May 18th. Once again, the starting point will be @barbermuseum for the annual ride that raises funds for men’s health worldwide.
Beginning at 10 am, riders can register for Parade Laps on the world-famous Barber racecourse for an additional $15 per motorcycle, limited to 150. All riders need to be registered by 10:30 am for the Parade Laps starting at 11 am. All proceeds go to #DGR2025.
#GentlemansRide #DGR2025 #RideDapper #SideBySideWorldwide
May 16
Time to get duded up for the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride this Sunday May 18th. Once again, the starting point will be @barbermuseum for the annual ride that raises funds for men’s health worldwide.
Beginning at 10 am, riders can register for Parade Laps on the world-famous Barber racecourse for an additional $15 per motorcycle, limited to 150. All riders need to be registered by 10:30 am for the Parade Laps starting at 11 am. All proceeds go to #DGR2025.
#GentlemansRide #DGR2025 #RideDapper #SideBySideWorldwide