Factory works race machines demonstrate the very best manufacturers have to offer, and this 1968 Kawasaki A1R is no exception. This example is one of two factory team specials built by Kawa and was piloted by AMA Hall of Fame inductee Ralph White at the Loudon National. This bike is NOT a production road racer and only has a three-digit serial number on the engine and frame instead of the five-digit stamp on the production models. This tangible piece of history is part of Kawasaki’s story of two-stroke dominance in the 1960’s, and is just a really special and beautiful machine.
The story starts back in May of 1966 when Team Green launched its new 250cc “Samurai” road-goer. The Samurai was successful right off the bat which led Kawi to develop a track version of the air-cooled disc valve two-stroke two-wheeler. By December of that same year, the A1R was unveiled just in time for the ’67 race season. Many elements of the race-spec A1R were similar to the Samurai – including a near identical frame – though the factory race machine had a heavily massaged power-plant with special lightweight cylinders, a close-ratio gearbox and outboard Mikuni carbs with remote flat chambers which allowed the fuel/air mixture to be made richer during acceleration and thinner when slowing as to avoid plug fouling when the throttle was opened when standing the bike back up upon corner exit. The A1-R wasn’t the fastest or most powerful machine on the grid, but its superb handing and braking allowed its pilots to keep up with other racers like Yamaha’s TD1.
In 1967, Englishman Dave Simmonds managed to pilot the A1R to one spot shy of the podium at the Lightweight TT – finishing in 10th overall for the season. Supposedly about a dozen A1R machines – reportedly priced at £618 ($832) a pop which translates to about $5,600 in today’s money – were imported into the UK for competition use. Kawasaki realized the marketing potential its race program could offer in the US and UK and poured ample resources into its factory race department. The quarter-liter A1R was also taken and bored out to 338cc resulting in the A7R, but that’s a different story for a another time. In 1969 Kawa would give the A1R a major overhaul that included the addition of a new frame, forks, and a myriad of internals to make the little twin more durable (dry clutch, straight cut primary gears, larger big end bearings, and forged pistons) in an effort to combat Yamaha’s impressive race machines of the era. Bigger 30mm Mikuni carbs were also added.
Unfortunately, all the big marques became more interested in larger displacement racers and 250 development took a back seat to projects like Kawasaki’s legendary 500cc triple based upon the H1 roadster. The A1R still boasted an extra 12 ponies over the standard A1 machine thanks to dual expansion chambers and forced lubrication. The A1R would go on to experience decent success, taking second at the All-Japan Championship, as well as second and third at the ’67 Singapore GP.
This A1R is powered by an air-cooled 247cc disc-valve two-stroke twin that made between 40 and 43hp at 9,500rpm and 25ft-lbs of torque at 8,250rpm, resulting in the 240 lb racer having a top-speed of 135 mph. Wrapped around the Kawa twin was a steel tubular chassis damped up front by 32mm telescopic forks and twin shocks in back. The A1R also had a five-speed wet-clutch transmission with chain final drive, 200mm 4-leading shoe drum brakes up front and 180mm SLS drum unit in back. There are a number of key differences between the A1R and the regular A1 such as having wider alloy rims, a special fork with bigger stanchions, special side covers, and of course the specially tuned engine. This classic Kawa factory works racer can run in AHRMA events in the Sportsman 250 class too.
This exact example was ridden by AMA hall of famer Ralph White who in 1963 would win the Daytona 200. White was a factory rider for Harley, Kawasaki, Matchless, and Yamaha. White’s father was a Naval reservist and was stationed in Hawaii during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. There’s a pretty fascinating first person account from Ralph White on his AMA Hall of Fame page. This Kawa racer was also piloted at an unspecified Heidelberg National event by Walt Fulton III – son of AMA Hall of Fame inductee and road racer Walt Fulton Jr. who played an important role in helping Honda and Suzuki get established in America.
This 1968 Kawasaki is said to be 100% original and is still wearing its factory paint digs. In addition to the charm brought on by this examples awesome patina, this bike still has an AFM tech inspection sticker, and the seller has additional records and documents to go along with the sale. As you may have guessed, this Kawa isn’t gonna come cheap, but factory works racers never do.
You can find this 1968 Kawasaki Factory Works A1R racer for sale here on Craigslist in Berkeley, California with a price of $24,000.