I made a photo set of the very rare G-54, the precursor to the iconic XR14 and RG500 machines that went on to take Suzuki and Barry Sheene to world championship glory. The G-54 concept was born in May 1973, five years after Suzuki withdrew from Grand Prix racing following regulation changes by the F.I.M. But, after competing in the smaller 50cc, 125cc, and 250cc classes, Suzuki had decided to make a return, this time in the premier 500cc class.
The G-54 was inspired by RZ63 250 four-cylinder, nicknamed ‘The Whispering Death’. This nickname explains why the model was already withdrawn from competition in 1965 without a single title to its name, dogged by unreliability and with a tendency to seize at high speed without warning. The new 500cc bike – where G denoted Grand Prix use only and 54, strangely, stood for 1974 – was designed and built under the stewardship of Makoto Hase and Makoto Suzuki.
Barry Sheene got his first taste of the machine in November 1973, but to help keep the weight down the G-54 employed an open cradle chassis with no lower chassis rails beneath the engine. However, despite finishing second in its first ever Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand in April with Sheene aboard, by June the chassis had been replaced with a conventional double cradle design because without the lower rails the chassis was too flexible. It also had a two stroke oil pump. It was raced by Sheene, Paul Smart, and Jack Findlay that year. For more pics see