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Bultaco

By the beginning of 1958 Montesa was leading the Spanish motorcycle market. Lead by Francisco X. Bultó and Pedro Permanyer, the company was going through very good times, in terms of industry and sporting achievements. All of the factory’s production was sold in advance and its competition team won every race they participated in. Nevertheless, in April of that year, an apparently common meeting of the members of the Board of Directors was going to change the history of motorcycling forever. In that meeting, Permanyer and José Luis Milá announced to Bultó that they had decided to stop all sporting activities and focus on improving the commercial models. Their argument was that the great Italian and English motorcycle companies were also abandoning the sporting events and moreover that same year the spanish government was implementing The National Stabilization Plan (El Plan de Estabilización Nacional), which was very restrictive.

Bultó immediately recognised all this for what it really was: the decision of abandoning the competition, which taking into account the good economic situation of the company did not imply an excessive expense, was really an attack towards him, a way to annul the leadership that he undoubtedly had within the company. He could have vetoed the decision but he did not: the harm was already done and he thought that he would never again feel at ease in that company. A few days later he left the company and, contrary to what has been said by many, he did not have any interest whatsoever in creating a new company.

But Don Paco hadn´t considered the reaction that his leaving the company would have in the team of people that throughout the years he himself had created. That same week, a group of twelve faithful members of that team arranged a meeting with him in a restaurant in the outskirts of Barcelona, ready to leave Montesa and start a new and amazing adventure with him. That dinner. which took place on the 17th of May 1958 -which was also his birthday- was witness to the birth of the most legendary Spanish Motorcycle Company and brand of all times. When the time came to give a name to that new motorcycle company, Don Paco chose the telegraphic address which he used to communicate with his family whenever he travelled abroad: Bultaco.

In June of 1958 and after having dismissed themselves all together as one man from Montesa, the Bultaco founding group immediately settled in Mr. Bulto´s country house, San Antonio. At the same time that they organised a new factory they also started designing the first motorcycle. Their enthusiasm was such that the first prototype was ready after only four months. By the end of February the motorcycle was ready and on March 24, 1959 the Tralla 101, the first Bultaco motorcycle, was presented to the public.

Since that famous dinner in Can Castellví, less than a year had gone by, and it was a record time in those days. Some people in Montesa pointed out that the whole thing had been planned in advance and that the engine of the Tralla 101 was the consequence of some drawings that would have been taken from the factory, but neither one nor the other was true: an unlimited motivation had been the key to success. The way things unfolded may have been the origin of the formidable rivalry which has always existed between Bultaco and Montesa, a rivalry which F.X. Bultó never wanted but which undoubtedly made Spanish motor racing great.

In Bultaco, Don Paco was able to give meaning to his motto: “The market always follows the chequered flag”. Only three weeks after its public presentation the Tralla 101 took part in its first race in the legendary Barcelona circuit of Montjuïc and not only did Montesa not abandon the competition, but it took part in it with everything it had. It was a very tight race which was finally won by less than half the length of a tyre by Juan Elizalde in a Brío 91 against John Grace’s Tralla 101. Seven of the first ten positions in the race were for Bultaco and only a scarce tenth of a second prevented them from victory in this its first participation in competition. Afterwards, Bultó came to know that the Montesa driven by Elizalde did not follow regulations but this is another story...

Although in its competition debut Bultaco had been beaten by its most important competitor (Montesa), in its second participation the Tralla 101 did win, this initiating a series of sport achievements which made Bultaco the Spanish brand most prized in history. Soon a racing version of the Tralla was developed; this was the Tralla Sport and it was basically a preparation on the ordinary production models in which everything superfluous was taken away, a single seat was set up, along with a lower handle bar, and the characteristic features of the engine were improved. A spectacular and more powerful prototype was also prepared and with it on October 2nd 1960 Bultaco beat five long-distance World speed records in the circuit of Montlhery in France. The most outstanding thing about it all is the fact that two of these records fell in the corresponding category, but they also went on to beat two more records in 250 cc and another one in 350 cc!

Bultaco had been born with a clear aim in competition and the sporting achievements, most of all these by its official racing team -la Escudería Dos Tiempos (the Two Stroke team) formed by Paco González, John Grace, Marcelo Cama and Ricardo Quintanilla-, did nothing but give reason to the very motive of its existence. Yes, the Tralla Sport was a really good motorcycle but “El Jefe” (The Boss) -this was Don Paco fondly called– couldn’t resist the temptation of creating a true competition machine. It wasn’t about creating a sophisticated prototype but a “Races-Customer”, a motorcycle which could be bought by the public in general. This, from the starting point of the commercial model the Tralla Super Sport, the legendary TSS, was born. From the prologue in its comprehensive instructions manual it was clear that this was not a Grand Prix Motorcycle but that except in World Championship events it was always going to be a potentially winning machine. However, since the first moment and thanks most of all to its excellent stability, the TSS proved to be surprisingly efficient. In the factory, the department of Special Series was created as an independent division entirely devoted to the development and production of such motorcycles.

The list of top drivers who at one moment or another competed driving the TSS is really impressive and among them we find world champions like Ralph Bryans, Luigi Taveri, Barry Sheene and even the legendary Mike Hailwood.

There were a lot of foreign racing drivers who competed driving the TSS but none of them left a deeper impression in Bultaco as a shy boy from Sabadell, Ramón Torras, an exceptionally gifted driver and even better person for whom Don Paco had a special affection. In his own words Torras was the fastest driver he had ever known. John Grace, Bultaco’s official racing driver, took him under his wing but he soon acknowledged to Don Paco: “Boss, no one can follow this boy”.

Torras was unbeatable in Spain and he soon made a name for himself in the international arena. In more than one occasion he was able to defy with his modest TSS the official motorcycles which dominated the World Championship.

Ramón Torras should have been the first Spanish world champion. And Bultaco should have given him a motorcycle which was superior to the TSS since his loyalty to Bultaco prevented him from driving for some of the powerful foreign companies. But Torras died on May 30 1965 at a petty local race in Comarruga, Tarragona, while preparing the most important international race of that time: The Tourist Trophy of The Isle of Man. That year he was participating in the European rounds of the World Championship and at the moment he was holding the 3rd position after the official Yamahas of Phil Read (who was to win the Championship) and Mike Duff. In the 3rd event held in Montjuïc he was able to take the TSS to the second position, only beaten by Read. His loss was a tragedy that deeply affected the future of the competition department in Bultaco.

In 1965 the death of Ramón Torras, the most outstanding racing driver of Bultaco, was a hard blow to the enthusiasm with which the road racing competitions were lived in the factory. Nothing would ever be the same again. However, the TSS biggest successes were still about to come. On August 20th 1966 in The Grand Prix of The Ulster (Ireland) the New Zealander Ginger Molloy achieved for Bultaco the first victory of a Spanish brand in a World Championship event. And two years later in Montjuïc Salvador Cañellas was the first Spanish racing driver ever to win a Grand Prix, driving a TSS 125 cc. It was not enough: Bultaco had already decided to focus in the then emerging market of the off-road motorcycles.

The first TSS had been available for sale in 1961 -still maintaining a lot of features from the Tralla 101- and its production stopped in 1970 after a decade of countless achievements. The last versions, with water-refrigerated engines and six-speed gear boxes, represented the culmination of the Races-Customer concept which Bultaco took to its highest level.

But the history of the brand in road racing didn’t end along with the TSS. Bultaco was the road racing World Champion in 1976 and 1977 with Angel Nieto and in 1978 and 1981 with Ricardo Tormo. In a shared operation along with the Spanish Motor Racing Federation the Italian company Piovaticci was bought with the intention of giving Nieto a winning motorcycle. Paco Bultó didn’t agree with this operation partly because it was a project which had not been generated within Bultaco. In fact, he never considered the machine a real TSS. Nevertheless, these machines were really good and although they were truly competition prototypes some units were made for private drivers, this maintaining in some way the Races-Customer spirit of the original TSS. In the hands of two outstanding racing drivers such as Nieto and Tormo, they achieved for the brand the most important successes in the field of road racing. The last title won by Tormo was Bultaco’s last success, since the brand was already deep into the crisis which would lead to the end of the factory at the early ‘80s.

The first years in the life of Bultaco were ones of extraordinary activity and new models were produced in rapid succession. The Metralla came after the Tralla 101 and it was a worthy heir to the sport spirit which was present in the Bultaco factory. The second in the saga was the Metralla Mk2, a sports motorcycle which reached the top of the Spanish motorcycle production and gave an enormous international prestige to the brand. It was developed from the 200 cc Metralla 62 and it signalled the peak in Bultaco’s road motorcycle production. In 1966, the year of its release, its 5-speed gear box and 250 cc engine took it to reach a staggering speed of 160 kph, which made it the fastest 250 cc. in the world. Its stability matched the rest and its design, with its characteristic fuel tank featuring a flat inferior part, combined black and silvery grey in a seductive mixture of elegance and sport character.

Almost immediately Bultaco commercialised the so-called Kit America, which comprised a set of racing pieces (featuring windshield, fuel tank, racing seat, competition handlebars and a special tuning of the engine) which made it unbeatable in the production competition throughout the world. Driven by Tommy Robb and Bill Smith two Kit America Metrallas achieved in 1967 the first two positions in the production category in the legendary Tourist Trophy.

The first Bultaco of the Motocross kind was the Sherpa S, which was a very basic development of the road Tralla 101. With this motorcycle the Englishman Don Rickman, one of the best drivers of that time, won the International Motocross of Barcelona in 1960.

Rickman was impressed by the Sherpa S engine but not by its cycle part which was clearly inferior to that of the Metisse (which means half-bred in French) and which was the motorcycle he manufactured in his country alongside his brother Derek .Bultaco on its part wanted to introduce itself into that category, which had been the reason why Don Paco had brought the two brothers to compete in Barcelona in the first place, and the two parts closed a deal by which the Rickman brothers would set Bultaco engines in their Metisse and would sell them in England whereas Bultaco would produce them in Spain to sell them in the rest of the world. The deal didn’t last long, though, due to a problem with the material with which the frame was made: “Unless it is made with Reynolds tube it will not be a Metisse”. Don Paco didn’t like this demand made by the Rickman brothers and then decided to develop a completely new motorcycle which would be entirely a Bultaco.

When the time came to choose a name for it Don Paco didn’t hesitate: “Bultaco will not produce a half-bred motorcycle but a thoroughbred one!”. The Pursang (thoroughbred) Mk2, with its innovative silhouette, was the first of a saga which was to last until the factory closed down. The Mk15, the last Pursang, featured a revolutionary engine in which the brand had put its hopes for the future. It was a beautiful machine, which was never to be commercialised and with which Toni Elías beat the numerous Montesa army in the 1979 Spanish Championship. It was the last of the countless titles the Pursang won

The most beautiful story of the Pursang starred a racing driver who was just 20 years old on a Mk6 which was all but an ordinary production motorcycle. During the winter of 1973 John Grace, who was the head of the Bultaco branch in the USA, sent over a young signed driver to participate in the motocross World Championship. This driver had completed a brilliant racing season in his country and Grace repeatedly said to Don Paco: “You will like him, boss. Moreover, I have signed him on for a couple of t-shirts…”. After completing the pre-season in the demanding Belgian circuits, he came back to Spain in the springtime to participate in the first event of the World Championship. And when he achieved the best timing results in the qualifying rounds everyone thought that a mistake in the timing had been made. The race began, and he got to the first bend alongside the rest of the group but when the first lap had been completed he was already leading the race, this making the crowd who filled the legendary circuit of El Vallés near Barcelona mad with joy. This unknown racing driver was Jim Pomeroy, who encouraged by the cheers of the supporters, widened the gap that separated him from the rest of the drivers and didn’t look back until he had crossed the finishing line.

This achievement earned him several records: he was the youngest driver ever to win a World Championship event and he was also the first ever to win it in his first race. He was also the first American winner and he was giving Bultaco its first victory ever in a motocross Grand Prix.

In time, the American drivers have come to dominate this specialty but Jim Pomeroy and his Pursang was the first of them all.

In 1962 (let’s bear in mind that Bultaco had been founded only four years before, in 1958) Oriol Puig Bultó and Juan Soler Bultó took part in a trial event near Paris for the first time, under the strict supervision of their uncle, Don Paco. With a couple of Tralla 101 machines specifically modified (once more) for the event, they went there basically to discover a little bit more about that arising speciality.

In 1963 Puig Bultó took part in The Scottish Six Days Trial event with a more developed prototype. His motorcycle caught the eye of the master Sammy Miller, who asked to try it and by doing so was surprised by its lightness and the quickness of the engine. Little did the unbeatable Irishman know then that only a year later he would find himself in Mr. Bultó’s country house, San Antonio, developing what would turn out to be the most famous trial motorcycle of all times. Throughout two intense weeks, the schedule was this: during the day a group of technical designers carried out multiple tests personally led by F.X. Bultó; and during the nights another group of technical designers carried out the required alterations for the tests that would take place the following day. It was an intense and passionately done work which ended when the light Spanish “Two-Stroke” proved to be superior in all aspects to the famous Ariel with which Miller had obtained 500 victories.

In 1965 Sammy Miller won The Scottish Six Days Trial event for the sixth time but this time on a Bultaco Sherpa T. It was the first time that a motorcycle which was not English had won the historical event since its creation in 1902 and it meant the beginning of a revolution of which Bultaco would be the star until the factory closed. From that first 1964 Sherpa T, with its characteristic radial cylinder head to the one driven by the American Bernie Schreiber in the 1979 World Championship, Bultaco was unbeatable. For as long as the factory remained in business it won all the existent World Championships and before that it won most of the European Championships. It won seven victories in The Scottish Six Days trial event and dominated the diverse national championships in Britain, France, etc. In Spain, Ignacio Bultó, Fernando Muñoz, Manuel Soler and Toni Gorgot monopolised the Spanish Championship for eleven years on their Sherpa T motorcycles.

The last great work conceived by Bultaco was The Streaker, a little sports machine which, following in the style of the brand, was outstanding in its stability. Its revolutionary multi tubular frame was a pioneer in a concept which, with the passing of time, became standard: the direct link between the axis of the swing rear arm and that of the steer. Nowadays, all the highly developed motorcycles, even the Moto GP ones, use this structural design.

Two versions of it were made: the first one, painted in black and riveted in a golden colour (similar to the F1 Lotus John Player Car) appeared in 1977; and two years later a second version was released in which the most outstanding feature was the Primary Gear Transmission -which had a very characteristic sound to it- and its decoration in white this time like the machines that Nieto and Tormo were driving in the Road Racing World Championship. With this motorcycle, a true object of desire for the teenagers of that time, Bultaco organised The Streaker Cup in 1979. It was a promotional championship where some of the best racing drivers Spain has ever had made their debut. Let’s only mention the fact that the first three qualified drivers in The Streaker Cup were the then unknown racing drivers Sito Pons (who became World Champion in two different occasions), Jorge Martínez Aspar (four times World Champion) and Carlos Cardús (Second in the World Championship).