Bridgestone EJR-2

The Bridgestone EJR-2 was a 50cc water-cooled twin-cylinder racing motorcycle built by the Bridgestone Cycle Company's factory race department in Japan in 1966, an improved development of the EJR-1 designed the year before. It was Bridgestone's attempt to compete in the 50cc Grand Prix class against Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, and its design drew on the experience of engineers who had come from Tohatsu's racing programme. The factory entered it for the 1966 Isle of Man TT, which was postponed by a seamen's strike, so three machines were instead tested at European circuits, Brands Hatch among them, and entered for the Dutch TT at Assen, where Tommy Robb, Jack Findlay and Isao Morishita were named as riders in one account. The sources differ on the finishing places and the exact line-up. They agree that the bikes were no match for the leading Suzuki twins, and the race team closed at the end of the 1966 season. At least two examples survive, a 1965 machine and a 1966 machine, on display at the Fuji Motor Museum in Japan.