Over the last few decades, motorsport has changed its image more than any other sport in the history of the world. Gone are the days of Barry Sheene and James Hunt smoking, shagging and swearing their way through life. Instead, to be at the top of the tree in just about any discipline of the sport today, you?ve got to be a gym-obsessed, clean-eating, media robot. Ok, the shagging probably still goes on, I?ll give you that. But what?s happened to the motorsport mavericks of yesteryear" And how come there?s only a slack handful of top racers today that dare say what they actually mean; rather than what they?ve been told to say by a smartly dressed PR person" What?s changed" 44Teeth investigates?

Remember the good old days" When beer was so many pence a pint, rather than so many pounds, and you could tell whether someone was a boy or a girl by the clothes they wore. Things were a lot different back then. Motorcycle racers weren?t jewellery wearing prima donnas with too much gel in their hair; they were warriors, battling for wins aboard machines that were constantly trying to kill them.
When the cigarette manufacturers were more than happy to pay their substantial salaries as long as they were winning races, it wouldn?t have even crossed the mind of a team manager, a sponsor or a press manager to ask a rider how long they?d spent in the gym that week. Or how the vegan diet is going. A photo of a top rider sat at a bar with a fag hanging out his mo...