legend. Famously when staff at Nobles Hospital were reluctant to discharge him in time to go home with the other Suzuki staff, Ito jumped out of the window and cut the plaster cast off his leg with garden shears.Ito was still with the team when the German Ernst Degner arrived, bringing valuable experience with high-performance two-strokes with him; and all the riders beneffitted as Suzuki perfected this technology. The company’s first GP win came in 1962; then in 1963 Ito became the first and still the only Japanese TT winner, in the 50cc class.Until his retirement in 1967, Ito took another 12 podium placings on the little 50cc jewel, including another win, at the 1967 Japanese GP.Later, he would regale the Suzuki grand prix team with tales of those early racing years. Long-time 500cc and MotoGP team manager Garry Taylor remembers it well.“Ito-San could tell a great story!“Once on the Isle of Man, during early morning practice, having been led astray the previous evening with typical island hospitality, he needed to take a leak break. He parked the machine carefully and was about to do the necessary when a lady marshal ran up to him concerned at his welfare. With at that time no English and being rather desperate he undid his leathers and relieved the pressure, all the time exclaiming: ‘So sorry, so sorry’“He crashed at Spa one year and came to in the local hospital. Looking up he was surrounded by nuns wearing huge white winged head-dresses. He was convinced that he had died, and these were angels come to take him to heaven. It was only when a grumpy Belgian male doctor came to see what all the shouting was about that he calmed down.“Hearing him tell those stories was always hysterical. He was always the boss, but in the bar with the crew we all loved him, and spending time in his company.”After Suzuki left grand prix racing after 1968, he stayed with the race department as they came to prominence in the USA, was largely instrumental in designing and developing the Ryuyo test track and involved also in the development of the forthcoming square-four RG500 – the pivotal XR14.This bike would come to dominate the premier class, winning every constructor championship from 1976 to 1982, and championships for Sheene, Marco Lucchinelli and Franco Uncini.Ito was a familiar and deceptively avuncular figure to denizens of the GP paddock from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Behind the scenes, he was the key infiuence that returned the once dominant factory in the 500cc class to a second competitive era in the 1990s, against the much bigger racing departments of Honda and Yamaha.25TEAM SUZUKI RACING NEwS2019 Issue #1 - Summer“HEARING HIM TELL THOSE STORIES WAS ALWAYS HYSTERICAL. HE WAS ALWAYS THE BOSS, BUT IN THE BAR WITH THE CREW WE ALL LOvED HIM, AND SPENDING TIME IN HIS COMPANY.”
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