Facts and trivia from 53 years of the 500cc class.

The Rio Grand Prix will be the last ever GP under the rules of 500cc maximum capacity which have been in place since 1949. The following are some records, facts and trivia from this 53 year history:

*A total of 580 Grand Prix races will have taken place in the 500cc class following Rio.

*Before Rio a total of 90 different riders have won Grand Prix races in the 500cc class. Forty two of these riders scored a single win.

*The winner of the very first 500cc race counting toward the World Championship title was British rider Harold Daniell on a Norton. His victory at the Senior Isle of Man TT race of 1949 at the age of 39 was his one and only Grand Prix win.

*British rider Les Graham won the first ever 500cc world title riding an AJS at the age of 37, the oldest ever rider to win the title.

*The youngest rider ever to win a 500cc Grand Prix is Freddie Spencer, who won the Belgium Grand Prix in 1982 at the age of 20 riding a Honda. Spencer is also the youngest rider to win the 500cc title at the age of 21 in 1983.

*The oldest rider ever to win a 500cc Grand Prix race is Fergus Anderson, who was 44 years old when he won the Spanish Grand Prix in 1953 at Monju?c Park riding a Moto Guzzi.

*The longest ever 500cc race counting towards the world title was the 1957 Isle of Man TT race, held over 8 laps of the Mountain circuit, a distance of 301.84 miles (485.8 km). The race was won by Bob McIntyre on a Gilera in a time of 3 hrs 2mins and 57 seconds.

*The 500cc Grand Prix with the highest average speed was the Belgium GP held at Spa- Francorchamps in 1977. The race was won by Barry Sheene on a Suzuki at an average speed of 135.1 mph (217.4 km/h).

*With 13 wins, Randy Mamola is the rider with most Grand Prix victories in the 500cc class without winning a title.

*Mick Doohan holds the record for most wins in the 500cc class in a single season having taken 12 victories in 1997, when he also set the record for most points scored in a year with 340.

*Two riders have had perfect seasons in the 500cc class, winning every race held during the year, John Surtees scoring seven wins from seven races in 1959 and Giacomo Agostini 10 from 10 in 1968.

*Giacomo Agostini is the only rider to have won in the 500cc class on both two-stroke and fourstroke machinery.

*Eddie Lawson is the only rider to win back-to back titles in the 500cc class on different makes of machinery, winning in 1988 riding a Yamaha and in 1989 on a Honda.

*The last privateer to win a 500cc Grand Prix was Dutch rider Jack Middelburg, who won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1981 riding a Suzuki.

*The first two-stroke win in the 500cc class was taken by Jack Findlay when he won the Ulster Grand Prix in 1971 riding a Suzuki.

*The rider with most point scoring finishes in the 500cc class is Alex Barros, who has finished in the points in 128 Grand Prix.