The Astro was the racebike of choice for non-Japanese factory riders competing in the Grand National Championship when their brands-Harley-Davidson, BSA, Triumph-stopped offering a suitable short-track platform. It, too, blew up with monotonous regularity.” With a close-ratio transmission to best exploit the narrowed powerband, these were undiluted competition motorcycles. “ made a hot version of the MX model, much like the Bultaco Astro, called the TT Stiletto. “Faster than a speeding bullet, the 1971 through 1973 Astros had a lifespan about equal to a gnat trying to bench press a hippo,” according to Dirt Bike founder Rick “Super Hunky” Sieman. Dirt Bike magazine attempted a shootout between the Astro and Stiletto TT, but was never able to keep them running simultaneously. The Spanish took torquey motocross powerplants and tuned them to within an inch of their lives, and often beyond. The notoriously high-strung temperamental pair were the Bultaco Astro and the Ossa Stiletto TT, both based on successful 250cc motocross racers.
Two of the most unusual motorcycles of the early 1970s came from Spain to America with an unexpected mission-to win short-track racing everywhere from local races to the Grand National Championship Series.