I loved hairpins and slow corners particularly after a fast section like Cadwells Mansfield and the Esses at Snetterton when late braking paid dividends. Out braking and passing someone in to a corner has got to be the biggest adrenalin boost.
The most frustrating corner for me was Clearways at Brands. I never ever exited Clearways without thinking "I could have gone faster, I could have gone faster"

With 8400rpm max I always thought that on the Icarus-1 Bantam Ned. With wind behind and all -- still 8400... and I´d be cursing all those buzzing Bantams passing me. That was the nice bit about Brands -- really buzz down Paddock and fly up to Druids and they´d be coming back at me. Then frighten them by ducking in tight and underneath thro´ Druids apex. Pooh or bust!
On yours it was around 9 and a bit...
...before it threw me off.
Hmmm?
Practising at Brands. Icarus-2 managed 11400 and smashed its piston into little bits. I was gleefully thinking, "At last I am a great tuner" and a dreadful noise came -- plus the seizure. Always had a long stoke motor because of the body weight problem I needed the torque ... Really daft to ride a bantam at 12.5 stone -- with heavy leathers, helmet & boots that´d be over 13.5 I should think. Daft to ride a Bantam with all that weight... At Llandow the ABS 250 with 5 gears had two gears too many -- so used to the Bantam was I...
Wonderful memories -- some hurt:- attributable to the force of gravity and mass times accelertion squared....
Go well and keep well Ned...
Cheers!
JayBee.

Least favourite -- Snetterton.
Jinx -jinx -- jinx -- jinx...ow - ow -- ow!
Icarus-1 with 150cc motor (I said once before it was 175 but checking up find it was 150...) hence had to go out with the 250s. My very first ROAD race -- didn´t fall off but finished 2nd from last. During practice dust blew into the carb and it wouldn´t shut down from half throttle...
Three nasty prangs there on the Bantam and great disappointment with Andy´s 250 when it holed its piston and seized in practice. On the old Norwich straight the ABS was passing everything -- really flying.
...
...Even fell off in 1981´s Parade.
...
Go well and keep well,
Aye!
JayBee.

LOL, Ned, we love hairpins don't we, remember the big coming together at Cadwell mate, i reckon i saved you from coming off there but we both ended up going the wrong way. I went flying up the road towards the mountain and you managed to go through the hairpin gap and up the wrong way on the other side of the track. We both had to wait for everyone to go past before we could continue, bloody frustrating, i managed to climb back up to 4th before the laps ran out, hard work but great times.

Ye I'd forgotten that one Mick !!! Trust you !!!
Both laughed our heads off and put it down to a racing incident with no gripes. Oh those good old days.

Thinking about my frustration with Clearway's. It's probably because I always thought I could have gone quicker, that made it one of the few bends I never came off on.

For me it's got to be edwina's don't no why ?
hope your all ready for the weekend
just finished my bike
see you all friday night

i like this debate. corners are what it's all about. straights are boring in the end ... even at speed. i would like to say that i would like all corners of all tracks if i were competing with bantams and only bantams .. what fun we would have. if i win the lottery or go on 'dragon's den' with a viable proposition i would love to see more bantam only races in the future.

ray

i suppose i ought to qualify that last post .. but for me why i participate is from a sporting perspective. i am interested in seeing how quick i can get around various circuits on the machinery and preparation i have at my disposal. mixed races are a spanner in the works of my enjoyment of the sport but i of course appreciate that we are a dying species in the bantam racing freternity and we have no choice but to double up on classes. just dreaming of the old days when there were full grids, novices intermediates and seniors and a the maddest range of machines you could imagine. despite the big emphasis on safety and regulation current i felt much safer in those days!

ray

I don't know Ray, some of those mixed classes can be fun and very enlightening. I remember in 1978, i entered the Newmarket club Enduro, like our 50 miler at Snetterton. There was a Bantam class but only two rntries as there was a Cadwell meeting on that I couldn't be bothered to drive to. I was stuck in with the open 125's against Honda's, Yams ans even a Morbidelli. The field was split between us and the 250 singles and i reckoned I would be lapped several times. We got away and with large amounts of argey bargey was in 4th into the Revetts straight. Jeff Webber took the lead on the 125 Honda followed by Len Carr on the Morbidelli, a guy on a Yam and me. I diced with the Yam for several laps until he put his hand up and cruised in, Len's race finished with a breakdown on the Straight and I was second, Jeff had buggered off on his Honda. I was well pleased and looking over my shoulder I was surprised to see.....nothing, I had cleared off from everybody. About half way through, i had a slide at the corner leading onto Revetts but thought it was a patch of oil, going into the left hander at the end of the straight, no probs but at the little right i dumped on the tarmac. Reason? a bloody Allen screw at the base of my ducati right fork had woeked loose and dumped the oil on my right side plus the lack of damping which made the bike tilt to the right on cornering. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted and the marshalls couldn't believe it was a bantam, they thought it was a programme misprint.

Speedway and Cambletown Circuit on the TT are both good for left-handers.

Sorry Ned! hehe

I'm with Ned, love the slow corners, though fell off on most of them would love to master bends like paddock at Lydden, takes a lot of skill and trust in the handling to take it flat out. Found Oulton park frustrating, though more to do with the bike not running right and having to limp round.


All bends are alien to me now having spent the last 4/5 seasons straightlining

Tony

The Bantam Club had Thruxton twice in 1968 -- I think it was -- and it rained both times so on Icarus 1 in the first season of ever racing on the road I was at least among the first five in 6 races and 4th in a steamer with Mr French. He was up my exhaust pipe the whole race. Memorable!. There´s a right hander on that circuit that goes on and on and it feels like being on the edge of a gramophone record -- on a Bantam that revved to 8400 with wind behind mind! with him glaring at me if I dared to look round...
...
Got Ned on his points there ballet dancing the Swan Lake I´m thinking! Just `cos I mentioned speedway and grass track. Left handers were my favourite corners and that pic ... there is me, on Icrus 1 going thro´Mansfield, my first ever win*** in a road race. That engine we found in a field -- or rather our Les (of our Icarus 1 build threesome) did. He was driving by a group of kids playing in a field and saw that among the heap of old rubbish was a Bantam 125 engine with the large stud spacing we needed. I had bought a 150cc Bantam (forget which D... that would be) for about 12 quid and at the end of our endeavours I think the total cost of Icarus 1, including close ratio gears was just over 40 quid. The rear tyre was a "Continental Sports" and the front a Dunlop roadster. Really exciting in the wet!
...
Well, one glance at the pic shows it was cut to the bone.

...Hey Peter Tee? What´s this -- 2nd to Mike ...? And what´s this about a great dice? My PC won´t open the link so I couldn´t read what happened. Who were you dicing with Mike or Ian?
...
...***was a Novice race so nowt to crow about -- but worthy of memory ...

...Cheers!

...JayBee.

A very nice description of Bantam racing back in the 60's John! Your reply's are like novels, each telling a tale of each race!

Tim