Mallory Park, Saturday 15th April

I'm a very disgruntled fella. Seldom has my gruntle quotient been lower. I set off for Mallory Park at 7am today, but had only travelled about a mile when the car's exhaust broke, just where it enters the silencer. No choice but to turn around and ROAR my way back home. It's been really pleasant, weather wise, so no doubt I've missed a great day's racing and socializing.

BUGGER!

What a bummer. On the positive side John it would have been worse if you were half way there when it happend.

You're right, Ned. It didn't take me long to realise that, in fact, I had a lucky escape.

Which reminds me of my incredible luck back in (I think) 1965. I raced at Cadwell Park on a Saturday, then drove to Snetterton to race on Sunday. At Snett I discovered I had left my leathers at Cadwell, so I started walking around the paddock asking if anyone had a spare set they could lend me. After receiving quite a number of sympathetic head shakes, I found someone who said, "You're in luck! We were last to leave Cadwell, last night, and saw that someone had left a set of leathers in the changing room, so we brought them with us!"

I do get more than my fair share of good luck.

I know the feeling John C... and Ned ... Were times when I was all screwed up ready for something I´d looked forward to for ages and some stupid little thing got in the way to stop the happening ...

....and other times when I should not have done things I hadn´t dreamed of doing ...

... and woke up in Norwich hospital wondering why I had been such a stupid gitt...

Cheers!
.

John your story reminded me of meeting I went to.
It was a Sunday meet and we had to go to a wedding the evening before. So preferring not to have a late night and early morning start and not wanting to drive back home in the opposite direction. We went to the wedding with the van loaded and the bike on the trailer. After the wedding party set off for the circuit arriving late at night and parked in the paddock in pitch black. By now the kids were sound asleep in the back and rather than disturb them or any other competitors by unloading the van, my wife and I just crashed out in our reclined seats.
When we woke to a cold windy day on an airfield circuit the penny dropped that we had forgotten to pack any warm paddock clothing!
To add to our miseries our gas bottle ran out before we could make a hot drink and we had to wait for friends to be organised before we could scrounge some hot water.
I felt a real plonka taking the bike to scrutineering in a smart suite. But at least I was able to get a bit warmer when I put my leathers on unlike my wife who had to spend the day and keep my lap times in an evening dress.

I like it Ned!

Reminds of -- hmmm? -- must have been Jan to mid Feb '76 when I came over to Blighty from Montreal and Wobbley invited me to the Bantam Dinner and I had already booked a practice session at Hackney Wick Speedway stadium -- for some afternoon practice and (daft as they come out of the Essex Sticks -- speedway practice in the cold of January? --- gotta be bonkers!) I had a memorable practice session -- I didn´t fall off!!!

I had gone in my leathers and come to start my Ford which had Automatic Transmission -- it wouldn't. It would not start because the starter ring-gear had slipped off the flywheel. I rang Wobblyman and he picked me up at the stadium. He had brought my suit with him....

Of course, true to form, Wobbly was running late and I went into the restaurant still in leathers which raised a few laughs to start with but when I was in the Bogs a bloke came up and saw I still had some black ashe on my leathers and after confirming I´d been practising at Hackney Speedway reckoned I was one of his old timer
speedway favourites. It got more embarrasssing as my changing time went on -- with him chatting away and no one else there!. I really breathed a sigh of relief when Wobbly appeared asking why I was taking so long....!!!!

Cheers!