Borrowing bikes ... whoops ...
Lets face it if you've borrowed a bike it's bound to happen ... I said it to John Pearce at Snetterton when his bantam, with me ... er NOT on board, joining several others ..in fact about 8 of us .... when Pete Stiles
decided he could make up for a bad start by slipping up the inside of a pretty crowded first corner!!!
Talking of carpeetslippers ... he came past me once (or was it twice ...) in a race and I followed him? through the bombhole .. now I changed down a gear for the corner and he changed up and disappeared
....Bugger, really must sort out my gears I thought!! sensored he was fast through there!!! (and I was sooooo slow!).
The experts ...
The 1970's were a good time to be a bantam racer ... we were developing ideas special to a three speed two stroke .. Some of the Bantam tuners were very very good ... and it was nice to try new things you
thought might make more power or more torque ... when they worked it was good .. when they didn't well, what the hell ... it was fun seizing pistons, wrecking big ends, and bashing fairings ... not to mention
getting up for work on Monday after a s..it Sundays racing with big blue/black areas on your anatomy .... Modern body armour is wonderful!! (If not a bit cissy!!!)
We were REAL racers then and took it like a man!!!
Testing testing testing this is the bbc calling .....
Remember when they were building the bottom of the M11 and I needed to test my new sooper dooper water cooled banty and thought that that lovely new stretch of road looked quite good for the purpose ....
anyway, there I was belting along the motorway when alongside me drew a car with two ... er ... officers of the law grinning at me. Now this is serious, I'm trying to evaluate a very important machine here guys
piss off will yer I thought ....
Well they didn't and politely asked me via their loudspeaker to desisit my current operation and park my machine forthwith. They were very nice and were quite interested in the bike, and after a nice chat
suggested I should wear my leathers next time .... "oh and by the way" said the driver ... "You were doing 94 mph mate!". Hey that was good, as finaly I'd built a bike that felt and was quick after six months
development. The next day my banty career ended when the engine exploded (faulty, new Alpha con rod). See below
Bang bang ...
This was 1975, and it exploded at Bassingborne the next day. It was then that I decided to buy a TZ and dispose of the bantam, eventualy flogging it to Ron Curtis. I didn't have the skills to develop further what
had become a good quick bike, and frankly I didn't want to any more. In practice I remember chasing Mick Scutt on his proddy 250 I think it was, and passing him on it .... then bang .... I was gutted, and along
with the increasingly political nature of some memebers of the committe that was it .. I'd had enough ... Pete Tibbetts was having success on a TZ, and despite my being pretty scared at the thought, thought I
would give it a try ...
A new era ...
I chatted to Chris my wife, my dad offered to chip in and I could get HP on a bike if I could find one ... spotted an advert from Adrian Godden who was selling his TZA 250 that he'd come second in the British
Championships with, had a spares kit too ..£1200 to you mate ...
I was so proud when I got it ... then after a couple of days of polishing and just staring at it I realised people expected me to ride this thing ...sh..t!
Heeeelp .....
I think it took me about 2 hours to get the thing hot enough to stop oiling plugs ... and when it finally got in the so called power band (about 9800-10400) it nearly left me behind .. along with the contents of my
breakfast ...sensored this thing was fast!! But bantam racers learn, they were and are masters at preserving every little bit of speed that their machines attain ... and I too learned .. eventualy riding the TZ like a bantam
... and I enjoyed almost every ride I had on it ... I could never had done that without the support of many many people I met in the BRC and the amount I learned from them in preparing and riding a racing
motorcycle.
It was funny at the time ....
Hurtling round Corum one wednesday practice, knee (nearly) on the deck, giving it loads of (style!) feeling pretty good ... suddenly this bloody go cart flew round the outside of me .. wot .. eh .. bugger off...
Martin Hynes disapeared through the next corner flat and disappeared .. now me .. well, course I had to let him go .. well didn't want to embarrass a future european/world champion did I!
Probably the scariest moment came when I was testing the banty one day, around 80 mph round Corum again when, to my er .. suprise, a couple of dozen Territorial or regular soldiers were crawling along the
track perimeter .. about to cross. Now I though hey ho that could be dodgy ... and then this f... great tank appeared from nowhere and stopped on the side of the track .. now to say that I break tested my bike is
an understatement ... seconds later what seemed like hundreds of soldiers appeared as I and a further dozen of so riders stopped ... then the circuit manager came belting up from Russels and began shouting
and giving his car horn a workout and effing and blinding .. well, it was funny at the time .. !!!!!
Remember driving to Llandow .. never been to Wales before .. it was around 2 am and we couldn't find the circuit (well they called it a 'circuit' but I have my doubts) so we bedded down as best we could and
tried to sleep .. at around 8am ish I think, I woke to the sound of a noisy bloody motorbike .. I stuck my head out of the van to swear at the itinerant and heard lots more bikes .. now the verge was quite high ..
crawling up the side and peering over the top I saw .. well the paddock ... ?/@'~#£$%^ ...'kin 'ell we've sort of slept in the van and didn't use the tents and stuff ..we couldn't find the circuit ... doh what a wally!!!!
He's wittering again ....
The BRC was an important part of my life and it's sad that young people won't have that opportunity. Alas I'm an old fart now and they want to ride not clean and tune and learn .. I think it's sad but at least you can
now make a pretty well paid career out of riding, and expect to survive, which in our day was a bit of a moot point with the cavalier attitude of circuit owners, not least the IOM who took many more years and
many more lives before they woke up tho the fact that accidents could be avoided, and when they happened the examination of them could help in mitigating the consequences if not to eradicate loss of life ... I
lost too many mates and fellow competitors .. so that's good it's a lot safer now.
I also think that MCN (the ducati periodical) has a roll to play in preventing road accidents, and promoting racing at grass roots level. Unfortunatly they take the view that their income generation is more important
that promoting safety and potential British super stars. Hey, get yer knee down round roundabouts lads and see how everyone will be impressed (not least the hospital doctors and police). Money is all, and the
consequences could be serious ... our masters, at least this lot anyway, seem hell bent at making our lives safer and is more important than the enjoyment, should we so choose, of that life. The people I sadly
lost, all enjoyed what they did, those that could have helped in preventing that loss should be ashamed, in putting profit before lives.
Yes I'm an old fart, but youngsters are slowly being prevented from taking up bikes .. witness bhp limits, mph limits, bans for 6 points or more, test centres hundreds of miles away, stuck on a low powered bike
for ages, £500 to £1000 to take and pass a test .. hey why bother, wait a year till 17 and buy a car and then I'll be OK... might kill a few people when I get loopy but I'll be OK. Such a shame, missing so much fun
... Here endeth the winge ...
More grey hair ....
My most scarey moment? 1. My first full flat out Bray hilll moment ...on a 250 just scarey .. on a 350 .... 'kin 'ell!! managed it (just) flat on a 250 ... but the 350 was speed trapped at over 160 so if you put the
choke on before you get to the bottom of Bray it splutters a bit so you can go through flat in 5th gear .. a mere 150 ish and save your dignity .... 2. Sideways at 120mph just before the pub about 4 miles from the
start line seized and shattered crank and cases ... rear tyre hit the kerb, bouncing me back straight .... coasted to a halt ....was still shaking and hour and several brandies, pints, bags of crisps and peanuts later
.. oh 'ello darlin' 'ave ya found me bike, hic.. meet Bill 'ere, hic .... give us a kiss, hic ...ouch!!!
Most satisfying moment .. far too many to recount but recently having a (the?) very fast (est) bantam rider of my era send me a photo with him lapping me on a borrowed bantam, thoughtfuly explaining that we
were dicing .. er I don't think so .. I never got within smelling distance of his exhaust when I rode bantams!! ... except when he lapped me that is!!
Well I thought it was funny and very nice of him.
Funny moments?
Spotting Josie Curtis burying herself in her tank down the Snetterton straight, and, approaching her at a rate of knots on me yam was me .. slapped her bum as I went past!! Lovelly!! Sorry Josie!
Just remembered another ... a certain rider at Cadwell was staying in the paddock in his quite lavishly fitted and equiped van ... had a certain lady who was not his wife with him ...(said wife was very nice and
popular with us) now this did not go unoticed by some of the riders who were ..I guess just jealous really of his success with sponsors (well I was anyway!) .. though not on track ... anyway a bunch of us went to
the pub .. coming back sometime past midnight we saw and heard some .. er activity in a very lonely parked van .. now, this may have been unkind ... but we reconed it was just .. 4 guys either side of the van ..
quiet lads .. wait for even more activity .. now, rock! (the van) well ... it did rock quite well .. in fact I think the wheels come off the ground .. lots of noise, nay swearing from inside .. cans of oil, tins, spares,
generally pretty noisy .... anyway crept back to our respective tents wet from laughter ... next day .. said rider was asking around who did it ... why who would do such a thing!! I know, and nothing would
persuade me to divulge the names of the guilty ... even if I could remember who they were...
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Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:09 am
