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I was watching the new FortNine video , which is always a televisual mini-movie feast ...... It`s about the old BMW 1600c Six which BMW limited to 100 mph because it wobbled too much ......... but forget about that ........

What caught my eye was this , which he inserted into his posting .......

I looked it up and it does exist in it`s own right , in fact it`s been there for about 13 years .... so it may be old hat to some of you.......


Isn`t there a saying that you can lead a Frenchman to water , and he`ll end up on the drink ? ...... Or something like that .............

( Actually , I think he ends up in the boat ........ ) .........

 
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Andy J said:
You could be right regarding Steve Elliot, Toddy should be able to confirm it. The other could be Alex Frost but there were quite a few guys racing SFC’s around that time.
Click to expand...

Would that be the same Alex Frost / Michael Redfern lookalike who I thought came from London but actually lived in Bath and was responsible for organising the ILOC " Hic Mine`s a Triple " trip to Breganze but didn`t do much to organise it which Dennis Kelly went along on but decided to continue at his own pace and I remember seeing behind the counter at Avon Bikes and who recognised me at Cropredy Laverda when he had arrived to dispose of some unsold stock ? .......

It`s a small world ..............
 
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rocketonarail said:
Would that be the same Alex Frost / Michael Redfern lookalike who I thought came from London but actually lived in Bath and was responsible for organising the ILOC " Hic Mine`s a Triple " trip to Breganze but didn`t do much to organise it which Dennis Kelly went along on but decided to continue at his own pace and I remember seeing behind the counter at Avon Bikes and who recognised me at Cropredy Laverda when he had arrived to dispose of some unsold stock ? .......

It`s a small world ..............
Click to expand...
Nearly.
Alex did live in the South East, Maidstone, but does, now live near Bath. He bought Adrian's 750SFC, when Ade got the 1200.
He was tasked with "organising" the 1980 ILOC Factory Trip but, perhaps, failed to persevere.
Alex.jpg

I'd become disillusioned by the poor quality of Laverda Road Tests in British magazines and, as PRO for ILOC, had been in touch with the Editor of Bike magazine, Dave Calderwood.
I invited Dave to join us, pointing out that "If you can keep up with us, you can write about the bike's capabilities. If you can't, you can still write about its capabilities and your lack of them."
Dave, unfortunately, broke his leg six weeks before departure, so delegated the task to Jim Lindsay, Bike's newest writer, who made a fabulous job of recording the trip. The article was a PR gift for Laverda and the Owners Club.

Dennis Dell, not Kelly, a septuagenarian Laverda Rider (back then, that seemed really old!) found our pace, especially in the Bar, a little too punishing.

Dennis.jpg

Jim, now sadly gone, and the rest of us got on wonderfully and much high jinks ensued. I can't put it better than Jim did.

Musketeers.jpg
The 'Hic Mob at Mallory Park:
Mallory Park 1980 Hic Mob.jpg
The surviving Members, 45 years later:
The 'Hic, Mine's A Triple' Mob, 45 years later.jpg
 
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Thanks Andy , and Hamish .... ( I had a feeling you might chime in on this ! ) ........

Apologies for the Dennis Kelly / Dell mix up ...... I should have remembered this from before ..........

Dennis Kelly used to say to me things like ... " I`m a rider / dealer son ... ( son ! ...shows how long ago this was ) .... " I go on trips abroad , over to France and the factory in Italy .... " ......... So when I saw a Dennis mentioned in the article at the time , I kind of assumed it was him ......... my mistake ........

Talking of Dennis .... ( the Kelly version ) .... and his tales of jumping on a bike at every opportunity ......... When I first went to look at the Mirage , I noticed the mileage was 13089 ......... When I went in again a week later to follow up on details relating to the purchase , I received another instalment of the Dennis chapter and verse ........ " Yes , fine bike son , goes like stink ........ took it over the bridge to Chepstow and back yesterday ......... had to come back when I noticed I was low on petrol .... " ..........

I wandered over to the bike and guess what ....... the mileage was still at the 13089 it had been seven days previously ....... I doubt if the bike had even been off the centre stand , never mind over to Chepstow and back ..........

Warning bells ? ....... Maybe , lets just say Dennis`s pre-delivery and bike inspection wasn`t exactly up to Honda standards , which gave me a few problems even as early as the first ride home with it ....... but thankfully Laverdas build quality was easily the equal to Dennis`s bullshit , and his feeble ... ( read non-existent ) ... attempts at preparing a bike for sale ..........

Richard Slater once described him to me as a " lovable rogue " ......... I just smiled and said nothing ................
 
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What I like about these last lap clips is that there`s no commentary ....... just the sound of the bikes and the crowd .......

There was an interview with Castrol Team Honda manager Neil Tuxworth in which he told a couple of quite amusing stories , not about Edwards , Fogarty , Slight or Kocinski ...... but about Joey Dunlop ...........


One was when a couple of Honda top executives came over at TT time , and Neil took them over to the Island where they expressed a desire " to meet Joey Dunlop .... " ........
Tuxworth was in two minds about this , but nevertheless he took them to where Joey was staying .

Joey was nowhere to be found , but in the yard at the back was the factory Honda with it`s tank and cylinder head removed ....... The exposed cylinders were full of water from where it had been raining earlier ... and a set of magnesium or whatever carbs , which were probably worth about one hundred grand just on their own , were hanging from a twig next to the wall ........

This was exactly what Neil had been worried about , but the the Honda bosses just smiled , turned round and said ... " Don`t worry Neil San ..... We know all about Mister Joey ! " .........


The other was where the Honda race headquarters received a request from Joey , who was over in Ireland , for a set of piston rings .........

The guys in the warehouse thought right ....... If he wants the rings then he`ll need a new head and base gasket and o-rings and so on ....... plus if he`s worried about the rings , then it might be a good idea to send him a new set of pistons as well , just in case , plus the pins , clips and bushes to go with them ........ and we may as well include a fresh cam-chain as well , just to be on the safe side ...........

So all this was put in a box , and sent off to Joey .....

About six days later the box came back with all the stuff still in it ...... together with a hand written note which said ...... " I ONLY WANTED THE F*CKING RINGS " ...........
 
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Lady I stayed with at hotel in IOM lived next door to where team Dunlop stayed, she said they would always turn up late evening and would unload all the bikes . Lovely lads but ever other word was fek, fekking or fekked, she said you just got used to it. Honda gave him Carte Blanche because they knew he would do the business & was a man of his word, the fact they let him near the engines is pretty amazing.
His pit crew were shortening a mudguard bolt in situ with a hacksaw and cut through a brake line- on the start grid of the TT …fek!
 
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