Archive stuff

[rocketonarail]

Also ......... The SFC at Silverstone 1974 ......... This was August , so after the TT ...... so maybe this is not the John Nutting bike after all , unless that bike was damaged and then repaired in time for the Silverstone meeting ........ ..... whatever , it`s just gone 4 am ..... I`m off to bed !!! ...........

 

[Andy J]

Last one for today.
1977 Transatlantic Match Races at Brands Hatch.
PK on his way to 1st place in the production race.
2nd place was David Railton on PK's 1975/76 3CE (not David's favourite!)

Photo - Graham/Kim Etheridge

Dave was much more at home on the NCR Ducatis, I remember him clearing off at BEARS/BOTT/Norman Hyde races in the mid 1980’s. Whilst looking for some more info I came across this on the WWW. A bit of Laverda interest and helps add to the memories….

Motorcycle Sport & Bike Racing News | MotoGP, World Superbikes & More

 

[Andy J]

Also ......... The SFC at Silverstone 1974 ......... This was August , so after the TT ...... so maybe this is not the John Nutting bike after all , unless that bike was damaged and then repaired in time for the Silverstone meeting ........ ..... whatever , it`s just gone 4 am ..... I`m off to bed !!! ...........

AFAIK Roger Slater originally raced a SF in around mid-late 1970 and possible 1971. It wasn’t until 1971 the SFC arrived in the stable and was raced by Jeff Wade in the TT in 1972. By 1974 Slaters had supplied Jim Berkheimer’s BR-AM team with a SFC motor to fit in a Binnion built Egli frame, which was raced by Peter Bates in the 1974 TT and numerous endurance events. It may well have been 1974 that Percy Tait tried the Slater SFC at the TT, but Percy is no longer with us, so he can’t confirm it. I do recall speaking to him about the experience at a TT annual lunch a few years ago, and it didn’t bring back fond memories….

 

[APD at113]

Dave was much more at home on the NCR Ducatis, I remember him clearing off at BEARS/BOTT/Norman Hyde races in the mid 1980’s. Whilst looking for some more info I came across this on the WWW. A bit of Laverda interest and helps add to the memories….

Motorcycle Sport & Bike Racing News | MotoGP, World Superbikes & More

I'm sure the 1977 Cadwell 1000km win for PK and Mick Hunt has already been posted but here are a couple from that day. The lady waving the flag is PK's then wife (my mom). Roger Winterburn is taking second spot.
Post Laverda, PK did west Raynham endurance in 1982 and 1983. 82 was after his Honda was nicked (cutting short his Streetbike campaign) and was done on Ken Blake's 1000cc Katana. They got 3rd place but PK was convinced they could have done better had it not been for Ken's insistence on using the (free) Bridgestone tyres. Metzler was the new kid on the block but with them now supplying the works Hondas in Streetbike, even a 3 time Proddie champion had to pay for tyres!
He ran again in 83 with Mark Bullen on his Cb1100rb. Much to Mark's disgust PK blew it up in spectacular fashion.
I remember that meeting well. PK had told his mom he had retired (much to her delight after the TT spill in 1981) so there was a lot of secret prep beforehand.

 

[rocketonarail]

Dave was much more at home on the NCR Ducatis, I remember him clearing off at BEARS/BOTT/Norman Hyde races in the mid 1980’s. Whilst looking for some more info I came across this on the WWW. A bit of Laverda interest and helps add to the memories….

Motorcycle Sport & Bike Racing News | MotoGP, World Superbikes & More

Interesting to see Roger Winterburn on a Mirage in the 1300 cc class ......

In that Bike magazine interview with PK ........... ( the one with him and the Jota on the front cover ) ............ he says that if the capacity limit was increased ......... " we`d be straight in with the Mirage ........ the Mirage and Jota are virtually the same , except the Mirage is more tractable ...... you don`t need tractability on a race track , so we would probably put in a different cam or something ... " ......

Shame this never really happened .... It would have been interesting to see how a Slater prepared 1116 would have compared with the 1100 Hondas and Suzukis ........

 

[rocketonarail]

AFAIK Roger Slater originally raced a SF in around mid-late 1970 and possible 1971. It wasn’t until 1971 the SFC arrived in the stable and was raced by Jeff Wade in the TT in 1972. By 1974 Slaters had supplied Jim Berkheimer’s BR-AM team with a SFC motor to fit in a Binnion built Egli frame, which was raced by Peter Bates in the 1974 TT and numerous endurance events. It may well have been 1974 that Percy Tait tried the Slater SFC at the TT, but Percy is no longer with us, so he can’t confirm it. I do recall speaking to him about the experience at a TT annual lunch a few years ago, and it didn’t bring back fond memories….

Hi Andy .......

After a bit of searching I have found the posts which relate to that 1974 SFC ...... RCJ 68M actually .........

They are # 301 ( the ride back from Breganze ) ; # 127 ( 1974 Prod TT results ) ; and # 482 ( Percy Tait involvement ) .......

Basically it all boils down to John Nutting riding the bike back from the factory as the quickest way to get it to the UK in time for the TT ...... Mick Grant was entered to ride Slippery Sam , leaving Percy without a ride ....... Graham Bailey went out on the bike , but crashed heavily at Bedstead , knocking himself unconscious ........ Roger Slater rebuilt the bike in time for Friday evening practice , and asked Percy Tait to triy it .......... Percy liked it well enough to agree to race it , even though it was down on power due to a bent valve ......... However postponement of the race allowed that to be replaced .......

In the race Percy was stopped when the primary chain failed at Braddan ........ Maybe the reason it didn`t bring back fond memories !! ........

 

[Andy J]

Thanks for finding that Tony, it comes flooding back now....
BTW, it seems Graham's knock on the head finished his TT career as he doesn't appear to have ridden any more races after that.

 

[Andy J]

Interesting to see Roger Winterburn on a Mirage in the 1300 cc class ......

In that Bike magazine interview with PK ........... ( the one with him and the Jota on the front cover ) ............ he says that if the capacity limit was increased ......... " we`d be straight in with the Mirage ........ the Mirage and Jota are virtually the same , except the Mirage is more tractable ...... you don`t need tractability on a race track , so we would probably put in a different cam or something ... " ......

Shame this never really happened .... It would have been interesting to see how a Slater prepared 1116 would have compared with the 1100 Hondas and Suzukis ........

It has been suggested in the past that some of the 'Jotas' being raced were more like Mirages in the engine department....

 

[APD at113]

Dave was much more at home on the NCR Ducatis, I remember him clearing off at BEARS/BOTT/Norman Hyde races in the mid 1980’s. Whilst looking for some more info I came across this on the WWW. A bit of Laverda interest and helps add to the memories….

Motorcycle Sport & Bike Racing News | MotoGP, World Superbikes & More

Here's Dave on his Laverda (the one PK rode in 75 and 76) both wheels in the air going over the helipad on the West Raynham straight.
The other pic is courtesy of Dave and shows (just) Hugh Evans riding in the April 1974 Brands Hatch transatlantic meeting - said to be the first time a Laverda triple raced in the UK. Hugh eventually finished 9th.
While not Laverda's biggest fan, Dave is a great source of racing info. I saw him a few weeks ago at the Donnington classic. He did the parade on his new toy - CB1100rc

 

[Andy J]

Here's Dave on his Laverda (the one PK rode in 75 and 76) both wheels in the air going over the helipad on the West Raynham straight.
The other pic is courtesy of Dave and shows (just) Hugh Evans riding in the April 1974 Brands Hatch transatlantic meeting - said to be the first time a Laverda triple raced in the UK. Hugh eventually finished 9th.
While not Laverda's biggest fan, Dave is a great source of racing info. I saw him a few weeks ago at the Donnington classic. He did the parade on his new toy - CB1100rc

And of course Hugh followed this up by being the first person to race a Laverda triple at the TT.

 

[Haggis]

Here's Dave on his Laverda (the one PK rode in 75 and 76) both wheels in the air going over the helipad on the West Raynham straight.

Great photos and stories guys. Thanks for posting. They really capture the spirit of the age.

 

[rocketonarail]

Here's Dave on his Laverda (the one PK rode in 75 and 76) both wheels in the air going over the helipad on the West Raynham straight.

I had both wheels of the Mirage in the air once , going over a humped back bridge which took me by surprise just south of Bampton in Oxfordshire ......... Frightened me to bloody death ........ No one around to photograph it though , unfortunately ...........

 

[dude]

 

[APD at113]

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Number 8 is Aintree 1977. I don't think it was an Avon round (the year of the tyre dispute) but I have PKs trophy for a 1st place in a Proddie race (I think he also ran in an open class that day but I don't have the result). The girl on the back is Roger Slater's eldest daughter, Alison. She would have been about 9 at the time. I was only 7 and no doubt very jealous of her getting a "backie"!!
The other pics are from an early 1980 Snetterton round - possibly the very first of the year. The pic in the wet is before the one in the dry. There was a coming together in an early race and PK took out Dave Railton on his Ducati. PK finished the race but the repairs involved the "Cropredy" writing on the faring being sprayed over. Both of them were racing again later that day.
This pic shows Dave in the later race, complete with battle scars.

 

[APD at113]

30th September 1973 , and it`s the Thruxton International 500 mile Grand Prix ........ Pete Davies and Lyle Govan in 14th place ..

A few pictures from that day.
The fellow swigging champagne is Ludi (forgotten his surname). He worked for Yamaha Holland who were trying to get PK to do an endurance race for them. This was after the 2nd place in Spa with Pete Lovell on Richard Negus's Norton (which is a story of its own!)

 

[MarnixSFC]

A few pictures from that day.
The fellow swigging champagne is Ludi (forgotten his surname). He worked for Yamaha Holland who were trying to get PK to do an endurance race for them. This was after the 2nd place in Spa with Pete Lovell on Richard Negus's Norton (which is a story of its own!)

That’s Ludy Beumer. He always was involved in the Yamaha racing activities, but also played an important role in the big success of the FS1 model, in your country better known as the Fizzy.

Marnix

 

[APD at113]

played an important role in the big success of the FS1 model, in your country better known as the Fizzy.

Never knew that! I loved my Fizzy. Here I am no doubt annoying the Snetterton paddock c1985 (PK and Mark Bullen's "Team Pink" being the reason for the outfits!)

 

[APD at113]

The Silverstone 1974 SFC ( #790 ) appears to be the `74 disc / points SFC that MCW journalist John Nutting rode back from the factory at Breganze to Slaters

Yes - clearly a different bike but I had never spotted the difference until now.

 

[rocketonarail]

That’s Ludy Beumer. He always was involved in the Yamaha racing activities, but also played an important role in the big success of the FS1 model, in your country better known as the Fizzy.

Marnix

Fizzies seem to be attracting prices of about half of that for an orange / silver Jota ( almost ) here in the UK ......... Nostalgia is a powerful emotion , but getting a little out of control in this case , I think ......

I believe the pedal conversion was actually carried out in the Netherlands , ( so the model was built there , in effect ) , before being delivered to the UK .....

 

[rocketonarail]

A few pictures from that day.
The fellow swigging champagne is Ludi (forgotten his surname). He worked for Yamaha Holland who were trying to get PK to do an endurance race for them. This was after the 2nd place in Spa with Pete Lovell on Richard Negus's Norton (which is a story of its own!)

All these pictures are brilliant ........ Maybe one day they could be incorporated into a publication outlining Laverda`s involvement in racing in the UK .......... Maybe wishful thinking , but that`s the least they deserve ..........

It would be nice to have everything on here in chronological order as well ....... one day I might save up for enough ink and paper to get everything printed and sorted into month / year by year ........ at the moment it`s all a bit Pulp Fiction ........ skipping back and forth from one thing to another ...... .............