Archive stuff

Gareth is one of the (very) few surviving ILOC members who went on the very first factory visit in 1975, my memory is going but it might have been, myself and (Andrea), Gareth, Mike Donovan (lost touch last heard of in ireland), Bob Jordan (deceased), Hal and Lee kendal (both deceased) and thats it!

In true international club mode, these are the ones that departed Dover on a Saturday morning, we "colleceted" several others on the way a couple from Holland, a single bloke from France a couple from Germany, there may have been others, we did no more than 200 miles a day, had a great time there and back and were spoilt rotten at the factory, being shown around by the Swedish guy who was PR, Hans Blomquist and a classroom tech session with Luciano Zen. Massimo and Piero Laverda were not in Breganze that day, even though they were aware of what was taking place, remember that this was the FIRST EVER factory visit by a Laverda owners club, others had visited before and been well receieved but as individuals not as a club group, The very Gracious Dr. Franscesco laverda was present to see us all in and I am very pleased to have met him and shook his hand, because very soon after he passed away.

The best memeory is of drinking in Aosta, in a pleasant hotel, a very alcoholic coffee in a wooden bowl, with multiple spouts, it was called the friendship cup, and the legend is that all those who drink from it will at some point in their life
time meet again, what a load of old bollocks, but brilliant coffee! and Oh yeah one of us got niccked for speeding in the Mont Blank tunnel just prior to Aosta, odd realy since we were all line astern and followed by hal and Lee in his Jenny ( 7.2 litreJenson Interceptor, wanted one everr since)we all chipped in to pay his fine, not saying who that was! but he has got a very Welsh sounding name, rode a black GT and was half owner of a certain shop near a wharf in Cropredy village.

CLEM

CLEM
 
That`s quite a thing getting to meet Franscesco Laverda and Luciano Zen...
Only got a second hand account from Richard Slater regarding Luciano Zen , who said he ( Zen ) couldn`t speak a word of English ( at least that`s what Richard said ) , and would shout " Londra , Londra " ( London , London ) whenever they met...

Once got some spare part or other from Slaters which had arrived from Italy and was still in the original packaging from the factory...
It was addressed to " Ricardo Slattorrie "...they obviously knew the correct spelling but phonetically ( is that the word ? ) took the name as they would in everyday conversation , then used that phonetic version when addressing it to Richard .
 
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rocketonarail said:
Back with our favourite motorcycles...
Jota impressions , although the speed in gears quoted relate to the Slater racing bike they tested with the close ratio intermediate gears , not standard , which also killed the standing start quarter mile time...
Also Pete Davies Formula 500 ; and Laverda telling you to dump your slow old 750 and get the new faster 500 ....
And finally Tarquinio Provini will sell you a new 750SF in kit form for £3.95 , plastic tank mind so steer clear of the E10 , or E anything really...

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BTW this model has the Laverda front brake , but is styled more like the earlier 750S , I thought the first SF`s came with the later styling , maybe I`m wrong or maybe Tarquinio`s done a bit of mix and match...

BTW (again )...I`m wondering if the Roger Davies in the Formula 500 article is a typo and should actually be Roger Slater... I think this was 1980 so Roger would have still been in England .
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The Formula 500 is a Series One bike so most likely 1978, the first year they were raced at the IOM.
 
It`s 1982 and Laverda have the new 120 degree engine intended for the RGS ready but they also have some old 180 degree frames and 1200TS cycle parts lying around the place so rather than chuck all this old stuff in the bin they use them up by creating the Jota120...and here it is...

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Sorry if it all jumps forward and backwards again like Pulp Fiction but it`s the best I can be bothered to do at this time of night ...
 
1977 and Round 2 of the Avon Production Championship at Croft Circuit....Moto Guzzi getting the better of the Laverdas , and I think it was Roy Armstrong who won the series that year on his Le Mans ; some leather jacketed hooligans discussing tyres inbetween frightening old ladies and beating up scooter riders ( this was 1968 and that`s what we did back then ) ; and finally Italian hero and all round cool guy Renzo Pasolini on his 250 Aermacchi...

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Milan 1979 and the 1200TS goes on show ; Steve Baker on his OW31 ; and finally it`s Pietermaritzburg SA 1972 with Barry Sheene , Jon Ekerold and Mike Grant being taken for a ride by track owner Jack Hawkins...
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A little bit of gossip regarding Steve Baker...his race mechanic / best friend was Bob Work , and the two of them worked closely together as well as / in spite of the official Yamaha mechanics and team managers .
Steve`s sister was Bob`s girlfriend and she didn`t get on very well ( at all ) with Steve`s girlfriend ...this situation simmered for a while as both girls were usually present in the pits , and eventually boiled over big time at the Dutch TT in `77 , also dragging the two men into conflict as well...
Yamaha had never seen anything like it...having two women constantly bickering in the pits was bad enough , but when they started causing problems within the team that really fazed the Japanese out and the two women were banned from that point on .
Work returned to Canada to escape the whole situation .
Steve went on to win the 750 Superbike Title that year but what Yamaha were really interested in was the 500cc class , and Steve failed to do that by eventually finishing second to Barry Sheene .
Just before the 500 race at Spa Yamaha telexed Baker to tell him if he didn`t win then his contract would not be renewed for `78...all this pressure despite being new to the GP scene and racing on many of the circuits for the first time , plus the personal pressures mentioned above .
He didn`t win at Spa , but finished I think in the top three , quite an achievement at that circuit , I think it was in either `76 or `77 that Barry Sheene set the highest GP race average of all time at 138 point something mph ( race average , not fastest lap ) .

Another instance of his bad luck was earlier in the season was when a Yamaha crew member , not believing that Bob Work had closed the fuel filler cap properly walked up two minutes before the start of the race while Steve was sat on the grid , thumped the cap , breaking it , which meant it then had to be taped down .
Within a lap or two it had sprang open soaking Steve with fuel which meant Steve had to ride the rest of the race constantly re closing the cap...

Yamahas attitude toward Baker seems harsh , but they probably thought he should have handled the situation between the two girls better before it became an issue that affected the team...In contrast they thought the world of ex works rider Bill Ivy and were distraught when learning of his death at the Sachsenring in 1969 when his V4 Jawa seized during Saturday morning practice for the 350cc race .
 
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1200TS with auto rear chain lube? yeah right oh! (post 0408 hrs UK)
and triple with seperate cylinders another yeah right oh! (although very very early proto's did have)
but 16 proto's with belt drive cams???
journalists will print whaever you tell them I suppose.
CLEM
 
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CLEMTOG said:
1200TS with auto rear chain lube? yeah right oh! (post 0408 hrs UK)
and triple with seperate cylinders another yeah right oh!
but 16 proto's with belt drive cams???
journalists will print whaever you tell them I suppose.
CLEM
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Very true ! ...although by auto rear chain lube they probably meant " o " ring self lubing chain ( maybe ) which was still a bit of a new fangled novelty back in `78/`79...
I suspect the 3 cylinder story was fed to the paper by Roger Slater himself rather than coming from the factory ( again maybe wrong ) , to generate a bit of self publicity ; early development triples did feature belt drive but were 981`s , always taking their cylinder dimensions from the original short lived 654 twin .
And seeing this is 1971 why are they referring back to that 654 twin , by this time the 744 version had been well established .

As with most media today , it seems to be a case of 50 % opinion , 30 % misinformation , and 20 % facts...
 
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Going through all this stuff I find pics and features not always related to Laverda but that I can`t resist including so...

Referring back to Bill Ivy , here`s a pic of him at Assen 1969 about to pass Giacomo Agostini`s MV Agusta on his Jawa to take the lead in the 350cc race .
Pulled away only for the Jawa to start mis-firing letting Ago back into the lead .
The Jawa eventually cleared and Ivy set off in pursuit of Agostini again , passing him and taking the lead again for the second time . However the mis-fire set in once more and Ago re-passed and kept the lead to the end with Ivy finishing second .

Other pic was taken at 9.30 am Sat 12 July 1969 at the Sachsenring and sadly shows Ivy about to set off on that final fatal practice session .



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Slaters piling on the pressure again just in case you were considering anything other than a Laverda ...

And if you`re considering a trip to Eire here`s a helpful glossary of Irish phrases in English for you ...( Note this is Irish , the contributor said referring to it as Gaelic over there could earn you a fat lip , but I wouldn`t know anything about that...) .

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( Does To Fall Down really translate as Tit Over Ass ? ) .
 
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Excerpts from a 1980 road test of the 1200TS ( says Mirage on side panels , but this is from the factory so doesn`t mean much , but despite what the tester thinks I expect Slaters probably shoved some 4C cams in there before handing it over to the press...) .

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No Laverdas but this is Italy...the ISDT...1951 and 1968...John Morris draws admiring glances near San Pellengrino as he passes by on his DMW Villiers 197 , whilst West German Rolf Witthoft on his Puch 125 gets completely blanked in the same event 17 years later .

Also back to 1939 and the water cooled , supercharged , V4 , 500cc Grand Prix machine from AJS in Wolverhampton .

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A nice Rob North framed H1R being used on the road .

Also John Wayne with his Hodaka Ace ...Hodaka were massively popular in the ` States in the late ` sixties ...as well as the Ace there was the Road Rat ; the Dirt Squirt ; the Wombat ; and the Combat Wombat...Hodaka were all about riding and having fun , and not taking things too seriously , something a lot of people seem to have forgotten about nowadays...

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April 1971 Nostalgia Event at Brands Hatch...the wild eyed maniac at the controls of the ES2 outfit is 1950`s four times World Sidecar Champion Eric Oliver...the whimpering lump of jelly in the sidecar is Roger Allen , son of VMCC founder Titch Allen...
Roger Allen said this middle aged guy in collar and tie and suit and wearing a black plastic mac turned up and he ( Roger ) was asked if he would ride in the sidecar with him for a " demonstration lap "...
Rogers father Titch was leading a parade around the circuit in a Morgan Three Wheeler , and it was only when this bloke in the suit and tie drifted the outfit around the outside of the Morgan halfway through a bend with the pushrods almost about to pop up through the petrol tank that Roger realised that maybe he hadn`t been properly informed about who this guy really was...

Also a reprint from the 59 Club magazine of a little verse written by a guy called Stu about his Black Shadow .

Back into the Breganze groove next time...

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Perry said:
Really interesting regarding road/race tyres. What was the final outcome ? Did Avon eventually back down ?
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Not really sure...maybe some sort of compromise was reached...perhaps there is someone directly involved in the series reading this who would know .
I`ll see if I can find anything else on it .
I do know that Laverdas were back competing again in `78 and`79 , Slater Jotas winning the titles both years , and using I think Pirelli Gordons , which was a road tyre , Slaters reckoning that the Jota preferred them , so maybe commercial pressures overcame safety in the end ?
If you won on Avon Roadrunners you received a bouns payment from Avon , and also if Avon were supporting the series you can see they wouldn`t be too keen on rival tyre manufacturers getting on the podium , "Pirelli wins the Avon Series " , that sort of thing .
 
"Lock up your brain `cos I`m here again" as Adam Ant once said ( Zerox...great single )...anyway here`s more stuff which most people have either forgotten about or were unaware of in the first place...
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Below is a report on the Thruxton Powerbike 400 miler held in 1975...Pete Davies lost his bearings on his Richard Negus Jota , was it Richard Negus who ran Ongar Motorcycles , early Laverda dealers and racing entrants ? ...
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