Archive stuff

It is rumoured that Moto Laverda did not receive a single penny from Jack Mc Cormack in payment for the American Eagles they supplied to him ...and that Massimo would fall silent / change the subject if the matter was ever brought up...
Maybe this is where some of that money ended up...

It always seemed to me that Knievel always seemed to choose motorcycles that you would think would have difficulty just getting off the ground , never mind flying through the air...

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Nice picture of Johnny Br*tt*in back in 1952 riding his works R*y*l Enfield in the Hurst Cup Trial in Northern Ir*la*d......

( As we enter the Third Carolean Era , and In view of what occurred with regard to another post on this forum , in order to avoid any upset by digging up our Imperialistic past , as you can see I`ve carefully captioned this image to avoid any mention of Brittain , Royal and Ireland...hope this is ok...)...

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Montjuic Park 1976....
The start ; J-C Chemarin on the second placed Honda ; and results showing Norman White and Neil Tuxworth in 10th place...

Neil Tuxworth went on to manage Team Castrol Honda in WSB , steering John Kocinski to his world title .
Norman White was a development engineer with Norton Villiers Triumph , working in the race shop ....
In the early `seventies one American magazine in particular questioned a Commando`s ability to run low twelves over the quarter , being unable to obtain such results themselves...
NVT sent Norman over to prove them wrong... on his arrival he found several American journos , including I think Cook Nielsen waiting with a standard Commando ...guess what ?.....a Commando can run low twelves...

Plus Wayne Gardner mountain climbing at Cadwell...

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A slight whiff of desperation setting in here I think ( this is now 1981 ) ...anyone here take advantage ?

Dave Richmond tries out a Moto Shifty ( yes that is spelt correctly , no sniggering at the back...) with a Squire nailed onto the side...
Laverda cycle parts plus a Fiat 127 engine...Slaters sold them but then they also sold Enfield 350 singles as well ..( not marketed as R*y*l Enfields at this point in time , some will be pleased to hear... )...

And finally Avon Bikes going through the death throes...

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1974 Production TT...Mick Grant got to ride Slippery Sam so Percy Tait had to do the best he could on a 3C.. ( at least I assume it was , could have been a SFC ) , except the primary chain failed at Braddan...should have used Regina mate...Talking of primaries Richard Slater said he had a batch of failures with customer bikes after using Renolds , and if he ever saw another Renold chain it would be one too many...

Hugh Evans gets as far as the Highlander on the Ongar triple where he is timed at 129 mph .

One other thing regarding Percy Tait and Laverdas...with reference to the1971 Bol`dor...and his impression of competing against the SFC`s...

" Laverda had made a big effort and really wanted to win...what we did was at the start of a straight we would draw up alongside one of them and open the throttle hard...they would do the same to try to keep up and then BANG...that`s another one gone ( laughs ) " ....

Cheeky bugger...all I can say is that Small Heath should have put the same care and attention into assembling their showroom triples as Laverda did with theirs...

On the other hand one of the Dutch SFC riders ( can`t remember who right now ) once said " The SFC was really a carthorse...but the thing was it could hold high speeds for long periods of time without breaking down...that was it`s main strength "...

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Bit of a mixture here...at the bottom we have camera shy comedian Dick Emery on his new Gold Wing...

Penthouse Club receptionist Kay Arnold raises the interest of a bus queue on her way to work in 1970...there was a rail strike on...

And also Mick Andrews on his 360 Yamaha riding in some trial...
Only included because....Mick was an Ossa factory rider before Yamaha tempted him their way with lots of money .
He and his missus found themselves somewhere in Europe and needed to get back to Yamahas headquarters in the Netherlands .
Yamaha found them places on a small executive jet.
When they boarded they found fellow passenger was Don Van Vliet ( Captain Beefheart of the Magic Band and sometime Frank Zappa collaborator ) , plus some of his people , presumably travelling between gigs .
Once airborne Micks wife asked the stewardess for a drink , Mexican Brandy or something which the stewardess wasn`t sure how to make .
Micks wife showed her how , and everyone on board then sampled the drink , including Vliet and his crew plus the pilot and co-pilot...
By the time they came into land everyone on board was quite merry , and instead of exiting through the door the pilot activated the emergency chute and everyone exited the plane by sliding down the chute like kids at a fairground...including Captain Beefheart .
Van Vliet had a reputation for being a miserable old bastard , but with a couple of Mexiican Brandies inside him it seems he was up for anything...

Mick was also mates with professional drinker and sometime actor Oliver Reed , and said when one time they were both stood at the bar Oliver suddenly tried to headbutt him...There was no problem between them , they always got on fine , it was just that once Oliver had a few inside him that was just the sort of thing that could happen...



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Rod Gould ( 750 Norton twin ) leads Mike Hailwood ( 297 Honda 6 ) and Bill Ivy ( Yamaha RD05A water cooled disc valve 250 V4 ) at Cadwell in 1968...
before road racing became the over regulated bore parade it is now...

Van Veen Hell On Wheels takes a bow...yes that is actually what it was called...

And Barcelona 24 hr comparison chart .

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Harley Davidsons V Twin road racers provide some excitement at Daytona ( not sure which year but early `seventies ) ...
Mark Brelsford on the left and Larry Darr on the right....both suffered limb injuries but somehow Brelsford escaped serious burns...
His burning Harley Davidson continued on it`s way for a further 200 yards before coming to a halt .

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Barry Sheene ... Suzuki , Derbi , Yamaha , Bultaco , Norton ( at Montjuic Park ) ....but never realised Kawasaki as well...1970 Thruxton 500 miler...

It says spill ...my bettings on Croxford...

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One other thing about Dave Croxford and Barry Sheene....When Croxford was racing at Brands with a Norton single a young Barry Sheene would go out for a few laps to warm the bike up for Dave...this would have been when Barry was about 14 /15...

When Dave was riding for John Player Norton the team manager was ex Suzuki Grand Prix rider Frank Perris...If the meeting was close to home at Brands Dave would often be still in bed when practice was about to begin...An exasperated Perris would phone Dave up telling him to get down to the circuit...
Dave would say " OK Frank I`ll be there soon , could you go out and practice for me ? "
When he arrived Dave would say to Perris " Hi Frank , where did you get me , eigth on the grid ?...thats`s` fine , that puts me on the inside for the first corner..."...
 
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rocketonarail said:
Roger Slater decided this was a no - no , but Dennis Kelly thought it was worth a go , not sure how many he brought in (through Slaters , who then passed them quickly onto Dennis before he saw sense and changed his mind. ) .., but I doubt if it was more than about half a dozen .

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I was one of the half dozen or so punters that bought a 350 off Dennis, but complete with Motosplat bodywork to make it look like a MK2 Monty and an extremely loud 2-1 exhaust that was always scraping on l/h bends. I’ve still got the engine from that bike, but now full F500 spec.
 
rocketonarail said:
1974 Production TT...Mick Grant got to ride Slippery Sam so Percy Tait had to do the best he could on a 3C.. ( at least I assume it was , could have been a SFC ) , except the primary chain failed at Braddan...should have used Regina mate...Talking of primaries Richard Slater said he had a batch of failures with customer bikes after using Renolds , and if he ever saw another Renold chain it would be one too many...

Hugh Evans gets as far as the Highlander on the Ongar triple where he is timed at 129 mph .

One other thing regarding Percy Tait and Laverdas...with reference to the1971 Bol`dor...and his impression of competing against the SFC`s...

" Laverda had made a big effort and really wanted to win...what we did was at the start of a straight we would draw up alongside one of them and open the throttle hard...they would do the same to try to keep up and then BANG...that`s another one gone ( laughs ) " ....

Cheeky bugger...all I can say is that Small Heath should have put the same care and attention into assembling their showroom triples as Laverda did with theirs...

On the other hand one of the Dutch SFC riders ( can`t remember who right now ) once said " The SFC was really a carthorse...but the thing was it could hold high speeds for long periods of time without breaking down...that was it`s main strength "...

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Percy Tait was on the 750 twin. I recall chatting to him at a TTRA annual luncheon a few years ago about his ill-fated run out on the bike.
 
rocketonarail said:
What to expect for `78...Slaters brought the 350 in but only on behalf of Dennis Kelly of Avon Bikes .

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AFAIK the F500 used by PK in the 1978 TT was imported by Slaters in March 1978 and at the end of the season was bought by 'Ben' Higgins, who worked at Slaters and rode it to get to work. It was later owned by Craig McWilliams, who owned at least three ex-Slater F500 race bikes at various times, and is now in the possession of Dave Watkins-Jones. Dave hopes to have it up and running again in the not too distant future.
 
Alway thought the Formula 500 looked a bit strange at the time with it`s all enclosing seat / tail unit , but looking at it now I think it looks really great .

Not sure if I`ve used it but there is a picture of Roger Slater circulating the Factory test track on a Formula 500 dressed in his blazer and slacks...this I think was during the visit to the factory for the launch of the Mirage version of the 1200 , and it was this spin that was supposed to have given him the idea of marketing a road going version of the Formula which became the Monty .

I believe competitors in the race series in Italy received a box of parts with their Formulas so they could convert the bike back to road going trim after they had finished racing it...I wonder how many were passed onto unsuspecting punters later on..." one owner , carefully run in , only 1500 km on the clock..."...
 
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