Before the flood

Paul Marx said:
There's a photo of that weekend that I haven't got.
The Italians pissed off to their hotel, leaving the V6 behind.
When the time came to pack up for the night, we put the V6 under the tent.
Andy Wagner and his then girlfriend Renate were sleeping rough as usual and there's a photo somewhere of them both cuddled up in their sleeping bag under the V6, which was very courageous of them since the home made paddock stand was very flimsy.
The next day, My friend Sergueï and I took the V6 out again to show to the unsuspecting masses.

A couple of months later, the Amicale 750 Laverda along with the Moto Club Breganze, organised a meeting in Breganze. Massimo Laverda took part in the organisation. He expressed his displeasure about the way the V6 was treated that weekend at Monthléry.

It was a memorable meeting in Breganze with Massimo.
He took us to visit the castle of the Trapp family. Whilst we were in the living room of the castle where Massimo was explaining details of history, the Contessa Trapp came out of the pool into her living room, topless, and found a large group of motorcyclists there.
We also visited a water driven sawmill where Massimo explained the sustainable approach the Venetians had to building their sailing ships. They'd cut wood having built the saw mill an immediately planted trees to replace the cut down ones.
He also took us to a WW1 fort up in the hills where he was displeased that some of us preferred the café to his explanations. I plead guilty.
We ended at his country chalet in Lavarone where he'd put on a massive BBQ.

Memorable times.

PaulView attachment 57404
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Was this event help in a water basin what is that high wall at the rear?
 
sfcpiet said:
That's the banking of the old Montlhery circuit. I think it has all vanished since.

piet
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Track is still there and in use Piet. They stopped using it for major events for a few years due to security concerns but it's going again. There's a vintage car and bike meet yearly in the spring now, a must do I think. Been postponed the last two years.

 
That's good, Paul.

I read elsewhere it was to be demolished to make way for a housing development area.

Never managed to visit, I've put it on my bucket list now!

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
That's good, Paul.

I read elsewhere it was to be demolished to make way for a housing development area.

Never managed to visit, I've put it on my bucket list now!

piet
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There were projects of that sort.
The usual crap. Build cages for humans and make a quick buck.
I remember signing a petition.

But all quiet apparently. There's not many banked ovals around.
Monthléry, Monza, Czech Republic?

Paul
 
That's quite a roommate they've got there - at least it had a 'roof' over its head. What was Massimo carrying on about?! It's not like it was rare or worth a lot of lire or anything!
 
Paul Marx said:
There were projects of that sort.
The usual crap. Build cages for humans and make a quick buck.
I remember signing a petition.

But all quiet apparently. There's not many banked ovals around.
Monthléry, Monza, Czech Republic?

Paul
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Miramas still exists, BMW own it now. The US of course is lousy with banked ovals. There's a steeply banked dirt quarter mile oval 40 minutes down the road from me. Unbelievable car racing on that one. The flat trackers have tried it too. Scary.
 
sfcpiet said:
That's good, Paul.

I read elsewhere it was to be demolished to make way for a housing development area.

Never managed to visit, I've put it on my bucket list now!

piet
Click to expand...
You're not confusing it with the banking at the old Brooklands circuit are you? Parts of that have been demolished to make way for housing.
 
well not quite right Cam, but not very far off, Brooklands was built before Monthlery but was an airfield as well, great lumps of it were removed in WW11 when Vickers Armstrong were building Wellington bombers, and had the biggest wind tunnel on the planet (at the time) it still exists, capab;le of temnepoerature changes from about -40 to plus = 60, the cuircuit was never to be replaced, so it didn't have a huge long life, later as you say houses/supermarkets and an industrial estate have been built, a good part of crumbling banking remains, as does test hill, but Mercedes have now a new (sort of) circuit at a venue called Mercedes World, its not a patch on anything though, touristy gimmick, the old parts of the circuit can be walked on, if you dare, its steep, some of the lower flatter parts are used for storage. A few years ago Captain Slow, James May of Top Gear fame, ran an event where he built a model railway which replicated the route of the original circuit as close as possible, and it wasnt far out, it was surprising to see how large it actually was.
CLEM
 
I have a Vague memory of reading about Triumph using the circuit at Monthlery for a 24hr record some time in the 1960s.
 
Vince said:
I have a Vague memory of reading about Triumph using the circuit at Monthlery for a 24hr record some time in the 1960s.
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All the British firms used it. There was nowhere in the UK any more for record breaking. The most notable records being Velocette and Vincent.

thevintagent.com

Velocettes at Montlhéry: 24 hours at 100mph | The Vintagent

In 1961, an international team of Velocette riders hammered around Montlhery for 24 hours to score a world record that's never been beaten.
thevintagent.com thevintagent.com

johnlumleyaffair.blogspot.com

Vincent-HRD Black Shadows at Montlhéry in 1952

MONTLHÉRY BLACK SHADOWS by Prosper Keating The Montlhéry Black Shadow LOW 458 sold in April 2013 by Bonhams The sale for £113,...
johnlumleyaffair.blogspot.com johnlumleyaffair.blogspot.com

My friend Tigger Aldus who owned one of the Monthléry Vincents was unfortunately killed riding to work when a lorry blocked his path.

Paul
 
Dellortoman said:
You're not confusing it with the banking at the old Brooklands circuit are you? Parts of that have been demolished to make way for housing.
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In about 2004 the Coupes Moto Légende event moved from Monthléry to Dijon, the reason cited at that time for the change of venue was that Monthléry was to be demolished and housing built. It didn’t happen and there are still events there. I was lucky enough to ride my Egli there in 2019 albeit parade laps behind a pace car. To get to the top of the banking would take speed, skill and cojones😀
 
you forgot to mention that your Egli has a Vincent engine Norman,

the cost of demolishing pre ww11 reinforced concrete is massive, can you imagine the machines and breakers plus blood sweat and tears to bring it all to ground level?, the concrete would no doubt, these days, be crushed on site and used in soak away's, foundation and road building etc, so it could be stored on site, the steel (once seperated and clean, would weigh in at (currently) about £100 per ton. The Armaco barrier at the top of the banking always impresses me, its a double row (IIRC) but what is distinctive is that the sheets are 100% horizontal, and look like pergoda roofs, so you dont go over the top, but come crashing back down, I doubt either of those scenarios is pleasant.
CLEM
 
I believe that part of the problem was the security of the public. There's only one exit through a tunnel and one dreads to think what would happen in case of fire with a couple of thousand tents. Plus, there was a plan to get rid of the place but it belongs to the French army/government who use it for testing purposes.

As for the organisers of the Coupe Moto Légende, I shall remain polite in public.

Paul
 
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