What a weekend it was! I can only say that it was a joy to be there, my first UK track event. Started out wet but the Sun(ny)day made up for that. So nice to see so many UK Laverdisti and non Laverdisti at this extremely sympathetic and cosy event. I saw many familiar faces many new ones too and without exception a pleasure to meet. There?s just not enough time in a weekend to have a proper chat with everyone..
As a ?past master? I had the privilege to ride among all the stars on their legendary machines. I reckoned I would carry the red lantern on my 60 bhp Egli but fortunately this was not the case. With Piero on V6 behind me as bulldozer I had to give all to stay in front of him and he really tried, believe me, but the V6?s occasional mis-shifts did help me I must admit. Every lap while braking into the hairpin I could hear the hellish scream of the V6 behind me.. I too found the Norton Wankels the stars of the day. Their way of rounding the hairpin left me in awe..
Piero?s offer to ride the V6 was a massive surprise for me too, as Clem rightly stated it was not the first time for me, but it certainly was the first time on a race track. I felt very much at ease on the machine, it handled much better than I expected and after taking it easy for 2 laps I could push it a bit more the remaining laps which was very exciting indeed and the scream from the exhaust hurt inside my head; of course I did not wear ear plugs! The hardest part was avoiding a false neutral between 2nd and 3rd gear while going through devil?s elbow but for the rest this simply is a fantastic machine to ride! Hope someone took a picture!
I?m so grateful for such a memorable weekend and therefore a very big thanks to ILOC, Ray, Rob, Bob and others for making it happen, I will never forget it.
The weekend ended in a proper way, friend Frank racing the van to Hull to make it to the ferry just in time..
Marnix
PS: Clem, I can only hope that you will get your well deserved opportunity to sample the V6 too one sunny day!