TT Memories 3

Last instalment of Microdave's memories of the TT races (previous instalments here and here): IOM TT 1979 (continued). The last instalment - A few more from that trip: My father and Stanley Woods with one of his bikes was taken at Jurby airfield on the 7th June 1979.



Another shot of one of his Velocettes at Jurby.



An unknown Matchless seen at Jurby.



Mike Hailwood (no8) taken on the Cronk y Voddy straight doing (we think) about 180mph. This was taken on the 4th June 1979.



The Silk 700s is a rare beast, and was pictured at the Vintage Rally at Castletown on the 7th. This was a hand built derivative of the pre war Scott Squirell, which my father and grandfather both owned.



I hope these have been of some interest to you, and any comments are welcome. MD

Thanks to Microdave for sharing some interesting and personal material. Hope you all enjoyed it. R

TT Memories 2

Second instalment of Microdave's IoM history lesson. For the first part, see here.

IOM TT 1979 (continued).

Further pictures from Signpost corner:

Percy Tait (no7) on a Trident & Phil Read (no1) on a MV 500/3?



Ralph Bryans (no5) on a Honda 125/5?



Stuart Graham (6) on a MV Augusta 1000



Unknown # 1



Unknown # 2



Unknown # 3



If anyone can identify the last three please do so - I am having to rely on what was written on the back of these photo's, and don't have any information on them.

More to follow later.

TT Memories 1

Big welcome to Microdave, and the first of three posts on his visits to the Isle of Man in the 1970s/80s. Click any picture for a bigger version.

Dear readers, Richard seemed very interested in my picture of the late Stanley Woods from back in 1979, so I suggested that I could scan some more, and make them the subject of a post or two. I'm going to divide it into 3 parts, or else it would get rather long, so here goes.

I made 3 visits to the IOM TT with my father - in 1978, '79 & '80, followed by a trip to the Manx Grand Prix the next year. On the first 3 occasions we went on 2 motorbikes, firstly my Moto Morini 3½ Strada and his Kawasaki Z 400. In '79 it was a pair of BMW's - my R65 and his R100S. In 1980 I confounded all my friends by taking my newly re-built CZ175, and had the most enjoyable time of the 3 trips. There was a sense of achievment in doing a 280 mile cross country ride to get to Heysham, and being on one of a handful (and by far the best) of Czech machines there! For the Manx we took mother along and used a car and dad's BeeEm, sharing the riding / driving.

Anyway back to the subject - on Saturday 7th June we rode up to Jurby airfield in the North of the island, which was being used for practice and testing of the old bikes which were going to be ridden in the first "Millenium Lap Of Honour" the following day. It was here that we met Stanley and his helpers. He was the perfect "gent" and willingly gave us his time. He was then 75 and admitted to having both hips replaced, and wasn't able to get on the old Velocette without assistance. However once he had been push started he was in his element. Apparently all the riders had been advised they only had 40 minutes (I think) on the circuit, after that they would be flagged off at the next junction. So although it was meant to be a fairly sedate demonstration lap, it soon became anything but. Stanley completed a lap in 33 minutes, averaging 68mph! The leaders on newer faster machines were really having a ding dong, and I think I'm right in saying that some lapped faster than the last time they had raced, such had been the improvement in the roads.

On Sunday 7th June we found a suitable spot to watch at Signpost Corner, and most of the following shots are from there. I have no idea what camera we had back then, but it did use 35mm film. I probably have the negatives somewhere in the loft, but trying to find them would be a nightmare, so these are all scanned and cropped from the prints.

Stanley Woods (no28) on a Velocette



Geoff Duke (no3) on a 500 Gilera Four.



Georg Meier (no9) on a 1939 BMW



John Surtees (no2) on an MV 500/4



Luigi Taveri (no4) on a Honda 250/4



Paul Smart? on a Suzuki & John Surtees (no2) on a MV 500/4



More to follow later.

I'll be posting the second and third instalments over the next couple of days. Great to see the giants of road racing making 'good progress'.

Vintage meet

Today I went to the Vintage Motorcycle Club's "Pendine Get-together", an informal meeting on the sea front at Pendine, Carmarthenshire. The forecast was good and, sure enough, the day was clear and sunny, and the roads were almost dry. I felt that the XT had had a bit of a hard time of it recently, taking me to work and back, and standing about in the rain while I got on with things, and it deserved a bit of a treat. So I packed a fleece and camera in the top box and off we went.



Pendine sands

Pendine, with its 7 mile stretch of flat, firm sand was the scene of numerous car and motorcycle races and the first speed record attempts in the UK. Malcolm Campbell set the world land speed record here in 1924, covering a measured mile at an average speed of over 146 mph in the first 'Blue Bird'. Three years later, in a new Blue Bird with a 500 hp aero engine, he broke his own record with an average of 175 mph. A month later, a Welshman, J. G Parry-Thomas, in a car called Babs, attempted to beat Campbell's record. On the final run, a drive chain broke and partially decapitated him. The car went out of control, rolled, and was destroyed. Parry-Thomas was the first person to be killed attempting a land speed record. The remains of the car were buried in the sand dunes but recently (1969) the car was excavated and, after 15 years of restoration, now lives in the Museum of Speed in Pendine village. These attempts, and others, are commemorated on a plaque on the outside of the Beach Hotel, who also sell a decent pint of Felinfoel (otherwise known as "Feelin' Foul").



Click for bigger

As the 'Get-together' title implies, this wasn't a formal bike show, just a chance for a rideout on a decent Spring day, and an opportunity to ogle some nice old bikes. Some of the Triumph Owners' Club were there, and it was good to meet, and have a pint and a chat together. There were perhaps a hundred bikes on view, although many were modern and merely 'transport' to get there (I would include the XT in that category). There were one or two immaculately-restored examples, with better-then-factory detailing and paintwork like a freshly-sucked toffee, but my eyes were drawn to bikes which were obviously used and cherished, rather than mounted behind plate glass with artistic uplighting. These ranged from a tidy 1970s Suzuki T500:



to an immaculate but understated black BSA Bantam:



a very tidy Norton Commando:



and a well-used but cared-for Norton 16H:



Not forgetting my own little post-vintage relic, which had a great time blatting round the lanes of South Pembs and Carmarthen, and delivered me home in time for a cup of tea. After the last little hiccup and consequent input of cash and fettling time, it's running very strongly and I'd trust it to take me to Cape Town and back. The feeling will be temporary, I am sure.



Note to self: no matter how sunny and warm it looks, March is no time to be setting off in leathers with only a T-shirt underneath. That fleece earned its keep on the way home.