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Edit: the title should say Classic TT. Oops!
Hi folks, I figured that this forum could do with an injection of non American bikes so here are some pictures from a trip I did a few weeks ago. (Also no apologies for not just posting really old bikes)
A friend and I attended the Classic TT in August. The plan was to go early on Thursday 23rd August and stay for 6 nights. Unfortunately I had to attend a funeral on the Friday and so I ended up arriving at the campsite at 02:00 on Saturday morning due the logistics of the funeral plus the evening ferry being 2 1/2 hours late leaving Liverpool. Even though we booked many months ago there were only bike spaces left on the ferry so we went on our modern bikes due to the need to carry a load of camping gear. Luckily I was able to change my ferry booking from Thursday morning to Friday evening without too much fuss. I had to smile to myself at the number of BMW GS's with full Touratech luggage queuing up to board. I am sure some of them had luggage worth more than my bike. However there were plenty of more interesting bikes on the ferry, I spotted a guy on a Triton who had ridden from Germany which was a feat in itself with just a small rucksack for luggage. Also a tidy looking Ducati 900ss, a Norvin and a lovely BMW R60 combination caught my eye along with a few others, none of which I seem to have photographed. I did take one of some bikes lined up to board with the Liver Building (a famous landmark in the North West England) in the background and one each of the outside and hold of the ferry. The hold of a Steam Packet ferry is a unique place during a busy week and this picture is near the start of boarding.
My friend kindly took my tent and put it up for me on Thursday so I managed to get to bed at about 02:30 however Saturday morning started earlier than planned due to our Dutch neighbours liking the sound of Motorhead at 07:30 and wanting to share it with the rest of the campsite. However the early start gave me chance to check out the bikes around the campsite. I initially spotted a BSA with a decent patina on it and also an AJS that looked like it would be making an appearance at Ramsay Sprint. On the way to the showers I saw a Kettle which had had a single sided swinging arm conversion and upside-down forks. What I didn't initially spot was the small spike on the top of the right footrest which the owner pointed out a couple of days later when we were chatting to him. The spike was there to stop his prosthetic right leg from slipping off the foot peg!
Saturday was fine weather and we mostly took in the racing so I wont post pictures of old bikes that you can just about make out in the far distance. Sunday dawned wet and windy with some tents on the site not faring too well (ours were fine). We had a late breakfast and headed off to Jurby nearer lunchtime to avoid the worst of the weather. For those not familiar with the event there is no racing on the Sunday and it is the day to go to a VMCC organised event called The Jurby Festival (the VMCC is the British version of the AMCA). It is held at the Jurby Circuit and anyone can take their bike out in one of the sessions although you have to pre-enter, have the right gear and go through scrutineering. It was not as well attended this year as it was last year due to the foul weather but is one of the best one day events anywhere.
We had hoped to see Rob Iannucci's original Honda 250/6 and his Benelli 350/4. Both were there but the Benelli was being fixed so whilst we saw both, we only saw the Honda running. There were lots of bikes to see in the car park I wont list them but British bikes were in the majority plus a few Italians and Japanese plus some other stuff including the usual array of replica parade bikes.
THE Mike Hailwood Ducati was on show in a tent, we had seen it on saturday do a parade lap with John McGuiness on board. My favourite older bike at Jurby was a Moto Sacoche (Swiss bike) that when it went out on track was going like a rocket, it was the third fastest behind the Honda 6 and an RC30 (if you exclude the traveling marshals on Fireblades etc) The guy on board knew how to ride it and was going much faster than people on bikes 40 years newer. I didn't see much Americana at Jurby except for what looked like a teen Indian but it was in a van so I couldn't get a good look at it or any pictures. Also there was a little Indian paddock bike which I did photograph, I didn't realise that Indian did all tig welded frames back in the day!
John
Hi folks, I figured that this forum could do with an injection of non American bikes so here are some pictures from a trip I did a few weeks ago. (Also no apologies for not just posting really old bikes)
A friend and I attended the Classic TT in August. The plan was to go early on Thursday 23rd August and stay for 6 nights. Unfortunately I had to attend a funeral on the Friday and so I ended up arriving at the campsite at 02:00 on Saturday morning due the logistics of the funeral plus the evening ferry being 2 1/2 hours late leaving Liverpool. Even though we booked many months ago there were only bike spaces left on the ferry so we went on our modern bikes due to the need to carry a load of camping gear. Luckily I was able to change my ferry booking from Thursday morning to Friday evening without too much fuss. I had to smile to myself at the number of BMW GS's with full Touratech luggage queuing up to board. I am sure some of them had luggage worth more than my bike. However there were plenty of more interesting bikes on the ferry, I spotted a guy on a Triton who had ridden from Germany which was a feat in itself with just a small rucksack for luggage. Also a tidy looking Ducati 900ss, a Norvin and a lovely BMW R60 combination caught my eye along with a few others, none of which I seem to have photographed. I did take one of some bikes lined up to board with the Liver Building (a famous landmark in the North West England) in the background and one each of the outside and hold of the ferry. The hold of a Steam Packet ferry is a unique place during a busy week and this picture is near the start of boarding.
My friend kindly took my tent and put it up for me on Thursday so I managed to get to bed at about 02:30 however Saturday morning started earlier than planned due to our Dutch neighbours liking the sound of Motorhead at 07:30 and wanting to share it with the rest of the campsite. However the early start gave me chance to check out the bikes around the campsite. I initially spotted a BSA with a decent patina on it and also an AJS that looked like it would be making an appearance at Ramsay Sprint. On the way to the showers I saw a Kettle which had had a single sided swinging arm conversion and upside-down forks. What I didn't initially spot was the small spike on the top of the right footrest which the owner pointed out a couple of days later when we were chatting to him. The spike was there to stop his prosthetic right leg from slipping off the foot peg!
Saturday was fine weather and we mostly took in the racing so I wont post pictures of old bikes that you can just about make out in the far distance. Sunday dawned wet and windy with some tents on the site not faring too well (ours were fine). We had a late breakfast and headed off to Jurby nearer lunchtime to avoid the worst of the weather. For those not familiar with the event there is no racing on the Sunday and it is the day to go to a VMCC organised event called The Jurby Festival (the VMCC is the British version of the AMCA). It is held at the Jurby Circuit and anyone can take their bike out in one of the sessions although you have to pre-enter, have the right gear and go through scrutineering. It was not as well attended this year as it was last year due to the foul weather but is one of the best one day events anywhere.
We had hoped to see Rob Iannucci's original Honda 250/6 and his Benelli 350/4. Both were there but the Benelli was being fixed so whilst we saw both, we only saw the Honda running. There were lots of bikes to see in the car park I wont list them but British bikes were in the majority plus a few Italians and Japanese plus some other stuff including the usual array of replica parade bikes.
THE Mike Hailwood Ducati was on show in a tent, we had seen it on saturday do a parade lap with John McGuiness on board. My favourite older bike at Jurby was a Moto Sacoche (Swiss bike) that when it went out on track was going like a rocket, it was the third fastest behind the Honda 6 and an RC30 (if you exclude the traveling marshals on Fireblades etc) The guy on board knew how to ride it and was going much faster than people on bikes 40 years newer. I didn't see much Americana at Jurby except for what looked like a teen Indian but it was in a van so I couldn't get a good look at it or any pictures. Also there was a little Indian paddock bike which I did photograph, I didn't realise that Indian did all tig welded frames back in the day!
John
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