Hawkestone Park

Rummaging through my old photo albums

I came across some 80,s motocross action

from  Shropshires gem

-Hawkestone Park.

I think Hawkestone

is the BEST motocross track of all!

Built on the side of a hill

providing steep ascents and descents

flat out straights,

massive tabletops,

bombholes

and enormous jumps.

Graham Noyce gets "Big Air"

Who could ask for more!

The soil is very sandy and never really floods.

Spectators can get very close to the action

and most of the track is visible from the centre.

The hill is enormous!

Its extremely difficult to walk up

let alone ride up.

A series of huge bumps

saps the bikes momentum

BEFORE

you meet the near vertical section

half way up

How do I know?

I once took a Beta 125 enduro

to Hawkestone,

with a pal whose kids

had permission

to practise there.

I just didnt have the power

to crest the beast!

Ive been to GPs there in the past.

I even went to a round

of the world trials championship

held there in the woods

behind the track.

I did a multilap enduro

there on my Honda XR200.

The course was fast and grippy

The hill section and the bombhole were left out.

I was making terrific progress

(probably my best enduro performance ever)

when the inevitable happened……

the XR seized!

Thankyou and goodnight!

It was a common problem on the little Honda.

The single overhead camshaft

ran directly in the head

rather than in bearings.

Floppy camchains wore swarf

off the barrel,

the bits contaminated the oil,

the oil blocked the narrow oilways to the head

and the cam seized.

What is it with Honda and camchains?

How many models were plagued

with factory recalls?

VFs,CXs

-DOH!

Is hawkestone still in use?

I,ve been out of the UK motocross scene

for a long time

and have gotten out of touch.

Let me know

Weston Beach Race 1984

The other day

I got an email from my brother in law,

Paul Robson,

Paul was always a top class motocrosser in his youth.

After a 25  year layoff

he started doing hare and hound enduros

and the “Fast Eddie” series,

on a Gas Gas 300.

This year he has done more Rallies

and the WESTON BEACH RACE!

He finished in the 500,s

-not bad out of 1200 starters.

(If he,d done another lap

he would have finished in the 200s)

Memories flooded back

of the only time I went to Weston

-in 1984 when the event was in its 2nd year

and won by Roger Harvey

Solos,sidecars and trikes

all blasted off down the beach together

and virtually everyone came to a standstill at the 1st turn

as a huge bottleneck was formed!

Watching the crowds of riders

struggling up the soft sand hills

put one in mind

of those huge herds of wilderbeest

seen on nature programmes

mindlessly jumping to probable death

in the swollen river.

Soft sand turned into soft mud

and a jet washer was needed to

hose down the number plates

of riders

in order to keep score

of the laps completed.

The riding improved as the field thinned out

due to retirements

and mechanical failure,

but the spectator entertainment diminished

as the melees resolved.

One of the funniest moment of all

happened before “kick off”

There was a hamburger caravan

on the sand doing brisk business.

Quite a long queue had formed

when the caravan cooking grill burst into flames.

The caravan driver drove the now flaming

fast food wagon

towards the safety post

and presumably a fire extinguisher.

The crowd jogged in formation

behind the disappearing caravan

-still waiting their turn to be served!

The British and queues!

Daytona Bikeweek 2001

Hi y,all!

Just found some old photos from our trip to Daytona in 2001.

Having sold our pub in Tideswell

in the Peak District

we flew to Daytona

for a a couple of weeks winter sun

and a chance to recover

after working for 20 hours a day

in the licensing trade

(dont ever think of being  a landlord

if you dont like work!)

New years eve 2001-I am the French Maid,Ann is Dennis the Menace!

At the time we were campaigning a K4 Honda 350

in the classics

and knew several Brits

who were racing in the classic races

which precede the Daytona 200

We took 2 weeks holiday

in Florida

with the “Bike week/Race week”

happening in the second week.

Talk about wacky races!

CHEECH AND CHONG LIVE!!!

Guys riding turbo charged Hayabusas

wearing only shorts and trainers.

All manner of bad assed dudes

riding their Harleys at 55mph!

V8 engined specials

which make the new Triumph Rocket 3

look like a moped

Some incredible choppers

and custom parts dealers

-you might not want one

but you have to admire the

quality and style.

I resisted the sales people who offered

false tattooes,

false beards

and even baseball caps

with colour matched ponytails

We overheard a guy saying

that he sold all this paraphenalia

to turn the all year round lawyers

into bikers for the week.

Another great laugh

was the number of bikers

who trailer their Harleys

from all over the States and Canada

and then claim they have ridden them there!

Not a Norvin-its an XV100 Yamaha engine!

The classic racing was very good

with a stunning display

by veteran Jim Redman

riding for the Team Obsolete outfit.

The sound of  big singles

on the banking

was awesome!

Its a huge track

BUT

the classic racing

attracted a crowd of about 1000

-half of them being the racers!

a trio of XS 650 Yamaha flattrackers

The highlight was watching

the rigid framed Harleys and Indians at speed

a lovely roadgoing Indian

girder forks and hand changes!

I have total admiration

for their pilots.

We had to return home before Sundays Daytona 200 race

This was the one

that will be remembered

for ending Scott Russells career.

“Mr Daytona”

5 times Daytona winner

Russell,s  Ducati stalled on the grid,

he put his hand up

and tried to drift to safety

on the infield grass.

Riders on the rows behind

storming through,

trying to get a good start

collided with Russell

and several bikes caught fire.

(watch it on YOU TUBE!)

Strong stuff!

The quote of the week

(and  often retold at dinner parties since)

“say are you guys from Canada?”

“No we,re from England”

“No shit!Y,all here for Bikeweek?”

“No weve come to watch the racing”

“No shit,you mean they race bikes  here as well?”

Says it all really-Don,t it

The agony and the XT c!

Although intended as a “witty ” title,

the post actually is indeed

about an XT model “C” yamaha

and several of its stablemates.

The owner of the 3 XT,s featured

is non other than my pal

Nick Lowings

seen in the past on this blog

racing his Grinnall Scorpion.

Now Nick never does anything in halves!

2 Scorpions,

3 Lotus Sevens

3 Lotus Elises

2 Davrian racecars

Now 3 XT 500s

(and another one in the planning stage)

No mean mechanic,

and a paint sprayer

who would put most pros to shame

Nick enters “enthusiastically” into each new project.

He is very quickly “up to speed “

on all the salient points,

-suppliers,

experts,

specialist knowledge etc;

He uses owner clubs forums to great effect

and is very quickly

an authority on any given project,

-albeit the projects keep changing!

(a bit like Mr Toad!)

In attempting to find a modern bike

that had the attributes

of the British 500 singles

of his youth

Nick settled on the XT 500

as a suitable replacement.

A 2 valve, air cooled 500 single

in a traditional Twin shock frame,

complete with drum brakes

(and a KICKSTARTER!)

His 1st XT was this 78 “E” model.

He fitted road tyres ,

a Kand N filter

and a free flowing

Predator exhaust

to improve performance

The rest remained as standard

(apart from better shocks and fork springs)

Having gotten into the subject

it wasnt long

before he found out

that the 76 “C” model

was the one to have!

Being Nick,within a very short time

he had located a complete bike

with a spare motor

in the south of France,

and picked up the sorry looking package

for 800 euros!

Some fine restoration

resulted in the bike seen here

Apparantly it is one of only 200 imported

by the French concessionaire

Jean Claude Olivier

(an early Paris/Dakar veteran)

The bike features the original vin plate,

mounted low down on the saddle tubes,

(rather than on the headstock

as normal practise)

a white headlight

(only supplied to showroom models)

and nickel plated footrests.

(enthusiasts will note the exhaust

-a stainless steel exact copy of the original

supplied by a Dutch firm for a mere 900 EUROS!!!!!)

I love the little oil temperature gauge

that replaces the oil filler cap!

Having gotten a “utility” XT,

a special collectable XT

next on the list was a competition model.

A TT500 scrambler was sourced!

An engine rebuild  followed

including a highly recommended modification

-a double oil feed to the rocker box,

where the exhaust valve can suffer

from oil starvation on original examples

(KEDO-Germany are XT part suppliers that Nick recommends)

Longer shocks were added at the rear end

and beefy Yamaha  IT 490 enduro forks up front.

This has meant that the new forks

now touch the original tank

when on full lock

- a problem solved

by replacing same

with an Ebay sourced

YZ 125 tank from the mid 80,s

(seems an awfully complicated modification to me….!)

Is that the end?

HELL NO!

He is now sourcing a frame kit

to build an HL scrambler replica

this time.

He is in discussions

with an  Australian supplier!

Well at least he has a spare engine

to start off with!

Oh and he,s building a new house,

starting a company supplying secondary oil filters

as well as setting up

a French distribution company

for a specialist brand of American oil products…….

No rest for the wicked!:P