“Call me Ishmael”
On this day 200 years ago the whaling ship Essex was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the middle of the South Pacific. This maritime story gave Herman Melville the idea for his classic novel Moby Dick. This 1928 Brought Superior SS100, also named Moby Dick recently sold for over £500,000. The name was given after Motor Cycling magazine tested it in 1931 and declared it “the fastest privately-owned machine in the world”.
– I was spoaching through some boxes in our basement when I happened upon my collection of early 2000ad comic. In orbit every Monday. A couple of back to back advertising pages caught my eye. One for a kids sport comic called Tiger, mostly about football, but it had a snippet about Barry Sheene who was at the time at the top of his popularity. The other page was for the statistical card game Aces (like the other Top Trumps game) also promoting the prowess of the GP rider.
– midweek needs some momentum to launch us towards the oncoming weekend. Nice classic looking desert sled with wonderful levitating powers.
– 8 Bit graphics in bright colors. Shifting perspective and panning horizon. High scores and top speeds. Blocky pixelations but excitement was guaranteed.
swim out and meet the bloody thing!” Barry Sheene (1950-2003) He would have been 70 yesterday.
Comic Book Adventures
Sixties pulp motorcycle magazine covers. If it’s two wheeled, goes breakneck fast, is dangerous shenanigans then it’ll be in these publications.
Captain Tom Moore, who will turn 100 next week recently took it upon himself to walk 100 laps of his small garden. 25 yards per lap. His goal was to raise £1,000. As of today his donations have raised £27 million. His wish was for the funds to go to NHS workers who are putting their all into the care and attention for the Covid 19 I’ll. He was a Captain during WW2 in an armored division in Burma. After the war he actively pursued motorcycle racing aboard a Scott Flying Squirrel with trophied success.
A True British Hero!
– one of the Greats in Motorsport died today aged 90. He raced during the Golden Age of Formula 1 against Fangio; barely surviving horrific crashes; smashing the Mille Miglia 1000 record in a Mercedes Benz 300 SLR; and becoming the most famous driver never to win the Championship. S
ir Stirling Moss 1929-2020
George Harrison would have been 77 today. His music was more thoughtful especially his opus-like triple album All Things Must Pass. He also supported the arts as a movie producer and had an interest in racing, both Formula One and Motorcycle Grand Prix. Here he is with Barry Sheen #7 at some racetrack. Barry is wearing a non-flammable racing outfit rather than his usual leathers so must be getting in a four wheeled racer.
Leroy Mize, 73, of Oskaloosa, crafted a 1965 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle out of oak and walnut. Spending over 1,000 hours cutting and piecing together the wooden Bonneville, it is an exact replica of his actual racing motorcycle.
Filming the Impossible | back in the day trying to capture the thrills of the road one had to mount considerable weighty cameras to yer bounce. Here’s Graham Hill and Steve McQueen loaded up with the old analogue contraptions that ran old school film stock. Now we have miniature lightweight high definition cameras to accomplish this. So I bought myself a new toy…
Speed Thrills | More of former cyclist Victoria Pendleton as she promotes vintage two wheeled racing. This old Triumph is fettled for high velocity with those narrow vertical bars.
Le Mans | Went to the flicks to see Ford vs Ferrari. Staring Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. It tells the story behind the creation of the GT40 and its development and subsequent domination of the 24 hour race in the latter half of the sixties. Two Thumbs Up.
Percy Tait (1929-2019) – when it comes to the history of Triumph motorcycles one man is noted in the very foundation of that company. Beginning his career with Triumph as a 21-year-old factory worker he quickly rising in the ranks and started racing for the works team on the latest machines. It is reckoned he amassed over 1,000,000 miles test riding cutting edge motorcycles under the engineering eye of Doug Hele. As well as Grand Prix races he took part successfully in Isle of Man TT competitions. 750cc triple Slippery Sam is one bike that is forever connected with Percy. In his later career he went on to develop the 500cc Suzuki GP bikes for Barry sheen. In retirement he became a champion sheepsheet breeder. A giant of the history of British motorcycling, Percy Tait sadly passed away last weekend. at the age of 90.
