Our Hero Baz haring around the Goodwood tracks on a vintage Norton; adorned with his No. 7! Pure Majesty!
July 23, 2011
Percy Tait
An evocative painting of Percy Tait aboard a racing Triumph in the late 60’s. One time Triumph road tester he also raced the bikes; including Slippery Sam, which gained its name when the oil pump spewed Percy’s boot with the black stuff at a Bol d’Or 24 hour race. Percy was at the very sharp end of Triumph testing in the sixties especially the powerful triples racking up an estimated million miles around the roads and racetracks of the UK for Triumph.
Painting by Derek Sparkes.
July 19, 2011
Vintage Race Posters
Bright prints, graphic imagery and excitement guaranteed! A couple of the race posters seen at the Wheels Through Time museum. The lower poster does seem to have British singles racing…
July 17, 2011
Wheels Through Time: the museum that keeps on runnin’
Last couple of fun items from the museum: the Coca Cola Chopper, customized in true sixties style as well as a gas tank with cool looking ice cubes built into the metal…
A ride sitting out in the sun, where it should be, looking road weary; it certainly should be after the thousands on miles from its ride across the US in the Cannonball Run last year. Bikes had to be older than 1920 to run. Dedicated bikers indeed! This was Dave Walkslers 1915 Harley Davidson, he came in 11th after 3292 memorable miles.
June 28, 2011
Field of Dreams…
A McQueen fix, here’s wor Steve looking on at the ISDT rides quarantined from the riders pre-race. His is the one in front no doubt “278”. Pensive before the six days ahead!
June 18, 2011
Thrills Spills!
Looks like a good time to be had by all: competitors and spectators alike! Love the orange & blue scheme.
June 8, 2011
Wot no Triumph?
… yup it’s wor blokey bloke Barry Sheene, two wheeled racer boyhood hero. Great shot on this ealry 70’s Yamaha with a ginormous dront 4LS drum. Duck helmet icon evident also. V for Victory!
June 7, 2011
Minkie the Motorbike
When I were just a wee lad… one of the early motorcycle inspirations was a Ladybird book called Tootles the Taxi; within its thin tome was a page with this picture on it with a small verse.
I’m Minkie the motorbike
Off for a run,
Gathering up speed
Can be glorious fun !
For I am a racer
And run with a zest,
To win all the races –
North, South, East and West
A zippy, smilin’, Norton Manx droning around a racetrack, rider crouched for speed, front wheel slightly loft!
An early edition had the boy, girl and dog on the track ~ removed from later versions due to safety concerns of kids wandering around Brands Hatch during races…. where are those stewards!
June 4, 2011
What doyou get if you multiply two by three?
A hot rod racer set up for a sub 10 second run… 1950cc at least! What a sound this must have made!
May 25, 2011
Desert Sleds
A great image of the Triumphs used for desert racing in south California. That first fella looks a lot like Bud Ekins; west coast bike shop owner and racer as well as pal to Steve McQueen.
Here’s an early Dunlop promotional shot of Ekins and his Trumpet Iron; look at that front wheel!
…and here he is with Steve havin’ fun on a Sunday desert race no doubt.
May 21, 2011
A proven performance
With the Trimph models being used extensively in racing of the period, especially endurance at speed, the engines proved themselves to the daily riders as reliable, strong units. No wonder they sold by the truckload.
May 21, 2011
Florett Gulf
Another twho wheeled adorned with Gulf colours; this time a lesser know German make called Kreidler ~ although in the late fifties one third of German mped were Kreidler. This is a 50cc moped, so quite a diminutive example of the race colors, especially with clubman bars.
Here’s the bike in regular livery:
Although a small cc’d engine they did specialize to be Grand Prix winners in the 50cc class. Their better know model of this “Florett” line is the earlier one, nearly Italia in its design lines.
…and here’s the racer, a svelte marvel!
May 17, 2011
Slippery Sam
Here’s a Triumph from the history books: called Slippery Sam after the 1970 Bol d’Or endurance race when the broken oil pump covered the bike and riders with oil. It is the only machine to win five TT races in consecutive years (Ray Pickerell in 1971 and 1972, Tony Jefferies in 1973, Mick Grant in 1974 and Dave Croxford/Alex George in 1975). This triple can MOVE! A production Trident 750cc prepared by Les Williams,
1971, Ray Pickerell – 1st, 100.07mph
1972, Ray Pickerell – 1st, 100.00mph
1973, Tony Jeffries – 1st, 95.62mph
1974, Mick Grant – 1st, 99.72mph
1975, Dave Croxford/Alex George – 1st, 99.60mph
The fastest lap was Alex George in 1975 at 102.82mph
Here’s Mick Grant piloting this bike. A machne of definite charisma.
May 15, 2011
Flat Tracker with futuristic fiberglass bodywork
A racing special raced by Don Castro in ’72, then immediately banned due to streamlining rules. A wrapparound tank and seat with 70’s pinstriping extraordinaire. Go fast, turn left, repeat. The extended seat is interesting but there’s a neat custom in there somewhere…
May 14, 2011
Bonneville at Bonneville UT
If you want to stretch the legs of your Bonnie where better than the Salt. Here’s a couple of shots showing ardent triumph owners taking their rides along for a spin. I’m sure it’s pretty adrenaline pumping haring along the rutted white grit of the course ticking over the ton with a seven mile or so run out. Sneck through the gears and open the throttle and pin it.
Marco Raymondin of Paris based Brooklands Motors http://www.brooklands-classic.com/ (above) takes his pre unit T110 (below) through its paces…
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