The Right Crowd... And No Crowding
The Right Crowd... And No Crowding
Henry N. Manney III
As the politicians screw up our lives more and more and every aspect of our existence comes to be regulated by the NO NO Brigade, we Americans seem to be acquiring an appetite for nostalgia. Of course it is easy to forget that Plymouths were $700 out the door in olden days because nobody was making much money. At any rate, constant readers may remember that the 1977 Laguna Seca bike races featured a “demonstration” by older racing machinery starting at, say, umm 1965 back and there are witnesses who said that the spectacle of a gaggle of Manx Nortons getting off the line made the 750 Yammies look pretty po’. At any rate they weren’t invited back and even a determined effort by Mr. Editor Girdler for ’78 fell through. Representations, however, were made to David Love Esq who runs, along with Len Auerbach, the Classic Sports Racing Group (104 Hill Road, Berkeley, Calif. 94708) which provides not only a fair number of runners for the yearly historic car races at Laguna Seca (see R & T) but also a calendar of about eight races a year on their own. David has a couple of nice bikes of his own, a Manxman plus a Velo Thruxton, and took little urging to add in a motorcycle feature for his Oct. 15th do at Sears Point. We didn’t know about it as quickly as we might have so Cycle News, that engaging fish wrapper, was relied upon for the Walter Winchell bit.
The whole meeting of course was a very low-key affair with isolated groups straggling through the gate in the greyish early morning, Love himself fussing with the starter solenoid on his Ferrari before giving his Driver’s Meeting speech, and the paddock dotted with Forties and Fifties gems being fiddled with by their owners. Paul Adams appeared proudly with the exSeiffert Model 16 H Norton, all shipshape and bearing its skinny Brown and Barlow carb while I think he also had an ex-Manx GP second place bike 350 Norton. Other delights to be seen were Chas Taylor’s 1950 International Norton (he has a Vincent shop in Tómales), Joe Hodges had another, while Will White headed a series of rumbling Vincents (one of them awash with oil) as he is Pres of the local HRD club I think. Also on view were a somewhat modernised Norton Twin, Frank Conley’s 350 Excelsior Manxman, Willis’ ally Gold Star, McCoy’s ’49 AJS thumper, a ’57 Ariel ditto and of course a horde of Manx Nortons. Curiosities were a ’48 BSA “Alloy Clipper” of 600 cc, actually designed to pull sidehacks, Quinn’s 250 Duck, Wormuth’s HD/Aermacchi Gold Wing Sprint, and a heavily modified 250 BMW Single which was said to have a lot bigger than 250 pot on it, not to mention Earles forks.
Good Vintage Racing Means Never Needing To Ask Who Won
As the day went on. practicing commenced and it was nice to see most of the bikes circulate, albeit rather gently; a vintage flavour being lent by some period pudding-bowl crash-hats etc. When actual racing commenced, new talent joined in such as a very clean and well-preserved Bultaco Metralla and a BMW 500 Twin which very nearly brought its rider off when he ran out of tread and onto the sidewall. The Duck, the Aermacchi and the “250” Beemer (R 27?) turned out to be the quickest, strangely enough, although I was told that these bikes do “proper” racing in club events now. On such a twisty course the Manxmen, some of whom had trouble keeping on the mega, or the HRDs which had all been ridden to the meeting just weren’t in it. No Triumphs would you believe it? There was also a Vintage promenade which was enlivened by Mr. Adams in period leathers on the 16H (which kept stopping from grundge in the tank, unfortunately). a well preserved old Harley, what looked like a WD flathead BSA ridden with verve, and the inevitable Barnyard special in the shape of a grotty Excelsior I think, just a bath away from being covered with chicken feathers, doing its spit-bang-and cloud of smoke act. Lots of enthusiasm but no preparation. Also in the paddock, among several other museum specimens, was Bob Godard's 1920 Cleveland resplendent in blue and yellow, making the most peculiar noises I ever heard a motorcycle make.
It was a very nice day as there was no flap and not too much scrutineering (judging by the amount of oil dropped, flat tires, dangling wires, etc.) and working within the limits of the accompanying car races there was pretty much riding with its accompanying sights, sounds, and scents of Castrol R. Most of all there was plenty of time and a fussless atmosphere in which to eat’lunch, marvel at each other’s bikes, make trades, or just sort out the minor bothers that come up when a replacement Zappo plug hasn’t been made for fifty years. There were always plenty of pushers, plenty of help, plenty of happy conversation; isn’t that what motorcycling used to be? High time that you got something going in your part of the country; Write Mr. Editor Girdler chez us. -— 0
