Saturday 6 February 2010



First of all, sorry for the delay in posting anything on the blog, I can't believe it is Feb 2010 already! So, what has been happening since October 2009 I wonder? Well, first things first, I ended up with a trashed Triumph 6T engine so another steep learning curve ahead as this is my first Triumph twin. I was lucky enough to get the crank cases welded up with only minimal distortion, nothing that a bit of brute force didn't sort. Had the crank ground down to +20, fitted new shells and a new scavenge pipe and mains, and the bottom end was back together. I was lucky enough to have a nine stud barrel, rods and pistons donated by a fellow racer so things were looking up! I got hold of a nine stud head on ebay and had a few alterations done and this is now ready to go on. All I am waiting for now is a pair of 9 stud rocker boxes and we should be cooking with gas. Just for practice, 5th March, I am going to borrow the rocker boxes from my new Triton ( 110 engine with 9 stud conversion ). Yes, you heard correctly, my new Triton! I have finally got hold of my dream bike, and even better that that it comes from our good friend and fellow racer Trevor Johnson and was built as a racer for the IOM TT in the late fifties, so it is the real deal. Anyway, I will have the outfit engine finished in a couple of weeks and back in the frame ready for practice. I have had a quick look at the Rudges and sorted out a couple of minor problems but I am not doing any major work to them until after practice. I have recently made contact with an old friend of ours, Chris Wicket, who used to race some years ago, and we have persuaded him ( it only took a whiff of R40 ) to come with us this season. He should be taking my Rudge out for practice.

Phil is still trying to get the leaks brazed up on his LC Bantam but at the moment it seems that every time he gets one leak fixed another one opens up! He has still got the air cooled Bantam ( Josie ) to use for practice if the LC isn't ready.

We went to the dinner/dance last weekend and both picked up a trophy. I got second place in the pre 34 championship and Phil got forth in the Bantam championship. We had a couple of drinks and did a lot of dancing! It turns out that I have won the Rudge championship this year as well so that will be another bit of tinware to add to the collection.
So this season we will be out on the outfit hopefully learning the art of slipping and sliding and I will be trying not to blow it up again. I will be keeping the blog updated from now on so watch this space!