Flat Track Day at the Ace Cafe

On Sunday 24th Feburary the Car park of the Ace Cafe was taken over by Sideburn Magazine along with Co-Built and Red Max for Flat Track Day. It was bitingly cold and I actually only got one sketch done on the day, despite having two pairs of trousers and sock on and a Michael Jackson style fingerless scribbling hand. Here are the results along with a load of photos for those who didn't brave the cold for what turned out to be a fun day out.

BSA Thunerbolt 650 Flat Tracker

(ink & watercolour)

Simplicity and beauty all wrapped up in one black sexy package.

CFH Honda C70 with YX140cc Stomp engine

(ink & watercolour)

Sketch done in the warmth of the studio.

Corpses from hell is the brainchild of Maxwell P. The CFH Honda C70 has recently had a new addition of the rear wheel disk. Maxwell was also sporting his newly completed custom lid:

To find out more about CFH go to the blog:

corpsesfromhell.blogspot.co.uk

Or Follow on Facebook:

CFH Facebook

 Co-Built were also in attendance jumping round the car park, with joy but also to keep warm.

Making a fleeting visit Ornamental Conifer stopped by on his tracker. Mr Conifer is an incredible sign writer, visit his site to see what a steady hand can do:

ornamentalconifer.blogspot.co.uk

 This incredible Hercules was Riden in by Rory D Blofield 

 Grahams Z Sled

"The Swindler" Steve's Norton 961 Street Tracker

 Harley XR750

 Short Track Yamaha circa 1972

 Mile and Half Mile Yamaha '74/'75

 Red Max Goodness

 Low Side Drifter

 Guy S' R100 with Co-Built pipes

 Last but by no means least Sarah Bradley's Hog

Race Retro, Stoneleigh Park 2013

Another huge Race Retro Show at Stoneleigh Park again this year. There is so much to see and do at this show I always enjoy covering this show. From rare racing bikes through to super rare racing cars and anything in between Race Retro seems to cover all bases. I always find myself in the smaller hall which contains all the bikes and stock cars. I think this is down to the wider variety compared to the larger hall that is mainly full of top end historic cars. For more on the show itself please visit the website:

www.raceretro.com

1960 Bond Formula Junior

(ink & watercolour)

Designed by Lawrence Bond better known for the Bond micro car this was the first racing car to utilise a monocoque chassis. It's powered by a 1098cc Ford 105e engine. Only 2 remain in existence, so I definitely couldn't pass this opportunity on.

The Car is now run by Andrew Tart Motor Engineering, to see more of the car and other vehicles in Andrews garage please visit the following website:

www.andrewtartmotorengineering.com

1952 Manx Sidecar Outfit

(ink sketch)

Whilst sketching this outfit I met (for the second time) the infamous Stan Dibben, a man who has not only ridden sidecar outfits in the TT but has been a test rider for Norton. In 1949 he assisted the development of the infamous featherbeds and also competed in the Manx Grand Prix on a 350 Manx which he built himself. He also built the first ever Dominator racer and went on to race it in 1952. So who was I to argue when Stan pointed out that this outfit was not 1952 as the streamlining on the front was not used until the mid to late 50s. To read more about Stan go to the following link:

Stan Dibben Info

Or even better read his biography such a great read the film editor at Saatchi and Saatchi made a short film about him after reading it:

Hold On by Stan Dibben

1971 500cc 4 Valve Velocette

 (ink & watercolour)

Built by Eric Stanbra to compete against water cooled Japanese 2 strokes. This is a very unique build based around a Jim Lee frame it uses a huge amount of bespoke parts. The bike has been continually raced and still retains all the original parts making this an extremely reliable machine. In 1978 at the Shell Sport 500cc Championships at Donnington the bike finished 12th against a top class field including 12 RG500's, 4 TZ500's 4 Spartons and only one other 4 stroke.

Here's some more highlights from my day at Race Retro:

 The historic rally section had some great entries. I'm guessing this is a lotus of some sort but I may be wrong.

 Tri-Jap Sprint Bike

 Wow!

BRISCA Heritage had another great collection of heritage stock cars on display

The Norton Owners Club had a great display of Manx Nortons alongside the Sidecar outfit:

The 33rd Carole Nash Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show

Over the weekend of the 16th - 17th Feburary I joined my friends at Vintage and Veteran for another weekend of sketching wonderful early motorcycles at the Carole Nash Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show. To find out more about Vintage and Veteran please visit their website it is full of fantastic motorcycles for sale, with tons of pictures of each bike:

www.vinandvet.eu

New shirts and artwork and sketchbooks on display.

1914 61inch Indian V Twin

(ink sketch)

This motorcycle is for sale at Vintage and veteran follow this link to see it:

1914-61inch-Indian-V-Twin

Close up of the wonderful indian V Twin

1928 AJS K9 500cc

(ink sketch)

1928-AJS-K9

If you can spot the mistake on the sketch above contact me with your answer and I'll give you a free gift if you are correct!

1910 Douglas 350cc Twin

(ink sketch)

1910-Douglas-Model-D

Here are some other finds from the weekend:

1931 Rudge Dirt Track

Indian Scrambler in the Autojumble

Ossa Trials also in the Autojumble

1925 Bradshaw Matador  350cc

1957 Excelsior Consort C10

1950 AJS Model 16

1971 Triumph Trident 750cc Drag Bike

I'm sure I've featured this Triumph Drag Bike in a previous post.

Some very interesting modes of transport were being displayed on the NACC stand.

For more information on the NACC which is a fantastic Autocycle Club with a really good magazine please go to their website:

www.thebuzzingclub.co.uk

I'm not sure whether this is a genuine bike or a construct of someone brilliant imagination.

I will find out more and update this post.

1941 Sun Autocycle