VMCC Festival of 1000 Bikes, at Mallory Park

The Weather was much better for this years VMCC 1000 Bikes Festival but pretty hot for sketching. I spent most of my time in the sprint bike tent in the paddock to avoid getting sunstroke, which I still got from sketching outside after 3pm! In other news the event was packed full of bikes as usual, more modern entries than normal, not sure why? There was still plenty to see and loads of interesting folks to chat to. If you haven't been before it's well worth it as you'll always see something new as there are many motorcycle clubs in attendance and couple that with an auto jumble, trials riding on Saturday and Sprint racing on Sunday oh and star riders racing each other on the track, this year Agostini and John McGuinness went head to head! What more could you ask for?

Manx Superior

(ink & watercolour)

Built using a Brough engine that was raced in the 60's and a Norton Manx Frame and gearbox this Manx Superior certainly caught the eyes of a lot of people. 

You can see it's a genuine Manx frame from the large loop at the back, coupling this with a late J.A.P. twin it makes this a very well though out machine. The man behind the bike is Ewan Cameron who has a real fascination with JAP Motors.

 

Always love these back to back Mags.

"The Ironing Board" Velocette MOV Special

 (ink sketch)

Apparently not much is known about this sprint bike. The current owners estimate that it was originally made in the late 60's early 70's due to it having a metal flake paint job. The heart of the bike is a Velocette MOV engine which has had a later alloy barrel from a 350 Velo MAC added by chopping it down to shorten the stroke.

 

1956 Supercharged Harley KHK Special

  (ink sketch)
A Harley KHK is a rare bike in the first place but to supercharge it and take it to Bonneville is even Better. Patrick Delli has put a lot of work into this bike and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he beats his last record of 107mph on the flats this year. 107mph is not bad for this bike as 119mph is the record for it's class. The bike runs 2 Magnetos and a supercharger and uses Methanol. Last time out a Bonneville the bike wasn't even finished before it left, and it took a week of work in the states to get it ready. This time the bike is ready before shipping so, bon chance Patrick!

 

 Racstus 125 Bantam Racer

 (ink sketch)

Built by Chris Newport in the early 60's the Rastus was campaigned by Chris from '63 - 76. The bike was based around a combination of a D3 Bantam frame and an EMC Puch which Chris had previously raced. The engine is a 125 with a central plug Todd head with a Gardener Carb and SU Float. Chris recons it has done 100mph in the past, not bad for a 125.

Here's the obligatory extra spot shots.... 

 Rick Parkington's Georgeous Rex Acme

 Voyager Lineup

not sure what this is but I like it. 

Barnfind HRD on the Bonhams Stand

 Lovely AJS 650 with Watsonian Sidecar

Rudge Racer, this was at Mallory last year but is good enough to get featured twice

 Norman Autocycle on the NACC stand 

 AJS Trials

Another Norman for sale in the Autojumble 

67th Bentley Drivers Club Concourse d'Elegance 2013

Another Annual fixture in my event calendar for the year is the Bentley Drivers Club Councours. I always enjoy this event as it's always full of incredible Bentleys and the atmosphere is always relaxed and informal, enough chat heres the results:

The Blue Train Bentley

(ink sketch)

Which of the two Blue Train cars this is I was unable to find out, but this is one of the two restored cars that go by the Blue Train name. The name Blue Train comes from the French "Le Train Bleu" express which ran between Calais and the French Riviera. In 1930 the Rover Light Six beat the train in a race. Upon hearing this over dinner (usually the case) Woolf Barnato, one of the Bentley Le Mans drivers at the time said he could beat the train not just to Calais but reach the Conservative Club in St James by the time the train reached Calais. The next morning on 13th March 1930 Barnato did just that, winning a £100 bet and subsequently getting fined more by the French authorities for racing on French roads without permission.

fantastic styling on the rear arches.

1935 Alpine Rally Car Replica

(ink and watercolour)

1935 3.5l Gurney Nutting Sportsman Coupe

 (ink and watercolour)

The swept detailing on the side drew me in enough to to sketch this luxurious coupe, with lots of curved and sweeping shapes I enjoyed the challenge.

1930 Speed Six

 (ink sketch)

The speed six was th machine that took Bentley to victory at Le mans and this is an incredible example of the model which won best restored on the Concours.

Bentley Corniche

 (ink and watercolour)

1975 Bentley T1

(ink and watercolour)

more photos.....

 

Clean Cut Nature of a Bentley's Engine

Details from a possibly unrestored example.

 1952 R Type

 1923 3 litre 

1935 3 1/2 litre 

 1934 4 1/2 "Blower" Special

This one got away again! Maybe next time.... 

Watsonian Squire Open Weekend 2013

Watsonian Squire hold an open weekend every year where they invite all and sundry to ride out to their headquarters in the Cotswolds to have a look around the factory and have a good chat with like minded folks. Side car riders are a dedicated bunch and as I found when I attended the Watsonian Centenary last year there is always some interesting combinations that turn up.

1973 Norton 850 Commando

(ink & watercolour)

Known as his Trusty Steed this Commando has covered some serious miles with it's proud owner Tony who and I quote thinks "it's the best bike ever". 

Flexit Outfit

(ink & watercolour)

This stopped me in my tracks when it rolled in, especially when the cockpit opened electronically!

This space age designed sidecar is called a Flexit . It was designed by Hannes Myburgh and was pretty much his lifes work. The design leans with the bike enabling the bike to be ridden like a solo The Flexit was produced between 1981 and 2005. Legend has it that Hannes took the Flexit to the Triumph test track and lapped the circuit at 161mph, and could have possibly gone faster if he had stuck with 5th gear rather than using the 6th (override) gear. There are some debates as to how many were produced but world authority on the Flexit John Goff says it's most probably about 167.

This particular outfit has been owned for 20 years. For the first year the Flexit was combined with a BMW but the body boom in the cockpit was too much, so the owners opted for the ST 1100 Pan European. The outfit has now covered 30,000 miles!

Display with Chester Belter

 I was very happy to be sharing my stand with the talented Rich from Chester Belter Leatherworks.

Rich makes great handmade leather products from key rings to bespoke bags you name it and he'll select the hide and hand stitch it for you.

Here's some more snaps

Riders Arrive

 Vincent Outfit

 

 Douglas

 BMW Outfit

 Ural trials style outfit

 Royal Enfield Bullet Electra

 Triumph Thruxton 900

 Triumph, Watsonian outfit