MOTOR CHAT
- Thread starter velomaniac
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Jamiedyer":232rq3sy said:Back in Oz I raced Jawa and Godden 500's on methanol in the classic classes. Mainly a Dirt Tracker but a few races ran both classes together in the historic stuff.
The machines weren't mine, I just rode occasionally for one of the old guys who was a factory Godden mechanic back in the day. Many happy memories, and a few not so happy. They usually involved the view of sky, dirt, sky, dirt, sky, dirt
Jamie
Good man, I had the Wessy for a slide at Linlithgow when there was a training track there. Got a reasonable slide on but it wasn't for me!
My Fave speedway story is about a guy who has a speedway museum phoning Don Godden to ask for a Monday Morning bike (not 100%) just for his collection. Godden tells him to FO then Hangs up!!
Phone rings 2 hrs later and it's Don who has found £2K's worth of Monday Morning in a back room at the factory (brand new and unused I might add)
Not surprised they spat you off, Rev monsters even pulled harder on the big Aussie bowls - Google Simon Wigg Wheelies on YouTube for proof!
They certainly were beasts, that's for sure. Especially with my build on them
It was very hard to change from dirt track to speedway on the same circuits due to the very different styles of lines and braking etc. It was all just club stuff and historic racing register stuff but it was how I spent the bulk of my time before moving to the UK. I have a few dirt tracking trophies in the loft but my I have one speedway trophy from third overall at a big regional classic meeting at Goulburn in NSW. It was the first time I ever raced the main at night under lights. Normally I rode pretty conservatively and within limits but this night I was so far over that limit I don't know how I stayed upright. I just remember it being super intense few laps, I thought the next guy was right behind/beside me for the entire time so I had it nailed to the stop. Turned out it was just my shadow from the lighting
Jamie
It was very hard to change from dirt track to speedway on the same circuits due to the very different styles of lines and braking etc. It was all just club stuff and historic racing register stuff but it was how I spent the bulk of my time before moving to the UK. I have a few dirt tracking trophies in the loft but my I have one speedway trophy from third overall at a big regional classic meeting at Goulburn in NSW. It was the first time I ever raced the main at night under lights. Normally I rode pretty conservatively and within limits but this night I was so far over that limit I don't know how I stayed upright. I just remember it being super intense few laps, I thought the next guy was right behind/beside me for the entire time so I had it nailed to the stop. Turned out it was just my shadow from the lighting
Jamie
epicyclo
Senior Retro Guru
My speedway career was very very brief.
We were living in North West Queensland in a mining town, with not much to do. So we were looking at getting a speedway outfit and took it to the local track to try it out. My wife wanted to go first and I refused to passenger her*, but the girlfriend of one of my mates wanted to give it a go. Some brief instruction, then they set off, the first lap at half throttle, all was well. The next lap my wife opened it up wide (did I mention she was an insane petrolhead?) and kept it nailed (as you are supposed to). We could hear the passenger screaming over the open pipes on the first corner and she was obviously quite agitated because my missus had to use one hand to push her back down.
Just before the next corner the swinger jumped off the bike which then went fishtailing, did a wall of death on the embankment, and went end for end a few times. Meanwhile my wife still had it on full song. She did a number of tumbles but never let go of the bars - I was proud of that, but I remember saying "Aw shit, she's wearing my new jacket" as we ran to pick up the remains. Luckily it had ridden up her back, so instead of it being badly scuffed, she'd lost a square foot of skin.
So that was the end of the bike testing, the bike was in worse shape than my wife. Our 2 wee boys 4 & 6 at the time were very impressed with their mother's clever trick riding. The bike was in worse condition than my wife, so testing was to resume the next weekend.
The next weekend one of the sidecars flipped over the barriers and killed a couple of spectators.
And that was the end of my brief and non existent speedway career.
*If that sounds ungentlemanly, in a 6 month period around then she wrote off 3 cars within 6 months.
We were living in North West Queensland in a mining town, with not much to do. So we were looking at getting a speedway outfit and took it to the local track to try it out. My wife wanted to go first and I refused to passenger her*, but the girlfriend of one of my mates wanted to give it a go. Some brief instruction, then they set off, the first lap at half throttle, all was well. The next lap my wife opened it up wide (did I mention she was an insane petrolhead?) and kept it nailed (as you are supposed to). We could hear the passenger screaming over the open pipes on the first corner and she was obviously quite agitated because my missus had to use one hand to push her back down.
Just before the next corner the swinger jumped off the bike which then went fishtailing, did a wall of death on the embankment, and went end for end a few times. Meanwhile my wife still had it on full song. She did a number of tumbles but never let go of the bars - I was proud of that, but I remember saying "Aw shit, she's wearing my new jacket" as we ran to pick up the remains. Luckily it had ridden up her back, so instead of it being badly scuffed, she'd lost a square foot of skin.
So that was the end of the bike testing, the bike was in worse shape than my wife. Our 2 wee boys 4 & 6 at the time were very impressed with their mother's clever trick riding. The bike was in worse condition than my wife, so testing was to resume the next weekend.
The next weekend one of the sidecars flipped over the barriers and killed a couple of spectators.
And that was the end of my brief and non existent speedway career.
*If that sounds ungentlemanly, in a 6 month period around then she wrote off 3 cars within 6 months.
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Have I ever mentioned that I used to lame lions.....??
(Oh and build wheels for speedway bikes....)
Have I ever mentioned that I used to lame lions.....??
(Oh and build wheels for speedway bikes....)
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Probably..........
Probably..........
