RIP Terry Shepherd aka 'terryshep'

Not a lot Russ.
He was considerably older than I was and I looked up to him as a bit of a hero.
I seem to recall that he still lived with his mother but could be getting him mixed up with someone else.
Also he wasn't often at home when I was so our encounters were fewer than I would have liked.
I'm pretty sure he survived a long time as a tail gunner in the R.A.F. during the war when the average life expectancy was sod all.
Hey, that was 50+ years ago.
I was a Southgate boy in those days.

I know this is slightly off topic but with the mention of tail gunners I thought I would add that my uncle Fl.Lt. Fred Dee was a Lancaster pilot with 166 Sqn. at Kirmington and one of his fellow pilots was Fl.Lt. Les Graham. My uncle was killed over Denmark in August 1944 on his 27th mission and he is buried in the small town of Gammel Rye along with his crew.

Not a lot Russ.
He was considerably older than I was and I looked up to him as a bit of a hero.
I seem to recall that he still lived with his mother but could be getting him mixed up with someone else.
Also he wasn't often at home when I was so our encounters were fewer than I would have liked.
I'm pretty sure he survived a long time as a tail gunner in the R.A.F. during the war when the average life expectancy was sod all.
Hey, that was 50+ years ago.
I was a Southgate boy in those days.

re fluebrush he of course rode the hartly ariel.and had a stutter and he was supposed to have said he was going to have a go at the bbbbbb-y MVs before he left for the last? race.as someone who grew up in the war anyone in the RAF was a god,is that why i did national service in the RAF?but no god,!

Yes John, we owe a lot to those boys in the R.A.F.
I lost my favourite uncle when I was too young to understand that he was never coming home.
But, back to old Fluebrush, it is so nice to see him crack a mention after all these years.
I was beginning to think that I was the only one who knew of him.
Could he have tried too hard to have a go at those bbbldy MVs and paid the ultimate price?

Yes John, we owe a lot to those boys in the R.A.F.
I lost my favourite uncle when I was too young to understand that he was never coming home.
But, back to old Fluebrush, it is so nice to see him crack a mention after all these years.
I was beginning to think that I was the only one who knew of him.
Could he have tried too hard to have a go at those bbbldy MVs and paid the ultimate price?

yes i think he said it before leaving,he was always worth watching always trying hard,re RAF i grew up in stanmore and as kids we would hang about bentley priory,and watch them dig a huge hole for the operations room,then later spend hours waiting for an auster or lysander to land,not a lot of people know that.!A boy i went to school with I saw his elder brother walk up our street having just qualified for aircrew but went missing on his first trip,we are well off topic but i am sure terry would be as interested as we,

Edited by ancient, 20 October 2012 - 15:43.

I know this is slightly off topic but with the mention of tail gunners I thought I would add that my uncle Fl.Lt. Fred Dee was a Lancaster pilot with 166 Sqn. at Kirmington and one of his fellow pilots was Fl.Lt. Les Graham. My uncle was killed over Denmark in August 1944 on his 27th mission and he is buried in the small town of Gammel Rye along with his crew.

Sorry to contunue the drift but the mention of Kirmington was too much to resist, its about 5 miles from my old house, and I actually learnt to fly there, its changed a bit now and is called Humberside International Airport, I didnt know Les Graham had been based there, I know Eric Oliver was based at Waltham for a while which is also close by, Waltham is the village where I grew up and where I took my first wobbly rides on a motorbike down its disused runways as a kid

Edited by Paul Collins, 20 October 2012 - 17:48.

Yes, John, you can hear some of them being coaxed back onto the megga out of the slow bits. Were Esso very generous? I see Mike Brookes, who was later killed in the Island, is included in the '58 NW Photo - do you recall much about him?

russ u ask were the oil companies generous,well it was all kept very secret at the time so we never knew who got what if anything.I bought my first norton in 1956 the 350 tanner won the manx on ,trying it out up the mountain it broke a rod,nortons rebuilt it,but couldnt have got the valve timing right as it only did 112 mph,!but i still lapped 2 mins faster than on my 120 mph triumph in the clubmans,it handled beautifully and stopped,However i came in 11th which didnt please me but geoff murdoch of esso offered me £70 for next season to do n/west and manx ,when we took the engine down (it had done the fine tooth bevels in the senior)the head was well knocked about so stan johnson looked at the spare damaged bits that came with the bike and decided to use the spare equally damaged head cos he reckoned the porting looked good,it may have been the winning head.It it flew as i got the timing right inlet opening ex closing and they always went well.we then got the132mph at the 57 n/west mit streamlining,I really wanted a 500 being 6ft not a pedrosa so into harold daniell and order a new 500.which i never got untill i was in the i.o.man.the late bill sawford brought it over for me.lovely bike doug hele had sorted the 57s out, hunting tooth, coarse bevels,rods stopped breaking,but the clutch retaining nut came unscrewed on the last lap sometimes i had a clutch sometimes not and the last lap it rained turning into the paddock it went in on its own and i straight into a tree,bent forks and walk with a stick for a week. i finished 5th some works nortons in front,! saw them in nortons depot waiting to go back,meanwhile castrol had offered me £200,i should have told esso he would have equalled it he not best pleased.so for 58 a castrol runner and they got ray petty to strip and rebuild bike i had to pay for bits plus they sent him to the island for two weeks to look after me,! not best pleased when i came in 4th after a slow start,thats why i am still here,carefull john.during the race tony godfrey passed me,and i sat there thinking what am i doing here its time to pack up..alan shepherd retired at laurel bank broken chain and was franticaly waving me on,nice and very talented shep was.so at the finish people melted away from the loser,coasted back down withe winner,ernie washer on his norton prepared by beart,one of the lads had his new norton bought by the oil companies and also another who promptly put the £500 down as a deposit on a house and talked a dealer into buying him a bike,!good for the dealer he could still sell it after at a profit,,so not being flavour of the month castrol didnt want to know,so TT,what can i get ,not a lot £50 but thats another story../?and so to bed

Sorry to contunue the drift but the mention of Kirmington was too much to resist, its about 5 miles from my old house, and I actually learnt to fly there, its changed a bit now and is called Humberside International Airport, I didnt know Les Graham had been based there, I know Eric Oliver was based at Waltham for a while which is also close by, Waltham is the village where I grew up and where I took my first wobbly rides on a motorbike down its disused runways as a kid

Kirmington has a well known current racer as a resident at the moment being Guy Martin. Just another little bit info on RAF Kirmington is that the actor Donald Pleasance was stationed there as a Lancaster wireless operator. He was shot down on the 31.8.1944 over Agenville. So he was a real prisoner of war as well as playing 'the forger' in The Great Escape.

russ u ask were the oil companies generous,well it was all kept very secret at the time so we never knew who got what if anything.I bought my first norton in 1956 the 350 tanner won the manx on ,trying it out up the mountain it broke a rod,nortons rebuilt it,but couldnt have got the valve timing right as it only did 112 mph,!but i still lapped 2 mins faster than on my 120 mph triumph in the clubmans,it handled beautifully and stopped,However i came in 11th which didnt please me but geoff murdoch of esso offered me £70 for next season to do n/west and manx ,when we took the engine down (it had done the fine tooth bevels in the senior)the head was well knocked about so stan johnson looked at the spare damaged bits that came with the bike and decided to use the spare equally damaged head cos he reckoned the porting looked good,it may have been the winning head.It it flew as i got the timing right inlet opening ex closing and they always went well.we then got the132mph at the 57 n/west mit streamlining,I really wanted a 500 being 6ft not a pedrosa so into harold daniell and order a new 500.which i never got untill i was in the i.o.man.the late bill sawford brought it over for me.lovely bike doug hele had sorted the 57s out, hunting tooth, coarse bevels,rods stopped breaking,but the clutch retaining nut came unscrewed on the last lap sometimes i had a clutch sometimes not and the last lap it rained turning into the paddock it went in on its own and i straight into a tree,bent forks and walk with a stick for a week. i finished 5th some works nortons in front,! saw them in nortons depot waiting to go back,meanwhile castrol had offered me £200,i should have told esso he would have equalled it he not best pleased.so for 58 a castrol runner and they got ray petty to strip and rebuild bike i had to pay for bits plus they sent him to the island for two weeks to look after me,! not best pleased when i came in 4th after a slow start,thats why i am still here,carefull john.during the race tony godfrey passed me,and i sat there thinking what am i doing here its time to pack up..alan shepherd retired at laurel bank broken chain and was franticaly waving me on,nice and very talented shep was.so at the finish people melted away from the loser,coasted back down withe winner,ernie washer on his norton prepared by beart,one of the lads had his new norton bought by the oil companies and also another who promptly put the £500 down as a deposit on a house and talked a dealer into buying him a bike,!good for the dealer he could still sell it after at a profit,,so not being flavour of the month castrol didnt want to know,so TT,what can i get ,not a lot £50 but thats another story../?and so to bed

Fascinating insight, John. I can recall reading the occasional grumblings in the bike press about factory support in the Manx but I didn’t realize the extent of it.
Broken conrods, mein gott - the unplanned and sudden stops bring to mind the excitement in store for stroker pilots in the years ahead. I had no real inkling too about the extent of oil company support. It must have been a real spur to those blokes who were approached with this help. Thanks for sharing this, John.

When digging around recently among my junk, I came across a Crystal Palace programme from 1955 and in one race that included John Surtees and Frank Perris, is one J. R. Hurlestone. How did you get on at the Palace and did you like it ?

Edited by Russell Burrows, 21 October 2012 - 12:22.

,

When digging around recently among my junk. I came across a Crystal Palace programme from 1955. In a grid that included John Surtees and Frank Perris is one J. R. Hurlestone. How did you get on at the Palace and did you like it ?

Yes i loved the palace went there with my triumph,the factory men frank baker percy tait etc were usually there,and i was in the handicap race,and frank borrowed ken bucmasters small bore pipes and megaphones to put on my bike,great sound off the walls.and i started off with a 250 rudge and led till the last corner coming out of the glade,perris and about 4 others passed me on the run down to the finish,oh dear,( as a boy in 1936 my parents and i went to the top of stanmore hill and saw the crystal palace burn down).another time i couldnt get my norton to run well, ned minihan said take my 7R out dont drop it or ill kill u,it was brand new but had island gearing,not good for palace so i fell off flatened the megaphone tore my knee open,was picked up by cabby cooper,went in first aid,ned came looking for me opened the tent flap saw all the blood didnt thump me shot off went out fell off did same both ended up in the hospital at westminister bridge,so i got away with that,U say surtees,there was never a race when there wasnt a TT winner or world champion present,minter mcintre king trow surtees chadwick thorp neville bob anderson redman dunphy p driver etc etc, you learnt more when surtees lapped u on the MV than you would doing a season of club meetings,no such thing then,the only easy race was at brands,which we all wanted to get in as the money was £15 i think,i won it beat fred neville (the only time)then asked if i could go out in the experts race yes so out finished 6th 1st minter.2 trow 3 bob anderson 4 jim redman 5 bob rowe.then asked can i go out in the invitation race? yes the announcer said the indefatigable hurlstone,8th this time paddy driver and godfrey in front as well.so a good pay day.

wonderful tales , John , , keep it up , thanks very much for sharing your life with us

Yes i loved the palace went there with my triumph,the factory men frank baker percy tait etc were usually there,and i was in the handicap race,and frank borrowed ken bucmasters small bore pipes and megaphones to put on my bike,great sound off the walls.and i started off with a 250 rudge and led till the last corner coming out of the glade,perris and about 4 others passed me on the run down to the finish,oh dear,( as a boy in 1936 my parents and i went to the top of stanmore hill and saw the crystal palace burn down).another time i couldnt get my norton to run well, ned minihan said take my 7R out dont drop it or ill kill u,it was brand new but had island gearing,not good for palace so i fell off flatened the megaphone tore my knee open,was picked up by cabby cooper,went in first aid,ned came looking for me opened the tent flap saw all the blood didnt thump me shot off went out fell off did same both ended up in the hospital at westminister bridge,so i got away with that,U say surtees,there was never a race when there wasnt a TT winner or world champion present,minter mcintre king trow surtees chadwick thorp neville bob anderson redman dunphy p driver etc etc, you learnt more when surtees lapped u on the MV than you would doing a season of club meetings,no such thing then,the only easy race was at brands,which we all wanted to get in as the money was £15 i think,i won it beat fred neville (the only time)then asked if i could go out in the experts race yes so out finished 6th 1st minter.2 trow 3 bob anderson 4 jim redman 5 bob rowe.then asked can i go out in the invitation race? yes the announcer said the indefatigable hurlstone,8th this time paddy driver and godfrey in front as well.so a good pay day.

I re-posted this on the Palace thread, John. Hope this is OK. Do you happen to recall if Ned Minihan was Alan Barnett's first sponsor? Think he either provided a 7R for Alan or helped him more generally, but then again I might be misremembering entirely.

I re-posted this on the Palace thread, John. Hope this is OK. Do you happen to recall if Ned Minihan was Alan Barnett's first sponsor? Think he either provided a 7R for Alan or helped him more generally, but then again I might be misremembering entirely.

re ned possible he was a sponser for a short time,after bikes he bought a lotus with a 1500 ford engine for himself.

Bill Snelling has sent me this shot of Terry in his last TT and asked me if I would post it as he is busy at the moment, i'm more than happy to oblige.

I only just now found this brief obit for Terry :
http://www.motorcycl...herd-1931-2012/

Germanty's excellent shot appeared earlier on the 50's/60's thread - it seemed appropriate to copy it here. Is this the desmo Manx ?
http://img268.images...rryshepherd.png

Edited by Russell Burrows, 27 October 2012 - 09:06.

Germanty's excellent shot appeared earlier on the 50's/60's thread - it seemed appropriate to copy it here. Is this the desmo Manx ?
http://img268.images...rryshepherd.png

The cam box looks like Doug Hele's desmo version I assume. Was Kiwi Brian Thomas also involved or did he make a separate own desmo project?

Separate, and much later project but built with constant contact and input from the great Doug Hele. We interviewed Bryan Thomas at Pukekohe in 1999 and it was nearing completion then.

Edited by GD66, 27 October 2012 - 21:04.

Bloody Hell! Just logged in after a protracted absence to catch up and was hit by this. Terrible news. Terry was a lovely bloke, incredibly helpful and a role model to all who would wish to be known as a gentleman. So sad. Condolences to his family and close friends.

1960 UGP 350cc Practice - Terry Shep, SMBH, Hocking (MV), Ralph Rensen and Jack Findlay, in that order.

Every one a star and all, sadly, now gone from us.

Absolute, Larry. Do we all agree Gary's on the big 250 twin?

Dundrod hairpin hasn't changed much in the last 50 years!

Dundrod hairpin hasn't changed much in the last 50 years!

Hi Steve

I recall seeing this pic a while back and commented that the drop after the hairpin entry didn't look as steep as current photos. I'm fairly sure that Terry said that the hairpin was moved back a few yards to accommodate some road works, making it more of a link road, not sure of the year it was done though. I'll try and find the posts.

Regards.

Mick.

Well done Mick, you are absolutely spot on!

It did indeed move a little further back up the road which resulted in more of a drop, but not as tight. I must now get digging to find out when.

Much to my shame at having missed this. I only live less than 10 miles away.

I think it was 1965, same time as they by-passed Leathemstown Bridge.

I think it was 1965, same time as they by-passed Leathemstown Bridge.

Yes under the circuit history at www.ulstergrandprix.net it lists the modifications to Leathemstown and "short hairpin" being introduced in 1965 when the official distance was changed from 7.416 miles to 7.401.

However the link below (if it works) shows a picture of Read and Ivy at the "old" hairpin in 1968?

daveinnola-bsabitsscrapsandallsorts.blogspot.com

Can somebody help?

Yes under the circuit history at www.ulstergrandprix.net it lists the modifications to Leathemstown and "short hairpin" being introduced in 1965 when the official distance was changed from 7.416 miles to 7.401.

However the link below (if it works) shows a picture of Read and Ivy at the "old" hairpin in 1968?

daveinnola-bsabitsscrapsandallsorts.blogspot.com

Can somebody help?

Found the blog, Monty, but can't find that pic.

Good site though - I wonder if "davinola" has captioned the picture wrongly??

Does it show the "long" hairpin - can you copy it and put it up here?

Excuse my ignorance Larry. I've had several unsuccessful atempts at posting pictures without joy!

I got the link to work by copying and pasting it into the toolbar. Failing that try going into google images and do a search for "1968 ulster phil read bill ivy" and the pic in question will be the first to pop up. I've seen the same pic posted elsewhere but can't remember where!

Good luck.

I've had several unsuccessful atempts at posting pictures without joy!

Thanks Johnny

Aye - that's 1968 and the "new" long hairpin - well, actually and as you know, monty, it's actually 2 90-degree righthanders with a 10 metre run downhill between them!

It's the 250 - probably Lap one since my lapchart, taken at the Flow Bog, shows them nose-to-tail first time round, with Read subsequently gradually dropping back until his retirement on Lap 9

Something tells me that a stone kicked up by Little Bill punctured Lutonboy's rad??

Once again I'm so mega impressed by the detail of peoples knowledge on this site.

From the angle this picture was taken it looked to me like it was the old "single" hairpin, but you gotta hand it to Larry, indisputeable knowledge and detail.

(I thought Larry was going to go on and tell us what he had in his sandwiches that day!)

Once again I'm so mega impressed by the detail of peoples knowledge on this site.

From the angle this picture was taken it looked to me like it was the old "single" hairpin, but you gotta hand it to Larry, indisputeable knowledge and detail.

(I thought Larry was going to go on and tell us what he had in his sandwiches that day!)

cheese, probably . . . . . . . .