Got to be back of the pits at Silverstone?

I went to school with Chris.

If its 1982 it can't be Croz, so it's probably 1980 or 1981. '82 he was GP Yamaha?

Hmm now I've caught up I see you've sussed this one. Yes KH, my old mate, this must be the meeting just before I started at Suzuki.

I'm going to try to be there, to support the Exactweld amongst othrs.

Monza

Total loss oiling system then

XR14's back on the bench, being prepped for the Bike Magazine rider of the whatever who will get to ride it at Valencia at the end of the month I believe. Just done the fork oil and steering bearings.

Shhhhhhhh don't remind me Russ

Any piccies Paul ?

Hi
sorry cant resist yes Mallory as Phil has said, dont like the loop at donington ( the cirucuirt with the chicane wa sfar more flowingIMO, Kyalami, Brno ( who remembers the long straight that I beleive is now the road to the airport?) and the list goes on the ring ( nurburg) etc etc

I'll get some new ones but I do have some I took last time. I'll get them up. Quite nostalgic greasing stearing bearings that are loose ball bearings. Seeing as everything nowadays is caged balls or tapers.

How about the anticlockwise Rijeka, Yogoslavia (as was), up in the mountains? An interesting circuit. Interesting for engineers as well as you almost always lost or damamged the tent/awning due to the wind.

I know there was a road circuit as well in Rijeka on the sea front but apart from driving around it I never saw a race there. In the mid 80's the concrete stands and stuff were still there with the painted advertising. (Probably for an earlier forum this one).

Or Salzburgring? 1st circuit outside the UK I visited. And it snowed!!

Yes Sterling, usually when Russ doesn't know the answer!!

Correct Jeff, Vince French & Fred Clark, the circuit commentator.....and still commentating at all the major meets in UK.

Yes Leif, its the Tom Herron TZ750 in 1976 at Silverstone.

Correct Philippe, Lorenzo Ghiselli it is.

Don't start mate, getting teary eyed...

...is this a record?

This is a record, for starters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_-42OxZEY&NR=1

Definitely Pete Kelly in the castrol overall. Lovely bloke, who met such a tragic end. RIP

Thats what happens when I decide to have an early night!

How very.........You know I'm keeping scores dont you ?

Rhodie what happened to Pete? ( was he Toms Mechanic who was run over on the hard shouolder of the M1 a few weks before we lost Tom?

Ahhh!!! I cant keep quiet any longer!! WWW?

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Hi,

Pretty sure its 1976 (no silencers and a monoshock), the rider comes from the land of good vine and food, is it an early Christian Sarron, or maybe Gérard CHOUKROUN?

-Leif

Evening Leif, it had to be one of them... its Gerard Choukroun and it is 1976.

And here is the other one...I really like this one!!

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Paul, if you do go to brands come and say hello.
I could do with some advice regarding RG500 mk8 porous crankcases.
I'll be number 32 TZ250 and 750.
I'll pop over to the exactweld to see if you're around

Roy

Hi Fu,
Have I gone blind? to much alcohol , or is there no picture???

-Leif

They were porous from new on occasions Roy. We always varnished them which worked...

Errrr!! possibly? its come up again on your quote post. :\

Hello Leif , I've tried to have to much alcohol but the forum has been straaaange tonight and thats just watching from the sidelines probably Mr Fu's fault--posting tooooooo many ----

He was indeed, although at the time of his death he was no longer with Tom. They had some sort of falling out and Pete went to work for a sidecar rider (not sure who he was). The transporter broke down one night on the way to a meeting and Pete climbed under the truck to check something out. It was as he was getting back out from under the truck that he was hit by a passing car. Such a tragedy.

Brilliant pic Graham, all of Christian's juvenile determination in his eyes and attitude on the bike !

Christian Sarron had started racing in 1975 by entering the famous "Kawasaki Cup" , a highly competitive promotional serie run on production 350 - then 400 - triples , which revealed many a future french Grand Prix star , Patrick Pons, Thierry Espié, Marc Fontan or Christian Le Liard to name but a few. That 1975 vintage was an exceptional one, won by Eric Saul, Christian finished 4th I think . He started 1976 as a privateer , on a 250 TZ bought with a little help from Patrick Pons' fan club . When Pons was badly injured in the course of the season, he suggested to Sonauto's team boss that his machines would be lent to Sarron , who immediately impressed in the Grand Prix he took part in ( Czech, German and Spain ) and of course on his first UK appearance that our pic documents Graham , the Race of the South when Christian after a disastrous start, stormed back through the field and in the last laps caught back and passed none other than Alan North to win his first international race . He was of course drafted as a full-time Sonauto rider for 1977 , and always remained with that team until the end of his career .

Do I detect you were a fan of Christian Phillippe Always love to read your entries mate you certainly have a talent for wrriting . Can I be one of the first to order your next book (in english please)

I thought you , of all people , would know Phil that alcohol is very much like sex , in that it's impossible to have too much of either .......You can't have too much alcohol because you either fall over or fall asleep and too much sex is impossible coz it bends in the middle

“There are many things better than sex, but there's nothing quite like it.” WC Fields

Reminds me of the three old codgers sitting in the sun on the park bench when a young girl walked past. The first old fella said, "do you remember when we used to stroke their lovely skin?" and they all smiled and nodded. A short while later the next old fella said, "and do you remember when we used to kiss them?", and they all smiled and nodded. Then the third old fella, looking very perplexed, turned to his two companions and said, "what was that other thing we used to do with them?"
Man, it´s a bugger getting old.

You're too kind Andy

Regarding Christian, yes you could say I was, not only because of his remarkable career ( 14 years at the top level in Grand Prix ! ) but also for his open, honest, simple and somehow naïve personality which led him to be so well loved by the public and also by his mechanics and team crew. I think one would be hard put trying to find a rider of the same caliber who took himself less seriously than Christian did . After a brilliant start his career suffered a low patch after a very bad fall at Brand's in early 1979 , which effectively ruined his first season on a factory 500 Yamaha . He took a long time to recover, lost his factory ride, then started climbing back up the ladder on smaller capacity production TZ's , fortunately for him with the unfailing trust and support from Jean-Claude Olivier , Sonauto's boss, and finally won the 250cc Championship in 1984 . That enabled him to go back up in the top class , but although his first season happens to be his best in terms of pure resut ( 3rd in the championship with one win ) he is the first to admitt that after all, the opposition was not that severe that year , consisting just of Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson, who finished in front of him . I personally think he was at the top of his art in 1988 and 1989 : in those years, he was the only european who could mix in at the front on a regular basis with the star-stud "new world" coalition of Rayney, Lawson, Schwantz , Gardner and Magee . At one point in those two years, he scored something like 5 consecutive pole positions . Unfortunately, he failed to earn the two or three wins that his talent would have deserved. The problem was that Christian had a supernatural talent for riding a motorcycle, but an extraordinary lack of it for....pushstarting the damn thing, which more than once wasted his races altogether . He's one that surely would have benefited from the current clutch-start rules .
The one sad note in his career was his final year, that proved unconclusive, but through no fault of his own : sadly, that was the year when the tyres started being a major factor, and when Michelin inaugurated the "one rider only per constructor with the A-spec development tyres " rule , and the only Yamaha rider entitled to development tyres was , IIRC, Eddie Lawson . So the Sonauto team decided to switch to Dunlop , hoping that being number one with Dunlop would be better than number two with Michelin - but the gamble failed, the tyres were not up to expectations and Christian was out of the leading bunch, for the first time in many years. I remember reading an interview by Jean-Claude Olivier at the time, in which he said that he understood the logic behind Michelin's policy, but regretted that they did not show a little "emotional" - or even simply national - feeling and made an exception to their rule for what they knew was Christian's final year , because he was french, riding for a french team, and as a sort of reward for the numerous years of loyal service he had given to the brand . But sadly, Michelin didn't change their mind and business took over on feelings - a sad warning on things to come in some ways....

I remember Michelin even featured on the Sarron Arai helmet, which is ironic as Sonauto were not without some influence regarding how the road going Yamaha's were equipped. I do know Arai valued J-CO & the Sonauto connection. I heard it mentioned once that M.Sarron was their most effective helmet tester...ouch.
They genuinely loved the guy too.

Oops.......slipping down the page. WAKE UP!!!!

I was watching 'Bike Havoc' on M&M the other day, and Sarron C featured rather a lot. So many crashes, knocked out several times, yet he's still with us..............in the background of one shot was Kevin Wrettom, who I think only had two big crashes - on the IoM in about 1978 which damaged the sight of one eye and set back his career by a couple of years; and his fatal one at Spa.

The weather forecast for the weekend at Brands is not looking too good, BTW.

Paul M

Saturday looks best!! says he hopefully with everything crossed!!! :\

.....and just to keep everybody up-to date, a re-post of something I wrote a while back on "ye olde thread" regarding Christian's post-GP carreer :

Last I heard Christian was still professionally involved with Yamaha France . He stopped his Grand Prix career at the end of the 1990 season to take up a role as racing activities manager or something, but he still put the helmet on now and then to enter selected races....most famously he won the 1994 Bol d'Or 24 hours endurance, partnering his brother Dominique on what was apparently a very emotional family achievement. A while later he also fulfiled an old dream by taking part , "just for pleasure" , in the 1996 Suzuka 8-hours with his long time Yamaha factory rider colleague and friend ( and fellow old-age pensioner ) Tadahiko Taira , onboard a tuned-up Yamaha 850 TRX (!) , finishing 24th .

http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/968h.html

That was his last official race as far as I know, but since then he's appeared regularily in various "nostalgia" classic meetings aboard vintage factory Yamaha's - at the Coupes Moto-Légende, or the Spa biker's Classics like in the picture below from 2005 .....

http://www.bikersdays.com/Gal_Class...hristian_02.jpg

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Macca
[B]Oops.......slipping down the page. WAKE UP

The weather forecast for the weekend at Brands is not looking too good, BTW.

Thanks a bunch Paul . Got to be better than Pembrey was I;ll bring me shorts just in case

Anybody else coming ???

Ah Mr Fu knock knock are you there ??? put up a piccy please old chappy Ps '70's--early '80's please

WWW?

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Pete Mckinley?

What kept you seems to have lost it's colour Didn't Stan Woods ride for Albian Street ??

No, but there is a resemblance.