Its probably been covered before but i cant find anything.Just curious what we all do now that most of us have hung up our leathers.Anyone still involved in the racing game ?(Lambo this excludes you !).
I`ll kick off then, buy and sell motorcycles for a living(suprise !), do 5-600 a year and sell to Dealers and happy ebayers ! Mostly run of the mill but i do get some exotica, 1098`s, a Desmocidici, a Spondon Ducati last week as well as an ex works 955 Works Ducati motor.
In my spare time i support my son who races in the British Supermoto Championship on a CRF250 Honda and spend most evenings tinkering in the workshop (dont know why, its the most reliable machine since time began !).
He`s pretty good, having won a couple of Championships including Open Class against 550cc and upwards machines and is currently third in the British.
He keeps hankering on about road racing so i suspect we will be doing a few trackdays to kick off and see how he goes, very talented, must get it from his mother

I got roped in to do the Veterans race at the last Supemoto meeting and got soundly thrashed by Darren Dixon (am sure he has been practicing !) .

Apart from that i am trying to beat my personal best for mowing the lawn on my ride on mower, wonder if i can change the gearing as its a bit sluggish out of apple Tree Corner !

Over to you lot !

Steve

Ok Steve , still involved in the racing scene , after many years out of it , semi-retired now ( from the motor trade ) but do a couple of jobs a week . I'm probably just as keen now as I was 30 years ago when involved with Bill & Bob Marks --who I was on the blower with tonight . i.e Bill not Bob
Will be at Cadwell 10/11 October with the tz ( ridden by Stu Melling ) on hols for Snetterton

Apart from that , trying to enjoy life ---- ( whats left of it at my age )

You young whipper snapper Phil You are as old as you feel...or put another way...

I keep promising myself a Mark 1 Cortina G.T. to muck around with (like I had in 1970 when sweet just 17

I trained as a motor mechanic from the mid-60's for a Morris/Austin dealer (later to become British Leyland) and we did all kinds of wonderful things building 1500cc Rally/Rallycross Minis!! I then went working in the Oil and Gas industry, pipelines, LNG plants and offshore rigs, currently dossing as things are quiet on the work front but still playing with my 2 bikes which I have over here in France, a hybrid YPVS and a w/cooled RD430.

Looking at the possibility of going back racing next year, not held a race licence since '94 (restricted club) so I have been told by the ArseCU that I have to start again as a novice.

A wally bib at 60 eh? Can't be bad!!

Anyway I'm going for it, probably CRMC post-classic and Earlystock clubs.

Everyone says I'm a daft old fart for having another go but this'll be my sixteenth racing comeback.

Steve,

You have reminded me I must fill out my Profile properly, which I keep meaning to do!!

For a living now I am a self-employed trainer and consultant, after working for big companies the last 30 years. I could probably have picked an easier time to start from the economy’s point of view, but things are looking up after a shaky first year so we’ll see how this next one turns out.

After racing I got into flying – a brief but expensive spell in gliding, then hang gliding for 15 years from the mid eighties – some fantastic experiences and a few scary ones too!! I moved on to microlights at the end of the 1990’s. It’s addictive just like racing! I heard recently Ron Haslam was interested in getting one.

I have done a few other things too, distance running, which I still do now (although a bit slower than 25 years ago), some sailing, and snowboarding. It took me a while to learn as I started in my late forties, so I am one of the oldest boarders on the slopes, but it’s great fun. Carol has persuaded me to try learning tennis this year too - notable mainly for the comedy value so far, but I’m getting the hang of it!

I did some spannering for my brother Dennis in the eighties and nineties, and been back over to the TT a few times in the last 10 years, occasionally meeting up with people from racing back in my era. I haven’t ridden a bike since the eighties, but often feel tempted…

Here’s a picture from a few weeks back – taken on Lundy Island out in the Bristol Channel.

All the best.

Ray

Great stuff Ray, thanks for that, nice to see who we are as well.

I trained as a motor mechanic in late 60's and early 70's but changed to heating and vent eng which I did for 21 years, I then went back to motor trade in 1996 rebuilding automatic gearboxes which I am still doing now.

I retired from 30 years of bike racing in 2003 and am now concentrating on my small but growing photography business, which I run alongside my day job, I photograph weddings, bike racing, landscapes, people and wildlife as you can see on my website. www.msrphotographic.co.uk

I also attend C R M C race meetings, usually with Exactweld team, did a parade last year on 250 Disc valve Exactweld at Donington and felt very rusty!
(might get the chance to parade it at Spa next year)

I also ride a VFR 800 on the road as I still enjoy riding bikes albeit a bit steadier nowadays!

Regards Mick

What? there is something other than motocycles and racing. Good lord keep it down man, you will start a revolution. Still involved, (I work for Yamaha USA) but a bit more corporate now. At least I get to sleep in hotels and not the back of a van. I take a few piccies too, like these from Indy last weekend (www.photoshelter.com/c/momurrayphoto) I should add that being a photog is strictly a hobby and given my level of talent I am gald I am not relying on selling pictures for a living. I love your stuff Mick, especially the HDR, which I have yet to try.

http://www.photoshelter.com/c/momurrayphot...0000SXChFvO9lqQ

http://www.photoshelter.com/c/momurrayphot...0000E8VqUMU4qe8

Mo

Great shots of KR on the dirt. I love my Moto Gp but to be honest those pic's and some editoral from KR Snr about "just going out and giving it arun"were the highlights. His blog about how he didnt even practice on the beast but decided to see if he still had it...well what can you say. I'm a "car tyre dealer"in Sydney and go along OK. This forum has been kind to my memories. Next week I am of to NZ for an evening in Ch Ch for an old sponser and mentor of mine Tommy McCleary. He gave me the opportunities to race in Europe for which I am forever grateful. Mike Sinclair organised the night and Warren Willing is coming over with me. I called Warren today and he was with Wayne Rainey in California just about due to go and visit Ön any Sundays Bruce Brown .Then it sydney and on Tuesday to Ch CH( in NZ) to give appreciation ( with me) to one of the öld timers"who put ther hand in there OWN pocket to make it possible. Should be great fun to catch up with NZ's old road racers....

There is a pic of Kenny on the MCN site, its no where near as good as Mo's pic...great photo of Jorge too!!.

Hasnt anyone told Lorenzo that its raining and he is on wets ?!!

Thanks Graham.

Hi Mo,I think your shots of Kenny and Jorge are pretty damn good actually! I'm glad you like my images, just out of interest which ones stand out as HDR as I try to keep the effect subtle ?

Ok, run a kart manufacturing Co' in North London with Mike Smith who used to race a rottweiler, we were discussing the brands Marlboro race on here a while ago Steve. We make mostly rental / indoor type stuff rather than out and out racing karts. I do a bit of restoration on old kawasakis specializing in the triples just sold the orange 500 for 5k, but they do cost a lot to put right these days so I don't really make any money, more of a hobby really, build them, ride them for a bit and sell them. Recently made a start on the TZ750 which has been sitting in boxes in Mike's Garage for the last twenty years, now that will be expensive will post some pics of it when there's something reasonable to photograph!

Cheers, Martin

Lovely Z1. I remember mine with fondness.

Thanks Mick. I remember a conversation on here about some "smurfing" of a subject you did and you mentioning HDR then. Without that I may not ahve looked so closely but the red Exactweld shots, the green #11 and the #52 Enfield in the wet look HDRed to me...

I have never tried it myself so I dont really understand how it works but it is distictive.

Mo

I'm out here in the Mid-West ( Illinois) putting together a few old bikes. The ones I pressed my nose against the shop window to drool over when I was a kid. I/ve been here for five years having left England with my son, two suitcases a dog and a cat. My daughter joined us later which was nice.

I now have a workshop coming together to make parts for the old stuff I loved back in the 70s as it seems there's probably a market for tanks,seats,rearsets and pipes which everyone put on their streetbike. It's a long job as I've bought most of the bikes I wanted as non runners, stripping them, cleaning them up, got a list together of the bits needed and selling off the bits I don't need. I make a bit on fleabay to subsidize the classic racers I'm working on. I decided I'd had enough of working for others as it was so frustrating.
Hopefully I'll be around long enough to enjoy riding the 20 or so bikes I'm working on

I spend time out in my Canadian canoe down on the river or some of the fantastic lakes in the hot summers (was on the Ohio River last week) My wife and I are working on opening a Tea Room and craft shop ( I do some painting too) on the banks of the Ohio where I'll finally get a big workshop I'll be building cafe bikes there so the Tea Room sort of fits in It's never too late to learn. as they say, so I have the welding gear for frame, tank and pipe making which will hopefully earn enough to not have to work for the morons again! I don't ride much on the road as there are no corners here and I'm recovering from shoulder surgery last year, age doesn't help the healing much, though the roads where we are going are stunning so it's an incentive

Finally it seems there will be some peace and quiet banks to fish from, a comfortable place I can really call home and a more relaxed work schedule doing something I love.
I gave up drinking last year after a 34 year party and I can't believe the things I get done now, wish I'd realized earlier

It does help when you have a wonderful wife whom I only wish I'd met years ago.She is truly a diamond

If I get half of what I want to done then that'll do for me.


David

Nice one David!

Fu,

Hi. Thanks for your post and hope you are well. Sorry but I haven't been on here for a couple of weeks - been busy chasing up some more work!!

Apologies for my ignorance here, but could you help on a technical question when you get a moment? Can you tell me how to get decent sized photos when I post them?? I only get the little thumbnail things using Imageshack, yet when I posted a copy press cutting it came out huge! Is it down to the size of the image, or is there something I am doing wrong?

If I can get that sorted, then build up steam pressure on the old scanner, I could put some more photos on!!

Thanks and best wishes.

Ray

Hi Ray, I use photobucket, you can adjust size on that, and standard setting is plenty good enough, probably on imageshack you can adjust the size of your pics/scans before uploading to the forum? try photobucket its easier to use (IMHO).
Look forward to some more piccys!!.

Mick,

30 years of racing - I thought my brother was in it for a long time, but 17 years is quite short in comparison! He and I used to follow you around at Bemsee meetings back in the 70's - seems a really long time ago now.

Those are great photos on your web site by the way.

All the best.

Ray

Mick,

Hi and thanks for your post. Those are fantastic photos from the Goodwood Revival. I really should have got along to it, but seem to miss it every year, which is a shame as it's only a few miles down the road from here. The Jamie Whitham one is a real classic, and there's another great one of someone on an unfaired Manx. It's nice to see these bikes doing what they were meant for, and not just sitting in someone's garage as museum pieces!

You are quite right, Dennis and I used to ride for Group Captain Coulson. You probably saw Stafford passed away a couple of years ago - a genuine enthusiast, and one of the 'old school' of sponsors. He was still riding bikes well into his 80's, and often used to turn up to his RAF Pathfinder Squadron reunions on his latest sports bike. I think his last one was a Kawasaki ZX6R. He was a real character!

All the best.

Ray