That was my first season and first visit to Cadwell, i would have been scaring myself somewhere towards the back.

My brother, who was racing and I travelled up with a Production Triumph rider, Gerry Miller in his Thames van on the Friday night. We, my brother and I (Gerry had a tent) slept in the back and had a good kip, when we woke in the morning and ventured out of the van we both developed what can only be described as cracking hangovers. Gerry then told us about the hole between the petrol filler cap and the tank that filled the back of the van with fumes

Good job neither of you ' lit up ' Robin !!

Anyone can identify that MV's pilot?

Seemingly Spa 1971



Thanks

That's of course Ago in his first outing with a full face lid, obviously with no time left for the tricolore painting, and in his Lewis leathers suit with red top he used for a short time

Funnily enough this very unusual attire of Ago was the cause of a hot debate those last days on..... Eric Offenstadt's facebook page of all places, where had been posted a picture of Eric following this mysterious rider with the white helmet under braking for la Source, and nobody would believe me that it was Ago ( apart from Eric himself who admitted it couldn't be anyone else, although he didn't specifically remember the helmet ) .... For what it's worth, on Vincent Glon's Racing Memo site, it is written that Ago was using for the very first time a white full face helmet "borrowed from a journalist" ....

I can't remember, I've been there all races 70 ~ 84 but I was too young; furthermore everybody was waiting for the sidecar race.

Hi Phillippe, IIRC Ago tried Rod Gould's Buco Jet Helmet in Anderstorp in practice for a spin in '69, so some thought that Rod is the new man with MV... wonder who had the number 1 plate in this race, the Belgian champion per chance ? And it was the race where Ravel was killed ....

Yeah, the sidecars were the highlight before F3 cars (minus 1 wheel) took over

BTW, does anyone remember John Nutting, the "motorcycle" tester in the seventies ? I recall quite vividly his test of a Laverda 750 SFC by riding this beauty from Breganze home to the UK...

Buddy: maybe you were looking for other races; but I went there with my Dad; and his 'only' interest were the sidecars; so we use to arrive after everybody; sometimes in the middle of the 250s when I saw Saarinen (72); Gould, Read, the Read/Bonera chase after Bonera stop at the pits... I was born very close to all of Spa, Chimay, Mettet, later Nivelles and a bit north Zolder....

I even saw the chicane at Malmedy in the 70's F1 race

But it doesn't matter - Have a great time and cheers!!

I don't usually like to post copyrighted pics, but the webmaster of Bike 70 is a good friend so I hope he'll forgive me

Below, Ago leading Offenstadt and Findlay at the end of the first lap of the 1971 Belgian GP



...and a few laps from the end of that same race, the trio fighting for second place behind Ago : Ravel, Findlay and Offenstadt....sadly Christian Ravel fell to his death a few minutes later.



I was only 14 years old at the time, I had started collecting pictures and press clippings of Christian who was our up-and-coming hopeful at the time on his mighty H1R ......and I remember precisely hearing the awful news on the radio in my parent's cars driving back from a Sunday walk in the forests above where we lived

Hi Algis, I totally agree...what I tried to express is that sidecar racing lost it's attraction when too much car technique took over. Originally, sidecar racing had something to do with a motorcycle and a attached sidecar and not a 3 wheeled whatever. Just my humble opinion.

That is, indeed, a constructive comment. There were no Belgian 'champion' in 500 at that time (the first I can recall was Jean-Philippe Orban, well before de Radiguès; and none ever wore the #1 in WCShip). Also the leather markings makes me really flip and wonder.

Thanks everybody

Hé, il faut pas te vexer comme ça, algis, j'ai l'impression que tu démarres au quart de tour sur des commentaires qui n'ont rien de méchant, au contraire ! La remarque de Rennmax c'était juste pour dire qu'il adorait les sides à l'ancienne, avant l'arrivée des chassis coque avec suspensions triangulées .... Rien d'ironique la dedans...

Et par ailleurs, c'est vrai qu'on se demande tous qui pouvait bien porter le numéro 1 lors de ce Grand Prix.... Et vu les libertés que prenaient les organisateurs de l'époque, ils auraient bien pu nous coller un bon pilote Belge, genre Jules Nies ou Oronzo Memola

Sorry gents, I only learned a bit English and too much Latin in school

Non, pas du tout, désolé si mes remarques sont déplacées - Sorry Rennmax if I sound arsh; I did not meant to; probably my English is too weak to really express myself Indeed Sidecars have been 'transformed' from what they were; but then what to think of the Bimota Tesi; and the new developments of front/rear suspensions... Same call; evolution... Everything changes; first F1 'frames' were tubes....

Thank you everybody; as soon as I can set a scanner I'll share some pics of my Brother from that era Cheers all!

Ich sagte nur an algfis, das er sollte nicht zu schnell antworten, ohne alles gut verstanden zu haben...und dass du hattest nichts schlimm über den seitenwagen gesagt,.

OK, after this friendly reminder to our briton hosts that the world does have other languages than english, back to topic !

PS : et on attend impatiemment tes photos, algis !

No problem mate, I'm very much retro indeed..that's why I enjoy the nostalgia forum

Looking forward to your pics

Cheers

Philippe, according to your Spa pics, probably only even start numbers were used then ...

Just some in preview; I'm watching Le Mans MotoGP FP1




Jean-Claude Chemarin; Racing Show Bruxelles



Johnny Cecotto; 200 Miles Nivelles



Steve Baker, Spa Moto GP 500cc



Steve Baker, Zolder Formula 750



Giacomo Agostini, Racing Show Bruxelles



Jean-Claude Chemarin, 1000Km Mettet



Much more to follow; enjoy and sorry the quality; that's amateur's photography

I remember John. We raced against each other quite frequently in the mid 80's. He was quite active in trying to promote a national single cylinder series in the UK at around the same time.

Hi Rob, you wouldn't perhaps be a Scudder would you? If not, my apologies but i'm always interested in people who remember lil ol me

Yes Mick, I am, younger brother of Derek and Kevin.

Ah, hence the old BRC connection, welcome to the forum mate.

Ah...Ah..I think I remember you on a Montesa at some point Robin? Or have I got it all wrong!
Derek raced a Norton and Kevin a Greeves?

Hello Mick I was Russell Henley's mechanic at the MGP in 96 when you two had that titanic battle in the lightweight race, Russ still has the audio tape of Peter Kneale nearly having a baby on the commentary as you two came through the start/finish almost touching handlebars.

I think Russ actuallly had it as a ring tone on his phone for while

Glad to see you're still around the sport matey.

Don't know why but for the Belgium GP only even start numbers were used in all classes untill 1976.

Hi Paul, yes I remember that race very well, it was far from lonely! Russ sent me the audio commentry a couple of years ago, still listen to it now!
I remember watching Russ from close quarters at Rhencullen when he came a bit close to disaster....ripped the sole of his boot, frightened the s..t out of me!!!

Regards Mick

Yep the whole race was a real cliff hanger for us, I only finished the bike at something like 4.45am on the morning of the race as we'd had all sorts of problems.

I honestly didnt think the bike would last a lap as I hadnt found a definate reason why it had seized earlier in the week, then when we took it for a run at Jurby airfield the night before the race the damn thing seized again leading to an overnight rebuild.

It always makes me smile when I watch the video of the race and when Russ is being interviewed he's asked about the Rencullen incident, he nods towards me and says 'I thought oh no if I crash he'll kill me cos he's been working on it all night' I later explained to him that had he not managed to stay on I would have been the least of his worries at 120 mph heading for the gable end of the cottage at Rencullen, that bloke just never saw danger which I think is why he was so quick.

By the way if you happen to make it to the TT Russ will be over this year as its my 50th on the middle Saturday so we'll be out on the town with a few other old faces for a small amount of alcohol and you're more than welcome to join us.

Yes, my first racing bike was a Montesa Impala 250, the choice of which was heavily influenced by watching you in the summer of 1974 and in prior years by watching Chris McGahan. A really simple design, easy to work on and pretty fast for it's time. I had another one after that based on a Cappra VR motocross bike, it was one raced with a lot of success by Roger Myers in 1975.

My first bike:



Derek raced a Norton, which he still has, here he is at Brands in 1977



Kevin on his Greeves at Lydden in 1976

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1923/81525548.jpg

Guess which year I got my first SLR?

Thanks Mick. Although I didn't know you that well I do remember you being very tall, wearing white leathers and being all elbows and knees, especially on a Bantam!

Don't want to go on a downer here, but I have bad memories of Rhencullen.
My good mate John Judge crashed fatally there in the '92 MGP and I helped a rider back to the pits who broke down in practice at Glen Helen in '98 on an RC30 and crashed fatally at Rhencullen in the F1 race on the Saturday. I remember his name was John, I bought him a drink in the Glen Helen pub, I think he came from Shropshire.

I think it was John Henderson, like many of the fast places around there Rhencullen can be unforgiving if things go wrong.

My man was extremely lucky as i'm sure Mick will testify as he had a grandstand seat right behind him, i'd got the bike slightly richer than I would have liked to try and stop it seizing again, consequently it wasnt pulling top gear very well and he came up to the hump at the first part of Rhencullen wringing its neck in 5th gear instead of a steady throttle in top, as a result it wheelied a lot further than usual and by the time he got the front down he entered the layby on the left hand side, how he got it squared up i'll never know but as Mick said in his earlier post he came back with half a boot on his right foot!!

It was a hell of a race though with Russ eventually winning by a very small margin from Barry Wood who went on a charge on the last lap, and Mick finishing third.

Incidently here's a bit of trivia, that was the last time a Yamaha won the Lightweight Manx Grand Prix, its been Honda every year since.

That's right Paul, thanks for reminding me, it was John Henderson. I remember now he told me he was an architect from (I think) Ross-on-Wye.

Yes Robin, thats the one, my first race bike as well, I bought it for £70, spent about £30 pounds on it, raced it in the 1974 season, won Southern 67 singles championship, won a few BMCRC races against Jerry Fiford, Kenny Atkins, Nev Frost, Gaff Jones etc and then sold it in the winter of 74/75 for
£250, it was a great little bike!!

Robin, your first SLR in.........1976? Got my first SLR Zenith E 1972.

Mine came in 1977, hence the difference in pictures and it was a Zenit E too. The photo I took of you at Devils Elbow was with a 35mm fixed lens, I was very lucky to get that close to the track.

Yep that sounds like me, too bloody tall by far for bike racing but still managed to do quite well. Kieth Webb called me "an accident looking for a place to happen".

I remember John Judge well we made a team up in 92 for the Manx called team Aintree inc John a chap we called Rusty who raced a 350 MV and a 750 gsxr and myself

Two more from the 80's

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/1901/26225938.jpg

Kev Fawsitt by any chance, not sure about the other bloke though.

You're up late! Yep, Kevin Fawsitt, I'll see if anyone knows the other.

Is the other rider Steve Trassler? Riches, Snetterton

It is Riches and his first name is Steve but it's not Trasler

Hi Robin .......Steve Chambers?



David

Yep i reckon your right Coupe, def not Tras, he wore glasses as Kev did, both old mates of mine, Tras was at my first wedding bash.

Just a guess Mick ....Spud from Devon will probably cack himself laughing as usual...
Steve Trasler won the Avon on a Bonny didn't he in '78?

David

Well , Daisy , if ' Spud ' doesn't , I will ....don't know why , though