Your correct Derek Minter did do most of his racing in the uk with occassional trip to the continent,from kent it was'nt too far.Remember in those days it was hard to earn a living out of racing motorcycles and they did'nt treat the star names much different from us also rans,other than they could get the better prize money,and Derek had a haulage business to run so guess he had to be at work on Monday like most of us.
As an aside it is seldom mentioned but do people remember Derek taking over the ride of Provini on the works Benelli at the TT after Provini suffered severe injury in practise.

Thats probably why he appears to be wiping his 'mits ' in the pic . Roy

I saw Bob race cars a few times, quite a useful driver too

You got me there fil2.8, I only noticed him wiping his hands after I had sent the pic to Russell.
Roy

WWW ?

WWW ?

Tell you what Russ , some gems in there Is that an early Dr Joe / EMC creation ?? Coming out of the Gooseneck ??

Post 3641 : Mid 50's , Italy , transporter on the right : Could be the Gilera bus , the smaller with white stripe might be British ?

Erlich? Did he do bikes too

Yep , thats the man Stirling , he was involved with bikes from a very early age go on , google him , he had a looooooooooong tradition with bikes . We were involved with him with the ' Waddon ' G.P machine of 82/3
A one-off no doubt

Works MVs at Montjuich Park, Barcelona?

And aren't all the vans etc at the same meeting??

Wow ! Some great, evocative pics there lads, thanks for sharing. Is that Paddy Driver again, on the EMC at the Gooseneck ?

And yes, curiosity has got the better of me, and I've ordered the "Derek Minter, King of Brands" book by Mick Walker from amazon.com overnight, sucked in again....

Its definitlyIsle of Man coming out of the Gooseneck not sure of the machine E.M.C.? MZ? If its EMC it could be Rex Avery or Paddy Driver who rode it in 1962.Mike hailwood and Tony Godfrey also rode it around that time

I started racing on a EMC Puch split single in the late 50s.Only significant thing about the bike was its petrol tank which was alloy shaped like a kidney bean.At that time and in the 60's Dr Joe Erlich I understood worked for the De Haviland aircraft company at Hatfield and the EMC racing motorcycles were the companies and were all part of the research and developement projects on testing metals for the aero industry

Paddy Driver EMC 1962 Lightweight 125 TT. Retired on the last lap at Ramsey Hairpin with ignition trouble

Hi Gents
We all have our clever hats on today.
The first shot is one from an unmarked album my friend Ian Simpson picked this year. I am sure it shows the two works 125 MV's of Roberto Colombo leading Carlo Ubbiali in 1957. The 4 air intakes are the give away. Where I cannot find. Certainly this pair raced in 1957 at the German GP, IOM TT, Dutch TT before Colombo was killed at the Belgian GP. I cannot see Colombo in the 1956 125 GP's , but raced for MV in the 250's that year. So over to you guy for the location. Don't those 'Dustbins' look great.
The second shot of the pits(s) in a city centre does show the Gilera van in the R/H corner. Ian and I are hoping you can ID the location for us. Certainly on the Continent.
I put the Paddy Driver shot up for Rhodie. This is 1962 and he is still in the jet helmet. He is on Dr Joe's EMC at Signpost Corner.
Roy

The same race start from another viewpoint:

No pushing for Herr Enders then!
Just (today)had a very interesting half hour or so talking to Francois Fernandez,passenger to Duhem,and french champion in'64,'68, and '69 on Rennsport BMW.Many times competitor in GPs in the '60s.Judging by his photo album,he was in some hot company.Raced against Fath and Co. on our local street circuit at Pau in the '60s.Turned down the job with Camathias 2 days before the Brands crash!
He has an original Petty Manx that he parades these days.Lovely chap,and still as keen as mustard.I don't think the top boys ever loose it.
HW

Photo courtesy of bike70.com

What a fantastic shot Hemeyla of the start of the 1972 Dutch TT. I did not realise the crowd was so large.
My memory of that day was after the S/C race finished we started to walk to where the coach was parked. We passed in front of a section where the crowd had been with a small dyke in front of them. It was full of beer cans by the thousand!
That day I saw Rod Gould win the 250 on his Yamaha, a day to remember.
Roy

It'a bit QT chaps WWW ?

Dickie Dale 1956 or 57. Where? Not a clue

Yes , it is Dickie Dale , well done , and it's not on the A 38 past Kennford
I'll see if anybody knows I think
And it is 1957

Thanks Phil On closer inspection could it be the Exminster Bypass

No , no , no you're going the wrong way . The A 3052 Sidmouth Road , past the ' Cat and Fiddle ' is the right direction ..............

Definitely Barcelona - non-Championship Spanish GP, April 7 1957. Colombo leading Ubbiali on the factory 125 MVs, although at the end the order (1st & 2nd) was reversed.

Photo was taken from the paddock exit, and they've just come out of the last corner.

Are you sure that that's the Gilera van? I would have said that the paddock shot is Barcelona also, but Gilera were not there.

That was the meeting where Kavanagh made (or did not make!) his works 500 MV debut. MV only brought bikes for Surtees and Bandirola, with a spare for John. Ken wanted to ride John's spare, but Mrs Surtees Snr, as I understand it, sorted him!!

Matters degenerated into a court action by Kavanagh against MV for breach of contract. Maybe he should have stayed with Guzzi (if they had still wanted him . . . . .)

Larryd, you are a star for ID'ing it as Spanish GP non W/C meeting on 7-4-57, I guess it was a shake down meeting for MV.
The van in the R/H corner definitely has Gilera on its side panel in the original shot. So maybe Bjon is correct mid 1950's in Italy.
Thanks for the info, Ian and I had given up locating it.
Roy

While i'm waiting for Dickie Dale's location , try this gang !!! Oh ,yes WWW

John Hartle?

Looks like Check Point Charlie in East Berlin.

Errrrr no , nor is it Check Point Charlie , bad luck
next

Well LATINA is a town south east of Rome, Italy, but I cannot see any race circuits close to it.

You sure it's '57??

Dickie Dale took a 350 and the 500 V8 to Montichiari military airport on October 25 1956 and set several speed records - could he here be signing autographs for some of the "residents"?

Long shot but could it be Bill Smith on a DMW Typhoon 500 in 1965

Wow ! That's going to be close RRT2, but it looks a bit like the IoM. Surely not...?

Got to have a go at this WWW malarkey WWW???

If it is the Isle of Man i'm going to go for 1964 Southern 100 .If it is then it might be a 250 DMW

Cyril Smith / Stan Dibben Gooseneck '56 ??

Stan Dibben yes but not Cyril Smith. It is the Gooseneck but not 1956

Then it's Eric Oliver ?

That's correct Rennmax . Well done What about the year??

He teamed up with him in '53, but that kind of fairing appeared later I think, that's why I guessed '56 in my first attempt...

Edit:



Stan a couple of years later

Correct wrong wrong Well done 1 out of 3 ain't bad

Correct Rod Correct you must have the same issue of 'Motor Cycle ' as me...........................
Well found indeed !!!!

[quote name='larryd' date='Aug 23 2009, 00:05' post='3807443']
[b]You sure it's '57??

Positive .
Do you want a bit more time ??

a bit later than 56

Morning Phil. I don't have that issue Phil.Most of mine are TT numbers. I thought it looked like Bill Smith on a british two stroke. Not Cotton,Greeves or Enfield as they had leading link forks.
Guessed it was a DMW and did some research.Its surprising what you can find out on Google

Sorry Paul , I almost missed your post . You are getting very close

Hi,
Dickie and Bill Lomas did a 10Km record attempt in 1957 on this road with V8 Guzzi the 350 and 500 for the unlimited classes.
This was to co inside with the Rome show and it was a Guzzi PR stunt. The road was the Appian way on the way to Rome.
I beleive they set a record on the 500 at 152 mph with a top speed of 178 mph.
Pretty quick for 1957 and on open roads in rural Italy.
I think Dickie road the 350 and Bill the 500
cheers
Pete

More good stuff from Roy....