Reay Mackay.

Is the correct answer , well done Glenn

An interesting cover shot (John Stoddart). Obviously Mallory Park, Shaw's Hairpin. Riders and Machines please.

Rod Scivyer, Rex Butcher.

Ron Chandler in 3rd?

That's two, the others are not so well know (well to me anyway)

and Rod won a fiver that day 5th in the 125 race on his Honda

I think the chappie at the back with the ' jet ' type lid is a Canadian was it a Dave ???

It's R O Strong from Welwyn, 244 Bultaco, 82 is J D Bedlington from York, 250 Greeves mounted as is Rex Butcher and Rod is on the 247 Cotton.

I vaguely remember Bedlington but not Mr Strong, and I have the programms!!!

Thanks for that

WWW - all 3 riders please!!!

Should've changed the pic's title, Larry.....


Great pic, though.

Sod it

Dave Bedlington rings a bell?

Now an MV owner and racer ?

WWW? Why dont they have four plus member teams nowadays....so much more interesting.

Hi Russ,

#4 GD
#3 ??
#2 Alfredo Milani ??
#1 Umberto Massetti

Pierro Taruffi between Duke and rider #3, Signore Gilera behind rider #2
Suppose it's '53, since Massetti has the number 1 plate as reigning champ ?

Edit: wonder if Masetti was in the Gilera squad in '53 at all, he doesn't figure in the 500 cc table of that year. Was he offended by Duke's signing ??

Having won the title in 1952, I have seen it described thus : The arrival of Geoff Duke, who joined Gilera in 1953, together with problems arising from one of his frequent personal vicissitudes, combined to keep Masetti away from the circuits for a while and he made only sporadic appearances here and there.
In 1955, more out of a liking for the man himself rather than any real tactical necessity, MV invited the gifted but wayward Masetti to join their works team....


From Moto MV Agusta, Colombo/Patrignani.

Thanks, didn't he move to Argentina later on to race a Gilera Saturno there in the late fifties ??

And then it happened again......

Yes Renn...all accurate, well almost...number 3 is Giusseppe Colnago (killed I think)? Well Done. I'm nor certain about Taruffi or Signore Gilera...are you?

Think so... sooner or later our Gilera specialist pppdrive will pop in, so he may confirm (or not )

Anyway, it's a pic of 53 ??

Edit: Initially I thought that the gent on the far right side is Norton tuner Bill Stuart....

Umberto, Duke was just quicker......

So he made his contract with the Countess, not the Count in the first place

Hi Russ, Colnago was one of the few to race for Gilera and Guzzi, and win on the V8. He wasn't killed racing, but died a few years ago.

And Taruffi and Gilera are correct.

Yes indeed, he got the ride apparently offered by the countess...... Your'e right, he did later take off to Argentina for a while. The Gilera pic was '53, Assen. Did you happen to watch Duke's vid on Babelwotsit where he explained some of the reasons for his decision to go to Gilera?

Thanks Graham. As a resident in Italia, do you ever encounter racers from this period at classic type meeings? I was amused at Ken Kavanagh's Aussie/ Italian accent on the vid. He is still with us?

Just came across this pic of my CR93 in its final guise. Front brake replaced with Oldani, I think it was. I used to get it relined by Joe Dunphy with Ferodo "green linings". He was very keen that these should be tipped with standard brown bits to stop any danger of them grabbing but I found that I could manage without this safeguard much to his amazement , mind you, you could see the forks flexing under heavy breaking. You may also notice a battery lurking under the front of the seat. I had a few problems with tiny fragments of valve spring breaking off and finding their way via the cam drive tunnel, into the ignition coils and causing misfires. This came to a head when I was at last getting to grips with "little Bill" and was challenging him at Mallory Park when the engine went on to one cylinder and ended my best race to date. Answer, get rid of the standard ignition system and replace with a couple of Wipac pencil coils and a battery. As long as a recharged battery was fitted before each race, problem solved. Had to keep the revs up, as we removed the generator flywheel to save weight and it was very reluctant to run at low revs. This caused quite a few puzzled faces in the paddock because there was no run on when the throttle was closed, the engine just stopped! Hope you find this little bit of self indulgent nostalgia of interest

[quote name='Russell Burrows' date='Oct 13 2009, 15:01' post='3922719']
Umberto, Duke was just quicker......






A reminder of the esteem that the Spanish have for Umberto in Denia town centre.
HW

[quote name='Yendor' date='Oct 13 2009, 16:12' post='3922945']
Just came across this pic of my CR93 in its final guise. Front brake replaced with Oldani, I think it was. I used to get it relined by Joe Dunphy with Ferodo "green linings". He was very keen that these should be tipped with standard brown bits to stop any danger of them grabbing but I found that I could manage without this safeguard much to his amazement , mind you, you could see the forks flexing under heavy breaking. You may also notice a battery lurking under the front of the seat. I had a few problems with tiny fragments of valve spring breaking off and finding their way via the cam drive tunnel, into the ignition coils and causing misfires. This came to a head when I was at last getting to grips with "little Bill" and was challenging him at Mallory Park when the engine went on to one cylinder and ended my best race to date. Answer, get rid of the standard ignition system and replace with a couple of Wipac pencil coils and a battery. As long as a recharged battery was fitted before each race, problem solved. Had to keep the revs up, as we removed the generator flywheel to save weight and it was very reluctant to run at low revs. This caused quite a few puzzled faces in the paddock because there was no run on when the throttle was closed, the engine just stopped! Hope you find this little bit of self indulgent nostalgia of interest ;)



Thanks for that Rod great , more please, of your nostalgia

That's interesting Herr, what's the link I wonder....or am I missing something obvious?

Good stuff Rod.....please keep it coming. Definitely an Oldani.

Hi Russell,
I think he was a bit of a star on the spanish circuits in his time and Alicante is just down the road.He was at at the Revival meeting a few years ago.This year his son Nello was there,with the team of Gilera Saturnos.I think the place has some good memories for the family Massetti.
HW

Nice one Rod,
Got to be one best 'customer' bikes ever built IMHO
HW

Sorry I'm a little late (just got home from work) but it is 1953 Assen with Geoff Duke, Giuseppe Colnago, Alfredo Milani and Umberton Masetti . Piero Taruffi between Duke & Colnago and the famous Gilera mechanic Giovanni Fumagalli front row in the middle.
Paul

Got to agree there HW. I had mine for 4 yrs and it was still competitive, although beginning to loose out to the Bultacos.

Another little anecdote. When I first purchased the bike we took it to Brands on a regular Wednesday track day to run it in.
Heeding the warnings in the pocket sized manual which came with the bike the revs were kept well down but after very little running there
was a horrible noise from within and it ground to a stand still. Our worse fears were confirmed when stripping the engine. One piston had
broken resulting in the majority of the motor being wrecked. It needed a new cyl head, valves, barrel, crankshaft and of course the offending piston. We decided to try to work out what had cause the disaster and discovered that the lower ring groove had been machined deeper than that on the other piston, which had resulted in the top of the piston breaking off. We presented our findings and the parts to Alf Briggs of Honda UK and, although there was obviously no warranty on a race bike, he agreed to replace all the necessary parts FOC. We got to know Alf well over the ensuing years and he was an absolutely wonderful bloke. After the rebuild we had no re-occurence of the problem although we always checked the ring grooves on new pistons after that. Had Alf not been able to help us out at that point things may have turned out a lot differently with my riding career. Thanks Alf

Couple of Macchis for you, Andy.

Cause . . . . . . . and effect - who, and where?

The circuit later became infamous . . . . . . . . .

Brian Steenson # 4
not sure # 2 with the broken chain

[quote name='larryd' post='3923349' date='Oct 13 2009, 19:22']Couple of Macchis for you, Andy.

Cause . . . . . . . and effect - who, and where?

The circuit later became infamous . . . . . . . . .


quote]
Brian Steenson 4 and Cecil Crawford 2 Maghaberry
Gary

Brilliant shots Larry ...Yes, Brian Steenson and someone who appears so familiar but who's name escapes me....Crawford? Presumably the chain broke just before the end of the race, allowing Brian to win? Mondello Park?

Hi All,
Just to add some info to the picture I can confirm it is Martin Watson on the Doug Aldridge Norton, the year is definatley 1965 as Martin is still on the old 500 which came with him from SA at the start of the year. I seem to recall this happened in the heat but Martin remounted and manged to scrape through to make the race of the year itself. I understand at the time that there were selected riders who went straight through and then the rest of the field for the race of the year was made up from the riders who performed well on the day.
That Norton was a really old one if fact it was the first 500 my Dad bought in 1959 from Jim Redman and then over the years was upgrade by home made parts or what ever parts we could aquire from visiting international riders. I know Dickie Dale was great at bringing spares over and on Dickies last visit to SA his Nortons returned to the UK missing many parts.
I remember when Matin arrived in the UK the Norton was described in the MCN as elderly but rapid, it showed what great engineers you had to be when there was a lack of modern parts, it was a case of make do and mend.

Great memories
Peter
Sorry I have not had much to add lately but been quite busy with my new sideline business.

Thanks for that Peter. Tell us more about your business. Is it M/C related? Knowing your background I think that would be a fair bet.

Well done Russ Brian with Cecil Crawford indeed.

Last lap at ??

Not Mondello, but there was a subsquent change of use of the circuit, not unconnected with crime and terrorism . . . . . . .

Ken's still around and I visited him in September 08. He was on great form talking about racing with the likes of Les Graham and how he got the contract to race with Guzzi and the way Guzzi treated you compared to the the "couldn't care less" attitude of Norton.
He's up in Bergamo which is 4 hours from where we are.

Unfortunately a lot of the 1950s Italians like Provini, Mendogni, Ruffo, etc have died in the last 10 years. From that photo of the team in Assen, Alfredo Milani is still alive and I think still works in his son's shop in Milan. The main other Italian from the period that you see around is Ubbiali. Ferri and Spaggiari turn up occasionally.

What did you think of this chappie ?? WWW

Continental paddock life in the 50s - Keith Bryen at Floreffe

Aye Russ - we were too late!!!

Lance Weil on the Harley?

Morning Rhodie yes it is Lance , IIRC only ' shone ' at one uk circuit----- Lydden

Absolute..... Sharing your Bedroom with two Manx Nortons......Was HoteldeBedford Keith's name for it ?

You've got me on that one Larry...... Gary just pipped me on the line with Cecil Crawford.