58 replies to this topic

[Robdgnl]

For those that knew him, Renzo/Dennis Rapley passed away at his home on the 19th of July. He lost the long hard fight against lung emphysema.

I noticed he visited this forum quite often, and he probably knew many people on here, as well as in the motorcycle community as a whole.

He will be sorely missed.

May he rest in peace.

Robbie de Gruiter (a very close friend)

[RStock]

For those that knew him, Renzo/Dennis Rapley passed away at his home on the 19th of July. He lost the long hard fight against lung emphysema.

I noticed he visited this forum quite often, and he probably knew many people on here, as well as in the motorcycle community as a whole.

He will be sorely missed.

May he rest in peace.

Robbie de Gruiter (a very close friend)

Seems I remember the screen-name . Sad news . RIP Dennis Rapley .

[HEMEYLA]

Rest in peace Dennis.

[fil2.8]

Rest in peace Dennis.

Yes from all of us on the motorcycle racing section we will / are missing you , RIP mate

[picblanc]

Bye Bye Dennis, it was fun these last few years, I know it did you good, will miss you old friend.

[Twin Window]

Very sad news indeed...

Dennis had been a valued member of this forum for three years, and I along with others will clearly miss his presence.

Thank you, Robbie, for letting us know of his passing. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

[Russell Burrows]

ok,another one of me(sorry )brands hatch 1969 a few weeks before i had a bad one there
bemsee meeting if i recall.
those were the daaays my friend

RIP Renzo.

[LamboNZ]

RIP Dennis, you will be missed by all that knew, I for one have enjoyed reading your anecdotal tales of your racing experiences.

Godspeed to you Renzo!

[TeeZed]

RIP "Renzo"

My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Don

[GD66]

Dammit ! A good man who fought hard. You'll be missed, Dennis, but not forgotten. Hats off, mate.

[exclubracer]

Terrible news.

RIP Dennis, you will be sorely missed.

Sincere condolences to family and friends.

[Rennmax]

R.I.P. Dennis

[philippe7]

Dennis sometimes rode in serious company

I enjoyed meeting him on this forum and would like to express my condolences to his family and friends

.....and my programmes search produced something else.....This is from the easter 1977 Transatlantic Trophy at Brand's....look at the last reserve rider in the 250cc race.....number 113....wonder if he started the race after all....if so , I sure saw him .

So, are you here, renzo ?

[picblanc]

Dennis sometimes rode in serious company

I enjoyed meeting him on this forum and would like to express my condolences to his family and friends

He did Philippe, but he stopped/retired according to my programme.

[Herr Wankel]

Oh so sad.
Never met Renzo,but he was still a friend,through our wonderful 'club'He will be missed by us all.RIP Dennis old lad.Save us a place in the clubhouse.
A very sad HW

[Russell Burrows]

Dennis sometimes rode in serious company

I enjoyed meeting him on this forum and would like to express my condolences to his family and friends

He did, and somtimes put it accross them; at Lydden in the late sixties he got the Ducati accross the line to win ahead of Eric Hinton. I can't find the post, but I think he said he considered this the best day of his life.....

Edited by Russell Burrows, 17 August 2009 - 20:55.

[Steve Bateman]

Although i didnt know Dennis apart from here on this great Forum, his great presence here meant that i felt i knew him well.
Its thanks to him and the other regular contributors that i spent six weeks trawling through some great topics and was reunited with old friends that i havent been in touch with for years.
I know that we are all growing older and friends and colleauges are slipping away far too regularly but i think you will all agree that this particular form of motorsport has brought us all a great deal of pleasure and some priceless memories.
Its for guys like Dennis that we should keep on reliving those times and uphold their memories.

RIP Renzo

[Greystone]

I must echo all the other sentiments. I enjoyed Dennis's stories and anecdotes and the enrichment that he brought to the forum.

I didn't know Dennis personally but I know that he raced against my good friend Peter Bowers, who I used to help out. Sadly we lost Pete in 2003. As Steve Bateman says most of us have reached an age where friends and colleagues are starting to slip away. Forums such as this give us the opportunity to remember earlier days with those we knew and also to make new friends and acquaintances such as Dennis that we share a common interest with.

RIP Dennis

Andrew

[Macca]

I too echo the sadness and regret of everyone here that we have lost a mate, and send deepest sympathy to his family.

RIP, Renzo - hope you're now racing where TZ's never seize and starting-money is always more than you want.

Paul M

[Coupe Kawasaki]

RIP Dennis. I'm sure there will be a queue formed to be counted as one of your friends. At least you can be assured we shall try to uphold that wonderful sense of humour though I for one will probably never know as much as you have forgotten about racing.

You can save me a place in the clubhouse too.


David

[subh]

This is indeed sad news, and Dennis will be missed as all the above posts prove. He was kind enough to sell me his copy of the very first Motocourse annual at a very reasonable price, for which I remain very grateful to him. It will be a treasured part of my collection. My condolences to all who were close to him.

[Adrian Godden]

..have just logged on....condolences to your family and those close to you..RIP

Adie

[sterling49]

Sad news, I often read with great interest, postings by Dennis, R.I.P.

[peterd]

Sad, sad news. Godspeed, Dennis.

[Yendor]

Just returned from a few days away and the first thing I see is this very sad news. Like many I only knew Dennis through this forum but
greatly enjoyed his postings and enthusiasm. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP Renzo.

[Robdgnl]

Thank you all for the replies so far. I will pass this on to his family once I get in touch with them.



Dennis doing what he loved best.

[mfd]

Thank you

In the words of Spike Milligan, "I told you I was ill" ...we all knew Dennis wasn't well. It was nice that he shared his memories with us on the longest thread.
Bless him.

Edited by mfd, 17 August 2009 - 13:44.

[fil2.8]

Thank you all for the replies so far. I will pass this on to his family once I get in touch with them.

On behalf of all Dennis's friends on the forum , I would like to thank ' Robdgn ' for relaying the sad news to us .
He has also offered to place some flowers on Dennis's grave for us at the earliest possible opportunity.
Rob has also suggested that we write an obituary to our friend .

[picblanc]

Such a great picture of Dennis, I have taken the liberty of cleaning it up a little.

Dennis Rapley, Manx TT 197?

[mfd]

Such a great picture of Dennis, I have taken the liberty of cleaning it up a little

I really like the helmet - not the most obvious colours for a racer

[Rob Lees]

Don't visit TNF as often as I'd like to, but I have enjoyed reading Renzo's tales, he came across as a lovely bloke - Very sorry to hear this sad news.

[TeeZed]

Hi Graham,

That photo of Dennis should go down as one of the all time classics. To race that hard with only a few inches of suspension travel...............truly unbelievable!

Don

[philippe7]

A picture Dennis posted on the old thread of him riding the beautiful Honda he used for his comeback to classic racing in the mid-90's

Edited by philippe7, 18 August 2009 - 07:47.

[philippe7]

.....and something he posted on the "memories of Brand's Hatch" thread....I don't know wether we should take his last words seriously ...but they sure take a different meaning now

i love the place!,first visit around 65 then started racing on a greeves in 67.
continued untill 77 then had another go in 92 racing classic honda untill late 95.
love it so much i want my ashes scattered there!(hopefully not for some time )

[ex Rhodie racer]

I´ve just logged on to discover that Renzo is no longer with us.
Rest in peace Dennis, and save me a place in the clubhouse if you can mate.

[pmbboy]

So sad to read this news on the passing of Renzo , may you rest in peace Dennis and thank you for sharing your memories with us.

Peter

[TZ350]

Well as many of you will know I had amount of banter with Dennis and we had a real laugh together both on the forum and in private pm's i last heard from just a short while before is demise and was already missing him and worried when I posted mid July and feared the worst which has very sadly been realised. Yes mate save me a place in clubhouse as it sounds its getting full , you know my poison ;)
very sad you never managed to get over here so we could actually meet up RIP Mate ~ Dennis Rapley / renzo

[exclubracer]

Hi Graham,

That photo of Dennis should go down as one of the all time classics. To race that hard with only a few inches of suspension travel...............truly unbelievable!

Don

Now my laptop wallpaper.

Godspeed Dennis

[motard]

God Speed, Dennis. I don't know if you'll be in the clubhouse, or getting changed in the back of an old Thames that just scraped through the mot, among half empty 'R' tins and smelly sleeping bags. We'll miss you, mate. Tom

[Mick Robinson]

For those that knew him, Renzo/Dennis Rapley passed away at his home on the 19th of July. He lost the long hard fight against lung emphysema.

I noticed he visited this forum quite often, and he probably knew many people on here, as well as in the motorcycle community as a whole.

He will be sorely missed.

May he rest in peace.

Robbie de Gruiter (a very close friend)

So sorry to hear about Dennis passing away, sympothies to his family.

[knickerbrook]

I am very sad to learn of the passing of dear Renzo. Although I never knew him personally, I felt, as I'm sure we all did, a brotherhood with Dennis through our years of contact on the forum.
R.I.P. matey, you will be remembered fondly.

Barry.

[pushstart]

Have just found this news while doing a search for ducati race bikes. How very sad, I knew Dennis though I'd not seen him for some time. In fact I bought his Mick Walker Ducati off him back in 1975 and started my club racing days on it (still wish I had it). I kept it in it's Dennis Rapley colours of silver and purple, very nice bike it was too. Also knew his sponsor (Ray) very well.
Condolences to everyone who knew him.

Bob.

[fil2.8]

Sorry you had to find this Forum in that fashion Bob , yes , Dennis was a well thought of member of the Forum and sadly missed .
Hope you will join in with the ( mostly ) good humoured banter which Dennis enjoyed so much .
So , welcome to the ' Old Farts Club '

[pushstart]

Thank you, yes I'll hang around now that I've found it. Was thinking of posting a pic of Dennis's (and my) old Walker Ducati but I cant work out how to do it

[Russell Burrows]

Thank you, yes I'll hang around now that I've found it. Was thinking of posting a pic of Dennis's (and my) old Walker Ducati but I cant work out how to do it

Hi there and welcome. Once scanned the pic can be put onto your desktop or equivalent then located via one of the picture hosting sites - Imaghehost is the most straightfoward and you don't even have to register. Simply copy the img code or hotlink image on Imagehost, come back here and paste it wherever you want.

Edited by Russell Burrows, 27 November 2009 - 12:19.

[exclubracer]

Thank you, yes I'll hang around now that I've found it. Was thinking of posting a pic of Dennis's (and my) old Walker Ducati but I cant work out how to do it

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum.

Please check your pm's.

[exclubracer]

Photo posted on behalf of pushstart (Bob).

[fil2.8]

Thanks for putting that up Mick , looks good , what year do you reckon ?? mid '70's ??

[picblanc]

Thanks for putting that up Mick , looks good , what year do you reckon ?? mid '70's ??

He was still racing it in 1974, I saw him at the Trans Trophy that year.
There is an L reg Hunter/Minx? in the background that was 1973 (I think?)

[pushstart]

Well I bought it from him in 1975 and it was already a few years old then. I don't think many of these bikes were built, so I'm guessing it was from about 1970. Beautifully made Saxon frame, the little engine would rev to 10,500revs. I sold it on to a man from Surrey who raced it for a year then I never saw it again. Are there any being ridden in Classic bike races these days?