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TT1 Vila Real - 1986


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#1 Alberto Pires

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Posted 11 December 2009 - 09:45

Hi,

I've post in my blog another movie, now the 1986 edition of the TT1 at Vila Real.

http://www.enjoybikes.blogspot.com/

Hope everybody enjoy.
Regards
Alberto

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#2 bobness

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Posted 11 December 2009 - 09:57

Absolutely wonderful stuff.
The shot of Neil Robinson at 2.36 is the one I saw many moons ago that I was on about in my post on the other thread, with people on the pavement, leaning on a building as the race is going on on the road.
Bits of the track look very like you really wouldn't want to bin it there....



#3 Rennmax

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Posted 11 December 2009 - 10:29


Hi Alberto, do you know who crashed this Ducati in practice ? Wonder about the tyre marks in the left hand bend you filmed at in the race..did they run cars in that event as well ? Thanks

#4 Alberto Pires

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Posted 11 December 2009 - 10:36

Hi Alberto, do you know who crashed this Ducati in practice ? Wonder about the tyre marks in the left hand bend you filmed at in the race..did they run cars in that event as well ? Thanks

I'm gonna check about the Ducati. Cars race allways in a diferent event.
regards

Edited by Alberto Pires, 11 December 2009 - 10:37.


#5 ex Rhodie racer 2

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Posted 11 December 2009 - 11:03

Hi Alberto. My compliments on a really well made and historic video.
Is that my old mate Klaus Klein at 1:28 on the HG bike? I last saw him in about 1984, and if it is him, he lost a load of weight over the next two years. He didn´t take his racing very seriously before ´84, so he must have had a rethink and been on diet.
Nice to see another old friend on the other HG bike, Peter Ribatto. Stll see Peter from time to time. Nice guy and wonderful rider. His nickname in Germany was, Mr Superbike. :up:

#6 Jambo

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Posted 13 May 2010 - 02:46

Just saw this tonight, I was actually at this race at the ripe old age of 4!

#7 BRS

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Posted 28 May 2010 - 09:13

Just saw this tonight, I was actually at this race at the ripe old age of 4!

Are their any copies of the Water bottle incident with Joey Dunlop at the end of the race. It was on the TV news that night but have not seen it anywhere else

PS not sure if it was 1986 or not ):

#8 Jambo

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Posted 28 May 2010 - 12:57

Are their any copies of the Water bottle incident with Joey Dunlop at the end of the race. It was on the TV news that night but have not seen it anywhere else

PS not sure if it was 1986 or not ):


Am not entirely sure what you mean by the water bottle incident, however if this is the same situation as when it was so warm that Joey nearly collapsed getting off the bike after winning the year was 85.

#9 BRS

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Posted 28 May 2010 - 18:23

Am not entirely sure what you mean by the water bottle incident, however if this is the same situation as when it was so warm that Joey nearly collapsed getting off the bike after winning the year was 85.

Not quite. When Joey crossed the line he collapsed on his bike and coasted past the pits. The Portugese National champion who was about 2 laps down was in the pits and wanted to be classed as a finisher so after the flag had fallen he tried to exit the pits ignoring the red light. He could not see Joey's bike coming to where the team were at the end of the pit wall. "Someone" thew a bottle of water at him to get him out of the way Instead he fell off luckily missing Joey. Where upon some of his fans set on the "Someone" breaking 3 of my ribs. The stewards spent 5 hours deciding if JD should be excluded, not that he even knew anything about it. Finally after some good work by the late ACU man Steve Binns they let the result stand.

That night we were watching the news report on TV and saw the whole incident Red lights crash and even the flying drop kick of one of the fans in a restaurant just down the road from the Pits

#10 exclubracer

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Posted 28 May 2010 - 21:07

Not quite. When Joey crossed the line he collapsed on his bike and coasted past the pits. The Portugese National champion who was about 2 laps down was in the pits and wanted to be classed as a finisher so after the flag had fallen he tried to exit the pits ignoring the red light. He could not see Joey's bike coming to where the team were at the end of the pit wall. "Someone" thew a bottle of water at him to get him out of the way Instead he fell off luckily missing Joey. Where upon some of his fans set on the "Someone" breaking 3 of my ribs. The stewards spent 5 hours deciding if JD should be excluded, not that he even knew anything about it. Finally after some good work by the late ACU man Steve Binns they let the result stand.

That night we were watching the news report on TV and saw the whole incident Red lights crash and even the flying drop kick of one of the fans in a restaurant just down the road from the Pits


Well played Barry 'Someone' for flying the flag!! :up:

#11 pierrepeterpedro

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Posted 29 May 2010 - 13:36

Good to see the 1985/86 films of Vila Real, thanks Alberto. Like most of those working as mechanics I never saw any more than the start and finish straight and this gives me some idea of the track and the racing. For me the TT is Bray Hill and the rest is a leisurely jaunt on an off day on a scooter, having to refuel half way around because scooter tanks aren’t big enough!

These are the two years I went to Vila Real, ’85 as Graeme “Macca” McGregor’s mechanic with Nigel Everett for Mick Grant, Paul Bolton as third mechanic and that loveliest of people I have ever worked with, Rex White managing. ’86 I was the third mechanic, Nigel for the other truly nice person, Neil Robinson, and Nick Goodison for Paul Iddon, and Rex. Should have been there again in ’87 with Joey D but the race was cancelled because of elections. I remember well the water bottle incident but not sure what year, but I suspect it was ’86. I was a few meters away down the pit lane and saw some kerfuffle going on but didn’t realise what had happened until I saw a photo or maybe it was on TV. The guy who downed Barry S was some sort of kick-boxing/KungFu/BruceLee fanatic, no wonder he had cracked ribs! The ’85 film shows with me on Macca’s bike queuing up for scutineering, hair longer, curlier and a lot darker than now but pretty much the same shape.

The other memories of Vila Real are:

The visit to the Mateus winery. The guys would buy a few cases to smuggle back home but I couldn’t stand the wine myself; you have to be a lot more of a Brit than I am to like sweet fizzy wine in an odd shaped bottle. Rex had got friendly (he was such a diplomat he could get almost anything done) with Paula, the daughter of one of the factory directors; she ran a nice little restaurant as well.

Doing the rounds of the local Porto producers and returning a bit worse for wear! Apart from testing the wines they produced jars of cherries in eau de vie, what Rex called ‘cherries in Avgas’!

Buying slabs of marble from a local quarry; I still have a small piece on my kitchen worktop and a larger piece I got to make a table but to this day have never got around to making it. I’ve always wanted to find a wrought iron base like a bistro table to put the slab on and I’m in the right country to find one so must get my arse into gear and get it organised; ever the procrastinator, me (don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today; you may enjoy doing it today and then you can do it again tomorrow!). Just as well we had a decent transporter to hide all the contraband in.

The mention of Avgas reminds me of the two 200 litre drums we had strapped inside the old Duple coach, hidden by a flimsy piece of plywood. It’s a wonder the customs never looked too hard as we had to stop at all the borders in those days with our Carnets. It’s a miracle there were no fires in the paddocks; would all have gone up like a bomb. We had to stop at various friendly little airfields to buy the fuel between races.

The ’86 trip was a grand tour; we left Beddington Lane, Croydon, the trusty old coach and Rex W in his car (a Lancia as Heron were the Lancia importers) to get a ferry from Plymouth. We had walkie-talkies that we used at the tracks so Rex had one in his car in front and we had one in the coach following, so going along the twisty main roads to Plymouth (there weren’t the motorways we have now) Rex would tell us when the coast was clear so we could use the whole road round the bends, then he would say “red car coming but then it’s clear” so we would stay in the correct lane until the red car went by, then back to the racing line! Anyone following would have thought us mad and nowadays a police helicopter would report you if not a satellite! Overnight in a hotel then the Plymouth/Santander ferry for 24 hours, not much to do but eat, drink and sleep, and I think you could do some clay pigeon shooting off the back of the ferry or fire off golf balls as well. Santander early morning and the long drive to Jerez, one of the first races ever at that track. A week later was the Vila Real race so up a bit of Spain then west into the hills of Portugal to Vila Real. The next race was two weeks later at Imatra, so all the way through France and West Germany (East Germany a no-no) to Puttgarden and it must have been at least three ferries to Denmark and past Copenhagen to Helsingor for another ferry to Sweden then up towards Stockholm. We stayed a couple of days with Anders Anderson, being another Suzuki rider and a super guy we got on very well. Then the overnight ferry Stockholm/Helsinki. That was like a luxury hotel, saunas, ballrooms etc, I’d never seen a ferry like it. Then the drive to the Imatra, in view of the Russian border. My memories of Finland are that the licensing laws were even stricter than in Britain so blokes would tank up large amounts very quickly and you would find people lying in the street paralytic and comatose; also (although not sure whether this was Finland or Sweden) people would buy bags of peas in their shells and sit on park benches eating them and seeing piles of pea shells everywhere.

After Imatra the ferry back from Helsinki to Stockholm, across Sweden to Goteberg for a ferry to Harwich. We were lucky, we had pretty good transport, we could lie down and stretch our legs in our old coach; most guys were at least three in an old Transit loaded to the gunnels with bikes, spares and camping gear, it must have been tough for them although we all helped each other out when we could and morale was good in the paddock, it wasn’t the financial/sponsorship battle it is now.

I guess that Imatra race must have been the last one at that track and the race at Monjuich Park the year before the last one there also. That was a bad day; Tony Rutter and Macca came off on some oil, Tony ending up very badly and Macca pretty beat up as well. Joey sailed past it all unscathed as usual. I think Joey had a great capacity to be ready for any event around any blind corner; maybe from riding bikes around the Irish roads as a kid when you had to expect a tractor or a herd of cows around every corner, not a thing Barry Symmons was good at as I believe he turned over a car in Ireland when he hit a herd of cows many years ago. Another memory of Montjuich Park was how slow Joey seemed to be; every lap past the pits into the first corner looked like a slowing down lap but he was the fastest one out there – so smooth and neat he looked slow! I remember running to the hospital with Mick Grant from the track to see Macca; one advantage of having a race track in the city. The bike itself was totaled; I recovered the camshafts and the gears. The crank was smashed, barrel and head broken and every part of the chassis. I don’t know what the bike hit as I only saw the start and finish straight, as usual!


#12 philippe7

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Posted 30 May 2010 - 09:52

:up: Brilliant story Pierre ! "Tales from inside" such as yours make a great read for us mere fans .

#13 exclubracer

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Posted 30 May 2010 - 10:01

Good story Peter, many thanks! :up:

#14 fil2.8

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Posted 30 May 2010 - 11:02

Good story Peter, many thanks! :up:


Yes , as has been said , good tale , more please :up: :wave:


#15 Jambo

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Posted 31 May 2010 - 23:12

Reading this I wish I had been old enough to have more memories, my memories of Vila Real are of the swimming pool and calypo ice lollies! The joys of being 4. Most of my racing memories are of the local road racing my first main one being Joeys comeback at Fore in 89.

I will ask my dad and some others I know about the water bottle incident though, am sure they will remember!