10 replies to this topic

[Rennmax]

Hi gents,

forum member 'richard100n' took part in the German Schotten GP with his Bob Anderson Manx last weekend and I had the privilege to meet him and his lovely wife Jen there.
There are some shots from the meeting, he is the one with 'J 63' start number

http://s635.photobuc...C/Schotten2011/


Strange thing about the German 'VFv' meetings is that the ranking is decided upon the consistency of your lap times achived during your run, so the first finisher is not necessarily the one who gets the laurels. Richard finished 3rd to Heinz Rosner on his works MZ and John Blanchard on a 7R in his first heat and finished third again to Rosner and a Bultaco mounted guy in the in the 2nd despite some clutch problems.
Well done Richard

Edit: The mentioned positions were the ones at the finish of the 'race', not the rankings related to consistency !

Edited by Rennmax, 24 August 2011 - 09:19.

[Russell Burrows]

Hi gents,

our forum member 'richard100n' took part at the German Schotten GP with his Bob Anderson Manx last weekend and I had the privilege to meet him and his lovely wife Jen there.
There are some shots from the meeting, his is the one with 'J 63' start number

http://s635.photobuc...C/Schotten2011/


Strange thing about the German 'VFv' meetings is that the ranking is decided upon the consistency of your lap times achived during your run, so the first finisher is not necessarily the one who gets the laurels. Richard finished 3rd behind Heinz Rosner on his works MZ and John Blanchard on a 7R in his first heat and finished third again behind Rosner and a Bultaco mounted guy in the in the 2nd despite some clutch problems.
Well done Richard

Good stuff, Renn. Lovely Guzzi. Is that you with the Manx?

[Rennmax]

Good stuff, Renn. Lovely Guzzi. Is that you with the Manx?

Yes Russ, no self-adulation intended Just warming up the engine and posing

Edited by Rennmax, 23 August 2011 - 09:39.

[fil2.8]

Yes Russ, no self-adulation intended Just warming up the engine and posing

Apart from that ,nice set of piccies , Renn

[Russell Burrows]

Yes Russ, no self-adulation intended Just warming up the engine and posing

You must have been sorely tempted to give it a blast up the road . Or perhaps you did take your leathers along?

[Rennmax]

You must have been sorely tempted to give it a blast up the road . Or perhaps you did take your leathers along?

Quite frankly Russ, I think it would scare the hell out of me to ride such a precious bike even at walking pace !
There was another 40 M in the paddock, a McIntosh replica which didn't really impress with it's quality, the foot brake lever had just broken off , the owner had purchased it recently secondhand for 30 000 Euros ! Now Richard's bike is a Bracebridge bike with a proven history, has some unique features like this particular Robinson 4LS brake, it has a Ray Petty coil valve spring head thus it's not one of those oil spitting Nortons, so the value of this bike is certainly even higher.....the Aermacchis at this meeting were no match, which was surely impressive, only Rosner's MZ, which is 10 years younger and has a power output of roughly 65 hp was untouchable of course.
Possibly Richard will make a comment or two here as soon as he has time to spare after his holiday in Germany he and his wife are now on, though he prefers to work in his workshop instead of sitting in front of a computer I suppose.

Edited by Rennmax, 24 August 2011 - 06:46.

[jaybee49]

Strange thing about the German 'VFv' meetings is that the ranking is decided upon the consistency of your lap times achived during your run, so the first finisher is not necessarily the one who gets the laurels. Richard finished 3rd to Heinz Rosner on his works MZ and John Blanchard on a 7R in his first heat and finished third again to Rosner and a Bultaco mounted guy in the in the 2nd despite some clutch problems.
Well done Richard

Edit: The mentioned positions were the ones at the finish of the 'race', not the rankings related to consistency !

Renn: The VFV regularity rules as I understand it are such that it enables entrants not to have or require racing licenses. Encouraging those that have the bikes and the desire to ride them on a track in a competitive environment without having any previous racing experience. That is how it was explained to me, anyway.

One year I was were there, I think John went over the line first and that is what he prefers to do at these VFV events to go and ‘win’ though he is always near the front which means his times as a rule get faster as the race progress’s though he does often get a ‘pot‘. He seldom beats Rosner in the 350 class though on his 7R - the MZ is just to quick, and more reliable than it use to be. After he had gone back to the hotel that day they came around and gave us a trophy for being ‘placed’ under the ‘rules’ but I thought I would hide it and advise him the next day as a bit of a surprise..

About a week later he found it in the caravan as I had totally forgot all about it. He was quite alright about it though really - well he laughed anyway…

Edited by jaybee49, 24 August 2011 - 17:16.

[Rennmax]

Renn: The VFV regularity rules as I understand it are such that it enables entrants not to have or require racing licenses. Encouraging those that have the bikes and the desire to ride them on a track in a competitive environment without having any previous racing experience. That is how it was explained to me, anyway.

Hi Jim, you are correct. The idea behind the consistency rule is to let also people take part who weren't necessarily racers before and, most of all, to reduce the risk for both riders and bikes. If it was a real race, which you can't organise with people standing next to the road as it is in Schotten, possibly some riders would ride over their respective limits and it would eventually kill the spirit of the meeting where bikes for example from 1950-67, regardless of 2 or 4 stroke, compete in one class.
The 'unfair' aspect for the fast riders is that as faster you ride, the more you lap other riders which finally results in a certain inconsistency in your lap times. That's why guys like Rosner rarely figure in the results on a good position. But it's nevertheless fun for most of the riders, I have been there for the 21st time in 23 years and I think your brother John must have roughly the same record in taking part.

Edited by Rennmax, 24 August 2011 - 19:22.

[jaybee49]

Hi Renn, but its just got such a fantastic atmosphere there though, and I had some really great times. I went there with John for a few years in the early 90’s just for the racing and the craic then a bit later we (my wife and myself) went in our own right for a number of years selling my art work up until about 7 years ago I think and also had a great time and met so many really nice people. We miss attending it very much.

The chef who ran the schnellimbiss at the top of the paddock is a big Schumacher - Ferrari fan so I gave him a little painting I had completed of Michael - he said free beers all weekend for yourself and your wife and he kept that up every year we attended… (we did not take too much advantage of his generous offer though..)

John loves it there but he is almost 70 now, and all the effort to get back from Thailand and to there I think is started to wear on him on him just a little but I would not mind betting he will be back every year as long as he is able to.

Edited by jaybee49, 24 August 2011 - 18:37.

[jaybee49]

Spoke to John and he give me the low down on Schotten.

He recently sold his original 350 7R from the 60’s and had with him at Schotten a special short stroke version supplied by Walmsley.

In the first practise the bike was not revving very well which he is sure it was down to the Gardner Carb fitted . They managed to get a different needle sent out to him and it helped a lot and improved the rev range. He finished second in 350 practise to Heinz Rosner on the MZ.

In the 500cc practise he took out the Paton and was fastest until a 500cc BMW twin went past him which really surprised him as it seemed much faster for a 500 pushrod twin. Then riding another Paton with no numbers etc Phil Read then went past him but John got past him again, and after only short while Phil pulled off. He later told John that he was only due to parade at the event but could not resist giving it a run against John’s so he could compare both bikes.

It seems the weather was changeable on Sunday but John came second in the first 350 race to be run in the morning to Rosner and was actually leading on the regularity principle at the finish though second over the line. In the afternoon the bad weather came in and John will not ride in the wet especially at Schotten . To tie up the 350 victory he needed to ride in both 350 races but he withdrew because of the weather.

He also withdrew from the 500 race rather than risk damaging the Paton.

He leaves for Hockenheim this Thursday for another round of the VFV championship at the weekend. Where he is hoping to get more than one race out of it...

[Rennmax]

Thanks a lot for your comment Jim

In fact, it was raining heavily during midday, but because the tarmac was pretty warm from the previous hot days, it dried up perfectly when the 350 cc class started at around 4 pm, the 500 cc class was due even later. Richard finished 3rd in the 2nd 'race' to a 350 cc Bultaco. Well, this particular class is open for 1950-67 period bikes, whereas the 350 Bultaco (the actual bike was an AJR replica anyway..) appeared for the first time with Ginger Molloy on board in 68 and it wasn't available for privateers before 69, most prominent racing them was Barry Sheene of course. Bending the rules a bit so it seems .... on the other hand, it's of no advantage in regard to the regularity principle rankings.

Edited by Rennmax, 29 August 2011 - 15:49.