40 replies to this topic

[rd500]

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

[bella]

Another Eddie Lawson quote, when he started to make the Cagiva fly......" if we're not careful we'll be competitive" .
When Mamola told Roberts he saw Spencer with daylight under both wheels at Mallory Park, Roberts....... "when he perfects that he really will be flying" .

Edited by bella, 22 August 2011 - 15:32.

[bella]

An Italian journo aked Hailwood what MBE stood for, Hailwood.........it means motor bike engineer !.

[fastfitter]

For such a laconic old sod, Steady Eddie had some good ones didn't he?

Another - 'Coming second doesn't count, it's like kissing your sister'

[tonyed]

'Flat in top'

Almost anyone who has ridden in the IOM

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 10:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Hi, Sitting in a Belfast cafe with Davy Woods when another Northern Irish racer joined us and spouted his exploits non stop for 20 mins. When he went to the counter for another cuppa Davy said "He is a figment of his own imagination!" Enough said. Another was by Frank Pierce the New Imperial works 250 and 350 rider at Brooklands. He was holding forth about his racing days pre-war. "You young'uns dont know what it was like over them bumps at 100mph back in the days when men were men and beer was a halfpenny a loaf"

Edited by rotrax, 23 August 2011 - 08:57.

[Paul Collins]

tonyed, on Aug 22 2011, 18:45, said:

'Flat in top'

Almost anyone who has ridden in the IOM

From the modern era, but a Guy Martin classic at the TT about 3 years ago 'by eck that thing of McGuiness's is quick, when he passed me it were sucking rabbits out of the hedges'

Edited by Paul Collins, 24 August 2011 - 22:35.

[stuavant]

Paul Collins, on Aug 24 2011, 23:35, said:

From the modern era, but a Guy Martin classic at the TT about 3 years ago 'by eck that thing of McGuiness's is quick, when he passed me it were sucking rabbits out of the hedges'

When I lived with Luton Boy in 1976 and whenever someone gave me a pic of myself leant right over he would, alway say" nice shot Stu, what straight was it on"

[rotrax]

stuavant, on Aug 25 2011, 12:03, said:

When I lived with Luton Boy in 1976 and whenever someone gave me a pic of myself leant right over he would, alway say" nice shot Stu, what straight was it on"

Arthur Wheeler to Phil Read .Phil was going to run private Yamahas the following year and had asked Arthur if his workshops were available after hours for race prep. Arthur agreed to this and Phil then ran his finger along the windowsill and said"I hope you will give it a coat of paint for me Arthur" "If its not good enough for you as it is Phil you had better P1sS off" replied Arthur and showed the Prince of Speed the door. Nice one Arthur!

[mfd]

fastfitter, on Aug 22 2011, 17:31, said:

For such a laconic old sod, Steady Eddie had some good ones didn't he?

One year at Donington I asked his team mate if he thought Lawson would sign my copy of Motocourse. Duly arranged I knocked on the motorhome door, then opened by the man with the words "-uck, I thought I'd better see who you are, I don't have fans in Britain..."

[mfd]

Paul Collins, on Aug 24 2011, 23:35, said:

From the modern era, but a Guy Martin classic at the TT about 3 years ago 'by eck that thing of McGuiness's is quick, when he passed me it were sucking rabbits out of the hedges'

Talking of McGuiness, his foreskin quote...classic

[mfd]

rd500, on Aug 26 2011, 12:01, said:

Anyone who hasn't read the age of Superheros book, I strongly recommend it.

Title & author please! - Amazon here I come

[rd500]

here you go

http://www.amazon.co...i...8770&sr=1-1

[mfd]

rd500, on Aug 26 2011, 12:50, said:

here you go
http://www.amazon.co...i...8770&sr=1-1

Thanks chap Reminds me Mat once told me Doohan displayed all the characteristics of a psychopath...at least in racing terms

[GD66]

He was fine till race Thursday, and re-appeared race Sunday night, but in between sure went into The Zone... it worked well for him though, certainly demoralised the lads by setting jaw-dropping times very early in each session and getting the message across.

That book's a ripper, by the way, for those who fizzed up about those white-knuckle seasons. After years of being a GP fan, my first live GP race weekend was Phillip Island '89 : talk about a baptism of fire !!

[mfd]

rd500, on Aug 26 2011, 14:53, said:

Thanks for the tip

The trailer here

[Robin127]

stuavant, on Aug 25 2011, 13:03, said:

When I lived with Luton Boy in 1976 and whenever someone gave me a pic of myself leant right over he would, alway say" nice shot Stu, what straight was it on"

I remember you posting that once before, made me laugh then too. It's a classic.

[Paul Collins]

mfd, on Aug 26 2011, 00:40, said:

Talking of McGuiness, his foreskin quote...classic

Gary Johnson at this years TT, when told in the winners enclosure that he had been given a 30 second penalty for speeding in pit lane but had still finished third, he couldnt resist a pop at Guy Martin after Guy's little spat over a similar penalty the previous year.

"Oh right, i'll have to storm off the podium and sleep in my van then"

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 10:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Mike the bike at the post TT Mallory after his 1978 comeback when asked if he wanted any changes to the Sports Motorcycles Ducati after practice"Put a higher gear on it and cut an inch off the footrests" True or legend it's a great quote!

[jaybee49]

rd500, on Sep 2 2011, 14:15, said:

wayne rainey is going back to misano for the first time its being reported, and as i have to say he is ranked by myself as one the best riders ive ever seen in my lifetime i thought i would share a few comments concerning him that i can think of offhand.

Incidentally, if you were not aware; Wayne Rainey is the guest of Honour at the forthcoming Stafford Classic Japanese bike show in the middle of October…

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 11:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Geoff Donnelly at Mallory during his "test" to get a car racing licence.The instructor/examiner bloke said during a tyre squealing run around Gerrards"I can see you are enjoying this-exiting is'nt it!" Geoff replied with a snort "Exiting-its like driving to work in my transit. You want exiting line up on Saturday night with three other blokes and dump the clutch hard on my Speedway JAP-THATS exiting!"

[bella]

rd500, on Sep 2 2011, 14:15, said:

wayne rainey is going back to misano for the first time its being reported, and as i have to say he is ranked by myself as one the best riders ive ever seen in my lifetime i thought i would share a few comments concerning him that i can think of offhand.

kevin schwantz one went to raineys house before they were racing in europe as kevin was spending a lot of time with one of waynes sisters,

kevin went to the door and knocked and was greeted by wayne with the words "what the **** are you doing here" at which point he slams the door in kevins face and he can hear wayne shouting at his sister, but she had sneaked out into kevins pickup.

austria 89 on the podium truck going around eddie lawson wasnt very happy with raineys riding and it was reported that they had to be held back at one point with lawson saying "you pole putting basta*d, do that to me again and ill kill you"

clearly reffering to waynes attemtps to slow the works honda mid corner so it couldnt get the drive up the hill.

my enduring memory of wayne is coming out of mcleans at donny always with the front wheel up in the air and his body right over the other side trying to counteract it. diffrent class

My best memory of Rainey is from Donington 1991 the last few minutes of qualifying, i was watching from outside of hollywood when Schwantz and Rainey came past right on the limit both wheels moving around and Rainey so close he must have almost literally pushed Schwantz onto pole position.

[mfd]

rd500, on Sep 10 2011, 12:51, said:

or when kr was asked to comment about sarrons crashes "i dont think weve been to a track yet where he hasnt crashed"

He was highly respected by Arai for his dedication to testing their products...

[bella]

I dont know what it was with Sarron but he always seemed to crash himself into a ragdoll like state then thwack his head.....HARD .

[tdijam]

bella, on Sep 11 2011, 19:16, said:

I dont know what it was with Sarron but he always seemed to crash himself into a ragdoll like state then thwack his head.....HARD .

All those crashes don't seem to have had any effect on him , i watched him ride at Spa this year and only Shaun Emmett on Steve Wheatman's ex KR RGV was lapping quicker than Sarron, the guy is still very fast.

[bella]

Thinking about Sarron reminded me of a good quote, on his first visit to Donington Sarron was so impressed by the lush green infield he said to Sheenie.........ze greens here look so green and soft i almost want to crash on them .

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 11:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Hi, Gordon Pantall telling a new jockey what to expect from his new Yamaha TZ 700 at Donnington. " Now you be careful boy-its like being 'it up the arse with a shovel!"

[bella]

rotrax, on Sep 14 2011, 15:35, said:

Hi, Gordon Pantall telling a new jockey what to expect from his new Yamaha TZ 700 at Donnington. " Now you be careful boy-its like being 'it up the arse with a shovel!"

Thats a good one,

Here's another Lawson quote, when he was playing hell about very slow backmarkers somewhere......" he's so slow he could'nt get out of his own way".

[larryd]

bella, on Sep 17 2011, 10:24, said:

Thats a good one,

Here's another Lawson quote, when he was playing hell about very slow backmarkers somewhere......" he's so slow he could'nt get out of his own way".

One from the home of road racing: "Couldn't ride out of his own smoke . . . . . . ."

[GD66]

Barry Sheene, in his latter years of race commentary on SBS, and Channels 9 and 10, never let by an opportunity to snipe at Kenny Roberts... his two favourites being variations of
"Roberts would be lucky to sort out a sock drawer" and "Roberts would struggle to develop anything apart from a cold"...

[Rennmax]

GD66, on Sep 18 2011, 13:44, said:

Barry Sheene, in his latter years of race commentary on SBS, and Channels 9 and 10, never let by an opportunity to snipe at Kenny Roberts... his two favourites being variations of
"Roberts would be lucky to sort out a sock drawer" and "Roberts would struggle to develop anything apart from a cold"...

Didn't Kenny Roberts had his own interpretation about the meaning of the 'BS' abbreviation .......

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 10:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Hi, I posted this one on another thread but I believe it bears repeating. TT pit lane about 1936,Harold Daniel on a works 500 AJS, not doing too well. Chairman of AJS asks as the bike is topped up with fuel and oil and Harold is changing goggles "Having trouble with the flies Daniel." "Yes" replied Harold" "I cant catch the little buggers!" He never rode an AJS again.

[rd500]

thats a classic

[MikeCa]

Granty on whether Phil Read would pose a threat at that year's TT. (Can't remember which year)

"Pose, yes. Threat, no"

Fair? Maybe not. Funny? As hell.

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 11:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

I've just read Barry Briggs latest book-I've just loaned it to a friend and cant remember the title-and a passage in it made me piss myself. Having spent a long time around speedway racers I know how single minded they can be. Briggo was training two Japanese riders,both profesionals. Japanese speedway is on banked tarmac so Wimbledon was the venue to get them up to the mark on shale. One was named Jimmy Osoigu and Briggo and his sadly late wife June had to tell jimmy his wife had been killed in an auto crash in Tokio. They gave him a cup of tea and relayed the bad news. Jimmy reflected for a moment and then replied"Never mind Bliggo-I get new one when I get home!"

[Herr Wankel]

Another Grantyism from Jim Whithams book.James has just binned the factory Suzuki at the Mallory Esses.In the post crash silence a Yorkshire voice booms out from the paddock. 'You wanker Whitham'

HW

[rotrax]

rd500, on Aug 22 2011, 11:41, said:

hi all, everyones got their favourite quotes from the riders of old

a classic i can think off off the top of my head.

eddie lawson 1987 "if you want to know how good wayne gardner is just go ask him, he'll tell you how good he is"

Alf Hagon to unknown Formula 1 mechanic at Snetterton. The guy, who was spannering on a P&M Kawasaki had just asked Alf " Wot yer done to that mate" (Robin Riley had just blitzed the Haynes Four Stroke Race on Alf's monoquoque alloy framed job with a tuned up Suzuki SP 370 donk.) Alf was no mug with a motor and did'nt like spending money so he did it by using empirical old fashioned tuning,but guided by many years of top flight race results in many disiplines. When Alf told the guy that he had raised the compression a bit, ground the cam a bit, used a bit of Honda ignition and flowed the head and fitted a bigger Amal carb, the guy was not very impressed. " Dont EFF about doing stuff like that mate- what you want in there is some of that Yoshimura stuff" Alf did not like this one little bit.The guy was about six six and 16 stone. Five foot five Alf chased him down the paddock,poking him with his finger all the time. "Look what my bikes just done! Dont you talk to me about EFFING Yoshimura!"

[terryshep]

rotrax, on Nov 11 2011, 00:41, said:

Alf Hagon to unknown Formula 1 mechanic at Snetterton. The guy, who was spannering on a P&M Kawasaki had just asked Alf " Wot yer done to that mate" (Robin Riley had just blitzed the Haynes Four Stroke Race on Alf's monoquoque alloy framed job with a tuned up Suzuki SP 370 donk.) Alf was no mug with a motor and did'nt like spending money so he did it by using empirical old fashioned tuning,but guided by many years of top flight race results in many disiplines. When Alf told the guy that he had raised the compression a bit, ground the cam a bit, used a bit of Honda ignition and flowed the head and fitted a bigger Amal carb, the guy was not very impressed. " Dont EFF about doing stuff like that mate- what you want in there is some of that Yoshimura stuff" Alf did not like this one little bit.The guy was about six six and 16 stone. Five foot five Alf chased him down the paddock,poking him with his finger all the time. "Look what my bikes just done! Dont you talk to me about EFFING Yoshimura!"

You know, at the 1953 Clubman's TT, where Alf & I shared digs in Douglas, I thought he was a nice, mild sort of chap!

[rotrax]

terryshep, on Nov 11 2011, 18:29, said:

You know, at the 1953 Clubman's TT, where Alf & I shared digs in Douglas, I thought he was a nice, mild sort of chap!

You are right,he usually is. This guy obviously got right up his nose. Alf was a bit of a hero to me when I was an impecunious youth. I bought a 197 Greeves from a bloke in Clapham Junction. Alf's grass track bikes were always immaculate in a particular shade of light blue. I travelled by bus and tube all the way from Clapham to Leytonstone to buy some of this special paint for the Greeves. Took about 2 hours each way. When I asked for the paint he sent me across the road to a hardware shop for Valspar French Blue! I could have bought it at home-what a plonker! Alf was a real hard man on a motorbike,especialy if there was a cash prize. He was the first man in the UK to do 200MPH at the end of a half mile sprint course. He had the front tyre go flat during one run and rode it to a standstill. Must have been a real brown trouser job. I see him now and again at vets. speedway reunions-I'll ask him if he remembers shareing digs with you.

[rd500]

Carlos Lavado 1989

'ill ride a factory 250 for free but they will have to pay me to ride a superbike'

Jaun Garriga to Sito pons in the 88 250 battle

'you brake like a girl, how anyone can brake that early and call himself a racer'

[Hasselhoff]

My brother told me this one which is a rippa. Said by Mick Smith when talking about Rob Hinton, "I bet you can't name any corner on any track in Australia that Hinto hasn't crashed on".

Or this anonymous one, "he's so slow I'd pass him on the way into the corner and lap him on the way out".

Edited by Hasselhoff, 01 March 2013 - 03:02.