Steve McQueen on a Triumph Bonneville… Nuff Said!

Where the sea and the sky meet…

A wee scoot up the shore to blow the cobwebs out of the system. Super sunny skies, scudding water surface and a fresh breath of air.

For late September it is what could be considered Perfect Weather.

Rush

Rush, the latest movie from Ron Howard: Opie to some Richie to others but nonetheless a great director. It concerns the rivalry between James Hunt & Niki Lauda during the ’76 Grand Prix season. A balanced mix of the human tale along with some marvelous racing footage. The 70’s are evoked superbly and the main actors take on their roles of these racing legends with aplomb. The bawdy lifestyle of Hunt is contrasted sharply with Lauda’s near monkish approach; yet their respect for each other as worthy opponents comes through to the closing.
Two thumbs up! And why not!

Femme Friday

The last day of the week: generally one looked forward to on Monday is traditionally the feminine one. Literally The goddess Frigg’s day; wife of Odin and queen of Asgard, highest goddess of the Æsir, the realm of Norse paganism. The romantic countries further south adopt Venus as their Friday gal; hence the French Vendredi.

Friday’s symbol is the same for the planet Venus and is the symbol for femininity: a circle with a cross underneath it. It is also used for the chemical element copper. Since mirrors used to be made of polished copper it has been suggested that the icon is a simple form for a hand holding a mirror.

Don’t say this blog doesn’t teach you anything!

A State of Equilibrium

Yesterday I wrote about balance and an attitude necessary to achieve it. Well a motorcycle (and its sibling the bicycle) have its own equilibrium already built in once the wheels are spinning. Their gyroscopic effect maintain an alignment unless subjected to a turning moment; such as a lean on the bars (counter steering anyone?). It’s the marvelous world of physics and the mechanics of things with mass, velocity, rotation; and the forces acted upon them that derive our friend of two-wheeled conveyances: Angular Momentum.

Tutu Triumph

Riding is about balance, poise and a smidgen of grace. To feel at one with the road below and the corner ahead smooth flow needs to be achieved. A moto dance so to speak. The ballerina uses years en pointe at the bar to achieve this; the motorcyclist must use active miles on highways and byways of various kinds to build experience, allowing that balance between mental attitude and motor skills to speed along swooping along from apex to apex like some swan of the road.

Alphabet Moto Soup

Honda
BSA
Cagiva
Ducati’s
Peugeot or Daimler
F.B. Mondial
Moto Guzzi
Hodaka ?
Indian
Jaws
Kawasaki
Laverda
Matchless
Norton
Ossa
Parilla
Husqvarna
Royal Enfield
Suzuki
Triumph
Ural
Velocette
BMW
X
Yamaha
Zundapp

Poster available here:
iron lung vintage typography poster

On Rossi’s Ranch

The secrets out! Guy Martin has been seen taking to the dirt with the track racing supremo Valentino Rossi at his private supermotard track near his hone village Tavullia along with supermoto champ Thomas Chareyre. It was all a planned photo-op from the makers of fine leather racewear Dainese of course but nonetheless seeing greats having a blast on a dusty track is a fine thing.

Now let’s see Rossi on The Mountain Course…
…there ‘e is giving the race fans something to cheer about! #46 on his way through Whitegates heading to the hairpin.

Chance for a cuppa later chief eh?

http://youtu.be/3tjI3v58OR8

The Man @ Le Mans

An undoubted strong team effort from team Suzuki but given it’s Guy’s first foray into endurance racing coming second is indeed a worthy result.

An after race interview sees him knackered looking by jubilant and celebrating the obvious talent of his team.

Official Results –

1st: Kawasaki team of Grégory Leblanc, Fabien Foret and Nicolas Salchaud brilliantly won the 36th edition of Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013.
2nd: Suzuki No. 2 Team R2CL Guy Martin, Dylan Bush and Gwen Giabbani
3rd: Yamaha No. 94 Yahama France – GMT94 – Michelin Yamalube led by David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive

A well deserved cup o’ tea now lad!

Crystal Palace

A truly evocative image of one Jim Kanka putting his Triumph 650 through its paces at the South London venue in 1971.

Crystal Palace is where I learned to ride motorcycles. It was a little Suzuki 125cc that I tore around the stadium grounds and eventual streets of Beckenham, Penge and Sidcup.

Wonderful period poster promoting the suburban speed events. The Palace was a noted venue in the race calendar for two and four wheels alike.

The circuit was used from 1927 until ’72. The final year seeing an average lap record of 103.39 mph set by Mike Hailwood.

Out of the pages of the action comic…

Comic art is one of my favorites: especially garish but graphic 70’s work. Here’s a Marvel offering much in the light of the material I grew up with such as 2000ad and Action. – Silver Jubilee celebration! Classic!

I love the rider heading towards you out of the page in true Stan Lee exaggerated dynamic fashion. You see this format elsewhere…

My favorite of all is the Judge Dress cover by Mike McMahon of a Lawmaster riding JD heading into the Cursed Earth… Drokk!

Pen and Ink wizard Brian Bolland used this perspective to good use back then also.

As Tharg would say: Zarjaz!

Je voudrais une tasse de thé

As our cheeky chappie from the flats of Lincolnshire would say upon arrival to the historic racing town of Le Mans this coming weekend! He’s joining team Suzuki R2CL on the 24 hour endurance event. Trying to get speedy saddle time under his belt!

In his own words: “Top job boy! … to get a chance to do some World Endurance racing down in France is mega. It’s something I always believed would be beneficial and a lot more interesting for me than general short circuit stuff. I’m mega-chuffed and the drive to France should be a decent road trip.”

There ain’t no drystone walls inches from your speeding faceshield; but it’ll get dark before long…

What’s German for drag race?

Glemseck! It’s the now annual sprint race on an old race track straight over 1/8 mile (or 200 metres in metric!) For roadworthy cafe racers. Up to three cylinders must be under 1000cc’s and four’s under 750cc. Held near Stuttgart it attracts all sorts from across the Eurozone including wor laddie Guy Martin.

The chromed tubular Manfred Rau street fighter frame gives his machine a ‘meant’ attitude.

Rau in German means ‘ruffian’; seems appropriate!

Cubby ‘gin

In the throes of engine component clean, inspect, degrease, polish, measure… I need these images of assembled engines for inspiration… They look like a neat little package in this condition.. A far cry for the boxes of baggies each zip-locked and sharpie noted.

…still on the lookout for a 40 over piston…

A Triumph: it sets the tone

William H. Macy played the hapless Jerry Lundegaard in the wonderful Coen brothers film Fargo. He carried his character from bad to worse during a bungled kidnap of his wife to acquire ransom money from his father in law. Frances McDormand is the wonderful Minnesotan pregnant police chief following the case across the cold snowy wastes of the North Star State. However, here’s Bill on a sparkly Triumph Bonneville: looking a lot better than he did in the movie Wild Hogs (the less said about that little ‘gem’ the better!).

Thumbs up indeed ey! Enjoyin’ da ride dontcha no.