News

Off-road sport lost one its great innovators when ‘Robbie’ Rhind-Tutt, the man whose Wasp three wheelers monopolised the sidecar motocross world during the 1970s, died on September 12. After leaving school in 1956, Robbie was an apprentice at the Boscombe Down experimental site and it was here he got his first taste of motorcycle sport…

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Santa Pod looked back once more with a truly impressive cavalcade of bikes for the annual Dragstalgia earlier this summer. A decade before the Dragfests brought the sport to this country, George Brown had rescued a written off Vincent to build his ‘Nero’ special. Successful in sprints and hill climbs, Chris Illman had the bike…

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Stand-out lots at October’s Stafford auction look to be projects, with a 680 Brough Superior – sporting some unusual tank-top art – top of the bill. While a ‘timely’ late addition from one of racing’s icons will also cause huge interest at the Bonhams event over the weekend of October 19-20. Of the machines, a…

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A beautiful restored Kreidler, owned and raced by Robert Dunlop, is set to be one of the highlights at the upcoming Classic Motorcycle Mechanics show. The German-built 50cc bike will be proudly displayed alongside thousands of fascinating machines at the event at Staffordshire County Showground from October 19-20. The Kreidler currently glistens in a striking…

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Vale-Onslow barrel conversions Before his prominence in the motorcycle industry, specifically with Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT), Mike Jackson successfully campaigned Greeves off road machines. He remembers the instant success of the Vale-Onslow (V-O) 250cc conversion kit, as featured in our August 2019 issue, page 88. “From memory, the V-O 250cc barrel conversion, priced at £25,…

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The GP Rétro du Puy Notre-Dame, held over the weekend of July 20-21, saw a fine, eclectic collection gathered for what is an increasingly prestigious event. Words and photographs: MICHAEL DAVIS Among all the French historic motorcycling events, le Puy Notre-Dame is considered special. Which perhaps explains why this year saw the greatest number of…

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After a long period of illness, David Beckett passed away recently. An agricultural engineer by trade, David was constantly using his skills to mend or restore just about anything, including a number of cars and bikes. He started car racing while working in Kenya and built on his success after returning to the UK. Read…

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At the Dorset Vintage and Classic Auctions sale at Henstridge Airfield on July 11, this handsome 1938 Triumph Model 6S realised £9020. Bought by the seller at auction in 1982, as a project when showing just 11,000 miles recorded, the full restoration took until 1990 and the sparing use since then had only brought the…

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For some years, the Kent Kracker has been a premier event for its organising club, the Maidstone Aces MCC, and this year’s Kracker took place at Grafty Green, appropriately situated in the heart of the Kent countryside. While the events for modern machinery offered entertainment enough, the club endeavoured to fill out the entry with…

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