Montlhѐry Vintage Revival 2017
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| The Montlhery Pits |
There can be no better feeling than getting an old bike running;
or so I thought until I got an old bike back on a banked track with some 300
other 1920 & 30s vehicles at the Montlhѐry Vintage Revival on 6-7 May.
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| Waiting with Tony Baxter Brooklands Museum (L) & James Hewing (R) Nat Motorcycle Museum |
The event is held every two years at the Montlhѐry Autodrome,
a Brooklands type oval, banked circuit just outside Paris. So it was particularly
fitting that I was part of the Brooklands Motorcycle Team who were there to
showcase the ABC Marque as guests of the organisers Vincent Chamon &
Jean-Frѐddѐric Frot.
The sun was shining as we unloaded the bikes on Friday, but
this all changed on Saturday morning when the rain appeared. I was riding the
Brooklands OK Supreme in the Motos GP and Racing class and we took to the
drying track for a sighting lap behind the safety car, before being left to our
own devices.
The Racing circuit peels off outside the main oval after the
Start/Finish straight and Turn one was a bit damp but ok on what was an
excellent tarmac surface more used to providing a test-bed for modern French
cars. Oil flags were waving as I approached Virage du Fay a sharp hairpin, behind a smoking Brooklands Earle Cotton Jap. The wet and oil soaked surface
had been spread with sharp sand which only added to the drifting sensation we
felt as we tip-toed both bikes round.
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| Found some grip on the Start/Finish Straight |
I found the grip as I accelerated down the straight into the
chicane that led out onto the banked section of the circuit which only really works at high
speed. The height of the banking is awesome, but mindful I was on a borrowed
bike and the state of the weather I kept it sensible as I continued the
session.
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| Fred Wade (BSA Empire Star) & Mike Digby (Triumph L2/1) of Brooklands Museum wait in the pits for their Run |
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The Banking has to be seen to be believed |
Old Timer
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