Entries by Nigel

We have just returned from yet another wet and soggy Classic Club Meeting, this time at Snetterton. There was an overall feeling of disillusionment during the long return trip home. Although Nigel Palmer was there battling away and getting some good results for us, it's beginning to feel as if Classic Racing as I knew it, is fast disappearing. Although one can only be impressed with the riding skills and speed of the front runners and the quality of some of the replicas, for me something is missing. The proliferation of the post classic classes is turning the meetings into something that looks more like my early days of racing and to my mind are just old bikes - not all classics! Some of these post classic bikes and the engineering involved is in many ways similar to the sort found in modern club racing. Someone said to me some time ago that the "C" in CRMC stood for Classic and not Cheap!!! To my mind, if you are interested in these types of bikes there are some very good modern club meetings around and the better bikes would still finish well up the placing. It's all very well being inclusive and moving the goal posts, but if things continue to deteriorate much further then we will be lucky to have a couple of races for the earlier classic bikes. I don't wholly blame the post classics or have anything against them; it's just that by including them it does give the opportunity for some to take the easy option of getting some old bike and racing. The Post Classics I suppose do have a competitive level playing field within the classes, so I guess that may be the attraction for some. Another reason I believe causing the decline is the proliferation of "replicas" being ridden very hard by non owner/riders. I have on a couple of occasions seen some of the front runners fall and not even look back at the bike - just head back for the paddock. If they owned the bike and had spent many a cold hour in a garage working on it, the attitude may be different. If this is the attitude, why are they racing classic bikes? It has been commented upon by some of my continental customers, that some of the front runners in the UK have a "win at all costs" attitude and do ride with scant regard to the rarity or cost of these machines. The stock of spare parts for genuine Classic bikes is not unlimited, as the K4 owners will soon find out! All this gives little encouragement to those who are genuinely passionate about their bikes, spending lots of time and money trying to keep their genuine classic bike racing. Many of these riders/owners wish to ride hard but not at the expense of the bike. Part of the joy of racing is in the challenge of extracting as much out of the machines as possible. Classic racing provided an opportunity for the enthusiast to race their much loved machines with restricted technology that allowed for amateur tuners and mechanics. I for one love my Ducatis to a point that I run a business keeping them on the road and track. The emphasis has always and will always be about preserving and developing these bikes and not replicating. Personally speaking if I had to create an engine from scratch with all the effort and expense that is necessary, I would not wish to create a replication of something else, but that's just me and I know everyone is not the same. As I said I have nothing against any of these bikes, riders or owners, but if that's the way Classic racing is to be, maybe the interest and passion I once had for Classic racing is now in the past.

I don't give up easily, and this years sponsorship of the 350 classes was in some small naive way, an effort to encourage fellow enthusiasts to keep the Ducati flag flying and Classic racing alive - I hope there are more people out there with all the different machines to keep the interest alive in what I know as Classic racing.

I did have all good intentions of keeping this news page updated with all sorts of information - but with the Manx fast approaching work is just taking over and there are not enough days in the week, never mind hours in the day!

That does not mean to say that I have been just building engines - The website has been very busy and lots of feedback coming in about possible items which would be useful to stock. All these things take time but we are working hard at sourcing a lot of new stock - we want to be able to supply as much as we can to help you all when working on your machines. This will include cycle parts oils, consumables etc. I am hoping to catch up with all this and launch the next batch of items in early September. For those of you who have opted in to the newsletter, Edina will be sending e mail newsletters out to keep you informed of all the changes. If you would like to be added to the list, just set up an account (you can do this without making a purchase) and tick the box for newsletter.

Will be back with another update soon

Best Wishes

Nigel

David Walker was the lucky winner of the Ducati draw at Donington, a Parade bike this time - Nice to see one of these pulled out of the hat. David chose to run the two parades on the Saturday and avoided the rain later on Sunday - Good choice David!