International Rally 2007

This year saw the International Rally move to the Isle of Man to coincide with the Manx Grand Prix, this was a bit of a strange one for me a return to Mona’s Isle after a 16 year absence. For many years I made the trip over the Irish Sea to Douglas on the famous (or infamous) Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s finest ships. That is of course a joke, compared to cross channel and cross North sea ferries the Steam Racket Company’s ships are like comparing a luxury cruise liner to a second world war troopship, although I am convinced that the passengers were treated better on the troopships and they didn’t have to pay exorbitant fares.

We were booked on the 02.30 am sailing just to try to recreate the old days when it seemed exiting to be herded like not very well looked after cattle in the middle of the night as you waited to embark on what was then the only regular ferry crossing most of us made. We had a good run down the M74 / M6 and I was surprisingly comfortable on the JPN, dare I say apart from the poor fuel tank range surprisingly good for this type of trip, Fiona , Alex and my friend Hessell from Holland joined me on the run down. Passing through Lancaster en route to Heysham there seemed to be a who can wear the least clothes in public competition going on as assorted kids with skirts shorter than a headband milled around the streets, eventually around eleven pm we arrived at the port, Gary Amy & George were already there and it was soon apparent that in my 16 year absence nothing had changed or improved.

We were kept waiting on the quayside until around 1.45 am when the surly deck hands got us on board and proceeded to attack the bikes with bits of old oily rope trying their best to maximise damage on the bikes as they tied them down. Alex & Fiona were lucky as they were one of the last on and managed to get one of the few proper motorcycle clamps.

The journey was 4 hours, difficult to sleep even with the benefit of a couple of large drams. We arrived in Douglas around 7am and as we disembarked we were treated quite unexpectedly to an anti Foot and Mouth shower! I got soaked and as it was unexpected I had my visor open and got partially blinded as well, welcome back!

We then had a hunt the camp site competition which frayed tempers a little more, once again I must apologise to the main organiser Mike Edwards for having a go at him about the lack of signs, fatigue makes me fair crabbit!

The camp site was at Union Mills football club and was totally first class, well done to the guys for finding the site for us and to the club for the excellent facilities. Tent up at 7am and we tried to get some sleep but really it was a waste of time. That afternoon we had a club run to Laxey wheel then after a stop to take pictures on to Ramsey via the coast road and then to Ballaugh Bridge for evening practice. The Raven hotel at Ballaugh provided an excellent place for evening meal and unfortunately practice was cut short due to mist on the mountain. We returned via the back roads which go over part of the mountain, this was made interesting by the combination of mist, gravel and suicidal sheep. We eventually made it into the bar at night to catch up with old friends, catch up on gossip and spin stories for the evening. The bar shut at 11pm but to be honest our group were all pretty knackered so probably just as well.

Friday we had a lap with some of our Belgian friends in excellent weather and lots of good fun trying to remember the way the road went, we ended up in Douglas for a wander around the paddock then watching half the practice from the bottom of Bray hill and the second half from Quarterbridge, I had dinner at the Quarterbridge hotel, terrible! Not recommend. Then back to the site for beer, this time the pub shut at around midnight I think. Saturday was a lazing around day just chatting and chilling out, just what the Doctor ordered, later on we had a trip into Douglas to meet my old landlord from my old racing days and then back to the site for more beer (and whisky!) Geoff Duke handed out the prizes, only Gary out of our team got anything (best Rotary again!) I was surprised to see how frail Geoff was looking but I suppose at near 90 he has a right to be, Brian from the Edinburgh Branch summed it up I suppose when he said “I cant believe he won his last TT before I was born and I’m not exactly young” exactly!

Sunday we had a trip to the Vintage club meeting at Castletown, over 600 bikes in the square plus probably the same again spectating. Another sunny day and an excellent day out, so many nice bikes that they all just merged into one. One particularly well built Commando special attracted our attention, a Belgian registered special with a host of mods including the oil tank built into the manx style seat, a 3^rd isolastic under the gearbox and Guzzi Le Mans wheels. I have the pictures if anyone wants to see them. The Munch Mammoth owners club were out in force as well, I haven’t seen one in years and there must have been around 8 or 10 of them there. A nice MV 750s America was being warmed up by its very proud owner for the benefit of a tall big breasted blonde who was taking an interest, I’m not sure if he realised his particular fan club had quite obviously had a refit and the breasts were not original and if he ventured further I suspect that down below he may have got a surprise as the starting handle could very well have still been fitted!

We ventured round for another lap before going to an Indian recommended by Dave T and Anne, indeed we found them in there dining in this particular restaurant for the second night. The meal seemed OK but Fiona was affected by it and spent most of the next day and night feeling the effects and able to do no more than lie down and try to sleep it off.

Monday, Race day we ventured down to Union Mills to watch the Senior Classic which was good. The highlight of the day though was the board on the church wall on which was the times of the services and the ministers name (the Rev David Shirtlifft)

An early start in the bar in the company of the Irish NOC could have proved a disaster as we had to get up the next morning break camp and be at the ferry before 7am. Luckily we all managed and the ferry run home was a carbon copy of the run over. I headed up the road with Peter Alex & Fiona and we had a good easy run home. We stopped for a final fuel stop at Abington services where a guy came over and quizzed me about the bikes saying he had been impressed with the constant 75mph cruising speed we set. It transpired he had a Triumph and any more than a 60mph cruising speed spelled disaster, I did of course explain he should get rid of it and buy a proper bike! One with the curly N on the tank.

In summary this years rally was different again, a good turnout at just under 300 and very laid back it had a very pleasant holiday feel and I wonder if the longer time period leaves it less frantic. Normally we arrive on the Friday and try to fit a weeks partying into a weekend perhaps the longer period would make for a better Rally, food for thought. Attendees from the branch were Peter, George, Alex, Dave & Anne, Julian the van Thomson and myself, Sandy was there but was staying off site. Next year Australia, I won’t be there but looking forward to our National in which there was a lot of interest from our overseas friends.

On my travels

Since coming back from the IOM my work related travels have allowed me to visit Mick Hemmings and RGM motors, this means I’ve been to all of the “big 3” in the last few weeks. As you may or not know Joe Seifert has bought Andover Norton from the BSA Regal group and Norton Motors (the rotary operation) his initial thoughts were to move the operation to Germany which would have inevitably pushed up prices I think. Luckily he is basing the new operation in a new unit near Swindon. Speaking to Rodger at RGM this week and canvassing him on the likely changes he suggested not a lot as he gets many of the parts manufactured himself, for example while I was there he took delivery of 10,000 sets of big end shells! He supplies other dealers including Norton & Joe Seifert himself so was quite dismissal of the German influence. Angela Hemmings however who’s operation deals solely with “Genuine” Norton parts was concerned, she showed me several items which had gone up substantially and explained daily faxes from the fatherland contained details of more price rises. It has to be said that for a long time I wondered just how anyone was making money out of the spares as they do for most things seem cheap. An example is a Commando centre stand which retailed around £37, have a look at one and try to figure out how you could make them for that price. They are now I believe up to £72 from Norton which is still probably good value for money but RGM are still selling them for £37. The moral of this story is that if you are expecting to do any major work to your Commando buy the bits now before they go up and it may be worth considering that 5 minutes with a file or grinder to fit parts may be worth the hassle if you can still get the parts substantially cheaper from RGM. Rodger comes over as a genuine guy who is keen to keep Nortons on the road and at reasonable prices. He has a staff of 4 including himself which isn’t much when you consider the amount of in house engineering he does and the amount of mail order he gets through. I believe he’s still the fastest and cheapest out there.

Christmas Party

I have been in contact with the Clachan Inn Hotel and the new owner Roy is keen to have us back, I’ve provisionally booked the 24^th of November for the do at a price of £40 per head for Dinner, bed & Breakfast. He tells me they now have an award winning chef on board also. I need to know ASAP approximate numbers, so far I’ve block booked 15 Rooms.

The Small Print

The views and opinions contained within this publication are not necessarily those of the NOC or of the branch but are probably mine as I wrote it.

No one accepts any responsibility for anything, if you have a good time don't say I didn't warn you.

Gino Rondelli

September 2007