Last weekend's International Historic Motorsports Show Race Retro held at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry attracted one of the biggest collections of motorcycle sprinting and drag racing history seen anywhere for quite sometime, thanks to the efforts of NSA's Dave Massam and Phil Steele, Show Manager David Alderson, and Shakespeare County Raceway.
Visitors to the centre aisle of Hall 3 were greeted with the three famous Peril sprints machines, Yellow Peril, Scarlet Peril and Blue Peril, belonging to the late Bill Bragg. Now in the hands of Tony Huck and Bob Anderson of Maitland Racing, all three bikes were well presented and attracted lots of interest close too, particularly Yellow Peril!
Next in line was one of Pip Higham's black and silver Village Bike Shop Kosman Suzuki Comp Bikes now in the hands of Superbike racer Nick Crocker. Motorcycle fans were treated to the sounds of this amazing machine being fired up in the live action paddock between the halls along with a fantastic collection of circuit based machines.
The National Motorcycle Museum near Solihull kindly provided two of George Brown's classic sprint bikes, Nero and Super Nero. It was amazing how many people looking on remember reading about these famous machines in the motorcycle press to resounding success on such legendary sprint courses as nearby Long Marston and Wellesbourne Mount airfields. The display also gave enthusiasts of all generations a chance to get up close and personal with two of the former Vincent development riders' machines of the mid sixties.
Seventies drag bike legend Brian Chapman brought along his eight-second Mighty Mouse and the all-conquering double blown Vincent Super Mouse, both motivated by the iconic British Vincent engine. Having notched up best figures of 8.81 with Mighty Mouse, Brian soon succumbed to the temptation of a double blown 500cc Vincent engine which took him to an all time best of 8.2 at 169 mph in the early 1980s. Still in Brian's ownership, both bikes are still in working order but now only see life at displays such as Race Retro.
Rounding out the display, flanked by SCR's Portatree, were Martin Wilmott's nine second 750cc Triumph, the Mk IV Threshing Machine and Rouge et Noir 2 belonging to Phil Steele which, in its heyday, was made famous by British drag racing's first European rider into the eights: Keith Parnell and the McCoy Dynamics team led by Angus McPhail. Although the engine was nearly totalled at Dragstalgia two years ago, the 750cc machine is well on the way to seeing track action again. Phil is also embarking on another project by taking Keith's other bike, the Parney Express ZX12 Kawasaki, out to Bonneville to break a few records later this year. Martin and Phil will also be celebrating forty years of active competition this year since their first competitive event at the 1974 Easter Internationals at Santa Pod.
The display celebrating fifty years of drag bike racing in the UK was very well received by the visiting public and a credit to everyone involved.
Opposite the display was the Straightliners/UK Timing Association stand headed up by Trevor Duckworth and his team. With three machines on display, two record holding cyclecars and Trevor's record-holding Brighouse Yamaha drag bike from the eighties, the association chose the show to launch its Old Skool Drag Classes as well as to promote their Top Speed events held annually at Elvington and the Woodbridge Mile, and the Straightliners Championship.
Photos by Jerry Cookson (SCR)Thank you Jerry for that report and pictures, very nice.
What a fine gathering of motorcycles, I wish I would have made an effort to go after seeing this.