Visitors
Hope it all goes well for you. Imagine the museum losing those parts after all the other disasters!
Good luck anyway... (quote from George Formby's "No Limit").
i was almpst in tears looking at the photos,i didnt realise we had lost this as well,i remember terry at brands hatch in the"good old days"all i can say is ,good luck and god bless.
So sad that this website had to exist at all, but all the very best to you in your project.
Congratulations on a thorough reconstructing of a piece of our racing history and look forward to seeing the outfit where it belongs - on the track
Keep up the good work, it is good to sit here and follow your progress. I wish I could offer practical and tangible help but it it beyond me.
Fascinating to see how this is gradually transforming from a completely ruined pile of debris back into one of our most treasured pieces of British history. What is happening with all the other irreplaceable machines that were affected by the fire?
Well, Mick - I can tell you about at least one, the website is http://www.saveourstreamliner.com/
Excellent site. I wish you good luck.
It was nice to see this bike again. I used to work for Tom Kirby when Bill Ivy,Paddy Driver & Chandler were the riders on G50 & 7R machines. I spoke to Tom as he was getting started with the outfit and he was very exited about Terry. All history now. I moved to Canada and almost forgot all these hidden memories. MANY THANKS FOR THE SITE.
Peter
Good luck with the restoration - glad you have managed to do so much already.
Roland, this is all very impressive; we are both gratified and pleased that we have been able to play some part in your commendable efforts to recreate this magnificent machine.
hi graham, very sad but a great website.hearing tales about the outfit as your neighbour in sweden i didn't think there would be a twist to the tale. looking forward to seeing you with the finished outfit. regards tony & Barbara
That fire was a sad event. You have made amazing progress with this machine. Keep up the good work, and good luck.
Dear Fanatic, Good luck with your tremendous efforts after that unfortunate disaster. Keep your pecker up and I am looking forward to many more up-dates on your progress with thouse wonderful machines. Well now Jolly good Luck
Thanks for the info on the sidecar, very sad to see it in that condition but inspiring to see it being repaired. Best of luck. I have a mate whose bike was on loan to the museum and the entire bike went missing yet the ones either side were still intact but damaged. Questionable how much went missing. I wasn't happy to find the charitable status of the museum, is no longer. So many people contributed to it, yet now have no stake.
What a fantastic project. Very informative and interesting site. You are all a credit to the biking world. Well done all.
Saw him race many times at Brands and Mallory, I still have the programs. An early tragic loss to the sport
Shame you have to do all this but !, a very nice site and congratulations to all involved in the project
Best wishes in the rebuild of a very important piece of sidecar history I have fond memories of BSA racing with good people and nice bikes. Good luck with the project , it would be nice to see it at the sidecar festival some time. Best Regards Keith Woodard.
Keep up the good work shame you had to do it look forward to seeing finished and back on the track?
Have now put your picture up for show and of course a direct link to your site. I wish you all success with your restoration
Best wishes for the restoration. I took photographs of Terry,s outfit one week prior to the fire - front and both sides - happy to e-mail them to you. Nice bloke - raced against him and John Flaxman in the early sixties
A great site. You guys really have had a mountain to climb, it is an insipartion to us all that you maintain your enthusiasm with some seemingly impossible tasks to achieve. I look forward to seeing the finished machine.
I Have ridden a spitfire which I converted to 750cc( alf romeo sleeves and Yamaha tx750 pistons).Also a rollerbearing conversion was homemade. The engine was incredibly fast in historic races. I am glad that people still have the BSA twins in their hearts.
Excellent site. Good luck.
I enjoyed the site, it's good to see the Picketts in action.
What free length do the suspension units need to be ? I have a pair of genuine gas filled girling racing units as new ( circa 1970 ) If they'll fit ok, they're yours. I was very proud to win the Terry Vinicombe trophy for a number of years in the TT
you're doing a very good job keep up the good work hope to see the bike back on a race track would love to see it doing some laps at the festival
Obviously a labour of love by all concerned. You are to be congratulated for restoring such an important item of TT history
How would you describe this machine once its rebuild is complete? Is it going to retain all of its provenance, like the replicas in the museum? Will you be entrusting it to the 'safekeep' of the museum again?
Tremendous effort to a daunting task, saw this outfit race and win in the60's. Keep up the good work.
Hello,,just made mates with a bloke from Nottingham neck of the woods. His name is Trev Flint. He used to race BSA sidecars. Does anyone know or remember him?
Sverre Helgesen
13/03/2005
Hi guys, just 'passing' and thought I'd leave you some motorbike comments that might be of interest. I knew Bernie Ecclescake - sorry, Ecclestone! - back in the late 50's early 60's, when he was managing a motorbike shop in Beckenham, then up in Bromley proper. He was a dead-keen AJS fan, having a couple of mates working at the factory in the design/engineering department. Bernie and the infamous sex-doctor from the Profumo scandal, Dr. Steven Ward, were great mates, both chatting bikes non-stop when they met, either at Ward's place (with the 2-way mirror, which was electrically-operated, probably using LCD techniques, and had been there from the war years, the Yanks using the flat as a brothal) or down at Brands. Ward had been a car racer in his youth and Stirling Moss told me he breathed a sigh of relief when Ward, not a wealthy man, decided he was too old (the war getting in the way, he working a lot with the burned RAF pilots. We used to visit them often, at East Grinstead) to retire and concentrate on his career. Ward was a brilliant racer who frightened Moss 'You would never have heard of me if Steven had been 5 years younger...'. Steven (I knew him well, I was his honoury son) was a fan of the longstroke rigid-framed 350 singles, loving the 'rustic charm' of the 'long-loping' engine, Bernie, ever feisty Bernie, prefered the raunchy power of the twins. Bernie once told us (a group of car racers, Piper, Attwood, etc) that he and his mates were designing a new range of AJS racers in their spare time. It never came to fruitation, the factory weren't interested in spending the money, they prefered to give the vaste AJS profits to the shareholders, and later on the factory prefered to close rather than fight the Japanese. Several of the ideas were used though, the new 250 and 350 singles got a cheap version of the 'snap-in' gearbox planned (the 'round' gearbox) the racer getting a 7-speed gearbox that was held in place with a mere circlip in the clutch-hub and one allen-screw, allowing rapid changes, the rider having several gearboxes with different ratios for various circuits/conditions, as the preposed prototype 350 single had a very peaky engine. The primary-drive was a complete self-contained unit, no need to open it to bolt the clutch to the mainshaft. Bill Ivy later raced a cheap-and-cheerful 2 valved version of the engine (4-valve planned for production) but there was no snap-in gearbox for him, only the usual 4-speed? The idea was to garner experience with high-revving engines, to then make a modular system with a 500 V-twin, a 350 V-twin, and a 250 single. All using the snap-in gearbox. Talks were being conducted with another friend, called Duckworth, regarding the 4-valve heads and Bernie was mulling-over the possiblity of trying-out disc brakes, he knowing, via David Piper I think, a guy from Girling. Doesn't it make you cry...
Allan Schofield
20/03/2005
I SAW THE OUTFIT BEFORE THE FIRE AND TRIED TO IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO DO A LAP OF THE TT ON A BIKE LIKE THIS ONE.DAYS WHEN MEN WERE MEN .I WISH YOU WELL IN YOUR PROJECT AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT COMPLETED AND RUNNING AGAIN GOOD LUCK. SCUD
John Magansl
07/04/2005
Nice one mate, keep up the good work.
Bill Jones
13/04/2005
Never knew there was so much info available on sidecar racing! Can anyone help? I'm looking for a good picture, static or action , of the Chris Vincent B.S.A. It's for a Dutch friend, a B.S.A. nut (70 yrs.+ of age) who has been very good to me over the years. We took several pics. of the outfir at a classic event at Assen some years ago but the album is lost. Thanks. Bill Jones.
Maureen Hornby
23/04/2005
Just a small piece of information. From 1966/68 the outfit was carried on a trailer pulled by a Ford Transit van. The van was fitted out by Terry with cooker, two bunks and a sink after we married in 1966. Terry's mum is 91 years old this year, she is very pleased that the outfit is being restored. Terry's brother keeps her up-dated from the internet. GOOD LUCK.
Dave Schofield
22/06/2005
Keep at it and you will return a great racing classic back to the state it needs to be for kids to realise the origins of the sidecar
Paul Narramore
21/07/2005
How fantastic it is that people are prepared to go to such great lengths to restored these tragically damaged machines. Good luck!
Eddie Callis
26/07/2005
Heartbreaking to see the outfit like that after the fire, Your website is brilliant, bringing back very evocative memories of my younger days at the British tracks. I wish you the very best in this restoration.
Joe
17/08/2005
Hi dad, I was just showing my mates the website. They couldn't believe how much devastation there was to the bike. They like the website by the way!!!!
Andy Smith
14/09/2005
Fantastic work everyone. A great read & pictures. Look forward to seeing the outfit one day.
Etienne
(abva.net)
30/11/2005
You are so crazy of over the Channel Good luck
Claudio Sintich
18/12/2005
I came to England in 1967 to complete my studies , back home in Italy I have owned a motorcycle repair shop for years , www.sintich.com . THANK YOU !
Paul Hutchison
22/12/2005
A very interesting read, as a car restorer I understand fully your problems but also empathise with your emthusiasm. Keep adding to the site I will look in again. Seasons greetings.
Graham
Ger
04/01/2006
I was Tony Baitup's passenger. We raced Terry many times. One Brands Trophy day we went around him and my shoulder touched his boot. he looked down and said "move over a bit Graham" and smiled.
Mike Murdock
04/01/2006
Hopefully time will heal.... Till then I wish you all the best..... Thanks for showing this site to those of us who love bikes and its sport.
Gary Pickett
05/01/2006
Wow, amazing what you can find on the internet.
Paul Wilkinson
06/01/2006
Another A65 that I'm looking forward to seeing once more. Super work, well done to all involved.
Martin
Wood
19/03/2006
The picture of the Peter Brown BSA brought back memories for me as a friend of mine bought it n the seventies and I passengered for him at Wrougton on the A65 BSA, a 750 at that time
Allen Sullivan
21/04/2006
I used to work for Tom Kirby in 1967 as a trainee mech at Roneo cnr. Seeing that outfit again brings back many memories.
Andy Ewert
10/07/2006
Hi Graham A real credit to you mate and a real pleasure talking to you at Mallory It was a great feeling to be around this bike Best of luck talk to you soon.
Christine Dunscombe
27/10/2006
Hello, About 1/2 hour ago I decided to enter Tom Kirby on Google just to see if anything came up. Imagine my surprise when I saw your site. I am actually having trouble typing this as stupid as it is my eyes are full of tears, you see I am his daughter. I can't begin to tell you what this means to me that someone would take the trouble to rebuild the outfit, Dad would have been so pleased. I haven't told Mum yet as I know she will cry and I need to sort myself out first!! We were so upset when we heard about the fire.I have read your site from start to finish and really can't believe what you have achieved, pity it didn't have its first outing a day later as it would have been on my birthday!! I was bridesmaid for Terry and Maureen and have the photos to prove it!! One thing I do know is that after Terry's untimely death, Dad decided that he would never put his name to another outfit, such was the respect he had for Terry and John. Of course we have loads of photos of all of Dad's bikes contained in his scrap books, one you have on your site is framed in Mum's lounge - the one of everyone taken at Snetterton. Will close now, please give my thanks and love to everyone involved, congratulations and well done, regards, Christine. P.S. If you ever speak to Maureen, please remember me and Mum (Rose) to her, thanks