Manky Monkey Motors

Well, it was last Sunday so you've missed it, mind you, so did we and we were there.
   Sunday morning bright and ten'ish, The Ossa King, Big Fella, Mole and I set off for the old RNAY at Wroughton, rumour had it that there was an ACU sprint meet being held there. Not two miles out of the town and Mole bailed out, said he was feeling dickie (! ? ) full of concern we dumped him at the side of the road and pushed on. Arriving at the gate we paid the nice man three quid each and drove down to the main runway. A fair selection of two and three wheeled machinery was present with maybe fifty entrants there by the time we arrived. A quick stroll through the pits and some coffee before a more leisurly look at the bikes and chat to some of the owners. Then back to the start to wait for the off, and wait, and wait, and wait. Some more coffee and a bit more waiting and a riders meeting was called. From what I gather, a chap had come up from the West Country with a Porta-tree system to demonstrate and possibly sell to the club, and it had failed completely thus plunging the whole meet into chaos. Again, from what I could gather, being a sanctioned meeting, flag starts and stopwatch was not allowed, the old timing system was in a shed some distance away and as there were points at stake in a race series no one was willing to leave in case it was sorted, and whilst there was a chance it might be the officials wouldn't call it as that would mean giving refunds leaving the club to foot the two and a half grand for rental of the strip. All very complex, we left them to it and sauntered back home, pleasant morning though.     

   I hope there was no sniggering over the disappointing performance of the tree from West of the water

   disc enroute

I think Andy & Tony from the VMCC, (Vintage Motorcycle Club), were there. Both MMMotors readers.
Shame about the lights no show -sounds like it would've been an interesting day.
Is that a blue camper with matching trailer in one of those shots? Came across a vintage camper van club at a local show at the weekend. 

   I was looking out for them but if they were there, their bikes weren't. Camper and trailer was a tidy set up, we followed a big Winibago and matching trailer in through the gates, that was also a bit nice, I think the plate was B16 VAN, it certainly was !

A mate of mine was at this meet with his FZR 400 and CBR 600, I think he normaly sleeps in the trailer of the bedford!
He came to work last week to run 1 of his friends bikes up, they didnt get to run as the bike was being a pain in the arse, OH and the lights didnt work! give me time and i shall try and get the pics from my phone onto the comp and post em.

Brock's photos now online here:

Wroughton sprint (http://mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/Photos/wroughton16.8.09brock/)

I particularly liked this Morgan 3 wheeler & the blue Triumph with the dustbin fairing.

Also the bare metal, (?), Triumph. The AJS street bike looks like it could be fun too.
Thanks Mr Brock.

that AJ is the dogs do-da's  :P :P :P

Info on the lights - the VMCC Sprint Section blog tells the story for those that may be interested.

http://www.vmccsprint.co.uk/vintage_classic_modern_motorcycle_sprint_racing/Blog/Entries/2009/8/30_Event_Timing_Problems_Post.html

and if the above link doesn't work - www.vmccsprint.co.uk and then to the blogs.

Weekend 12 - 13 September is the Open Day of the Science Museum at Wroughton (Swindon). Hangers full of motoring goodies rarely open to the public, and theres a two lane bike sprint to boot.
Some of the entry may be at Brighton for the Speed Trials on the Sat, and then at Wroughton on the Sunday.

Cheers all