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A Dave Cooper rack has fixing loops on the bracket which is bolted to the car. It is the best rack I've had by a long way, I've even got some vertical posts for mine so that it'll double up as a push bike rack as well.

Then add in that bike tie straps do snap. I had some of the rachet ones, I had the bike on a trailer but was driving quick & over one big yump the straps holding the bike down both smashed the mechanism. I've also snapped one of the pull down types, they're the best way to carry a bundle of flags when flagging the Scott route, the loose end went round the rear wheel & pulled the strap very tight. Luckily I had a bumbag on & it took most of the force before the strap snapped. I also bounced a bike off the rear of a discovery when it was racked, I hit a big pot hole whilst dodging an oncoming car, luckly no damage to disco or bike. I'd have thought the way Stu has his bike strapped on if he did an emergengy stop the bike would come straight over the top & end up on the bonnet.

The main Sherman used by the British was the M4A2, Sherman III British designation, it was a diesel. The other main used one was the M4A4, Sherman V British designation, it had 5 six cylinder car engines round a common crank, they sound awesome running. Yanks gave us all the **** they didn't want!

The original Mustang had an Allison engine, good low level performance poor high altitude. The Packard Merlin is an RR one under licence, so a Packard Lancaster is a mark 3 put RR's on it & it's a mark 1. Fiver some ran mix n match. Can we talk Shermans?

Could lift as bigger payload as most of the four engined heavies. Did you about the American / British night fighter trials. Americans thought it was a competition & put their best man in the P61 Black Widow, Brits saw it slightly different, they allowed the mossie to be outflown so they didn't have to pass over any of the limited supplys over to the Americans. What about British innovation on American aircraft? The Mustang was transformed from a very average aircraft into the best single seat fighter in Europe, fit a Merlin. The Corsair, Americans had given up on it as a Carrier based fighter, to dangerous to land, the Brits showed them how, best fighter in the Pacific.

I have one of those racks & I don't think much of the way you're strapping your bike down. This is how I strap mine:- Back wheel strapped to the vertical post, strap wraps round wheel & post. 2nd Strap from outrigger next to back wheel round the handle bar throttle side. Fully tension this one first. 3rd strap from loop on towbar bracket nearest back wheel to handle bar clutch side.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8168691.stm sad news

Results from the first two days, I'm struggling to get them up on the front page & I'm to knackered to bother! Saturday_09_Final_Analysis.pdf Friday_09_Final_Analysis.pdf

Richmond where I live overlooks the Vale of York. I'd have thought you'd have been able to see aircraft in the circuit of seven bomber stations from here, there's also a fighter & a night fighter station. The bomber stations were all used by the Canadian airforce http://www.rcaf.com/6group/ have a look on google earth as most are still there. It's hard to comprehend the air power they had, you're lucky if you see two jets together now. I've read that the USAF were putting over 3000 planes up at one time, bombers + escorts. That must have been one awesome sight.

Never actually seen anybody doing this & I'm not convinced it's legal. You'd never have to do it anyway. There's hundreds & memorials around the area, these vary from dedicated stones / monuments to armoured vehicles of the era. There's over 20 museums of various size & quality. There's nearly 30 Cemeteries, these vary from the very large & imposing American one overlooking Omaha to some of the very small British ones that are simply in the middle of a field.

The next Normandy trip will be the 10th, if we could afford it we'd have a second home there, it's not just the history we like the scenery. You need to go to realise just how big the whole operation was, it takes a good hour to drive from one end to the other. My wife's Gt Grandad is a WW1 burial in Rouen, Normandy. He's in what was a hospital cemetery & when you look round the 8000+ graves there's virtually every race & religion represented. How about the Germans playing the baddies again & then the rest of us can be friends? Now he's been involved in some classic history B*****ks, Braveheart & Gallipoli.

Another Mel Brookes fan? He was in Europe in the infantry during ww2. Best read I've had on the Dams raid is John Sweetman's book, bit heavy going but it does show that the original film was mostly fiction.

Omaha Beach, it's a very nice place to spend a sunny afternoon. It's not really suprising they got the crap knocked out of them because it's badly overlooked. Gold is overlooked as well but the ground doesn't start rising until you get 1/2 a mile or so in land.

Peter Jackson is a history nut, particularly WW1 I believe. I think he'll ensure it's as near as right as possible & I hope Stephen Fry has written a good scrip. Big question is, will they use the N word? Did you know that Scampton didn't a concrete runway at the time of the Dams raid, they took off from grass!

Underbridge on Saturday Summer Lodge on Saturday, just about rideable Underbridge on Sunday The moors are heavily drained these days & don't retain the water like a big sponge, so beck levels rise & fall rapidly. A downside to this is that all the kickers etc under the waterfalls get blown out so we've probably spent more time filling holes than scrubbing which we normally do. Hopefully everything should be good for the weekend.

Henry Allingham was the worlds oldest man & not the last Great War survivor. I believe that Harry Patch is still alive, he was in the trenches & was wounded at Ypres. We've visited most of the Allied Cemeteries in Normandy, a fair few in the Somme region & we've also visited Ypres. I've seen very little sign of vandalism. I have seen occassional press reports of problems, I regularly use The Great War Forum & there are reports on there of problems. have a look on here http://www.cwgc.org/ there's currently a big refurbishment project on replacing the worn stones. We've just got back from a week in Normandy, didn't visit any Cemeteries this time but did get to all the beaches, St Mere Eglise + Pegasus & the Orne bridges. There's a lot of small museums & this year was the first time I've felt ripped off by one. There was very little in it, the most interesting bit was the shop selling artefacts, the museum was Dead Man's Corner. I really wanted to visit the American Airbourne one at St Mere Eglise but we arrived a bit late, it's one of the best Museums in Normandy. On our way home we had a drive across the Somme & ended up at Delville Wood, http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/delville.html we were only 4 hours late for the boat home! Two thirds of the 5000 or so graves in the Cemetery have the words 'Known unto God' on them, try explaining that to your 9 year old son. Saving Private Ryan, the start sequence is great, the bit with the sniper rifle blowing the sandbags away is a bit wierd though. The rest of it's a holliwood yarn, a bit like the magnificent seven really, only the yanks get to squeal when they die, the germans are stone dead when first hit & I'm not right chuffed at the anti british comments. Band of Brothers is much better as long as you realise that Easy Company was a very small bit of a much bigger outfit & they didn't win the war single handed. If anybody fancies reading a very graphic account of being an airbourne infantry man buy Donald Burgett's 'As Eagles Screamed' It takes his career from training until the end of the Normandy campaign. His other books are ok but aren't quite as good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ld...edics_Stranded/ The two accidents from the 2007 Trial feature in this episode, good that it gets it's first airing on the BBC when we're trying to mark out in very similar weather.

Picked this link up from elsewhere, shows some great footage of how a bomber station was run. http://www.factualtv.com/documentary/Nightbombers

AG & I tried doing a bit of marking out today for our day (Sunday) of the Reeth 3 Day. It was just a bit wet., hope it stops raining tonight so that we can have another go this weekend. Iveletside Swinner Ghyll side gulley Swinner Ghyll Summerlodge Underbridge

I'd also like to add to Freds comments & suggest that Trials HQ should move downtown to a central venue, this could then could create a place for officials, riders & spectators to gather each evening whilst waiting for results. HL could even lay on some entertainment.

I've used a H&D one, a Sherco one & a standard pedal. I'd rate them in that order. Standard one is soft as **** & bends very easily, the further it bends the less back brake you have. I've also snapped several. Sherco Pedal is a straight fit & is good to use, very compact, I never bent or broke one. Downside is there's no upward bump stop, an upward knock & the pedal hits the casing, I never did any damage on my bike but I didn't fancy doing an SSDT with one on. H&D Racing pedal is the dogs B*****ks & well worth the money. Compact & hidden away but easy to find with your toe end. Wish I'd thought to try it on the Gasser instead of flogging it. Please note this in not an advert for Marky Boy's products But the pedal is bloody good.

Aye it's too small of a lump to stick in a 4RT.

Copey can't of seen his 'Made in Silsden' tattoo.