Jump to content

1983


gizza5
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

 

1982 member of the Army Team had several punctures and was racing to catch up on time, he got lost and managed to pick up the following days route, they must have been close together that year.

So he didn't actually think he was lost, went miles before he realised, then back tracked, ran out of petrol managed to get to farm and scrounge a bit fuel eventually getting back on track!

Clive Charlton I think broke down over near Gorton, had to stay overnight before a rescue vehicle got there the next day...................

So Kinell it could have been a whole lot worse :thumbup:

Edited by GIZZA5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Jeez, Kinell, I feel sorry for you but have to say even Mrs Slapshot, much to her disgust, knows most of the routes like the back of her hand these days, specially where to turn left at Lochailort :)

i used to love hearing old stories my old man has hundreds but as I get older (:wacko: 40 today) I rather be getting some of my own

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 
protested to the Stewards as we had a genuine grievance, we picked up on a flag on the Blackwater path and that made us believe that we were going the right way and it kept us going on that route

that was then - dont even think about it now - you will only waste your cash:D

better putting your

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
Both our protests were upheld and we got our money back. Mind you, it was probably only about a tenner protest fee in those days, but as a 19 year old, a small fortune for me!

Big John

It's the only time the tenner's escaped from his wallet, put firmly back never to see the light of day again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
Yes Andy, usually in those days it did mean disqualification for missing a hill, but that's why both George Gornall and I protested to the Stewards as we had a genuine grievance, we picked up on a flag on the Blackwater path and that made us believe that we were going the right way and it kept us going on that route. It was only after we waited to see if there was anyone behind us that we realised that we had travelled up the wrong path, otherwise we would have just kept on going! Also the 50 mark penalty for missing a group came in a few years after that time I think. At first the Stewards were going to give us both cleans for the group but then they thought that would have been unfair to those riders who had attempted the sections. I think there were five sections in that particular group hence 25 mark penalty (5 per section). When it's a wet week around Kinlochleven all the paths look the same. The sheer amount of water that was sloshing about made it impossible to find fresh tyre tracks anywhere.

Both our protests were upheld and we got our money back. Mind you, it was probably only about a tenner protest fee in those days, but as a 19 year old, a small fortune for me!

Pffft. Excuses, excuses. Should have been No-Award. End of story! Poor old Kinell missed a marker and lost out on his finishers award. At least he provided us with infinite amusement!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
Yeah Hillary. I never really liked the T&MX paper programmes, to be bitterly honest it cheapened the whole thing! I liked the "real" programmes. Don't get me wrong, I know the effort that must have gone in to producing the paper programme but years later the darned things fell apart and without T&MX doing the job there may have been no programme at all.

The one bit I did like was the entry list cards that Bill Lawless handed out at the parc ferme and those were handy to keep tabs on "who was who" during the week.

I have every "proper" programme from 1948 until 1983 and they are really interesting to read through, a lot of history in there. And so Gizza5 was able to retain a real souviner of his first Scottish. I only managed to ride onc e but I can remember it quite vividly and the 1977 programme will act as a lasting reminder of where my Bultaco took me during a very wet week. Mind you, George Gornall and I did a few more miles than anyone else that year, as we got it wrong on the last day and ended up at Blackwater Dam instead of Leiter Bo Fionn!

In fact ask your friend Mr. Kitchin about the two programmes I recently gifted to him, I bet they brought back happy memories of a certain Triumph Twin ride way back in 1953 & 54!

Regards,

Big John

Yes, i rode 1977 as well, big john, i was no 154 and you were 216. It must have been the wettest on record- rained every day. Although i finished, i got pneumonia, collapsed on the way back, and nearly died! - great fun! Still wake up at night with visions of that dead pan stare vesterinen would give me when i kept falling off in front of him and holding him up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

A ty 250 yamaha- after inspecting an early group on the first day, i returned to my bike to find it had been knocked over, and bent one of the rear shocks to a right angle in the process! If that wasnt enough, it seized up before the end of the first day as the autolube had used up its oil. Then the rear wheel collapsed, which Owen Greenwood managed to rebuild on the coran ferry. I got a puncture on some sort of pensinsula road around a lake, was completely knackered, and Sammt Miller pulled up, on a TL250 honda (he was following the event) he says carry on round the next corner and i will help you change it. Off he went, so i carried on, with a flat, round the corner, and the next , and the next. never did see him. Dont know why he said it in the first place!

Heartbreaking stuff, especially when your can of finelec has inadvertently gone off in your belstaff pocket!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
  • Create New...