All Brit Rally – as seen in Maldon Vic

Posted on April 29, 2012 by jcpearce

The major event each year for the BSA owners’ association is the “All Brit” rally at Newstead, Victoria. Our mates Steve & Andy are attending for the weekend (camping at the main rally site in Newstead) and we caught up with them in the nearby historic town of Maldon. It was an incredible sight with the whole main street lined on both sides with old motorcycles. I saw more Vincent HRDs today than I’ve ever seen before in my life, including a HRD in a Featherbed Norton frame ( a Norvin) and a HRD in a 1970′s Ducati frame (a Vincati?). Here are a few shots. Unfortunately I accidentally switched my camera from auto to manual but didn’t do any manual settings, so consequently about 30 shots were unusable.

Looking down the main street.

Andy’s unrestored Panther 350cc attracted plenty of interest.

Vincents a plenty! This one is a Norvin.

With sidecar

Lets have a look at some Nortons.

AJS single looked lovely

Rocket 3

Mrs T & Steve

We had a great run home and the ZX14 performed flawlessly. The weather forecast for the coast was not good but it didn’t rain though there were very strong side wind for the last 30kms.

Full gallery of pics HERE

TAC motorcycle ad

Posted on April 26, 2012 by jcpearce

There is some irony to this advertisement as the Honda Accord Euro that I sold in February was one of two cars purchased specifically for making this ad!

It is of concern that the car DOES NOT have its right indicator on.

I’m sure that exonerating a car driver essentially on the basis of “Sorry mate I didn’t see you”, even with a speeding motorcyclist, will generate complaints amongst the motorcycling fraternity. A driver texting may have been a more realistic scenario!

FWIW -the car was bought by Max Action Vehicles who provide vehicles for all types of advertising.

Classic racing – Victorian championships

Posted on April 25, 2012 by jcpearce

The magnificent Autumn weather continues, so Mrs Tarsnakes & I decided to head off to the Vic Classic Championship racing at Broadford. A late change was forecast so we took the car rather than the ZX14. As it turned out the weather was perfect all day.

Our interest really lies with the motorcycles of the 1970′s and 1980′s, rather than the genuine classics such as Norton and Triumphs.

First of a few Kawasaki s. I used to own a Z1R in this colour, so it’s a sentimental favorite. The guys who owned this bike saw me about to take a shot in the pits and offered to put the seat back on for a better pic. When I mentioned that we used to own one of these and Mrs Tarsnakes had ridden it in the early 1980′s, he offered for her to climb aboard for the pic. It’s exactly the friendliness and access that one experiences at these small race events. And of course, referring to Mrs T as “your daughter” when talking to me, won the charming fella a few brownie points!

I’m just going to post pics of the post classics and forgotten era bikes – the ones that I relate to most! I will try for another post with the true British classics.

Double click on the pics to see them larger, then use your browser’s back button.

Lovely Rex Wolfenden ‘T-REX’ Honda.