Classic racing | Tarsnakes

I took my annual trip to the Broadford Bike Bonanza on Easter Sunday. It was a perfect autumn day for the event with no wind, plenty of sunshine and the temp around 22C. A friend of mine, Tim K, has come back to classic racing after a 20 plus year break and is in the process of shaking down a T500 Suzuki that he has recently rebuilt. So this was the first time for me to see his Suzuki in action, which was great and it always adds interest when someone you know is on the circuit. His Dad is an old hero of mine (see A Familiar Voice) and I was expecting to see him as well, however, he had some bike trouble on Saturday and didn’t stick around for Sunday. I arrived around 10.am and things were in full swing. The theme for this year was former Bathurst racers.

Below is a selection of some bikes that took my fancy.

Tim aboard the Suzuki T500

‘Beak’ on the ex- John Woodley Suzuki

A well-used, road going Norvin

I still love the attractive Honda CB750 Four transverse engine

How’s this for stepping back in time. I didn’t hear it running but I’m told it started first kick.

I saw this lady being photographed and wondered who she was. Tim knew that she is Peggy Hyde, a 1970’s road racer with considerable ability. It’s really well worth reading about her in this AMCN article HERE. Better still, listen to her at THIS LINK

Nice BMW in action

I have posted a gallery of pics HERE. I advise clicking on ‘Slideshow’ when you get to the page.

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.

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Lovely Rex Wolfenden ‘T-REX’ Honda.