.......and cleaned up on the miller, the rad's are hand filed, [look closely, the marking -out lines are still visible], lot's still to do to complete, 'mohican' on top needs shaping, centre axle hole needs boring, windows milled and fly cutting to finish, wheel spacer to make, bracket is chunky enough to counterbore mounting holes for socket head allen bolts to flush mount caliper, got to drill torque arm hole, make a torque arm, surface grind disc and mount to wheel, make rearsets, make brake line and make sure it fucking works.

after we stripped the old layers of paint off the racer tank we discovered holes in the seams where the condensation in the tank had lay for years slowly eating the steel away, basically, it was only the generous layers of paint which was keeping the petrol in, not good, kev tigged up the biggest of the holes but reported that the metal was really thin and recommended we use a repair kit to make sure it was fuel-proof, sent off for a kit from frost auto supplies after a chat with one of the old geezers who restores classic cars in the village, 'can't go wrong with it youth if you follow instructions', i'm still sceptical, i've followed the cleaning and acid etching stages to the letter, got to let tank dry out completely before adding the sealant, stay tuned, i'll let you know if i'm going to be scouring e-bay, or, if it's any good.

gary nixon, 1969 mile, left hand off the bars, on the fork leg for maximum aerodynamics, aerodynamics?, it's a triumph flat-tracker, proper dangerous, no front brake, looking for the blue-groove, throttle nailed to the stop.

my smart-ass daughter jess was mucking about on the computer the other night and came up with this design for a loveless football shirt, [this is the back, the front has a 'loveless' oval badge over the left breast and a #51 on the right hand sleeve], i know it's early days, not even built the bike yet never mind raced it but, i'm up for it if there's enough interest, let me know your thoughts, cheers, oh yeah, talking football, went up to pride park for rams v watford yesterday, not a classic by any means but we won two-nil, watford came to spoil the game and get a point or perhaps nick it but we were just too strong all over the park, i know we won but i came away feeling a little dissapointed, derby just looked a little too casual for my liking, the hard work ethic of previous games was missing and all too easy it would have been to turn three points into one or even none.

dead chuffed with the finished ignition/front sprocket cover, cut a disc of re-cycled carbon fibre out with a hacksaw and ground it to shape on my machine mart budget shit grinder that slows down as soon as you apply any pressure to the wheels, dangerous goes mad when i'm working with carbon, he won't stop in the shed and mutters about 'you don't know what's in it', must admit he may have a point, you really don't want to see what you dig out of your nose when you finish breathing it in, proper toxic, finished the alloy cover off with a bit of scotchbrite and solvol.

made a start on the rear caliper bracket, usual thing, work out where it's going to be mounted,[underslung of course, me and dangerous arguing about the torque arm, is it better to mount it in a 'pulling' plain or a 'pushing' plain?, think about it, it's not as simple as just making a hanger], the obligatory cardboard template, work out the centres and drill clearance holes before chain drilling and milling to shape, from bitter experience you can spend a load of time getting the profile spot-on and then drop a bollock when you drill the mounting holes.

never really got sidecar racing, used to watch it between the solo's but never really interested, they were just bloke's who couldn't ride a solo and needed three wheels because they couldn't race on two, then i went to the island, the girlfriend at the time was pissed with me all week resulting in the infamous friday night piss-up with the paddy's, decided to watch the day's racing at the highlander pub, i lay on the floor at the entrance to the pub car park and heard this noise, it got louder, growing as it came closer, then, in the distance, a white and blue thing hurtling towards me, jock taylor and benga johanson, benga flat out on what i can only describe as a large tea tray, as the outfit bounced over the bumps the rev's rose, jock hanging on and trying to control the bucking and weaving machine, then, for a few seconds, i understood what the sidecar racers were all about.

dave stricklers '65 dodge coronet dragster, another one of the loveless collection, saw a picture of the original in 'rodders journal' magazine, [magazine is doing this periodical a massive injustice, it's total quality], and fell in love with it, picked up this scale model in california, it was one of those moments, like derby beating forest, finding some rare vinyl or something going right on the racer project for a change.....

another 'walmart' special i picked up on my latest trip to the states, no front brake, no clutch lever, no brake lever, no front disc, massive yokes, stubby forks, i'm liking the cutaway fuel tank, the engineer boots, stonewash jeans and brown shirt, [because brown is the new black according to trinny and suzannah], dude has no tattoos, he's wearing one of those 'doner' helmets you can pick up over there for ten dollars and oakley 'outlet' shades, beautiful.

first race of the series this weekend, where am i?, sat in the shed dreaming about what could have been, waiting for my swinging arm from the powdercoaters, saving up for a set of tyres, a million and one jobs still left to do, my licence hasn't turned up yet, need to get a rear disc and make the mounting bracket up, wheel spacers, bleed the brakes, seal the tank, paintwork, make a rear sprocket from a blank, get a rev counter, get a chain, make a rear sprocket cover, mount the front mudguard, buy a trailer, make a front number board, alter the clutch cable so it works, make brackets for the expansion chamber....................................................

daytona international speedway, 1969.