1969.

heinz rosner.

bank holiday monday saw team loveless off to an early start, we were on the road to rockingham raceway near corby for the 'classic bike' magazine 'burn-up', a trackday for owners of classic bikes and racers, i picked up dangerous and we made the 70 mile drive in good time, mind you, i don't expect you run into much traffic at 0600hrs on a bank holiday, rockingham is a bit of a white elephant for the amount of actual racing that takes place there which is a real shame because the infrastructure is fantastic, the high 'bleacher' style seating offers a view to be envied, especially when you think about other circuits facilities, [are you listening donington?, how many times have i stood six deep in a muddy puddle trying to get a glimpse of the action], the grandstand area and the pits/garages are spotless, it's a real shame that only track-dayers get to enjoy it, anyway, got the bike out of the old ldv hire van, brew on and we have a stroll around, there's some serious tackle here, tz 250 and 350's, an old p and m formula one kwak, a couple of lovely bsa racers, some honda hailwood replicas, [the ones with the modern watercooled in-line four, don't know the model but it was bought in as a grey import], the jota racer was an amazing piece of kit and sounded fantastic out on the banking, the big triple bouncing the sound back off the high catch wall, i sign on and get the pre-session briefing while dangerous gets the mz noise checked, 99.9 db, not bad that, sounds noisier, the day is undersubscribed which is good as it means more time on track, we are split into two groups of forty and we are soon out on the track for three sighting laps, the track is very technical with a tight infield section which suits me, there's a couple of longish straights and we get to ride a section of the banking with a superfast left/right chicane at the end of it, the 'international circuit is 2.5 miles long so theres plenty to go at, after the sighting laps we are free to go, i soon make a right nuisance of myself, the little mz turns really quickly and is really light, [less than 100kg], i'm passing the bigger capacity bikes through the infield section in the turns and their having me down the straights, then i'm outbreaking them in the corners and they have to use their horsepower to get past me again, it's all great crack and we are flagged off for group two to have their session, i can't beleive it when twenty minutes later, just as i take my first slurp of tea when we are called up again, this goes on throughout the day and i get seven sessions in, well, nearly seven sessions, my carb decides it's had enough of thrashing around rockingham and jumps off it's mounting, we try to bodge it but the rubber hose that we use to mount the carb to the ally manifold has started to deteriorate with the oil/petrol mix and is like a worn out welly, luckily i only have to be recovered once from the track in the jcb, [i kid you not!] the other couple of times was right at the end of the sessions, a really good day out, chilled and good humoured without the usual trackday bickering and a refreshing lack of bloody tyre warmers!, we are home for 1900hrs, unload the van, put the tools away and sit with a couple of cold cobra's to round the day off..

'so human, you think you can control me with a piece of rubber hose, two jubilee clips and some silly little springs?, hhhhhaaaaa!, hahahahaha, werhahaha........'

working on the racer, early hours of sunday morning, i can't sleep, the whole episode with the dog with no name means i can't settle, radio six is chugging away in the background, my ears tune in straight away to a track by the san francisco shoegazer's whirl, i download the 'distressor' ep straight away, i urge you to do the same, brilliant......

luigi taveri at the 1965 japanese gp.

it's with a heavy heart and deep sadness that i post tonight, there's no happy endings i'm afraid, even though we were promised that the dog with no name would be re-homed he has actually been put down sometime between tuesday and today, mr's b had been to the kennel where he was taken too with a view to us re-homing him, his 'owner's' had denied all knowledge of him and they were served with notice that he was to be re-homed after the statuatary nine-days, the previous 'owners' were served with a bill for him escaping and the subsequent kennel costs which suddenly turned into him being a dangerous dog who launched an unprovoked attack on them, they signed him away and he was put to sleep, there was no way he was a dangerous dog, he was totally submissive in the company of my boy's and in the morning that i spent with him he was a delight to be with, night, night mate, sleep tight....

cleaned up the stainless unf and unc fasteners that i picked up from the classic bike show, it doesn't matter how many lists you make you always forget something, i forgot the rear sprocket mounting bolts so mocked it up with old bolts to sort the chain alignment, so it was nice to finally get those loctited home, the top rear shock mounting bolt was too short so i replaced that and spun up a new ally spacer to mount the supertrapp cans from, the supertrapps?, you either love them, [i do], or hate them, [dangerous hates them], i know they are on the wrong side of the bike and that the engine isn't the xr750, but they just scream 'flatrack', the pipes are tuned length to the motor and they really suit my big-bore and hsr42 carb so why change it?, i like the straw colour of the stainless too rather than chrome, anyway, it was quite a fruitful day in the loveless shed, i fitted a new choke cable after some ham fisted nob broke the plastic mounting bush on the old one, [ahem], carb off, manifold off, bellmouth off, coil mounting bracket and coils off, funny how a five minute job suddenly swallows up an hour, made up some new ht leads, [moved the coils from under the tank to the top motor mount], made up a brake line for dangerous for the bonneville and we dug the racer out and replaced the 7mm pvl ignition mounting screw that we had rounded off starting the engine using the drill rather than running up and down the road bumping it, [7mm, what sort of size is that?, rarer than dangerous buying a round and another 'stafford' purchase], we timed the engine up, replaced the cover and dangerous pushed me down the road, i dropped the clutch and bumped the motor into life, quick run up the road and everything seems fine, might have to drop a couple of jets, seems a little rich, but i'll wait until we get to rockingham on monday, dangerous notices the pipe-wrap is smoking and i check the exhaust header nut, even though it's lockwired it's loose, tighten that up and we lockwire it from both sides rather than just the one like some nob had forgotten to do last time, [ahem], we work our way around the bike without talking, checking the fasteners are tight, the pads, chain, and steering head bearings, wiping and cleaning the machine, suddenly i realise it's beer 'o clock and we sit out in the yard just looking at the bonneville........

'american gothic', don't know if anyone else can remember the sam raimi produced series from the mid nineties, the opening shot's were of a young boy, caleb, saying, 'someone;s at the door.....', you knew from that point on bad stuff was going to happen, anyway, got up early this morning, [must have been the excitement of the royal wedding, or, perhaps thinking about the preparation for monday's 'classic bike burn-up?],let the boy's out, brew on and pick up a copy of 'classic racer', twenty minutes later i'm aware the boy's are still outside, 'someone's at the door.....'

heinz rosner

ernst degner, mz racer...... me and dangerous are at rockingham on bank holiday monday for the 'classic bike burn-up', if you're going have a look for us and come and have a brew, you will be able to spot us easily, old ldv hire van, shouting and swearing, total chaos, thank's to everyone who asked for the sticker's too, got twelve left, when there gone that's it, stay tuned though, got idea's for some more.....