Hey, hey, Mr Postman

 Every year at the last race of the season I wheel the bike into the van and swear that this is the year I'll have the bike ready for the new season by the end of January. And every year I'm still working at the bike right up to just before the first race. And of course, 2002 is no different.

It's now the middle of March, the first race is three weeks away and the bike is still propped up on blocks waiting for it's nice new disc brake while I kick my heels waiting on the postman. Aargh! It drives me up the walls!

There's not much to waffle about at this point of the season, it's not as if I get to go to Spain for pre season testing. A quick blat around the local back roads will be the sum total of my testing. That's if we ever get the bike finished.

Bodge of the Year.

This is what classic racing is all about……….

One of my winter tasks was to strip out the rear drum brake, take the glaze off the brake shoes and  replace the bearings and the wheel spindle which were knackered. When I was putting the brake shoes back in one of the springs which separates the shoes broke like a matchstick.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get one of those springs when the nearest breaker with GT380 parts is across the Irish Sea? After a fruitless search  I phoned my mate Billy, a man with 101 bodges in his head. He told me to look under the bed ! Thinking he was taking the p*** I told him where to go but he insisted that I look under the bed, but it had to be an old bed. Well it is an old bike after all! So I went to my Dad's house and looked under the bed and sure enough there was loads of springs which just happened to be the exact length and strength required!!!
 
And now the back brakes work better than ever. Now the bike really is a 'Featherbed'!

The Season Ahead.

 At the minute I plan to do the 6 round Irish Classic Racing Association short circuit championship ( I want my title back!)  the first race is at Nutts Corner on 6th April. I'm also doing three pure road races, the Dundrod 150 and the Ulster Grand Prix both of which are on the historic and ultra fast 7.5 mile Dundrod circuit and the Kells Road Races, a 2.5 mile  circuit in Co.Meath.  And for all you Bravehearts out there I'll be at the Bob McIntyre Memorial Races in East Fortune near Edinburgh on 8th and 9th June. See ya there for an odd beer (13 is a nice odd number).

That's it for now…. Watch this space for news on the oldest but loudest rider in magsport.