Irish Road Racing (my tale)
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not a problem,and if it dont work ill send one via post to ya...
I'll check that out. Did you see the August-Sept. issue of Irish Bike?
noi know the publication your on about,its not a magaine but in fact a paper(newspaper),what issiue you in,ill try get a copy...
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So you have had a taste of Irish Road Racing, the last time i raced over there was before the pre TT in 1962, nearly 60 yrs ago in the Tangedee 100 . i would imagine the Roads must have improved because back then you were dodging the pot holes & cow crap, but i was new to the game at 17. So from over the water in NW England it was the same with no big difference. Back then practice wasn't timed so for Grid positions you just picked a number out of a flat cap plus you bumped the bikes in gear at the start to fire up the engine side saddle & then you were away. .......... My how times have changed. But the main thing was the enjoyment to prepare for the Manx GP., as Circuit Racing in England - Weather permitting was a totally different thing ..... Oh yes What was i riding ? an ex Factory Desmo Single
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The Irish back then were well known for running Rogue Engines in the small Classes both Larger displacement & running on Dope ( Methanol ) instead of 5 star Gas & the Organisers knew it & did naff all, apart from turning a blind eye. Back in England they would have been thrown out, but none of them ever came out of Ireland. .............. It was supposed to be for 125cc only & not on Dope. The only Irish Riders running legal 125s were the TSS Bultaco 2 strokes ... In fact in the NW 200 in the 500cc Class that year it was won by Irishman Dick Creith on 600cc Manx Norton, which originally was .refused Tech Inspection until he cleaned the dammed thing. The Ulster G,P at Dundrod was different, because it was run by Experts who knew their stuff & surprise, surprise none of these Cheats chose to enter !!.................. But 50 years later Irish Road Racing has l come a long way, which it needed to do for the Better, just like they have done in the IOM over the years - The solid objects are still there but the 37 mile mountain course is now like a Motorway compared to like it was, with its raised manhole covers, which had claimed a number of my friends lives over the years, 2 before it was stripped of its G,P, Status by the FIM via Agostini's 1st boycott............ But even now it is still claiming lives including one of my ex Riders in the TT Classic at Ballaugh in 2019 !!!! - The Late Chris Swallow during the 2019 Classic TT, his 4th Classic there since 2014 & had been doing very well- SORELY MISSED - 2012 On my 350 Ducati Single Wide Case a Race win & setting a new Lap Record at Cadwell Park
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Well, it seems like things have fallen on deaf ears, as most of the guys seem to be old enough to be my sons, or even Grandsons, who arn't really interested in Ducati Mechanica or Electrica before they were even born or even words like Panigalli ever even come from. it all had to start somewhere which was in 56/57 when Fabio Taglioni hopped over from Mondial who had thrown in the towel from Racing like all the others, Guzzi. Gilera & the rest. Their last hurrah in the Moto Giro de Italia before that one was banned as well.......... Ducati Mechanica was going no where & Taglioni was their last hope 1st with his Mariella & it started to happen from there. You will not find the true facts in the books that have been written so where all of a sudden did Desmodromics come from - .out of fresh air ?............ It wasn't , new, it had been around for Donkeys Years, but no one had made it work & most of all reliable, apart from one German Company called Mercedes Benz. but really an Engineering Lash up. & being used for all the wrong reasons in their slow revving Race Cars by simply using 2 camshafts to do all the ruddy lot......... Piston speed is the answer to power, but if he went down that route there were Patents to think of, so it had to be done differently without falling into the trap................ The drive from the bottom to the top was there already via its Bevel Gear Drive, it was the Cylinder Head / Cambox that was important - HOW to get rid of the SPRINGS............ First a normal DOHC is straight forward to obtain decent Valve Angles into the Hemi Comb Chamber they need to be wide enough apart for the relative camshaft to open & close them, normally driven by an idler drive gear in the middle as per a 125cc Grand Prix......... So, what is there to stop using the idler gear to carry a third Camshaft which can carry both inlet & exhaust Closing cam profiles. The hardest part of all is actuating them to do their job either by using pivoting levers or better still by forks around the valve stems themselves, in a rocking type movement................ Thats enough thought for the moment, but simply put its doable - Cont -
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Been a bit quiet here since the new years but there's a lot of us that enjoys the stories from back in the days. It's way before my time but love reading it nonetheless. Please keep them coming!
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Hello Harvey, Thanks for the nodd, I was beginning to think there was only me, amongst all these youngsters who seem to own Ducati's in name only, as its been through so many hands over the last 60 odd years. At a time when they were done by pure craftsmen from design all the way down to finish inspection & every stage in between which were all Engineering skills in their own right, very much like myself, which would come in very handy having to manufacture my own parts the old 1st principle Engineering way & i suppose i was lucky to be born when i was, with the responsibilites that went with it at such a young age. I am not one to knock progress or the Technological Techniques that go with it, but what does seem missing today are the foundations or base line to build off which to some degree are left out within training or Further Education. Again i am not winging,- today is what it is, - a press button society, where some people don't feel the same physical hunger that i once did at an age that i did , but i think the passion is still there. Yes money was tight back then & travel was very limited, communication was done over a distance by reading & writing letters, not by mobiles, land lines or web sites such as this which was discovered by pure accident. My memory of those marvellous days is so vivid, just as though it was yesterday & all i wanted to do was share all my experiences with Racing & Maintaining Early Ducatis & to pass it on despite my age. Its a story of Hardship, Luck, Success & tinged with Tragedy, but above all a sense of Adventure, sometimes into the unknown - which went hand in hand with life experience itself !Yes please go on Ossy, I am old enough to remember most of this happening.
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Well aside from the fact that you've resurrected a dead thread that is over 12 years old, Coming in here after 6 days as forum member and acting like you're the only bloke who ever spun a wrench or draged a peg isnt going to win you much favor. Most of the guys in here are not a bunch of phone-faced millennials, we have a clue. And your inference that Ducati owners are mostly youngsters is naive. Youngsters, my friend, don't ride motorcycles. Hell they don't even drive a car - or talk to girls ( who could blame them - thanks "me too"). But yeah, it might be true that most of us are not too interested in exotic old racebikes with 28 HP and more shims in the engine than hairs on my head. And why would we when 200HP race bikes that work damn near as well as a modern GP bike are available to anyone who has a pulse and a job.
But hell, if you are so inclined come on over to this side of the pond, I'd love to learn the finer point of ducati single engineering perfection from one of the old masters...
Or maybe look around a bit and learn something yourself.
But hell, if you are so inclined come on over to this side of the pond, I'd love to learn the finer point of ducati single engineering perfection from one of the old masters...
Or maybe look around a bit and learn something yourself.
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Hi There, Just how i came to own, it at the time that i did is a story in itself. Back in UK at the time the Brit 4 Stroke made bikes up to 250cc ( which was the max size for Novices with a min age of 16 ) to use for racing purposes were nothing but Oil leaking crap, & 2 stroke Villiers Engined Bikes were even worse & a total joke, but in NW England within the Town where i lived a number of young guys were into Racing, but older than me using a Bultaco, a Manx Norton & 2 lads with Italian Ducatis both converted Road bikes a 1958 125 Sport. the other a 1959 200 Elite, who would prove to be of great help with transport & a source of great advice, my 1st Ducati was a 125cc Monza built in 1960 which really was a tuned up 125 Sport, that came with a Race Kit which composed of a Megaphone exhaust. I had been riding since i was 12 on what we called Spare Land, all without my parents knowing & where better to keep the Monza than in friends fathers workshops, Still 15 yrs old i applied for a race licence with the AutoCycleUnion, telling them i was 16 & after advice joined the NWst best club The Wirral 100 the organisers at my nearest main Circuit at Oulton Park in Cheshire, which was my 1st race meeting in 1960 along with my 4 racing friends who had one thing in common - we were all apprentice Mechanical Engineers. My main objective was just to finish nothing more, i think i was 11th out 18 that started the race, but 4 of the lads all picked up Trophy's bearing in mind they were far more experienced than me, but it did teach me one thing - to Win you have to finish & if you did not finish it was down to 2 things - Mechanical breakdown & Reliability or bad riding skills which would hopefully come with experience............. Below are my 4 friends after that meeting in the Paddock at Oulton Park in 1960 L - R - Kevin Wilkinson 125 Ducati - Peter Wareing - 200 Ducati - George Fogarty ( Father of Carl Fogarty W/C Ducati Superbikes ) 350 Manx Norton & Steve Woods - 250 Bultaco TSS
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We are back into your definition of a Word of Words as we are over here a " Youngster " my friend depends on the age that you actually are & in my case from the North of England its someone 40 yrs plus, at 74 in a press button world - Your culture & ours are like Cheese & Chalk & always has been & goes back as far as 1912 ! & just how much proper Road Racing have you ever done inc the IOM TT, which is just on our Doorstep ? and if you are so knowledgeable in all things DUCATI perhaps you can enlighten us just what Ducatis original Racing Colours actually where - Clue - Not Red ! Its called Heritage & still is alive and well in Europe - What you call Vintage we call Historic Racing thank you & is very well subscribed
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My point being that you seem to have the need to put others down in order to make yourself feel better - just as you are doing now. We'd all love to read old racing stories but maybe you could leave the narcissism out out of it. Us yanks have had it up to our eyeballs with that as of late. Can you tell a story without pissing on someone else?
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1st " Up to our eyeballs with that of late " By who & What ? - Cause i aint Clairvoyant ! & 2nd " Pissing on someone else " Meaning Who ? we just seem to be worlds apart at the beginning " to fully understand anything in life one has to have experienced it ! " just like the saying - There is nothing New, its all been done before. The only things missing were Materials, processes & electronics ! When a person writes a Technical book the Author has to assume certain things, the most important thing of all is quite simple, just where to pitch it for the Reader (s ) Expert & novice alike - to High & only the expert will understand so the Author pitches it Low assuming the Novice knows nothing, by using that technique Learning takes place, so please do not be so be littleing !
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