Going
to Gaydon
I've
been up and down the M40 a number of times recently and thought each
time I went past I should pay them a visit. I'm building a kit car
and was in need of some special sized speedo and handbrake cables and
at the Southern Classic Bike Show at the end of May I picked up a
flier and when I was ready arranged a visit. This I did and went to
JJ cables, not a stones throw from the car museum. Off on the Buell
and only a few spots of rain to deal when almost home is was a
pleasant dry ride. JJ cables have been supplying things to Bill at
Reg Allens's motorcycle shop for years so it was a nice surprise when
I arrived that he knew all the people I did. It was not long before I
was on to the Car Museum.
It has some interesting veteran and vintage
cars along with many of the prototypes that we all know about like
the Issogonis Mini and the Marina but know by numbers and not names.
The museum is well laid out leading you from one section to another
however to find the cafeteria and toilets required some deciphering.
There are no signs on the first floor lobby to tell you where to go.
There are only a couple of motorcycles there and they were early
Rover before they started making cars. There is even a mention of an
Austin motorcycle.
There are a couple of early tricycles and some
period bicycles. In another building were even more cars, vans and
small lorries. I was particularly interested in a glass-fibre Mini
that came from South America. I had a deep conversation with one of
the volunteers about how the structural strength had been imbued into
the construction to take the front and rear subframes. I had seen
enough after a couple of hours and made my way home thinking about
how you could have a strong enough body made from glass-fibre. A
future project is in the planning. Needless to say I left some fliers
there.
Back
to biking and not a lot going on as I have been using the fine
weather to work on my car as I have to do it all outside. I'm getting
a good tan.
I was at the Wey Valley Club first Sunday of the month
and even then I spent the time doing the Club shop as opposed to
riding. More recently the Museum has been down to Brighton for the
Ace Cafe London to Brighton run to do more promotion on the sea
front. It was a bit cold and windy on that day and the bikes are
still in the van being ready for Kop Hill this coming weekend. The
Tiger 80 and 1929 single ohc special will hopefully be run up the
hill at this event. I look forward to being there on the Sunday but
in between I managed a little trip out on the Buell just to
Eastbourne for a promised fish and chip lunch with Gita at Harry
Ramsdens on the sea front.
Bike parking was conveniently place just
across the road. I have missed so much bike riding weather that this
was a real treat covering some 198 miles in the day and enjoying
every minute with a blast over Beachy Head on the way back for good
measure.
No comments:
Post a Comment