The Paul Fynn Rally

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org 

The Paul Fynn Rally

Part Two.

2013.

The line up of some of the bikes at the start.

As we move I fall in behind a 1923 Douglas as we go out to the main road only to see all the leaders turn left into a service road. I am first to the main road and turn left and take the next left. The Douglas over takes me before the junction and starts to overshoot but manages the turn and I am back in front. I know not where I am going. We have not done more than a mile and every turn has caused problems. This was to set the scene for all the road work. At the next junction I did not know where to go. I follow the consensus of turn right. At the next round about I make a right too early and have to make a u turn. The whole group does the same. In the end we do get it right and manage to get to the correct entrance to Windsor Great Park. Relief as now there are some signs to follow but I have now become separated from the group.  At the entrance to the park, having missed it the first time a group of vintage cars let me through. I am a bit quicker than them so I find myself alone on very much deserted roads. I ride quite slowly waving to walkers and picnickers. The views of the park are beautiful and I would love to have stopped to take some photos of the scenery but we have strict instructions not to do that. I passed by the polo match playing off in the distance and did have a few groups of horsemen thundering around on the back tracks. Everyone was thoroughly polite and avoided each other. I caught and passed the 1923 Douglas who had sped on earlier when I took some wrong turnings. He caught me later when I stopped to look at my map tucked in the top of the tank bag. It was two sided and as usual what you want to see is over the fold, join or in this case edge. He knew where he was going so I followed him on the remaining road route. We arrived at the fete in Sunningdale from the wrong direction and were the last bikers to get there. I think we probably had the best detours en route. 

Parked up on a good hard standing I peeled of layer after layer in the heat. It was around mid-day and it was hot! Gita had already arrived and I stowed my gear in the car. She had forgotten my shoes so I would be in bike boots all day. I required refreshment to cool me down followed by a picnic in the sun. Gita had brought chairs which we left by the bike and used a bench and table near the arena where the collection of Veteran cars now stood. I did the rounds of the people by their cars handing out fliers along with many people who passed by. Met some old friends and introduced to new ones. I met the lady who runs events for Brooklands and I have got myself invited along to do a presentation in the autumn for a club night. This year there were more cars and stalls and it seemed more people. It was a bigger site and the organisers made use of it. I was told later that entrants were coming from all over the country to this event which is run by BEN, the motor trade charity, and, from what I see, had the best selection of cars. Eventually I run out of fliers and sit in the shade for a bit. The guy who won the pre-war class last year is to do the judging so his 1939 BMW side valve was not going to win, so I might have a chance again. I had to wipe oil off the left exhaust silencer of the Valiant when I arrived. It had come from the gearbox and I hoped that the oil seal that was leaking would keep enough back to not leave a puddle on the ground and get me home again. It was around 3pm that I went back to the Valiant. I waited for the crowds around the bikes to leave. I didn’t want to be near the judge, who was using my chairs, until he had finished making his decisions. It was an excellent day in the sun and made even better when I had a second prize in the post war class. 

I had to stay for my prize. I collected my gear from the car and Gita and her sister, who is visiting from India, left me to it and they went on home to get ready for a birthday party in the evening. My prize for this year was car care shampoo and polish. Very useful, but not something you can show off in a display cabinet. I was very pleased and said to the organisers who good the venue was. Previously it had been in the grounds of Lynwood house and although cosy parking for visitors was a big problem. Before I left I had a nice talk with the man of the 1923 Douglas, who is a friend of a couple of my friends. How small this world is. I said my goodbyes and was off home. It was after 5pm and I needed to be home by 6pm. I eased the Valiant along at speeds between 30 and 40 mph. I was concerned about the heat of the day. I was pretty warm so I’m sure the bike was too. It did well and I made it home without problems and even before 6pm. I had covered 67 miles for the day 20 of which was on the run between Ascot and Sunningdale.

Pre Rally Preparations

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org 

The Paul Fynn Rally

Part One.

2013.

My planned journey home of a pleasant ride on the Valiant after leaving Brooklands was not to be. Not long after leaving the engine started to lose power and was running rough on the left cylinder. I thought it was a blocked jet and would clear quickly. I passed through Chertsey and on to Sunbury and coming up Windmill road the engine started to tighten. I arrived at the A308 traffic lights and pulled over. The engine slowed to a stop. Time to give it a little rest at a safe spot. The pavements are particularly wide here. While I was stopped a man on a Gold Star stopped to give me assistance. It was the owner of the AKD. While he was there I kicked over the engine. It was tight and squeaked a little. I pulled the plugs out and the engine turned over easily with no sound. I put the right plug in no sound. I put the left plug in and it squeaked. Not a big end problem but a left cylinder partial seizure. At this point I phoned the RAC to come and get me. I have two phones and at this time of the day not much charge left. The one I have from Orange had no money left on it and when I tried to top it up the credit card was not recognised and the system did not then revert to an operator for assistance only to top up on-line! With the other phone I passed on all the necessary details to the RAC control and wait for assistance. About an hour and a half later I receive a call from the RAC man asking me what car I had. I said it was a motorcycle and I wanted someone to get me home. He said he had not been given the information I had passed on to control. He said he would see what he could do. While I waited I took the float bowl cover off the carb and cleaned out the chamber. The engine no longer squeaked and felt quite free. When the RAC man arrived he was not happy about the situation. He had not been advised about anything. I was not happy either at the prospect of another one and a half hour wait for a truck. As his van was not able to take my bike. I made him aware of my displeasure about the RAC and that for my fee I get a very second rate service and I wonder why I still belong. My experience is that even just a few miles from home I would expect to wait for about 3 hours. I am to write to the RAC asking for my money back! The young man was very patient and with a re-gapping of a plug that had fallen on the ground the bike ran reasonably well. He liked the bike as it was simple and that you could work on it easily. He agreed to follow me home as the reliability was in question. He kept close behind and used his amber warning lights to help cover my back as I progressed at a mere 30mph. At this speed you don’t have to brake much for anything so I kept up a good momentum all the way home just getting a little wet coming up the A312 a mile or two from home. I did the questionnaire and gave him a glowing report but the rest were very poor. It was raining hard now as I put the bike in the garage to be looked at another day.  I had left Brooklands around 5:15 and got home at 8:15 not the best of an end to a very good day.

Monday morning I was not able to get to the Museum. I desperately needed to get the stair carpet fitted as Gita’s sister from India had already arrived and we were expecting more of the family to arrive later in the week.  Fortune smiled on me and the fitters were done by 1:15 and I was able to get to the Museum to help out on a very busy day. Some 25 people had come through the doors during the day and it was the second busiest for the year so far.  28 had been the tops. I used the Valiant and other than being a little more rattley seemed OK. I would still need to check it over before next Saturday. Tuesday evening I was out to the LE owners club meeting on the LE this time and find when I arrive our usual supply of sandwiches was not going to happen. I would have to starve tonight. The LE got me there and back running near to boiling but didn’t and only lost water from expansion. The fix from Stafford had worked.  More work on the handrail and more varnish required and to be bought on the B&Q card on Wednesday. 

Unfortunately for me there was none at my local B&Q and I spent half the day at a retired union members meeting at Heathrow. My back was playing me up so my plan to get to the Honda owners club in Sunbury was postponed. Thursday I have almost finished varnishing the handrail and find the gear change is just a bit tight and find a spacing washer to move the outer bracket away from the pedal boss a little and now I have a functioning gear change. One job done. I can’t find my supply of LE gaskits so I have ordered more from the club. The Valiant inspection must wait.  I only have to check all the oil levels and give it a wash ready for Saturday. Friday comes damp and I have to wait for a break in the rain to get all the little jobs on the Valiant done. I have now put the last coat of varnish on the handrail and go to the museum in the car to pick up more fliers. In between showers of rain I have washed the Valiant and given it a polish. All is now ready for an early start in the morning.

Up early and on my way to Ascot race course and the car park by the cafe and miniature railway. The Valiant runs well until a few miles from Ascot when it begins to miss a little. I have been running it slow after last Sunday and it feels the tick-over mixture is a bit rich. I sign in and park up to wait for the briefing and start. I talk to a good many people, some who know of the Museum and were at Brooklands and others who now do. The bike line-up is a bit meagre but the cars fill the field with an impressive line up of Veteran cars. 

The oldest vehicle there is a De Dion Buton of 1899 and it does run and sound very good. People were crowding round when it arrived and I was not able to take a picture then but did a bit later.

 In the briefing we are warned there is a horse event going on this weekend and polo and to be extra vigilant anywhere in the park. The start is a bit late and the bikes are to go off in fives behind the exhibition of Morris cars. The bikes fire up at the instruction of the marshal and we move off in clouds of smoke and dust with brilliant sunshine to herald the start.

Ace Cafe Racer Day

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org 

Cafe Racers at Brooklands

Sunday 23^rd June 2013.

The previous Sunday at the Museum, final preparations were going ahead for the London Motorcycle Museum to be present at Brooklands 5 prominent machines were taken from display and as the pre-building work for Ealing Council needed to be done the remaining bits at the end of the yard needed to be cleared. This was heavy work and not for me so I was asked to go along the next Sunday. Would I bring the Valiant along as well? I was at the Museum on the Monday and used the LE on both days. It seemed to be running much better and not boiling over now. When I pulled the dust cover from the Valiant I discover, much to my horror a broken speedo glass and damaged needle and face. The thoughts of waiting ages for a repair crossed my mind and I would not be able to use the bike for the Paul Fynn rally in less than two weeks time. I am not sure how the glass got broken but I needed to use some grab adhesive and I think the end of the gun was the culprit along with my clumsiness. I phoned Reg Allens’ bike shop and was given the number of the speedo repair man, who I managed to contact and he said to bring the speedo down tomorrow but phone again first to ensure he was there. My old Tomtom failed on me so until the new one arrived I was GPSless. Using my tried and tested memory I navigated my way to Ash near Aldershot on the Wednesday on the Buell to sort this speedo out. I went via Alsfords in Cobham to pick up some hand rail parts for the stairs. I arrived at the workshop within a few minutes of when I said I would and left the speedo with him for an hour and went to a cafe near Ash Vale railway station. A very pleasant hour having a big mug of tea and a bacon sandwich while watching the news programs on the big tele there. I returned to the workshop, the speedo was repaired for what I thought was a modest some of £45. He had repaired it some 4 years ago for me and we talked a bit about riding safely and how long it would take to get to Bridgewater going via the A roads. My guess would be 3 hours if you were progressive. Back home along the M3 and by early afternoon the speed was back in place and the bike checked over for Sunday. I had not given it a test ride since repairing the centre stand or after fitting the speedo, but I did make sure that the lights worked and the engine fired up.  I had spent most of Thursday and Friday fitting a new hand rail in the stairs and assembling some new furniture for the study. Sunday was a mixture of sunshine and a few spots of rain and I set out on the Valiant about 7:15 in the morning giving me an hour to get to Brooklands to help set up about 8:30. I was doing really well other than the gear change would not return. It felt stiff and for each downward movement I had to hook the lever back to neutral position to change gear. A minor nuisance, but another job to find time to do. When I got to Walton, the bridge was closed. The fine new structure is impressive but it meant I either had to go back to Hampton Court or on to Chertsey to get over the Thames. I chose Chertsey and followed the signs from there to Brooklands. I had not been to Brooklands by this route before so I missed the entrance and had to come back up the hill to get in.  I was soon allowed in and parked up in the Cafe Racer lot waiting to get on the Museum stand temporarily while I waited for the Museum van and trailer to arrive with bikes and gazebo. In that time I took a number of photos of interesting machines including this OHC B31!!  

 They soon arrived and we had the bikes in place and the gazebo erected and now there was no room for the Valiant. A bit disappointing but it would be displayed with the Cafe Racers.  By the time the 10am opening time came around I already had another tea and handed out lots of fliers to exhibitors. Brian is posing to impress!

.People passed us in a steady flow and at 11:00, when Sammy Miller started up the AJS V4 and the Moto Guzzi vee twin we were crowded out.

 In between the raucous sound of barking exhaust I managed to canvas many of the punters and even having an interview for Brooklands commentary as the guy was desperate for someone to speak. Another plug for the Museum. A bacon roll at twelve followed by lunch at 1:30 many people I handed out fliers to had received them from me at other events but there were always people who did not know about the Museum.  By 3pm I was starting to lose my voice. I was not able to compete with the second firing up of vintage bikes and Sammy’s pride and joys.  It was around this time I gave another interview plugging the museum. A couple of fellows who I had been talking to that were interested in being volunteers bought me a welcomed tea and by 4pm the crowds had thinned leaving only the exhibitors to collect their prizes. Another day promoting the museum and it took the best part of an hour to get the Velocette KTT, Triumph OHC prototype, the red Triton, the Charlie Sandby Norton Commando racer and the BSA Rocket 3 loaded along with all the other bits. I geared up and headed for home. The Valiant pulled well up the hill out of Brooklands and I was looking forward to a pleasant ride home, but that was not to be...........