All over for this year.

 . . . mission accomplished,  heading home now to the Isle Of Man.

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 10

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 9

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 8

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 7

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 6

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 5

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 4

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 3

ralfy at Bonneville speed week 2016 Part 2

ralfy at Bonneville Speed Week 2016 Part 1

Finally arrived at my destination.

sitting on the salt for speed week.

Hot in Las Vegas, and heading North.

110 degrees,  15% humidity and no precipitation.  Wind speed 4mph.

(just like we hope to find on the Salt)

That's what we are experiencing in Las Vegas on our last day before heading north to Wendover.

It's a good opportunity to acclimatise and get used to the heat of the salt flats whilst at the same time
enjoying a few moments of the surreal event that is 'The Strip'.   Fun to start with, but the novelty soon wears off.    I notice that the mood of Vegas has changed since my last visit.    It seems less confident.

entertainment night !

 . . . and day.

Collecting oil in Los Angeles

 . . . When importing machinery into the U.S. as shipping, one is not allowed to have fuel, coolant or oils in the engine which means all of these commodities need to be sourced locally on arrival,   which one would not think was much of a problem,   but it can be,   it has been for me.
  The simplest way of going about things is to have a local contact which I organised through a friend who will accept deliveries on your behalf and then order what you need online from one-stop suppliers like amazon who will deliver direct to the contact's address.

 . . . Except one of my oil requirements has been for Castrol R40 vegetable engine oil which is not to be found anywhere in the U.S. because it is now very old-fashioned and not considered 'environmentally friendly' and as a result I have had to find a supplier in Canada who would ship down to California.

The good news is that my oil has arrived safely,  and the bad news is that five litres of Castrol R40 which normally costs around £40 has cost $200 (£155).

It's OK though, because it's all part of the journey to Bonneville.

Castrol R40 'cos I need it !

In the U.S. for the big adventure now.

 . . we are based in Las Vegas because it's central for access to Los Angeles for picking up our bike crates and then for travelling up through the desert to Bonneville.
I don't and never will be a gambler, so Vegas is a novelty for me and not a money loser.

not spending a dime on the wee beasts,  just a beer or two !

Orleans 5am

"Salty Wheels"

A malternative Bonneville bike.

The last nuts and bolts before transportation.

 . . . nearly, but not quite ready to show the bike off for the first time since production started two years ago.    How time flies,  I hope my 250cc pushrod flies too, on the Bonneville salt seeing as how the event is happening this year as the flooding is over.

The machine has already been assembled, however it is not looking it's best with all the trial running to check performance and change broken bits, but soon a picture will be on this Blog !

metric and imperial and whitworth

 . . . one of the challenges is combining an old 1960's engine into a frame made of metric nuts and bolts.     The engine is made with imperial nuts and bolts,  different sizes different dimensions different differences !    and then there a few 'whitworth' spanners for obscure component nuts, so I have a tool kit with three varieties of spanners.

Modern bikes will be metric only,    although aircraft manufacturers use imperial screw threads as they are more 'suitable' for planes.
I just thought I would mention that.

a gift from Captain Richard

 . . . this is a pillar drill,  it is essential for drilling very small holes through very strong steel with small cobalt (2mm) drills which break frequently and cause frustration  (I will vouch for that).    All this is needed to comply with Bonnevile Speed Week regulations which like all race/speed organisers need to ensure bits don't fall off a machine during a run.
  As you see the place is a mess,   it's just the way it is and will be a bit tidier when the bike is in it's container and off the to the U.S.

the whisky flask

 . . . this is where whisky meets motorcycle,  in an old whisky flask re-purposed as an overflow tank for surplus engine fluid.

It works and I like it.

This is what Iv'e been waiting to have confirmed all year

The S.C.T.A. Bonneville organisers are confirming that the Event is happening after some doubts about recent flooding.

One month to go and popping pistons !

 . . . yes, only three weeks till I fill up my transportation crate and fly my 250cc pushrod off to the United States for Speed Week, Bonneville.
   And in true time-honoured tradition, as time runs out for the preparation of my machine, what can go wrong is going wrong,  and is manifesting itself in a succession of blown pistons.

But it's OK because thats the way it goes, and like Burt Munro the Bonneville legend, if you don't have an alter of 'sacrifices' to the gods of speed in the form of broken engine components, then you are either very lucky, or just not trying hard enough.

I look at it this way,    . . .  rather a load of problems before I go, than no problems till I get there.

You see my point ?

With the significant additional stresses on my engines due to demands of competition, individual components are increasingly stressed in pursuit of more speed and performance.   This can lead to components failing under test and for my bike it is manifesting itself in the form of 'popped' pistons.
This is where the heat during operation around the spark plug gets so high (600 c+) that the aluminium based alloy of the piston starts to over-heat,  soften then tear removing all compression in the chamber and causing failure.

Establishing the exact cause is not so easy as various factors are influencing this situation,   but I have some great engineers who will fix things,   and that makes all the difference.

popped piston in a cylinder.

earlier offering to the gods of speed !

Lapping the valves and other jobs.

 . . . with not long to go (six weeks) till Bonneville Speed Week in Utah preparations are ongoing with getting my engines ready for the event.    All of the work on both the frame and the three engines have been done by my Team-mates Chris and Richard who have shown considerable patience with my lack of skills in this field, but as I spend more time with the machine, I am gradually making more sense of it.
    Recently I tackled some wiring installation and have been checking clutch plates and ajusting brake shoes,  and with supervision have been introduced to 'lapping' which involves a smear of different grades of grinding paste onto the lip of the valves which is then rotated in it's engine location to ensure absolute even seating into the casing.    

Lapping !

I have seen traction engine builders with the little tin of grinding paste with lids at both ends, one end for course grade, the other end for fine grade and at last, I know what the stuff is used for.   Like most jobs relating to engines it cannot be rushed and requires both patience and precision to be done right.
  The results are simply a better performing engine which is just what I need for the demands of world record attempts.

Another job has been bedding in the traditional drum brake shoes which when new have a shiny surface which can make braking more difficult.    By lightly roughing the surface with a file or sandpaper the ability of the brake surface to perform is improved.   There are many other jobs to do yet, but it's all coming together and I am learning a lot from the experience.

. . . T.T. time and losing weight.

 . . . it's been five months since I began to lose weight to trim down for Bonneville 2016.

T.T. 2016 is about to start, it's the World's most famous motorcycle road race.

Logistically as a team we are well organised and have just our bike's Environmental certification for the U.S. to be obtained and this will happen as soon as we receive our race-tickets from the S.C.T.A.
and have complete pictures of our finished bikes as they will appear on the salt.

Also the carnets have to be arranged, but that is simply a specific and accurate list of ALL transport container contents right down to numbers of screws, bolts and washers !

The work on our bikes continues and is "on track" with tuning, modifications and regular tests happening.   Flying out my bike container is not only slightly cheaper than sea-freight, but allows an extra month of preparation which will be valuable time for concluding preparations.  Flying-freight takes 9 days from the UK to the US,    sea-freight takes 37 days !

Personal preparation has seen me reduce in weight from 205lb to 179lb, a weight loss of 26 pounds, or just short of two stones ( 11.8kg) and I certainly feel lighter,    . . . I reckon I can lose another six pounds before going in August,  but the more one loses, the harder it gets to lose !    The thing to keep in mind is that the more weight I lose, the faster I will be on the bike (E = mc2)

For now I am keeping an eye on the weather forecasts for dry salt and sunny days during Speed Week 2016.     . . . fingers crossed.      More about the salt in my next blog.

Characters of Bonneville !

 . . . and there have been a lot over the years as motor vehicle sprinting and all the community that goes with it tends to attract many larger-than-life characters and motor-head eccentrics.

Here are just two . . .

Burt Munro

This focused New Zealander from a Town called Invercargill came to Bonneville and against all the odds, but with considerable experience and dedication to his trusty Indian motorcycle set an under 1000cc World land speed record.


Working in a hut at his home he worked for 20 years to repeatedly modify the 1920 Indian bike and set his first New Zealand record in 1938 and later set seven more. During his ten visits to the salt flats, he set three speed records, one of which still stands.    A film was made about his exploits which is well worth watching,  and several books have been written about him showing a more realistic perspective.

Rollie Free

 . . . Rollie was a motorcycle racer best known for breaking the American motorcycle land speed record in 1948 on the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The picture of Free, prone and wearing a bathing suit is considered one of the most iconic pictures in motorcycling history.

On September 13, 1948, Free raised the American motorcycle speed record by riding the very first Vincent HRD  to a speed of 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h). Special features included the first-ever Vincent use of a rear shock absorber, the first Mk II racing cams, and horizontally mounted racing carburetors. Free had already developed a style of removing the seat from his mount, and lying flat prone along the back spine – thereby minimising wind resistance, and placing most weight over the rear wheel. It is generally believed that this bike is The Black Lightning though, a custom order from the factory and was some 100 pounds lighter and 25 hp more powerful than the stock Black Shadow. In one of his books, Phil Irving (one of the designers) said that there were only about 16 of the model produced. The Black Lightning is the fastest Vincent ever produced.

To protect himself and allow comfort when in such a position, Free had developed special protective clothing. However, when his leathers tore from early runs at 147 mph (237 km/h), he discarded them and made a final attempt without jacket, pants, gloves, boots or helmet. Free lay flat on the motorcycle wearing only a bathing suit, a shower cap, and a pair of borrowed sneakers.    This resulted not only in the record, but also one of the most famous photographs in motorcycling history, the "bathing suit bike" shot taken from a speeding car alongside his run on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

For reasons of health and safety,  this would not be allowed today !    . . . understandably so.

What is Bonneville actually ?

 . . . in the context of this Blog,  Bonneville is an iconic location and event relating to speed trials for all types of 'transport' machines from tiny to huge, beautiful to ugly,   . . . and nothing ever boring !

. . . out of racing season, the place is a rather striking dried salt-lake desert surrounded by arid hills and low mountains.  Most of the year sees the location waterless and hot attracting visitors for it's remoteness and striking atmosphere, especially at night when the moon is up and stars sprinkle the sky.

Around 1900 the first roads reached the salt lake and in 1907 two local men rode onto the salt in a car to create the first 'recorded' speed-trial.   By 1914 the first official, organised time-trial hailed the beginning of Bonneville salt-lake as the World centre for timed speed records and very quickly a whole range of different classes from vehicle types to engine sizes and fuel groups was established by what has remained essentially a voluntary group of enthusiasts, the Southern Californian Timing Association.  In 2014 they intended to celebrate 100 years of speed racing, however the event was cancelled due to flooding, only the second time in 100 years.

   The event remains quite unique to motorsport as unlike SuperBikes, Nascar and Formula1 it has not been commercialised and excessively branded by commercial interests.   Relatively unknown to the general public due to the lack of mainstream media coverage bonneville is well recognised within the motorcycle community as providing the name for a notable Triumph motorcycle and for being the place that Rollie Free and Burt Munro did their 'thing',     I will talk about these two chaps in my next blog.

 

Two big Sponsors supporting Salty Wheels at Bonneville

 . . . I am delighted to announce that I now have two major sponsors supporting logistical costs of taking my 250cc pushrod classic motorbike to Bonneville this August for Speed Week record attempts.

www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com

 . . . are a Glasgow based on line spirits auction specialist with a growing reputation internationally as an excellent source for obtaining newer, older and really-older bottles of whisky, other spirits and assorted whisky memorabilia.    With their excellent contacts in the Scotch whisky Industry they are forefront in authenticating rare and obscure bottlings of whisky and also for maintaining a lower commission level than many more traditional auctioneers, both for the buyer and for the seller.
I continue to purchase some interesting old bottles myself on a regular basis.









www.bonaccordpub.com

 . . . the Bon Accord is the U.K.'s 'National Winner Independent Pub Category award 2015'  title holder and enjoys an excellent reputation for the range and quality of the cask ales of which there are over 900 varieties a year.
Also to be found within this alladins' cave of maltiness are hundreds of different single malt whiskies and other quality spirits which are appreciated not just by the regulars but also by the two Whisky Clubs which are based in the Bon Accord and looked after by Proprietor Paul, one of Scotland's foremost publicans with a considerable experience within the licenced trade.    Paul also has a great number of contacts throughout the Scotch whisky industry,    and he's just a great chap to have a drink with whilst talking malt-moment stuff !

Trip Advisor  tends to agree with my opinion of the Bon Accord.

It's wonderful to have this association and I look forward to some blogging and vlogging with my sponsors relating to the Bonneville challenge this year.

Preparing your essentials for Bonneville.

. . . preparing a motorcycle or any other vehicle may be at the core of participation in Bonneville Speed Week but there's more that needs to be done,  even the necessary personal preparation by riders and drivers on the salt through physical exercise, weight loss and improving stamina with connective training (bike trail riding) helps considerably but without logistic and event planning with the practicalities,    your just not going to make it !

Logistics vary depending on location,    if your based in the U.S. it's more direct and is as follows

1 - Ensure vehicle and rider/driver will be ready on time.
2 - Apply for SCTA membership in good time.
3 - Register your competition vehicle and receive a race number and Card.
4 - Book/arrange accommodation either in a mobile home, tent (if your brave) or local hotel/casino.
5 - Ensure your transportation is fit for purpose, particularly over long distances.
6 - Obtain competitive insurance.
7 - Check with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that your vehicle has a consent certificate if required. www.epa.gov/home/forms/contact-epa   

If you based out with the U.S. you will need to organise freighting of your vehicle either by sea or air.
My experience is that it is best to use an experienced shipper who understands all the bureaucracy that needs to be addressed and also if you ship by sea, allow six weeks for the journey.    Shipping by air is much quicker at around nine days from the U.K. and also may be cheaper than sea-freight.

With air freight, cost is calculated on size (dimensions) of transportation crate whilst sea freight is calculated by total weight of the consignment.  

In both instances U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certificates will be needed to take your vehicle into the U.S. for use and should be obtained well in advance of going.   Your official participation card for the event along with three full colour pictures of your machine will be required for these certificates.

All vehicles must travel without fuel and oil in the machines, therefore they must be 'dry' and also any batteries in your container must have both terminals isolated completely and securely.

In the U.K. Carnets (a Formal list of everything being transported) is needed and can be obtained from the London Chamber of Commerce where you can register for a carnet electronically through their website. http://www.londonchamber.co.uk/lcc_public/article.asp?aid=100 

Personal travel visas called an 'ESTA' can be obtained direct from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (  https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ )

Preparing a vehicle for Bonneville.

. . . First thing to do is get hold of the S.C.T.A.  (http://www.scta-bni.org/) Year Book.
The latest issue (it's an annual updated reference) is 2016 Rules & Records Dry Lake Speed Trials.
  Whatever the vehicle being prepared, due to regular additions to rules and regulations I advise that anyone get hold of the latest issue and not a yester-year copy.
  Most styles of vehicle may participate so long as they are, for example, not jet powered.
There are other exclusions as advised by the organisers so it is best to check first before applying.
Erosion of the salt surface at Bonneville over the years due to near-by potash mining is causing the level to drop significantly and some parts of the Speed Week courses are very near to bedrock.
How much longer Bonneville will last is anyone's guess !
That's one good reason to take the opportunity while it's there.

For me the opportunity is a motorcycle,   a 250cc classic style machine that's being built specifically for this mission.    I am very lucky indeed to have the support of a great Team and especially Team-Captain Richard and Team-mate Chris who have done the lion's share of the work on the frame and rolling chassis.    Our friend Ron in Ramsey has applied methodical precision to the methanol engine build and it is a 'masterclass' every time I have seen him at work on the engine he has built for me to race.

Richard and Chris doing the magic !

Team-Captain Richard is invaluable in bringing an experienced eye and knowledge to frame design using donated parts and an angle grinder to taper, cut and weld an ugly-duckling Enfield frame into something bespoke and tailored to speed trials.   Team-mate Chris is an amazingly talented engineer and fabricator and the quality of his components in my opinion match the best of the professionals like Harris Performance UK.

  Both have spent months now tolerating my ineptitude at mechanical stuff and persevering with construction to the highest standard feasible and I am please to see an impressive motorbike slowly appear in the garage      . . . despite my best efforts to assist !

My bike happens to be a 'special-build' but it is quite acceptable to race a standard production machine at the salt-flats.   One only has to be careful to comply to rules . . .
SOME rules include -
Removing rear-view mirrors,   they are not needed.
Removing pillion foot pegs.
Fitting a rear wheel brake is only option, there must be no front brake !
Wheels need to have a minimum diameter of 15 inches.
All axels must be steel alloy or titanium.
Steering dampener is required.
And,   no guns allowed on the salt during the Event !

These are just a few of the rules.   Due to pre-event inspection, and close inspection after a record run is achieved rules must be followed carefully to prevent penalty or disqualification.

Here's the bike so far,   looking good but far from ready !

250cc classical racer

Three Parts to being prepared for Bonnevillle (or any motorcycle event)

 . . . there are three components to getting prepared for a motorcycle Event, in this case it being Bonneville Speed Week 2016.

1 - Personal preparation.

2 - Vehicle Preparation.

3 - Event Preparation.

It is a good idea to segregate the three into separate 'folders' and in doing so it makes things clearer and simpler avoiding confusion and possible failures.
   Basically, compartmentalise and then List !    it's what I used to do on a daily basis as part of my job when I was particularly busy and the consequence of missing something could have been serious causing upset and hurt to a client.    Further more, using red and green pens along with standard black means  I can monitor at a glance what has been done and what needs to be done.

Personal preparation is probably the easiest (technically speaking) to arrange.    Important for Speed Week is to be physically fit, bike fit and   . . . lose some weight to allow the bike the opportunity to go a bit faster.   It's that E = MC squared thing again !

The conventional wisdom is to go on a diet,  eat less and take green coffee tablets or what ever happens to be the fashionable supplement at the time.   This may get you started and some weight loss will be attained, however, my target is to lose 14 lb (7 kilos ) and I am half way there now in just over six weeks losing 1 lb a week.  It's now getting tougher, so we are past the 'conventional diet' stage which is unsistainable in the longer term and my weight loss programme will now change to an Atkins-style of lower carb, minimal sugar, steady exercise format where I will have a low-carb high protein breakfast,   some mixed nuts and dried fruit at lunch, and a small-portion hot diner with plenty vegetables but less starchy component.     Low fat diets are NOT the way to lose weight, significantly reducing sugar consumption and balancing out insulin release is much more helpful.

    Another element of physical preparation is being bike-fit (off-road track biking) and yoga for balance and co-ordination.   I am now attending a bikers yoga class once a week and feeling the benefits already.    If it works for the TT riders, it will do for me !
Walking, swimming, weight training and static cycling are all done on rotation to maintain a higher level of calorific burn-up in order to improve physical fitness whilst burning a few more calories and in doing so, maintain a slight calorific deficit,    . . . this loses weight in the form of stored fat.

   And if I slip-up in a moment of weakness and have a starchy snack,   no worries,   so long as it's at the weekend only and not regular, I will forgive myself.

Here's what I had yesterday, Frazzles, 2 packets, they were yummy but no more till next week end.

 . . .frazzleicious !

15 Degrees.

 . . . anyone who enters a motorcycle into Bonneville Speed Week needs to get hold of a "Rules and Records" up-to-date book in order to understand and comply with participation regulations.   These regulations fall into two part, those affecting the machine and those affecting the riders suitability to participate and protective gear worn.

     Here I am illustrating one component of the machine regulations,   the 15 degrees rule.

   The steering range of the front forks must not exceed a 15 degree turn both left and right and steering must be restricted from turning any further than the specified allowance.   This is for safety reasons as excessive turning angles, particularly at speed could contribute to a riders loss of control of his or her motorbike resulting in a crash.

   In calculating the margin, we used a measured disc (plastic filler tin lid) with a guidance pin (some straight wire) to measure this out and then cut and welded two restriction brackets onto the front of the frame to ensure a simple and obvious compliance to the regulation.   This will make it easy for an event scrutineer to see what has been done to comply with requirements.    Simple problems are often best addressed with simple solutions.

         A steering damper has also been added to assist in the control and stability of steering.

Parts of the Sum.

. . . all things created are the embodiment of a process.     This process can be of many parts cumulating into one creation, and this is exactly the situation with any motorcycle, the parts being the the designers ideas and drawings, the metals, alloys, rubber, glass and plastics, in fact everything that is a raw material contributing to the product.     Engineers and technicians, often experienced professional people create the shapes which suit the function of individual parts from castings to bolts to sprockets which are brought together in a final purposeful entity,  a motorcycle.

The vast majority of motorbikes are mass-produced in factories on assembly lines, many now partially or fully automated and we see such machines competing at Bonneville Speed Week and doing well.  They have a participation class of their own.

My bike is in another class, that of special production as the individual components making up my machine are bought as 'separates' or manufactured by team members.      

Both Richard and Chris are experts at own-fabricating and as I am not ready to show the whole bike yet, I will introduce to you two individual components made by Team members and ideally suited to the function of Speed on Salt !

 . . .  this fibreglass cowl seat has been made by Richard who has decades of experience in working with fibreglass in relation to time-trials bikes.   The material is light, strong and very easily moulded prior to hardening and he has done a magnificent job in contouring the seat to fit the frame of the bike.    As with most difficult to do things, Richard makes it all look so easy,   it's not,  and takes considerable time and patience.





. . . Chris has selected aluminium to fabricate
the battery box for the bike,   this is a strong yet light metal which provides protection and containment for the battery within the frame whilst minimising additional weight on the bike.   Welding aluminium is hard to do but fortunately Chris is a highly experienced welder with knowledge of how metals behave and react to heat and how they fuse under a welding torch.   Watching Chris at work is seeing a master craftsman with a considerable level of skill tackle challenges with ease.



I will introduce more components as time progresses and will explain what considerations are involved in preparation for Bonneville.

Losing is gaining !

 . . . it will seem quite obvious to a physicist that E = mc2, however just how much weight should I lose to be at an optimum weight for my Bonneville bikes best (fastest) performance.
The bike can only produce energy (E) to a finite level which translates from internal combustion through the engine, then gear box, then chain and sprockets and finishing at the base of the back wheel through to a semi-static salt surface.
the speed achievable (c2) is therefore less the greater the volume of mass, (excluding drag factors).

So we start with E = mc²   

which on introduction of pressure and volume is 
M =

E₀ + pV₀/c²

In terms of relativistic energy the equation is       which basically means,   despite other contributory factors,  I need to loses some weight to go a little bit faster.

The real skill with this is to avoid diets at all costs, they don't work because bodies adapt to food restriction and go into 'preservation' mode of lethargy and cravings.

'Nutritional adjustment' is a far better policy with a collective of simple annoying processes replacing the outright anxiety of a traditional diet.

Nutritional adjustment strategies are -

1.  Eat sensible, nutritious meals and use a slightly smaller plate to eat the meals off so as to fractionally reduce portion size.

2. Cut out bread (savoury cake) sweets, chocolate, beer and wine which all contain non-productive calories.

3.  Do fifteen minutes of intense aerobic exercise every second morning before breakfast stimulate metabolism.

4. Imagine going faster weighing less,   think about it when tempted to cheat with sweets.

5. Drink green tea with lemon and a little honey.

6. On one day a week have a bottle of beer as a reward,    . . .  but two beers are a failure.

7. Think thin,  looking great tastes good all the time.

 /

Gaining by losing !

 . . . Team Boss Richard has recently taken some delight in informing riders Chris and myself that we have to lose half a stone (seven pounds or 3.17 kilo grams) in readiness for our Bonneville challenge.

    At only half a pound a week over the next 14 weeks this may appear relatively easy however I  am a bit fat even though I also happen to be quite fit and it is going to be difficult to shift because I have big bones, a slow metabolism and drink whisky.

"will the big-boned biker please stay off "

I have been reassured by friends involved with aerodynamics that the most aerodynamically efficient shape is an egg.   So if I can fatten my backside up a bit more over the next couple of months I will be a little heavier than desired, but more slip streamed a bit like an airship so the reduced air resistance on the salt flats will compensate for being allegedly over weight.

My formula for success will be fish and chips every Saturday, with sauce,  and beer on Sundays.
No biscuits or sweets though as that would be reckless and irresponsible and I will be encouraging ALL Team members to observe a voluntary ban on anything tasty and fun whilst in the workshop.

We will eat mini pickled onions and green tea tablets with cups of kelp stew and sushi nano-nibbles as a treat for good behaviour.

Anything more would be irresponsible.

Joey Dunlop Foundation Annual Dinner.

    . . . The Team are proud to continue an enthusiastic and positive association with the Joey Dunlop Foundation based on the Isle of Man at Braddan Bridge House.    The Foundation remembers and commemorates the greatest TT rider of all time, Joey Dunlop, by providing a unique accommodation service for anyone with special needs status who requires assisted-access apartments and interiors to make themselves comfortable.   Facilities at Braddan Bridge House include wheelchair access showers, height-adjust sinks and special elevators amongst other features.   The reputation the House has created for itself is very commendable and a great way for supporters to remember Joey.

With a final extension planned this year to complete the facility, our Team have been helping by raising awareness of the Foundation and by attending the recent Annual Dinner in Douglas, Isle of Man where T.T. stars including Dan Kneen, Dave Molyneux, Conor Cummins, Ian Hutchinson and Ivan Lintin were guests of honour adding add a bit of sparkle to the fund raising auction and raffles after the dinner.
It was a fun evening and good for the Team to mingle with other guests and get such positive encouragement for our Bonneville Mission this year, despite the various challenges we are facing.

John, Richard, Chris and Ralf.

Whilst at the Event the winner of the Bruce Anstey Motorcycle commissioned from Padgett Racing was announced and the 2016 bike was revealed, a Joey's Bar yellow machine which looked beautiful.  Someone somewhere will be a lucky winner of this rocket next January !

"Joey's Bar m.c.c." Prize Bike for 2017