Home | About the Club | Events | Gallery | Links | Contact us

Birdwood Figure 8 Rally, Sunday 15th March 2009

As usual, our annual "Figure 8" was one of the largest club events for the year, bringing out a range of machines from 1909 up to our cut-off date of 1965. Particularly pleasing this year was the turn-out of veteran (pre-1919) motorcycles - no fewer than 10 veteran bikes assembled at the start. Unfortunately one of them - a beautiful, freshly restored 1914 Lewis V twin - made it no further than the museum gates. Let's hope we see it again on a rally in the near future.

The name "Figure 8" is probably worth explaining. Instead of a single day-long run, the "Figure 8" format involves assembling at a base before heading out for separate morning and afternoon runs - two loops from a common base and we have the "Figure 8". For this long-standing annual event, our base is the grounds of the National Motor Museum at Birdwood. While last year's event coincided with the finals days of an extraordinary heat wave, this year the weather was a little threatening, but it managed to stay fine for the two runs.

The morning run involved a climb of "Hill Road"; possibly the first time we have rallied along this road. Despite its name, all but one of the veterans climbed it with relative ease. The one machine which did have a little trouble experienced belt slip, a problem more usually encountered in wet weather, but still managed to reach the top under its own power.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Neil Caust's delightfully original early 60s Honda Benly was a welcome addition to the rally. It was the first time out on one of our rallies for the little bike, and Neil enjoyed himself immensely. There must be quite a number of early Japanese machinery out there that fits within the VVMCCSA pre-1966 age range, but we see too little of it on rallies.

Thanks to David Radloff and Leon Mitchell for mapping out two very enjoyable runs.

Member attending:

David Radloff 1909 Triumph   
Arnold De Groot 1912 Rudge
Chris Harley 1912 JAP   
Bob Gill 1913 BSA   
Charles Tuckey 1913 Perryvale
Margaret Tuckey 1914 Bradbury
Leon Mitchell 1914 Rudge   
Dean Govan 1914 Douglas   
Terry Rowe 1914 Bullock Precision
Rob Elliott 1914 Lewis FTO
Colin Behn 1920 Harley Davidson
Bob Hill 1924 Henderson Outfit
Colin Pauley 1926 BSA
Brian Forth 1927 Harley Davidson
Rob Smyth 1929 AJS
Arnold De Groot 1930 Norton
Peter Grace 1930 AJS Outfit
Mal Mackay 1936 BSA
David Canty 1940 Ariel
Bob Kretschmer 1941 BSA
Jim Mottillo 1942 BSA
Paul Knapp 1947 Ariel
Alf Lear 1948 Ariel Outfit
Bruce Lehmann 1948 Ariel
Kevin Mead 1948 Velocette
Peter Van Kruysson 1948 BSA
Keith Milich 1948 HRD Vincent
Michale Scarpanono 1949 BSA
Ken Olsson 1949 Matchless
John Mills 1949 Norton
John Deacon 1949 Norton
Les Cartor 1949 BSA FTO
Robert Bergin 1950 Indian FTO
James Whaites 1950 Triumph
Stephen Hooper 1950 AJS
Geoff Thompson 1950 Jawa
David Hooper 1951 Triumph
Neil Hamilton 1951 Norton Outfit
Graeme Bartlett 1952 Norton
Tony Morisset 1952 Vincent   
Roger O’loughlin 1953 Horex
Colin Behn 1953 AJS
Peter Arriola 1954 AJS
Steve Truscott 1955 Norton
Ted Williams 1955 Triumph
Ted Williams 1955 Triumph
Daryl Rosser 1956 Triumph T110
Richard Kretschmer 1956 Norton
John Keay 1956 Matchless
Barry Carlisle 1956 Norton
Don Tonkin 1958 Velocette
Ian Tonkin 1957 Triumph
Richard Buckland 1958 Triumph
Denis Smyth 1958 Triumph
Geoff Barnes 1960 BSA outfit
Neil Caust 1961 Honda F.T.O.


Russell Sadoroshny 1966 Matchless
Malcolm Gray 1971 BMW
Lee Longmire 1974 Moto Guzzi
Ron Roy 1975 Honda
Bill Lorimer 1979 Honda
Tom Whaites 2003 Aprilia
Ian Baldock 2006 Suzuki
Denis Saunders Back up trailer

Plus several members in cars.

Last updated 15 June 2009