Bender
17th July 2010, 10:01
It's been 10 years since Joey Dunlop died (actually on July 2) and I've just received the MCN special edition commemorating his death.
I like JD. I have a couple of DVDs of him on the IOM TT circuit and I can watch him race time and and again because he is just so smooth. Makes it look easy (I reckon the only other person who approaches JD in this regard is Bruce Anstey but that's a whole other debate.)
The special edition talks about an early film made about the Armagh Armada - three Irish road racers - which is also now available on DVD, bundled with a film called V4 Victory. I've ordered it - I love these old films, made with massive cameras strapped to the tank and in this case, with the camera battery held between Joey Dunlop's knees during full-race laps of the NW200.
There are a few neat comments in the MCN spec.ed that I particularly liked.
(Kudos to writer Guy Proctor for the following excerpts, nice work.)
"He was his usual invincible-looking self on each of the three years he attended the (Tallin) races - mesmerising smoothness masking pulverising speed." How's that for an epitaph?
The following isfrom Neil Tuxworth who was the GB Honda boss in the day.
"He was so easy on his bikes. I was always amazed at how few spares Joey used. He never over-revved them. They never broke. He was so smooth in everything he did. Foggy used to have a new clutch every single race when he was riding our RC45 superbike. Joey had the same clutch in his RC45 for three years.
"I remember one time Joey rang up to say he needed some piston rings for a rebuild job. I thought he'd need gaskets, seals, bearings, things like that if he was rebuilding an engine so I asked the boys in the workshop to fix him up with a package of parts. Two weeks later I got a package back from Joey with all the parts we sent him, minus the rings. In the package was a note saying "I only asked for the bloody rings."
"The Japanese had tremendous respect for Joey. His name was revered in the factory.
"I remember the first year Head of Honda Motorsports Michihiko Aika (a Japanese engineer who had been a mechanic for Hailwood in the 60s) came to the TT. We were running RC30s with flatslide carburettors. They cost 20,000 pounds per set which at that time was a fortune and they arrived from Japan with a memo that simply said "look after these."
"I picked Mr Aika up from the airport and asked him if he'd like to go to the hotel. But he wanted to see Joey at the workshop. Joey had this place at Mannin Tyres near the marina and it was absolutely pouring with rain. When we arrived there was no Joey to be seen but there was his RC30 outside in the pouring rain, heads off the engine with 5mm of water sitting in the bores on top of the pistons. I was absolutely horrified and then we spotted the carburettors. Joey had used a twig to hang them by their cables over the side of the wall, above a stream. I expected Mr Aika to blow his top but he just looked at me and said "It's ok Neil-san, we all know about Joey Dunlop."
I like JD. I have a couple of DVDs of him on the IOM TT circuit and I can watch him race time and and again because he is just so smooth. Makes it look easy (I reckon the only other person who approaches JD in this regard is Bruce Anstey but that's a whole other debate.)
The special edition talks about an early film made about the Armagh Armada - three Irish road racers - which is also now available on DVD, bundled with a film called V4 Victory. I've ordered it - I love these old films, made with massive cameras strapped to the tank and in this case, with the camera battery held between Joey Dunlop's knees during full-race laps of the NW200.
There are a few neat comments in the MCN spec.ed that I particularly liked.
(Kudos to writer Guy Proctor for the following excerpts, nice work.)
"He was his usual invincible-looking self on each of the three years he attended the (Tallin) races - mesmerising smoothness masking pulverising speed." How's that for an epitaph?
The following isfrom Neil Tuxworth who was the GB Honda boss in the day.
"He was so easy on his bikes. I was always amazed at how few spares Joey used. He never over-revved them. They never broke. He was so smooth in everything he did. Foggy used to have a new clutch every single race when he was riding our RC45 superbike. Joey had the same clutch in his RC45 for three years.
"I remember one time Joey rang up to say he needed some piston rings for a rebuild job. I thought he'd need gaskets, seals, bearings, things like that if he was rebuilding an engine so I asked the boys in the workshop to fix him up with a package of parts. Two weeks later I got a package back from Joey with all the parts we sent him, minus the rings. In the package was a note saying "I only asked for the bloody rings."
"The Japanese had tremendous respect for Joey. His name was revered in the factory.
"I remember the first year Head of Honda Motorsports Michihiko Aika (a Japanese engineer who had been a mechanic for Hailwood in the 60s) came to the TT. We were running RC30s with flatslide carburettors. They cost 20,000 pounds per set which at that time was a fortune and they arrived from Japan with a memo that simply said "look after these."
"I picked Mr Aika up from the airport and asked him if he'd like to go to the hotel. But he wanted to see Joey at the workshop. Joey had this place at Mannin Tyres near the marina and it was absolutely pouring with rain. When we arrived there was no Joey to be seen but there was his RC30 outside in the pouring rain, heads off the engine with 5mm of water sitting in the bores on top of the pistons. I was absolutely horrified and then we spotted the carburettors. Joey had used a twig to hang them by their cables over the side of the wall, above a stream. I expected Mr Aika to blow his top but he just looked at me and said "It's ok Neil-san, we all know about Joey Dunlop."