Anglo-American Match Racing of the 1970s

[GD66]

Yum, Beezumph triples, drool drool....

Cheers Geoff, I think the bloke in the pic behind John Cooper who you've identified as possibly Phil Read, is actually John Blanchard.

[Blackbird]

Yum, Beezumph triples, drool drool....

Cheers Geoff, I think the bloke in the pic behind John Cooper who you've identified as possibly Phil Read, is actually John Blanchard.

Hi GD66 - I remember John Blanchard, didn't quite make it to the very top level for whatever reason. Can't quite remember what he looked like though... presumably superficially like Phil Read

[al68]

I raced at that meeting being invited to ride in the king of brands supporting race(to the actual anglo match races) seems a long time ago now....
I guess it was, I was just breaking into national events at the time having been helped by Reg Kirby,brother of Tom,who did much more with Bill Ivy
Ahh those were the days...

[Blackbird]

I raced at that meeting being invited to ride in the king of brands supporting race(to the actual anglo match races) seems a long time ago now....
I guess it was, I was just breaking into national events at the time having been helped by Reg Kirby,brother of Tom,who did much more with Bill Ivy
Ahh those were the days...

Those were indeed the days Hope that your career was a successful one! I had a fair bit to do with Triumph development engineer Norm Hyde at that time. He was drag racing a supercharged Trident at the time and I was drag racing a short stroke Triumph 350. I chose drag racing to make up for my lack of cornering competence

Thanks for dropping by!

[pete376403]

Great to hear from you Jake! They sure were spectacular racing days with the riders being pretty accessible. I bet that the authors of the booklet would kill to get a look at your negatives! Somewhere, I have a slide of Nixon, Romero and others (maybe even Rayborn) all lined up on the dummy grid. It's a close-up head and shoulders shot of them all. I really must go through all my boxes of old stuff, but that's a major mission.

Thanks for dropping in!

Geoff

Unless you keep the slides in a temperature/humidity controlled environment it would be worthwhile getting a slide scanner and copying the slides to a hard drive (or two, you can never have too many backups).

[Blackbird]

Unless you keep the slides in a temperature/humidity controlled environment it would be worthwhile getting a slide scanner and copying the slides to a hard drive (or two, you can never have too many backups).

I would if I could find the buggers!
Have been less than impressed with some of the home scanners so had some of my precious old slides professionally scanned and cleaned up with some pretty trick software. Not cheap but happy to pay for genuine quality.

[roogazza]

I raced at that meeting being invited to ride in the king of brands supporting race(to the actual anglo match races) seems a long time ago now....
I guess it was, I was just breaking into national events at the time having been helped by Reg Kirby,brother of Tom,who did much more with Bill Ivy
Ahh those were the days...

Cheers al68, I used to follow Ivy, Read and Hailwood in the old MCN (newspaper version) as a 16 yr old. Loved the 60 & 70s racing.Didn't see them in the flesh sadly but the sounds of V4 2 strokes and Honda Sixs must have been incredible ?

Those were indeed the days Hope that your career was a successful one! I had a fair bit to do with Triumph development engineer Norm Hyde at that time. He was drag racing a supercharged Trident at the time and I was drag racing a short stroke Triumph 350. I chose drag racing to make up for my lack of cornering competence

Thanks for dropping by!

My vintage Blackbird, , 64 now, April '49'. Great years.

[Blackbird]

Cheers al68, I used to follow Ivy, Read and Hailwood in the old MCN (newspaper version) as a 16 yr old. Loved the 60 & 70s racing.Didn't see them in the flesh sadly but the sounds of V4 2 strokes and Honda Sixs must have been incredible ?

My vintage Blackbird, , 64 now, April '49'. Great years.

Great years indeed! It was a privilege to see all the superstars of that era, both on short circuits and the Isle of Man. The only bike I didn't get to see in the flesh was the works Honda 50 twin. For me, the 2 best sounding bikes were the factory racing 750 Tridents and Hailwood's Honda 6 as per your photo - get goosebumps thinking about them