Engine Punk

I spotted this Sunbeam Model 90 at Wiscombe Park earlier this month and managed a brief chat with then owner who told me that only 9 of this model were made and that an example was destroyed in the fire at the National Motor Museum. In view of its rarity, I said I thought it was great that he was using it for what it was designed. To me, Sunbeams typically mean the hot versions of Hillman Imps. I also associate the name other with badge engineered Rootes-mobiles and the occasional sportscar. But Sunbeam - like Triumph - had begun by making bicycles. There's something endearing about the post war Sunbeam in-line vertical twins. I can imagine my dad having one as a lad if he could have afforded one. They seem to me to be a kind of British Harley-Davidson. But that's not what the Sunbeam Model 90 was about. The TT Model 90, to give its proper name had a string of racing victories, cost £90 and would do 90 mph. Bore and stroke were 80 x 98mm to give a capacity of 493cc and ...

Me and my gang of punk rock mates got our act together to get tickets for The Stranglers in Fowey on Friday. We were very lucky to get tickets - being very quick off the mark helped here - but imagine our dismay when we found it was seated. And imagine my mate Gary's face when he was told he couldn't take his drink in. After a lot of energetic fidgeting during the first few numbers Dave couldn't bear it. "I can't stand sitting down!" he said and everyone in our row had to stand up to let him go down the front where, on the right hand side, some people had lost their inhibitions and were already on their hindlegs. I grabbed my chance and followed Dave to a gap in the seats just before they rose in tiers. And that's where we stayed until we were joined by the others for No More Heroes . The sound was crystal clear and the band were full of the usual brooding menace spread thinly over ill-disguised enjoyment at playing for such an "up-for-it" crowd....

It's been a while since I went to the Exeter Phoenix and it seems to have shrunk. Maybe I've grown up a bit during the last three years. More likely it was the stature of punk icons The Damned. It certainly felt more intimate than last time. I'm going to let you into a secret. The Damned are actually very fine musicians. I shouldn't have been surprised after seeing them perform over so many years. They've been doing it for long enough to get quite good. It’s just that their image and self-deprecating stage antics tend to gloss over this fact. Dave Vanian's got a brilliant voice and Monty Oxymoron tinkles the ivories very well. But Captain Sensible is actually a very good guitarist and can do all that back of the neck stuff. That's his neck, not the guitar’s. He usually does it after asking the rhetorical question, why punk? "I'll tell you why punk - it was all those ten minute guitar riffs and half hour drum solos!" Cue the good captain to do a...

This year's Vintage Sports Car Club meeting was cold - so cold the batteries in my camera expired, one set after another. I tried warming them in my pockets and this helped a bit but eventually they all cried enough. If you scampered up and down from finish line to paddock - like I did - you could forget the cold but for the marshals and the guys on the gate who had to stay put, it was perishing. The machinery, though, was as diverse and fascinating as ever. I went to both the Saturday and Sunday events and camped in my van (VT No.44) with an Arctic-spec sleeping bag. The picture above shows Terry McGrath in his 1100cc 1928 Amilcar CGS special and several well wrapped up starting officials. On the Saturday there were the Formula 3 500cc racers from the fifties and although I can't usually work up much enthusiasm for single seaters, I really like these little things. They are so cute you could wear them as a badge. Number 64 is a Norton powered Martin and is a great example of a...

Last Sunday I successfully infiltrated Goodwood racecourse. I'd always thought it was far too posh for the likes of me but was in the area last weekend and was persuaded otherwise by local relatives. I'm glad the talked me into it. We registered on line and got a very nice message from Lord Marmalade himself saying how pleased he would be to see us. After that welcome it would have been churlish not to have gone. The theme for that day's Breakfast Club was Everything but the car so what did we turn up in but my trusty old van (VT No.44). It still felt subversive to be there because there were so many smarter vehicles but Citroen C15Ds of this vintage are getting rarer. It didn't look so out of place as you might think parked against a Mimi pickup, even if said Mini pickup was immaculate and probably the result of an expensive restoration. A few cars had slipped in under the net but most of the exhibits were motorcycles with the occasional trike and a few commercial veh...