Engine Punk

Continuing the theme of Shelsley specials after the trip to Wisombe, here's Miss Bacfire. Or maybe that should Miss BACfire. That 2.4 litre vee twin originally lived in a 1920's motorcycle used for bicycle pacing. I'd never heard of this sport but it's basically going as fast as you can on a push bike whilst slipstreaming behind a motorcycle or car. It used to be incredibly popular because of the speeds involved and velodromes sprang up all over France to sate the demand. It was even worth Louis Bac building motorcycles especially designed for this very purpose. These had big engines with a direct belt drive off the crankshaft and would build up speed slowly and inexorably dragging the hapless cyclist along behind them in their wake. You can see the sort of device on Silodrome . The A Meier BAC, to give the machine its full title, was built around 1928 and featured rollers on the back to avoid any mishaps if the pursuing push bike put its front tyre to clos...

The GSM Delta was the first that I've ever seen When I arrived at Wiscombe Park I was amazed to see how cut up the the top field was. Under the trees it's sort of level but the ground was still waterlogged despite recent dry weather and ruts showed vehicles had got stuck and been towed out with difficulty. So we were all crammed into the top paddock and very cosy it was, too! It wasn't always sunny, though I met up with my old mate Pete Low who was on the first leg of his holiday to France. He was on his BMW Funduro and I was my Monster Mazda and we were both camping in tents. Friday was very windy and it rained hard. Neither of us got  much sleep. There were rumours around the paddock in the morning that the event might be cancelled but I'm delighted to say that it wasn't. The lower paddock was very muddy and inevitably the start line became covered with clods from competitors wheels. It rained intermittently all through the day but we had some sunny spell...