mgbv8 wrote:
Due to some incorrect Internet setting I've been unable to view any U-tube clips till now.
I compiled those clips for Dave Smith.
Back then Dave (on his 850 Norton Commando) and I were usually the only 2 bikes to race in the 1,000cc class and we eneded up running Round Robins (best of 3 matches against each other) to determine the winner.
Back then I was just happy to be alive (after having recently lost my leg), so I was more interested in having fun and winning but Dave was deadly serious about winning, hence the title of the clip.
Combine that with the fact that changing gear with a wooden leg is not conducive to quick ET's (as can be seen by all the missed gears and clouds of smoke as a consequence) and it's no surprise that he won more often than not.
However, I must have got it all right one time or another (that or the lights fooked up), because to this day I still hold the class record for that class at York. LOL
The last run on the Dragster was my 1st "successful" attempt to use 2 stages of nitrous with the blower engine but the wanker who built the bike (NOT me I might add) did a shit job of it and it went into a violent tank slapper when it exceeded 100mph. Unfortunately I was winning the race at that point, so I just tried to keep it wound full open to the finish line but was thrown off the bike for my trouble. In those days vid cams rewound a inch or so when they were stopped and consequently the section where I was spat off the bike was lost.
I went through the lights WITHOUT my bike at over 100 mph and in the process I suffered concussion, dislocated both shoulders and bust one of them. It was painful enough then but I'm also paying the price even now, as such injuries just get worse as you get older.
Anyway it was all good fun and made life more interesting and when I get time, I've got tons of rolls of vids of my racing years to edit and will post for anyone that's interested ASAP but that could be a few years time.
It was very lucky that vid cams had just come out back then and if you check the clip again, you'll see/hear me triping over and struggling to carry the bloody thing, because back then they were the size and weight of a truck and you had to carry the recorder and battery pack seperately, which was also the size of a truck.
It's unbelievable how things have changed in the past 25 years!!
Regards