V.M.C.C.
SOUTH WALES SECTION NEWSLETTER
Twinned with the C.M.B. club of Belgium
Talks,
Social Runs, Film shows, Quizzes,
Road Trials, Coach Trips, Displays, etc.
No.224
- Mar2009
Dear
Member,
Seems
that spring has sprung as I write this – the sun is out, birds singing
and the
daffs are in bloom and I have another newsletter contribution from
Bruce, for
which I am extremely grateful. So, here it is: -
Pulling power!
The Scania 38DD 850hp twin turbocharged
tractor has enough power to pull the pyramids down – in second gear. They
say that George Clooney and
Brad Pitt have it by the shed load and that even Rowan Atkinson has a
small
dose of it – pulling power that is.
My brother’s diesel Land rover had
sufficient pulling power to tow Dianne at the wheel of our Hillman Imp
from
Devon and up the M5 to Gordano after I’d swiped the bottom off the rad
in a
1980’s MCC Exeter Trial. Head gasket failure had resulted when the
water went
awol.
Then once, by six inches I avoided
imprinting the shape of my Riley 1 ½ litre grill on the rear doors of
my Minor
Traveller when my brother unexpectedly applied his brakes as we went
downhill
to Wenvoe. I only had a handbrake ….. and on tow! But that car had
pulling
power, albeit limited.
My 1951 C11 Beesa broke down again.
It was all of 50 years ago. I was sixteen (yes, I find it hard to
believe
myself). The bike had stopped on Lake Road East
in Cardiff.
A leafy avenue of posh houses with un-fettered views of the brown water
of Roath Park Lake.
Compensation comes
in the form of ample waterfowl for the Christmas table.
A pal with me set off on his Bantam.
He soon returned in his fathers pre-war Morris with father and a rope.
My first
tow was about to happen.
The rope was wound around the middle
part of the handlebars with the free end held by my clutch hand and
squeezed
against the grip.
The car was started and I can
remember watching the coils of loose rope lying on the ground slowly
snake away
until suddenly it went taut and with a fierce jerk the bike and I were
being
dragged along the road on our side. Thank goodness that my pal had the
sense to look out of the cars back window to check on my progress. If
he hadn’t
I would have been in a right old state after the three miles to home.
Lesson learnt and never forgotten –
keep that rope taut.
These musings came about because my
younger brother said to me “Ask Phelpsie if he remembers towing Stuart
(my
middle brother) on his DOT behind his 1923 Triumph”. I knew of this, I
was
there.
The Caerphilly Motor Cycle and light
car club met in the rooms above the Pontygwindy Garage on Pontygwindy
road,
Caerphilly. Trials of an informal nature were organised. Cyril Morgan
was
getting rid of motorcycles in Caerphilly. I bought a mid fifties 350
Bullet for
£6 and rode it home. I remember that the stop light didn’t work but I
didn’t
take it back. I
hacked it about to make
a trials bike. I even sent money, yes money, to the factory at Redditch
for the trials size
engine sprocket. I then ended
up with a pseudo trials bike.
There as a quarry near Caerphilly
that we “trialled” in. I can remember riding around its top rim on a
track and
looking over the sheer edge to the drop way down below…. My brother
used to
come along on his 197cc round tube DOT. On one occasion he burned out
the cork
lined clutch of the Villiers engine. How could we get him home? Well,
it’s
perfectly true to say that several Belstaff jacket belts were joined
together
and used as a tow rope. The towing machine was Bill’s 1923 Triumph side
valve.
From Caerphilly to Cardiff
you had the low road via Nantgarw and Taffs Well, or the high road up
and over
the Caerphilly mountain – we picked the latter, of course. A struggle
to get up
but a great freewheel down the other side to Llanishen where we lived.
I wish that I could remember more of
that day, I knew it was done but did Bill have a sidecar outfit or was
he solo?
And if he was solo, then why did we choose his bike as the tower? Why
would he
have his vintage Triumph at one of the trials? Was it a trial?
(The bike was solo and had the low down
torque that we needed - Bill).
Bruce’s
mention of the Caerphilly and District club brings back a few memories.
I was
the Secretary from 1960 to 1963 and used to ride trials every weekend
during
the winter season. I loved C15Ts and had seven of them over the years.
Two very
good pals of mine, Mike and Tony, were also members of the club and we
used to
ride over the mountain to club meetings on Friday nights. I
occasionally rode
my Mark II Corgi – yep – up over the mountain – and it always made it.
Mind you
I always took the easy route. From Cardiff,
that was straight up the Deri to the Black Cock on the top. Then from
the other
side – up the Watford.
The Corgi just made it
without any help from me. Both Mike and Tony are not with us any more,
a heart
attack got Mike on his way to work about 5 years ago and Tony went with
the big
C two years back. Does make one feel vulnerable on times but there are
good
memories. One such story: -
Mike
was the motorcycle salesman in Cyril Morgan’s when we met and he lived
in the Maindy
hotel with his mum and dad. One day he phoned and
asked me to go and see what he had just acquired. It turned out to be
an
aluminium bodied sports Austin
Seven. A good look around it and it soon became obvious that it was
home built
– the body consisted of alloy sheets bolted to dexion angle iron. I
could undo
nearly all the dexion bolts with my fingers, so we spent an hour or so
with
some spanners and tightened most of them up. Mike had driven the car
and he
reckoned that there was something wrong with it as the steering had a
mind of
its own. “I’ll drive it”, said I bravely. “Ok” said Mike “you can drive
it over
the mountain on Friday to club and I’ll follow on my bike”.
Friday
evening soon arrived and Tony and I climbed into the Austin.
We decided to wear our crash hats –
don’t remember why, probably because of Mikes story about the car and
the fact
that there was no weather protection. Anyway, we set off up Caerphilly
Road
and headed for the
mountain. The car was ok up to about 20 mph – above that and all seemed
well
until it suddenly took off to one side or the other. Seems the steering
box
worm and nut were so badly worn that the nut would hop about on the
worm. We
made Pontygwindy
road and the club meeting ok.
Then came the time to head home. I was feeling brave by this time and
reckoned
that I had the better of the steering. We took the easy route up the
mountain
via the Watford –
then down the other side
from the Travellers Rest pub. We were going well.
We
passed the Crematorium and then the Nine Giants pub. Just as we were
entering
the houses on Caerphilly road my pal Tony, sitting in the passenger
seat said
“hey, look at that” – he pointed to the offside and there was a car
wheel
overtaking us. There is a slight right hand bend at this point in
Caerphilly
road and as the road straightened up, so did the car. All of a sudden
the back
end decided to lower its offside, in slow motion, onto the tarmac.
Both
Tony and I were soon out and chasing our errant wheel, whilst Mike sat
astride
his bike laughing his socks off. I don’t know if you are familiar with
the
fitting of Austin
seven wheels – basically they have three ‘figure of eight’ slots in
each wheel centre.
The wheel is put on the hub with the nuts in place but slackened. The
wheel is
then turned a bit and the nuts done up. Ok, as long as the nuts stay
tight,
they hadn’t with us. Anyway, it was easy to fix – I picked up the back
of the
car and Tony refitted the wheel and home we went – a lot more slowly. I
never drove
the Austin
again and Mike soon got rid of it.
In fact he swapped
it for a Triumph Speed Twin to a
young man whose wife had just had a baby as they needed a car. I told
Mike that
I thought that he had no conscience at all.
I’m
not sure just how many of our members have Internet access – but the
Section
now has a new website. I’ve been developing it for the last two weeks
after the
committee meeting on the 9th raised the subject
of reinstating
a section website
in readiness for our
2011 50 year jubilee. Basically in the past we employed someone to
design and
maintain a website for us. It lasted about 2 years before disappearing
for
various reasons. This time I decided that it was time for me to get to
grips
with website design and I must say that it has been a steep learning
curve.
Anyhow, our site name is now registered and I’ve sorted out a host and
the site
has been uploaded – In matter of a few days it will become visible. You
won’t
be able to get to it by searching with google or some such search
engine until
the address is registered with them. Until that time – you can find the
site directly
at: -
www.southwalessectionvmcc.co.uk
I haven’t been able to access it yet
through my browser, but as soon as I can I shall send an email to all
those
members that I have an email address for. I would like people to have a
good
look at it and tell me what they think along with any suggestions that
could
improve it. The last website had 2 pages – this one has 47. Twenty
members have
their own pages, more will follow. Please let me have feedback.
Bill
P
