The Classic Bike Show along with TV's Henry Cole, arrives in Stafford.

Express & Star

The International Classic Bike Show has landed, at the Staffordshire County Showground, and there was plenty to see and do.

Transcript

00:00That's what I'll do.

00:05Hey, Paul.

00:06I'm a fish-fartic club today.

00:09How are you, lads? You OK?

00:13We're good, thanks. Having a good time.

00:15So, you represent a particular club. What's the club called?

00:17It's called the Christie Motorcycle Association.

00:20So, how long have you been going as an association?

00:23You've got me there a lot longer than I have.

00:25Many years.

00:26Yeah. It started in America.

00:28Yeah.

00:28Big branches in South Africa.

00:33Now, there's clubs in a lot of countries in Northern Europe.

00:39So, yeah, you come from Staffordshire, Shropshire Club.

00:41We've got a club, yeah.

00:42We cover kind of Southern Cheshire, Shropshire, Henry and Lambas, really.

00:48Yeah, yeah. Nice one.

00:50Well, enjoy your day, lads, and thanks for bringing you to the play.

00:53Cheers, guys.

00:56Hello, William. How are you doing?

00:58I'm all right, thank you. How are you?

00:59I'm good, thank you, bud.

01:00So, you represent Motorcycle Magazine.

01:03Yes.

01:03And we've got a rather special bruff here, haven't we?

01:05Just fill us in on who was it that graced the saddle of this one.

01:09So, Lawrence of Arabia has graced this 1929 JTOR SS100 Roadster.

01:17Yeah.

01:18So, it was the cross superior.

01:21And friends of Lawrence, Mrs. G. Bernard Shaw, funded the purchase of the machine.

01:28Wow.

01:28And Lawrence kept the machine until March 1932.

01:32Awesome.

01:33And he traded it for the GW2275.

01:36So, the machine was restored 10 years ago by Tony Cripps, current owner.

01:41Great.

01:41It is a special machine.

01:43Indeed.

01:44Thank you, sir.

01:44Salt class was a terrifying experience.

02:04But a wonderful thing.

02:05All right, so, I get this call one day.

02:07I'm sitting in the office.

02:09This geyser goes, hello, is that Henry Cale?

02:13I go, yes.

02:14He goes, I just wonder whether I'm the boss of Brock Superior.

02:19I said, oh, all right, okay.

02:21Would you be interested in coming to do a land speed record at Bonneville Salt class?

02:27I went, have you got the right Henry Cale?

02:29Because honestly, I'd be crapping myself if that was the case.

02:33He says, no, no, and I want you to make a documentary about it.

02:37I said, all right, I'll do that.

02:41So, he said, there's this long-haired friend of Jesus down in Cornwall who's building a

02:48Brock Superior for us.

02:51I said, who's that?

02:52He said, it's a bloke called Sam Lovegrove.

02:55So, I go, oh, I suppose I'd better go and meet him then.

02:58So, to cut a long story short, I went down to Cornwall, met Sammy.

03:03We got a lot of house on fire.

03:04And he was building for Mark Uppen, this 750, because I think Mark had a very rare 750

03:12lump on the shelf, right?

03:14He was building, Sammy was building the bike to go with it, if you see what I mean.

03:18Anyway, cut another long story short.

03:20We tested it a bit, and Sammy and I got on really well.

03:23And then we ended up at Bonneville, okay?

03:25And Alan Kapkar and Eric Passer were my teammates.

03:29And Alan had given me all this advice, right?

03:32Now, what I want you to do is, when you're actually riding down the salt, this is crazy.

03:41He said, just go like that, right?

03:44So, you're just really flat on the tank.

03:47I said, I can't see where I'm going then.

03:49He goes, don't worry, you can see the markers either side.

03:52So, I saw him go first.

03:54He wasn't doing that at all.

03:56Right?

03:56He was looking straight ahead, so I think he could have been winding me up.

03:59Anyway, so I'm lying there on the bike.

04:01You have to wait for five hours, okay?

04:05Because everyone's having a run of different records.

04:08So, I'm waiting for five hours in the 40 degree heat of Sammy to have a go, you know?

04:16In full black leathers.

04:18So, I'm sweating my tits off, you know what I mean?

04:21And I also, I've been thinking, well, shall I go to the loo?

04:25Do I need to go to the, yeah, you know that kind of, well, you don't have a problem, I don't.

04:29I do, because you would certainly have had to go to the loo at least twice during that five hours.

04:33Exactly.

04:34Yeah, I would have done, but there isn't that, so you've got to hold on.

04:38Anyway, so, I'm lying on the bike, right?

04:40Okay?

04:41And I've completely forgotten what anyone has ever advised me to do on this breath.

04:47Apart from Sammy said to me, just keep it at 4,800.

04:52Right?

04:52And so, that's the only thing that I remembered.

04:55And I said to him, look, I've forgotten any advice.

04:58I thought, what's it, just give me some advice for Sammy now.

05:02And he goes, just imagine that you're going to the shops to get me some jaffa cakes and I'm really hungry.

05:11And that was his advice.

05:14And then, he starts tying a little plastic toy with lock wire to the frame of the bike.

05:23And I go, what the heck is that?

05:25He goes, oh, that's Applejack.

05:27And my son Gregory wants him to go down the bottom.

05:33So, that's with me.

05:34Literally.

05:35Literally.

05:35Anyway, just as I'm really pooing myself, a bloke goes, he's got this huge, great green flag.

05:43Okay?

05:43And he goes, are you ready?

05:46And I went, no, not really.

05:48Don't think I ever will be.

05:50He goes, stand by.

05:52Okay, you're clear to go.

05:55Godspeed.

05:56And he does this with a flag, like that.

05:59Godspeed, Jesus Christ, all right.

06:02So, the thing that you mustn't do is just go for it.

06:07Because you've got a two-mile run-up.

06:10There's no need to rush.

06:11You can scuffle your fag out halfway through.

06:14Do you know what I mean?

06:15That's a large swig of coffee for her.

06:17And then hit the bottle bar.

06:19Do you know what I mean?

06:20Because you see the rookies, and they're going,

06:23It's just like, chill, man.

06:26Anyway, that's the only other bit of advice Sammy gave me that I kept to.

06:30Anyway, so, I'm there.

06:32I hit the mile marker, and I'm feeling, good, man.

06:35Everyone has told me that riding on salt is like riding on ice.

06:41Which it absolutely is.

06:43You have no front brake on it.

06:45Cool.

06:45That is stunning.

06:46You have no front brake, because obviously the first thing you're going to do, Jack, isn't it?

06:50If you get a bit of a shimmy-o or something, is touch the front brake.

06:53Well, you think I wouldn't know what it's like?

06:55I'm just one of those off-clubs.

06:57No.

06:58Okay, look.

07:00Anyway, so, you mustn't touch the front brake, so they take the bloody front brake off.

07:04Okay?

07:05So, anyway, I'm going on, I'm thinking, this is alright.

07:08It doesn't feel like ice at all.

07:10There's a little bit of movement in the bike.

07:12But, you know, now, Sammy said 4,800, so 4,800 it is.

07:17Come up there.

07:18Right.

07:18Hitting the mile marker.

07:19Bam!

07:204.8.

07:23And a lot of people hate that.

07:25A lot of racers.

07:26Okay?

07:27Because it's so silent.

07:28There's no one around you.

07:30There's no one trying to...

07:31You're racing against history.

07:33Do you know what I mean?

07:33Anyway, then suddenly, I think, just when I thought, I'm a man, the whole thing started

07:42going like this.

07:43Right?

07:44And it's like, like that.

07:46And I'm desperate.

07:47And it's a proper tank slapper.

07:49Okay?

07:50And what's happened is I've hit a rut.

07:52Okay?

07:53And it's sent the bottom into the most awful tank slapper.

07:58So, I'm swearing my head off in the helmet.

08:00Right?

08:01But the explosives were so bad that they couldn't use them in the show.

08:08It was proper terrifying.

08:10And I thought, normally, with a tank slapper, you try and drop a cog and open it up and try

08:15and settle it down.

08:16Yeah?

08:16But you can't at Bonneville.

08:18If you break, you're off.

08:21And if you drop a cog and it's sort of just, you know, that's a problem as well.

08:25So, you just have to hang on.

08:26Cut a long story short.

08:27I hung on.

08:28And I didn't come off.

08:30But I have to tell you, that bike, I think, sold for about $450,000 or euros after I've

08:37finished the bike.

08:38And that's the reason.

08:39I knew it was going to be about that price.

08:41But I absolutely didn't want to fall off it.

08:44Can you imagine?

08:46Hey?

08:46Henry Claw's stuff's rough.

08:48No chance.

08:49Anyway, so, this is the, it sounds really embarrassingly small.

08:54It was 98, I think, 0.98.

08:57So, I was 112 going one way.

09:00Having this far coming back.

09:02So, we've got a lovely BSA here.

09:06And we've got a lovely man by the name of?

09:08Malcolm Clarke.

09:09Where are you from, Malcolm?

09:11Lincolnshire.

09:11And this club, it's the BSA Gold Star Owners.

09:15Now, I've just found out, that's the name of the bike, isn't it?

09:17Gold Star.

09:18It is.

09:19So, you're celebrating a special year, aren't you?

09:21We are.

09:21It's 50 years of the club this year.

09:24And how long have you been coming to the Staffordshire Show?

09:26Oh, forever.

09:27Forever.

09:28Forever and ever, I mean.

09:29Yeah, and it's a good event, isn't it?

09:31Nice kind of, you know.

09:32Very good, very good.

09:33Yeah, yeah.

09:33Any particular favourite bike on the stand here that you guys have brought along today?

09:37Well, mine isn't here.

09:39So, mine is the favourite.

09:40It's at home.

09:41But there is a very old one.

09:44Yeah.

09:44That is down there.

09:47Okay.

09:47It looks a bit of a wreck, but...

09:49But in a precious way.

09:50The lady that owns it, her father bought it, and she was brought home from hospital when

09:56she was born on the back of it.

09:58On the back of the bike?

09:59Yes.

09:59Well, that doesn't happen anymore, does it?

10:01How about that?

10:01So, a nice little story.

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