miércoles, 25 de mayo de 2011

Café Racer Day

The Oxford branch of the Norton Owners' Club are hosting an open-to-all Café Racer Day. It starts at 12 noon on Saturday 10th September 2011 and is open to ALL café-racers, of any age, marque, nationality or gender, ridden or trailered. For this event café-racers are being defined as modified road-bikes (could be modified from a racer, even) with handlebars below the top-yoke.
There is no charge to enter or visit, but only machines registered by midnight Sunday 4 Sept will be eligible for judging for the Best-of-Show trophy or the highly commended rosettes which will be awarded on the 10th. All pre-registered entrants will receive a small memento of the event.
In addition to the ranks of café racers, there will be two Norton Owners' Club displays, both relating to the world of café racers. One will feature the café racers produced by Norton over the years, maybe including the grand-daddy of all café racers, the O'Donovan BS Special, through the Inter to the Commando 'Yellow Peril' proddie racer and JPS Special, plus the latest incarnation, the Commando 961 CR.
It'll go better when it's off the stand...
 The other display will feature an example of every Featherbed model ever produced, from the famous frame's initial appearance in the Manx racers right through to the Mercury. The Featherbed frame is most commonly associated with the classic café racer in most people's minds, be it propelled by a Norton, Triumph, BSA ,Vincent or even Honda / Kawasaki engine. This display will show what the original donor bikes looked like. To cap the Featherbed feature to perfection, Ken Sprayson will also be on-hand, all being well.
If you'd like to display a Norton Café Racer or a featherbed model, please contact the organisers in advance to arrange a suitable space on the day. Or you can ride your classic café racer along on September 10th (but display space may be limited so it's advisable to prebook).
A Norton 88, yesterday......
The venue is Sturdy's Castle pub on the A4260 Kidlington (Oxford) to Banbury road at Tackley, 10 minutes from the A34 or J9/J10 off the M40. For GoogleMaps users, the post code is OX5 3EP. The pub has a large car-park and an adjacent field where FOC camping will be available from Friday 9 Sept through to Monday 12 Sept. Drinks (including real ale), tea, coffee and food will be available throughout, and Sturdy's also offers accommodation if required - details on application.
To register your display Norton CR or Featherbed, or any café racer you'd like to bring, please contact Oxford Branch secretary, Peter Scatchard preferably by email on peter.scatchard@motorcyclewriter.co.uk or call 01865 864 864.

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