From the Panther S Lair

A monthly publication of The Vintage Motorcycle Club

Johannesburg, South Africa.

Volume 25. No 7. July, 2012.

ACTING CHAIRMAN’S CHATTER

As we are no doubt all aware our long standing Chairman, Editor and custodian of our club is currently recuperating from some rather serious surgery and our thoughts and good wishes are with him at this time. We wish him a speedy recovery and a return to health to once more enjoy what he loves so much, motorcycling.

This edition contains a number of contributions by various members and we hope it is of interest and enjoyment to you. You will see that as always there is a lot on the go and that is very healthy for our movement. Activities, shows, runs and opportunities to get together and enjoy our toys are exactly what we are about, so keep enjoying these.

Our AGM is coming up soon and there is need for new blood on the Committee so please give some thought and volunteer your services. The more people we have, who are willing to help, means less for each one to do and that is what we need to maintain a strong and capable Committee and, of course, the Club.

Thanks to all those who have been supportive of Mike and I am sure he musttop the list in the ward for the most visitors. He appreciates each enquiry and expression of good will and we hope that he will soon be back to full strength.

Finally, don’t leave the preparation of your DJ bike too late and get your entry in early when these open, as next year’s run is attracting huge interest and the entries will be numerous.

IAN HOLMES

Things coming up

June30/July 1stCMC 1000 Bike ShowGermiston

August 16th-18thMagnum/SAVVA NationalPOMC

October 5th-7thVelo Reunion FouriesburgVOC

November 9th-10thFairest Cape TourCVMC

CMC 1000 BIKE SHOW

It is time again for the CMC 1000 Bike Show.

The venue is the same aslast year - Germiston High School.

And the dates are Saturday 30th Juneand Sunday 1st July.

The setting-up will take place on Friday 29th June or early on Saturday.

We do have 24-hour security from the Friday morning until the Monday morning.Entrance to the school is through the back gate.

Free entrance will be provided for each exhibitor.

PLEASE bring your bikes and display them!

PIERRE CRONJE

072513 9432

MayClub Night

The meeting started by recording apologies from Peter Posniak, Warwick Manning and Mike Milner Smyth. Mike underwent surgery on the 30thMay and everyone present joined in to wish him a successful operation andspeedy recovery.

The most recent event was the Fragram Natal Classic and the full results will appear elsewhere in this magazine.

Raffle tickets were sold and the usual array of prizes was collected by the winners. A very unusual thing occurred with two members each having non consecutive numbers drawn. The odds against this happening must be very high.

The bike on display was a recent “barn find”, a 1952 “Jampot” AJS 500 and it attracted a great deal of attention and interest. It was in a barn in Drummond, Natal and its owner had passed away recently. The history showed that the machine came from Guernsey to Natal in 1995 and it seems to have done very little mileage. We look forward to seeing it cleaned up and running again.

The guest speaker had asked to postpone his appearance until next month soa very pleasant social meetingfollowed with all present getting an opportunity to catch up on news and chit chat with old friends.

The headcount was 64.

IAN HOLMES

THE DJ REMEMBRANCERUNWith Ric Lewis.

Sunday,10thJune: A COLD morning. Think: It is only ten days laterthan the original DJ used to be raced (31st May – Union/Republic Day.) Those guys rode on dirt and once in the snow, so stop whinging and get the old beast out of the garage and ride to the start at the James Hall Museum to remember the old brave men and our “brothers” who have passed on.

The old warhorse starts easily and off to town. It is cold. Hop on the highway M1S and on to the double-decker past the old John Vorster Square. It feels odd on an 83 year-old motorcycle on the “modern” highway.

Arrive at the start to a very welcome hot cup of coffee/tea and a muffin. Talk to old friends about the event and reminisce about friends gone by. And I think about the fact that I am now riding the bike which I bought from Bill Pennington in 1983 when the “Magnum”empire was collapsing.

What a dear warhorse I had acquired from our friend Bill (I’ve now ridden 29 DJ’s completing 26, as well as about 15 Magnums and about 14 Natal Classics.)It must be the best buy I have ever made.

Decide to do the “long”route to commemorate our past friends/heroes and so set off. Going South with wind in face, it is cold. But, after halfway, the wind is on my back and much more pleasant. Surface on all the roads was good and the traffic very light, giving a pleasant ride to the finish about 15 minutes before the Dedication ceremony where the chaplain of the Salvation Army officiated while we placed our plaques on the Wall of Remembrance.

A very civilised service to commemorate DJ friends who are no longer with us.

RIC LEWIS.

Remembering Rider

RON STARKEY Ian Holmes1931 BSA

JOHN PITCHFORD David Pitchford1936 BSA

EDGAR BAGLEY Ralph Pitchford 1926Triumph

JEFFS WATSON Peter/Pam Hall 1922Matchless

GARY BROWN Stewart Cuninghame1958AJS

DOUG BERRY Steven Helm 1953Royal Enfield

DAVE BRINK Kevin Robertson1935Excelsior

ROBIN HOLLIS Adrian Hollis1930Sunbeam

ANDRIES KRUGER Gerald Hollis1935Sunbeam

BERNIE KONITZ Antony Beswick1936Ariel

HARRY LUBBE Brian Hough1942Harley

BRIAN MENYENETTE Tom Jones1935Sunbeam

BEVVY MOORE Pierre Cronje1936Zenith

PAUL PAULETTI Bevan Beckmann1933BSA

BILL PENNINGTON Ric Lewis1929Sunbeam

PETER THEOBALD Hamish Morrison1934Triumph

TONY TORR Kevin Walton1931BSA

JOHN WRIGHT Gavin Walton1936AJS

TONY WOODLEY Ron Tomsett 1933BSA

ARTHUR CHRISTIAN Neville Conchar1936Sunbeam

DUNCAN ROBERTSON Keith van Heerden 1934BSA

JOHN HODGSON Rusty Thorns1978Yamaha

GARY BROWN Blair Thorns2003Suzuki

ARTHUR LANGE Kyle Thorns1982Suzuki

HARRY SINGER Brian Johnson1929Panther

CLIVE MORRIS Chris Erwee1935Norton

MONTAGUE McKECHNIE Harrry Kirton1930Ariel

SHARON DIXON Des Burton1934Norton

ED DIXON Pierre Rousseau 1952Matchless

COEN DEETLEFS Henry Watermeyer 1979BMW

A Severe Case of Vtwinitis. Andy’s observations.

It started with having to find stands for the Zenith to see if the new (28") wheels and hubs would fit OK. To do this had to move the trusty BSA E10 V twin out of the shed, and when about to return it to its allotted spot it looked so lonely and forlorn, thought I would take it for a ride.

Now I am sure you all remember the drama on the DJ, well on this little run - it purred to perfection, so upon return I wondered whether there wasn’t a rally just around the corner that I could go on to continue to experience its flawless performance.

There it was - the Natal Classic, albeit only 10 days away. Way past closing date for entries, but maybe? - just maybe? A quick email to Aubrey, and a quick response. There was a spot, and to quote Aubrey - 'You came as you were sent' which I figured meant that someone had pulled out at short notice and I was in. Number eight in the ‘A’ group also suited fine as I didn’t want to emulate old Burt Munro and become the World’s Fastest BSA, even tho' I have a new pair of swimming trunks!

So off we went. This time sans daughter as she is now one of those somewhat snooty Capetonians, and I don’t think many of them do the Classic. So I could now concentrate totally and make a serious challenge to the Walton/Robertson stranglehold on the South African Rally scene, and I had all the tools - a seemingly good bike, two reasonably new egg timers, and a pocket full of coloured markers to play colouring-in on the route schedule just like all the experts do.

Just before setting off had the first bad news. Oliveshoek pass is closed due to poor roads - WTF that adds miles on the journey, and even worse, means that we won’t do Clarens and surrounding area. Secondly,Wifey says I cant use her Merc 280SL as tow car as 'It’s not designed for that', so got to use the boring old Santa Fe. I mean if the 280SL has a tow-bar what the hell is that meant for??

Anyway, enough of this boring stuff - on to the rally. Drakensville is great since last I was there. They have dickied it up a treat and everything works, looks good, food is good and only observation is that the little barman seemed to have a fixation with closing his expanding security gate the moment there was no one in the bar - very strange, since I had planned to spend a lot of time in the bar, and only ever left to have a pee and find the bar closed upon return. Bummer!.

Good turn out too. Some 40 entries and its always good to see the Natal guys and their bikes which varied between a Ducati Mike Hailwood replica (drool, envy) and a 175 Suzuki scrambler. All the usual suspects there too, including the before mentioned Walton/Robertson rally machines, so time to pull up the socks and get serious.

Off we go on the first day with good weather forecast for the entire event. First thing that is evident is that there are no mile stones. I mean what happens to these things? Is there value in a cube of cement with paint and a number on it? Is there a kraal somewhere made out of milestones? The mind boggles, but the fact remains. Count white lines? Telephone poles? Naaa not for me as it interferes with watching for potholes/practising Josh Grogan’s Halleluiah Chorus/working out my winners speech, so I mosey along confident that when the route schedule says 50km per hour - I am doing 50 km per hour.

Blissfully unaware of timing errors, and seemingly not too far out at each check point we continue, and it’s a nice route with a great lunch stop. The weather is good, the V twin is pulling like a train and everyone seems to be going well barring the big yellow Harley, which suddenly appears on a trailer. At the end of the day am confident that I may have cracked it and was sufficiently confident to warn Gavin not to be too disappointed, but I don’t think he heard me.

When results appeared (and no I wasn’t eagerly waiting in the dining room, as had just found a half jack of Klippies in the back of the Santa Fe) there it was - the Robertson/Walton rally machines at it again, and I am halfway down the field. Momentary disbelief and thoughts of protests but decided not to make a scene as Klippies was starting to take a hold. Very pleased to see that old mate Andrew Mather had done extremely well on his Sunbeam S8 as I know what a bitch those 'beams can be having owned one myself! Next day will be better. Time to pull out all the stops as its a short day and a short day should equal less penalties - right?

Again a good rally day, only comment being I am sure I saw that pump station just now, and wasn’t that stop and go there before, and, and - and I felt we were going around in circles, but maybe it was just me. I tell you what I did see tho' was that marshal just after the garage and just before the bridge - sneaky one that, but “natch”, I had taken it into account, and despite travelling at -10km per hour on the approach to the marshal, and doing a fancy pirouette on the V twin right in front of them in an effort to scrub off time, reckon I was still two minutes early. On the way home - that wasn’t oldie chairman of the CMC on the side of the road just before the resort apparently out of petrol was it? - naaa - not possible!!..

So it’s now prize-giving dinner. Could I have made up from day one? Was the much rehearsed first prize speech going to wow the crowd? I could end here and leave you all in suspense, but I guess by now you have heard. First prize to Gavin Walton, and second to Kevin Robertson. I mean congrats to them and all the others that did well - but hey guys - how about giving me and the other no-hopers a chance - I promise you we will be eternally grateful and besides you must be running out of space for all those trophies by now.

BTW - forgot to mention - BSA E10 V twin won the oldest bike cup, so she can rest content in the shed until the next winning attempt, so rest well old girl - you deserve it!

ANDY STEAD.

The Fragram Natal Classic. With Ric Lewis.

Thursday 24th May:At the eleventh hour Les Sim had to withdraw as a result of an unplanned visit to hospital so Neville Smith, instead of being a camp follower, got a ride on Les’s bike, and together with Mike Milner-Smyth and myself arrive at Drakensville for documentation and scrutineering. All goes smoothly and it is well organized: check route schedule and see that it is almost all regularity with no open sections.

Friday 25th May: The first bike went off at 8h01: the sun rising and in your eyes for the first 5or 6 kms.- then the trouble starts – somebody sold all the milestones and I cannot get time or distance without a lot of guesswork. Get to Weenen for lunch stop via a lot of those cursed speed humps (ramps), riding the old bike like a bucking bronco.

After a good lunch back to Drakensville via Spioenkop and a few milestones, speeds maintainable and try to stay on time. An enjoyable evening was had with old friends talking about the route, the past, the present and the Good Times. A bit scary thinking about how many of the old rally stalwarts have passed on.

Saturday 26th May: We go to Little Switzerland and return towards Bergville: no milestones and maximum speed down a long hill to next set up clue, which is a bridge, but on long downhill about 13km guess speed and check time on wrong bridge - approximately 20 seconds difference: pass marshall, happily thinking I am on time until the next clue – then see how wrong I am!

Next is a fuel stop in regularity and a lot of us think we will set up our times at the next clue about 2kms away and we leave the fuel stop very early, only to see a marshall with a BIG ‘M’ board about 400 metres from the clue ! Have you ever tried to cover 400meters in 5 minutes without “stopping, paddling or weaving”?

I could not - and got clocked for almost two minutes. Luckily our knees do not work the other way, or a lot of us would have bruises from kicking ourselves for “not looking at the rules.”

The rest of the day fairly uneventful except some guys did not stop at the final open control and one fellow (no name) ran out of petrol two km from the end!

A good time was had by all: a smooth run prize-giving with no snarks, problems or other troubles. The full results are shown below.

A very well run rally and my compliments to the team organizing the event and especially to the new Clerk of the Course, Thomas Schubert.

The usual suspects were in the front again. I take my hat off to you guys for the dedication and concentration you display on all these events!

RIC LEWIS

CoC Tom Schubert, Barbara Sink and the 2012 Natal Classic Winner, Gavin Walton.

For the Record

Fragram Natal Classic. 25/26 May, 2012.Drakensville.

The Classic Motorcycle Club Natal

(* = VMC Member)

1Gavin Walton* AJS Model 181965139

2Kevin Robertson*Honda Black Bomber1965142

3Andrew Mather*Sunbeam S81955194

4Dennis Pullon*Douglas T351948213

5Gavin Lumley*BMW R651982230

6Dave Wilson Kawasaki Z440 LTD 1983263

7Neville Smith*Triumph 211960267

8Holger Morhart*Moto Guzzi V71967310

9Richard Lewis*Sunbeam 51929365

10Raymond Meyer*BMW R271956388

11Ron Tomsett*BMW R60/21966388

12Roland Nancekivell * NSU Supermax1957406

13Henk RaadgeverMoto Guzzi1980422

14Grant Vacey-Lyle*BMW R601960450

15Michael Milner-Smyth* BMW R60/21969479

16Rusty ThornsHarley Davidson 5/71947545

17Michael MatthewsBSA B44 Victor Spl1969551

18Ginty MelvillBMW R601960554

19Rolf ZollerDKW Rt350S1958580

20Dave StoneBSA C121956609

21Deon RademeyerDucatti MH 9001982622

22Eugene MulderSuzuki TS 2501975664

23Steven Helm*Harley Davidson 5/7 1941685

24Barney BarnesBMW R80 GS1983798

25 Rikki/Diana Maizey*Honda CB 4501972897

26Andy Stead*BSA E10 V twin1930918

27Des Burton*Velocette Venom Spl1959990

28 Pierre Cronje*Zenith1936 1028

29Dick MaizeyBSA C 151963 1059

30Samantha AndersonMatchless Comp1964 1149

31Andrew Alberda Honda CX 5001980 1166

32Conrad EngelbrechtSuzuki TS 185 E19801215

33 Fritz Kraehmer* BMW R69 S19651307

34Rick HoekstraBMW R10019811625

35 Rob ThompsonHonda CB 650C19811840

36Theo AlberdaNorton ES219492133

37Brian JohnsonHarley Davidson 101219427453

38Sean Buys*AJS Model 1819648417

Neville Smith, Gavin Lumley and Kevin Robertson won the Best Club Team award for VMC.

Handy Websites

The Veteran, Vintage and Classic

Motorcycle Forum of South Africa

Think Bike

Commemorative DJ Run

Vintage Motorcycle Club

Classic Motorcycle Club

Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal za

Crankhandle Club

Pretoria Old Motor Club

Vintage & Veteran Club

S A V V A

The Piston Ring

BADGES OF OTHER SAVVA CLUBS (5)