TIM DAVIES

THE MAN BEHIND THE SUZUKI VINTAGE PARTS PROGRAMME

FB: Tell us where the idea for this day came from?

TD: With Suzuki doing the all-star trackdays every year at Silverstone mainly based around the modern bikes it just seemed to be the way to go. We work closely with Rob and Darin from Classic Bike Trackdays who also run the increasingly popular Endurance Legends Event and have been discussing this for the last couple of years, but we wanted to wait until we thought we were ready to offer this day. FB: How did you manage to get so many rare classic bikes together?

TD: We are very lucky at Suzuki that there is a very generous collector who has the biggest collection of Suzuki race bikes in the world dating back to the early 70s. We work very closely with him and his team. FB: How do you go about getting so many big names to come at fairly short notice?

TD: Pay them. All joking aside, many of the riders here have some sort of relationship with Suzuki and Team Classic Suzuki so it was actually fairly easy to get them all involved. You can see by the way they have been today that they are here for their own enjoyment too. FB: How has the day been for you?

TD: It has totally exceeded our expectations; we have had around 2000 people turn up to a trackday on a Thursday in Lincolnshire, which is unheard of. Seeing all those RG & RGV500s was wonderful, so many customer RGs, XRs and GSXR race/full factory bikes here too. FB: Off the back of today are there any plans for future events?

TD: Were still in shock at how successful today has been so we will definitely be doing another one next year so watch this space, we’ve already got ideas and plans to make the event even more successful. FB: What else can we look forward to from you in the future?

TD: We are going to continue to race the Katana in selected events, race the XR69 and RG at the Classic TT, we will be attending shows and events including another trackday and we will be building a rather special bike at the NEC this year.