Positive attitude

Positive Earth Motorcycle Rally

January, 2015 – Farewell Spit, NZ

“Perfect” is the only way to describe the inaugural Positive Earth Rally held at Wharariki Beach Holiday Park, 6km from Farewell Spit at the top of the NZ South Island. What is a Positive Earth Rally? Well, you may only attend the rally on a motorcycle with a positive-earth polarity electrical system, which means, no Japanese, no Asian, no American and no European – only British. Yes, that’s right. Only British motorcycles had a positive earth charging system from circa 1950 up to and including 1978 for all makes and models. What you end up with is the Golden Era of British machinery – thank you Joseph Lucas. About 35 members attended, travelling from near and far. Iain Brown travelled down from Hamilton in the north on his 1960 ES2 Norton, while Elle Prince rode over 250 miles by herself on her lovely 1952 Triumph Blackbird, arriving in the evening to a cheering crowd. There was a good selection of bikes including AJS, Matchless, Norton and Triumph. Everyone had a great time chatting, drinking, and listening to music. In the evening, the Collingwood Tavern delivered fish, chips and salad. The weather was excellent with only slight drizzle on the ride home on Sunday. Our thanks go to Dion at the holiday park for booking us the whole camp and to Murray and Louise for organising the event. We look forward to next year’s rally which will be held at a different location, with date to be advised.