Editor’s welcome

Well, what a busy month that’s been. We returned to Stafford, while there was something on practically every other weekend too, there was lots of rain interspersed with sunshine, plus we managed to have a fuel crisis in the middle of it all, thus scuppering (or at least hindering) various plans.

The show at Stafford had a ‘proper’ feel to it, an atmosphere returned, and while understandably numbers were down, there were a lot more people present than in the summer, with the whole thing just having that sense of, finally, we’re back on track. Before that, though, we’d had all the ‘fun and games’ of a fuel crisis. We’ll not get into the whys and wherefore here, but just say it meant that travelling a long way to, for instance, the Kop Hillclimb didn’t seem a particularly good idea, from Suffolk anyway.

Then the weekend after, things still hadn’t really recovered, and while I had one or two (or three) alternatives of where to go, I’d plumped for a local pre-31 run, but that meant a 100-mile plus ride on the Longstroke Sunbeam. On a normal ride, I spend my time slightly anxiously hoping I can get fuel and, with no guarantees at all of openness and availability, plus the car having enough fuel to get to Stafford and back the following weekend but not much to spare, I decided to play it safe and leave the motorcycle in the shed, instead going cycling.

Knock-on effect of the fuel situation meant I didn’t feel like going to the garage and getting a can full to try and start the project Velo, then time gradually ran out (as ever) anyway. I’ve got to basically admit that project is parked for the time being, to return, hopefully, in the spring.

Meanwhile, my dad, with my Viper out of the way/off his bench, has been going at the project MOV my brother has bought, which is starting to resemble a motorcycle, from the pile of parts deposited on his driveway and pictured in our August issue. As he’s been doing that, I’ve been trying to formulate a cunning plan for my acquired 1966 Bonneville too… We’ll not have them all on the road in 2022, that’s for sure, but it does feel all (from projects, to shows, to events) is heading in the right direction.