The Vintagent Classics: The Kilometer Eater
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An oar! an ice pick! a motorcycle!
The post The Vintagent Classics: The Kilometer Eater first appeared on The
Vintagent.
1 week ago
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Classic Dirt Bike/Off Road Show Telford
Very enjoyable show, not too crowded so none of that nasty jostling and struggling to get pictures of interesting bikes.
Slideshow
Slideshow
Friday, 12 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
BSA Victor - 92 HOH
Some of you may recognise the above registration number?
I received an email request a couple of days ago asking if anyone can help with locating the BSA Victor 441 with the registration number 92 HOH.
"Im hoping you can help me, or perhaps point me in the right direction.!
My father and his brother used to be BSA works riders and became British Trials Experts in the late 60's, in sidecar. (Derek and Ray Round also known as the Round brothers)
We sadly lost my uncle Ray 18months ago , and my dad (Derek) has expressed a wish that to try and get their BSA VICTOR 441 CC (WORKS BIKE) which they won the title british trials experts on many times back or at least trace it, I have the registration number which is 92 HOH, and wondered if you could possibly point me in the right direction where to start in trying to trace it, we are in the process of putting an advert in the old bike mart, but if there is any other suggesions you could point towards I would be most grateful.
thank you for your time
natalie"
I've looked on DVLA and it appears not to have been taxed since 1978. Derek believes it may be in Yorkshire but can't remember why. Natalie is placing an advert in Old Bike Mart and has contacted Tim Britton (editor of OBM and Classic Dirt Bike) and I made a couple of enquiries on various forums. I also (of course) suggested Natalie contact Kay to see if she can put something in the Star. If anyone can help or knows any possible sources of information please let me know and I will forward all details to Natalie.
I've scanned in a couple of piccies of the bike and riders from Norman Vanhouse's excellent BSA Competition history (you can click the pictures to make them bigger).
Saturday, 6 February 2010
The Bugatti Queen
"The thing I like best in the world is adventure" - Helle Nice
I bought this book on Amazon following a recommendation on the Real Classic message board and I am very glad I did.
The Bugatti Queen is the true and utterly engrossing story of Helle Nice (born Helene Delangle) who rose from a poor background to become a successful racing driver in the 1930s, via a colourful career as a dancer, stripper and even a circus performer.
Born in 1900 in a small, shabby home in a tiny village forty miles from Paris, Helene Delangle was beautiful, adventurous, talented and promiscuous. She became very successful modelling, dancing and stripping in 1920s Paris. In 1929 she suffered a knee injury in a skiing accident and this put paid to her dancing career. By then, she already knew that she had skill as a competitive driver. The car-makers wanted glamour to sell their machines, all she had to do was prove herself as a driver and this she did by winning the 1929 Grand Prix Feminin at Montelhery driving an Omega Six.
The book chronicles her successful driving career collecting glittering prizes and enjoying a glamorous lifestyle driving Bugattis and other exotica. It is clear that the author has fallen a little in love with her heroine whose spirit and charm made her irresistible to so many people.
After all her achievements, her downward turn of her life seems tragically unfair. She was disinherited by her family, her elder sister seeming bitterly resentful of her successful sibling (to the extent she omits her name from the family gravestone), her long term lover abandons and robs her and the famous driver Louis Chiron publically accuses her of collaboration with the Gestapo during the occupation (a charge which was never proved). In 1984 she dies in obscurity and poverty, having been dependent upon the care of a French charity whose purpose was to provide help and support for anyone in the theatrical world whose career had suffered a downturn in fortune.
The author, Miranda Seymour, does not confine the biography to a factual narration but includes emotive reconstruction in her story telling, filling out characters and events in a way that reaches to the emotions of the reader. By the time the book reaches the time of Helle’s fall from grace the events that unfold seem heartbreakingly sad.
The author mentions early in the book that she was disappointed with the lack of convincing descriptions of how it actually felt to be part of the racing scene in the 1920s & ‘30s. The descriptions in this book are beautifully evocative, whether told from the point of view of a spectator or a driver. The descriptions of the inevitable crashes and deaths are shocking and make the achievements and determination of the drivers even more remarkable.
A fascinating book about an extraordinary woman who deserves to be remembered.
I bought this book on Amazon following a recommendation on the Real Classic message board and I am very glad I did.
The Bugatti Queen is the true and utterly engrossing story of Helle Nice (born Helene Delangle) who rose from a poor background to become a successful racing driver in the 1930s, via a colourful career as a dancer, stripper and even a circus performer.
Born in 1900 in a small, shabby home in a tiny village forty miles from Paris, Helene Delangle was beautiful, adventurous, talented and promiscuous. She became very successful modelling, dancing and stripping in 1920s Paris. In 1929 she suffered a knee injury in a skiing accident and this put paid to her dancing career. By then, she already knew that she had skill as a competitive driver. The car-makers wanted glamour to sell their machines, all she had to do was prove herself as a driver and this she did by winning the 1929 Grand Prix Feminin at Montelhery driving an Omega Six.
The book chronicles her successful driving career collecting glittering prizes and enjoying a glamorous lifestyle driving Bugattis and other exotica. It is clear that the author has fallen a little in love with her heroine whose spirit and charm made her irresistible to so many people.
After all her achievements, her downward turn of her life seems tragically unfair. She was disinherited by her family, her elder sister seeming bitterly resentful of her successful sibling (to the extent she omits her name from the family gravestone), her long term lover abandons and robs her and the famous driver Louis Chiron publically accuses her of collaboration with the Gestapo during the occupation (a charge which was never proved). In 1984 she dies in obscurity and poverty, having been dependent upon the care of a French charity whose purpose was to provide help and support for anyone in the theatrical world whose career had suffered a downturn in fortune.
The author, Miranda Seymour, does not confine the biography to a factual narration but includes emotive reconstruction in her story telling, filling out characters and events in a way that reaches to the emotions of the reader. By the time the book reaches the time of Helle’s fall from grace the events that unfold seem heartbreakingly sad.
The author mentions early in the book that she was disappointed with the lack of convincing descriptions of how it actually felt to be part of the racing scene in the 1920s & ‘30s. The descriptions in this book are beautifully evocative, whether told from the point of view of a spectator or a driver. The descriptions of the inevitable crashes and deaths are shocking and make the achievements and determination of the drivers even more remarkable.
A fascinating book about an extraordinary woman who deserves to be remembered.
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