Issue 129 : June - July 2003
Lee Bay Rally
HD UK's 100th
Ducati Multistrada
Rudge
The Brigadier
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Lee Bay Rally
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Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary
A brief spell of sunshine blessed this extravaganza of technicolour machinery where prizes were shortly handed out by HOG supremo Nigel Villiers with the assistance of the MCN girls. The UK's 100th celebration party was largely organised by MCN in fact which gave it a different feel to a regular HOG rally. It's perhaps a reflection of the inroads that the American company is making into the mainstream biking world that MCN should lend such heavyweight support with publishing tycoons Charlie Davis and Adam Duckworth both in attendance. Adam has written quite favourably of some of the models and spent a good time on a Fatboy though he was less enthusiastic about the V Rod whose spartan upholstery is not best suited to those of generous proportions though it would be unkind to dwell too long on such a point. Since the weather, contrary to the impression these pictures might convey, was pretty grim, it was no bad thing to have such extensive indoor facilities. Butlins obviously build with the British climate in mind and the gigantic ballrooms accommodated the 5000 strong crowd without too much of a squeeze. The weekend was more party than rally really with the emphasis on the bands of which there were an impressive 23 spread over the three nights. Now musicians might bemoan the prevalence of tribute bands but from the average punters perspective they offer pretty good value for money and the best are blinding. As someone who is comfortable with adult orientated rock that is perfectly reproduced, the Meatloaf and Queen sets were great and the general reaction around the halls bore that out. With two huge venues running bands simultaneously each evening there was no shortage of choice and the impressions were uncanny. No one quite sweats like Meatloaf except maybe Buster Bloodvessel from Bad Manners and he was there too, the real one that is. Someone commented that he'd lost a lot of weight which amazed me as the man belting out Ska on the stage in front of me was about the size of a well fed Bison, no V Rods for you then.
Butlins do manage things on a grand scale and the feeding facilities were a marvel of logistics. Talk about feeding the five thousand, it was a miracle. More miraculous was the fact that the staff all seemed to enjoy their jobs. You always imagine that working for huge operations like Butlins, people would get a bit zombie-like but they all seemed genuinely keen to please. I went on one of the ride outs which took a long route through scenic Dunster to Lynmouth, avoiding Porlock Hill which was probably sensible. Someone still managed to fall off just sitting still but that's a good thing to see so long as they're not hurt as it makes everyone else feel very competent. Lynmouth is a real picture post card town at the mouth of the river where it empties into the Bristol Channel. It was here that I witnessed some streetlife in the form of Mr and Mrs biker eating chips sitting on a bench while perched behind them on a stone wall was a seagull, its head swivelling from one to the other. Presumably it was hoping that it might get offered a chip but the feeders were as oblivious to its presence as they were puzzled by why I kept taking pictures of them from some distance off with a long lens. It was here that I ran into Dave, a MAG member and official of Geordie HOG. He gave me a key fob which looks a lot classier than the bit of yellow plastic I had dangling from the ignition key and then I encountered Sam Woods on his 1947 45. We ate some ice cream outside one of the tea rooms and then set off back over Exmoor the men's way ie via Porlock.  In between the showers I found time to check out the stunt show courtesy of Craig Jones on his 1700cc tuned Dyna Glide and a couple of Buells. The trouble with watching shows like his is that you can come away feeling a bit inadequate. What you are watching just shouldn't be possible and everyone knows that Harleys can't do that kind of stuff can they? The finale of the act involves pulling a stoppie on a Buell with a pillion rider hanging over the front wheel scraping the steel peak of his open faced crash helmet on the tarmac, there's no doubt about it, you can see the sparks. This was the stunt that put Craig a nose ahead of Kevin Carmichael in the world motorcycle stunt championships final - the man ain't natural! Joining him in the unnatural department was car stunt ace Terry Grant who displayed all the signs of a misspent youth running from angry police drivers. Not only did he spin the car faster than a top, he somehow locked it into a 360 degree skid and climbed on the roof. I've said it once, I'll say it again the man ain't natural. Things weren't much more normal over on the Wall of Fear as The Old Wall of Death appears to be called these days. Racing around the wall, one bike chasing another was amazing enough, sitting sidesaddle and waving both arms in the air whilst weaving the bike up and down the wall! the man ain't .... More rain followed and I retired to my accommodation for a bit. I didn't have a measuring tape with me but I reckon the suite I had for the weekend was bigger than my flat with three bedrooms, a kitchen, large living room and hallway. Not only that, when I arrived there was a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates sitting on the dining table. I toyed with the optimistic thought that I had a secret admirer, a ridiculous notion of which I was soon disabused as apparently everyone got the same treatment, though I'm not sure if it was courtesy of Butlins or Harley-Davidson. Blessedly I was out on the edge of the campus and wasn't disturbed at all after dark by revving engines, though with the weather being grim, the usual coming and going associated with HOG rallies was at a minimum. The only sound I heard after I put the light out was of the webbed feet of ducks and geese waddling by my door emitting the occasional quak and honk.
To cap off the interesting facts service for this issue; the DJ on the Sunday night calculated that there was about £30,000,000 worth of motorcycles on site. Amazin' eh? I was a bit sorry to miss out on loads of fine weather riding shots but some of the party'n shots made up for it and there was no need to ask anyone to smile so I reckon people had a pretty good time. While I was there I ran into journalist Bel Mooney who is making a programme for BBC Radio about the motorcycle culture. I provided plenty of quotes some of which might even get used. Listen out for 'Peter Fonda did more for road safety by making Easy Rider than any sanctimonious safety expert.' There's logic in there somewhere. As for the ride home on the Monday yuch! Where did that freezing rain and icy wind come from? I stopped at a Little Chef after 50 miles and sat shaking over a mug of drinking chocolate piled high with cream. Did I mention Sam's mate Gary trying to tow a 650BSA through Glastonbury ? Maybe not, I wonder how they got on? I can't tell you - enough interesting facts already ! The Big H-D 100th European bash is Barcelona at the end of June, I suppose that will be hot.  |
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Creeping across Exmoor in the cold dampness of a sea mist as munching sheep peered curiously at us we wove a careful path down the one in four hairpin of Porlock hill and back to the site at the Minehead Butlins camp. For me it wasn't too tricky as I'd had a go earlier when no-one was looking, for Sam Wood on his 1947 hand gear change 45 it was probably a bit trickier but we made it without mishap and in time for the Ride In Show. 
Good to see the Animals there also, at least part of the original line up anyway, looking like they'd been around for a while but still beating out some good stuff with a new lead singer. Here's a tit bit for you - The House of The Rising Sun - what is it? Wrong - it's a prison. Some mates of mine got in a cab when their ship went to New Orleans and asked the driver to take them there, not a lot of people know that. Having the facilities they do, most of the sound system and lighting is permanently set up as you'd expect so a huge amount of organisational headaches are reduced and the quality of the productions was great. The Queen Tribute Band Mercury got the biggest audience and most rapturous reception of the weekend, a truly blinding effort, pure theatre played out on the biggest stage I've ever seen.
As it was a birthday celebration there had to be a cake and quite a cake it was, about five foot across at a guess. The cake cutting ceremony was preceded by a Beach Boys Tribute band dressed in Hawain shirts and banging out Good Vibrations and various other 60s memorables followed by a shower of confetti to the strains of Happy Birthday to You. Did you know Happy Birthday to You is the most sung song on the planet, with the possible exception of the Chinese National anthem. More fascinating facts eh? A bevy of MCN girls in skin tight cat suits appeared for the occasion and began dispensing slices of cake to a queue of bikers who made a donation to Harley-Davidson's prime charity, The Muscular Dystrophy Association. Another interesting fact here - this one from from Harley's website; since the company adopted the charity in 1980 donations totalling almost $40,000,000 dollars have been made, much it from HOG rallies and various sponsored events.