Reflections of the past

[hartech]

Warning - only a loose connection to Porsche's when Phil Hindley (TECH 9) and Baz (HARTECH) got together at the Classic Racing bike festival @ Donnington Park this Saturday - Phil riding his latest acquisition - the 1st Sparton 500 triple (fastest TT lap and NW 200 winner) and myself that designed and made the engine 45 years ago.

Strange day with hundreds of fabulous (largely British) racing motorcycles, lots of grey haired enthusiasts hobbling about (like me) and the smell of Castrol R - brilliant. The mighty Phoenix 4 750 square 4 (another of my engines – TT winner etc) was fired up and driven up and down the paddock for the first time in 40 years (video made).

Met up with a few from the past including ex works Armstrong rider Clive Horton whose 1st words were "your not dead then!" (well thanks for that Clive - not quite). Gave him a copy of my book and left for home wondering what will become of all those fabulous bikes in a few years time.

It seems out of the 28 Sparton’s built - I am one of the few involved who hasn't got one so my next plan is to find one - restore it and then ride it against Phil at a future meeting (while I still can) – hopefully next year when we plan to gather all Spartons, Armstrongs, and the Silver Dream Racer for a proper get together (and will try and get David Essex to join us) - Happy Days.

[Slippydiff]

Ahhh, the smell of Castrol R, brings back happy memories of my days building and using a kart with a Villiers 9E/11E engine in it.
Sounds a great day Baz !!