BMW Club Oxford Section Report for September 2015
This month turned out better from the point of view that the planning actually worked – most of the time. With the section BBQ back at the Savernake Forest location on the 9th August, the food, equipment, gazebos, chairs and weather arranged, all it needed was an early start for those ‘bagging’ the site before someone else did. That sounds very Germanic but unlike the placing of the towels on the sun-loungers, we had to place bikes and cars in the nearest lay-by! Dave Hawkins got there very early and had the kettle on ready for the arrival of the set up team. A nice set of brand new BBQ’s, courtesy of Rosemary Hicks, were soon assembled and fired up ready to feed the 5,000; well a slight exaggeration, it must have been around 70 people by the afternoon. Geoff Clough led the ride to the event with big gaps in the flow of bikes arriving on site as apparently trying to cross the busy A420 turned out to be quite difficult, but the drop off system worked superbly. A quick count up of the bikes showed 20 BMWs of various models, one each of Harley Davidson, KTM, Honda and Kawasaki; oh, and 21 GS models of various sizes making the total 45. With food being consumed as fast as it could be safely cooked, I had to be quick to take a photograph of the pavlova before it too vanished into appreciative mouths.
I noticed a chap nearby to us called Graham Horne who was operating an amazing ‘Drone’ aircraft. After a quick chat, Graham agreed fly the device over the event and took a couple of photographs for us, providing a very different view of the proceedings.
With everyone mucking in to help with the arrangements both setting up and clearing away, it made the day one of the best the Club Section has run.
Lots of memories of a fun time with good food and I hope the recently joined new members had a great time meeting up with the more established people and experiencing how good the Oxford Section is.
The following weekend and the team were off to an early start to set up the Gazebo and stand at the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling with a fine collection of bikes on show. We have to thank Alistair Gibson again for the loan of his superb 1936 BMW R5 that really draws in the crowds. David Hicks rode up on his 1957 R50, which is for sale, Chaz Manson brought his very nicely restored R100 RS, Martin Skennerton with his GS Adventure LC and Ian Dobie’s GS showed a good range the Club caters for. David Shanks had recently changed his bike for an F800 GT, which he was proud to show on the stand. The sun shone and thousands of people turned out to explore the huge display area plus being enthralled by the range of old and new machines being ridden at some speed on the High Street course. Apart from seeing and hearing those wonderful bikes of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, the most amazing bike to me was the Boss Hoss with an 8.2 litre V8 plus nitrous oxide injection!
Using the “social media”, Steve ‘SNR’ (Short Notice Run and nothing to do with his age) led a run to the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum near Chichester on the 19th August. The team consisting of Bob Mack, John Ottaway, Lee Churchill, and Graham Chapple enjoyed the visit. As Steve said “We got a bit wet on the way back, which gave Bob a chance to test his Tourshell suit again”. Graham pointed out that his old RT has a nice barn door of a fairing that works very well. Bob’s description of the rain on the way home was of it being “of Biblical proportions” although he said the suit didn’t leak.
I’m sure the National Rally will be covered elsewhere in the Journal but the Oxford Section attended in style with a ride led by Steve Moxey to the Rally. Some members went on the Rally arranged ride out to Worth Matravers, near Corfe Castle on the Saturday and commented that it was a bit of a long haul with no breaks but an enjoyable route. Dave Shanks even went on the 7.5 mile walk as well but his comment afterwards was that he was a bit ‘cream crackered’ as the last mile from the pub was uphill! Of course the good news was that Ian Dobie won the R100 RS Motorsport in the Club Raffle and his wife Mo won a bottle to celebrate.
Members are still venturing farther afield with Rob and Marion Allin off in Spain for a few days. The end of the month will see a good number of members going overseas to the Isle of Wight, which should be fun.
A more serious adventure has been completed by John Ottaway when he completed his modern version of the Victorian “Grand Tour” of Europe. We have convinced him to tell us all about it at the Uffington indoor meeting on March 13th 2016.
There are many wartime anniversaries taking place this year and some members may wish to join Andy Lawson on the 3rd October in the annual ride to the wall. If you are interested then meet up at Cherwell Valley Services at 08:51 hrs for a prompt start. Sounds a bit precise to me but then they are remembering the military.
The run on October 11th should be very interesting as John Hillier will lead us to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum (FAST).
North Oxford Garage have plans for a German night, probably on the 8th October but you should check with them on 01865 319000 for confirmation and details. They are also planning a ‘Go-Kart Challenge’ in November; dare the Oxford Section enter a team?
May I thank all those who “volunteered”(?!) at the BBQ to lead rides in 2016; I will be contacting you all for more details over the next few months as we try to finalise the 2016 diary. I will attempt to present the AGM with a draft calendar plan on the 8th November; you are going to be there aren’t you?
Keep the black circles down and the sunny side up.
John L Broad
