The Classic MotorCycle – September 2019

Starsall setfor ClassicTT

John McGuinness, Dean

Harrison, Michaels Dunlop and

Rutter,ConorCummins, Jamie

Coward,JamesHillier and

DannyWebbare just some of

the stellarnames expectedfor

this year’s ClassicTT festival,

whichbeginsonAugust 17,with

the race days August 24 and26.

ExpectPatons to battle with MV

Agustas,Manx Nortons,Honda

twins and fours andMatchless

G50s fo rSeniorrace honours,

with supportingclasses

includingJunior,Lightweight

and Superbike(in whichour

colleague,Fast Bikesjour no

Mike Booth will be c ompeting

on his £600-purchase ZXR

Kawasaki) racescompleting

the programme.

Details at http://www.iomttraces.com

This is arefreshingbookas

it not only covers theorigins,

models and specification of

thesemotorcycles from the

earlydays, butalsoshows how

theywereused for work,sport

and pleasureint he countries

wheretheyweremanufactured.

This often mirrors howthese

motorcycleswereused in the

UK when theyfirst starte dto

be imported in the 1960s,from

cheap,utilita rian andrugged

transport,tof ar moreofa

leisureand indeed ‘collectable’

motorcycle.

Virtually all of themachin es

made by theState-owned

factories in theUSSR until its

demisein1991, both military

and civilian,cantrace their

heritage backtopre-Second

WorldWar BMWR71 machin es

and it’s believed theSoviet

Union wasusingthe design

under licence and copies of

DKW125 and 350cctwo-stroke

machin es were made after the

whole plantwas shipped back

to Russia postwar aspartofthe

reparations forwartime losses.

Many Britishand American

militarymotorcycleswere

shipped to Russiadurin gthe

SecondWorld War, including

Velocettes–thereise ven

printedaRussian copyofthe

Velocette MAFhandbook.

Machines were imported

from CommunistBloc

countries,with Jawa from

Czechoslovakia and Pannonia

two- strokesfromHungary,not

surprisingly,being very popular.

Motorcycle sportisc overed,

with road racing, particularly

in Estoniabeingpopular and it

is surprisingtor ead that there

were manyfemale competitors.

Theincredibly dangerous

ice racing on fr ozen lakes

with fearsome spiked ty resis

alsocovered.

This is thefirstEnglish-

language textonpostwar

motorcycles pr oducedin

the Soviet Union andhas

technical information on every

motorcycleproducedint he

USSR between1941 and 1990.

Thereise xtensiveuse of

previouslyunavailable material

and thebookisf ully illustrated

throughout inboth blackand

white and colour photographs

and illustrations.This is a

fascinatinginsightintothe

lives of ordinarycitizens in the

USSR and thehidde nhistoryof

Soviet motorcycle sport–from

ice racing and speedwayto

road racing, motocross and

mot orcyclefootball.

Rare family photographs

illustratethe place of

motorcycles insociallife in

the USSR and 20th century

Socialist-Realisticonography

is appliedtomotorcycling.

Also coveredare aspects

of motorcyclin gnot seen

elsewhere–withbrown

bears asriders andcamels as

sidecarpassengers!Thebook

describesstateproduction

of utilitarian motorcycles

on ascale notseenbeforeor

sinc e. Awell-researched and

interestingbook.

Bookreviewed by JonathanHill.

“Motorcyclesand

motorcycling in the

USSRfrom 1939”

Asocialandtechnicalhistory

Book Review

Author:ColinTurbett

Published by:Veloce Publishing

Ltd, Veloce House, ParkwayFarm

BusinessPark,MiddleFarm Way,

Poundbury,DorchesterDT1 3AR

Email:[email protected]

Fax:01305 250479

Hardback,280 x207mm (portrait);128 pageswith 286

photographs and illustrations.

ISBN:978-1-787113-14-

£25; $40 USA

Glamis Cast le sh ow

The45th Scottish Transport

Extravaganza took placeat

GlamisCastle ,Forfar ,overJuly

13/14, 2019.Theweatherwas

very temperamental, as is usually

the case in thoseparts ,but the

Sunday cleared up andthe sun

shone.With anattendance of

around 15,000, it is the biggest

even tofi ts kind inScotland.

Awide rangeofmotorcycles

were in attendance–altogether

ther ewere105 public

motorcycle entries, covering

the veteran, vintage,post

vintage ,classi cand modern

classiccategories,from1914 to

1980.Therewerealso22entries

from the organisingclub,the

Stra thmoreVintageVehicle

Club (SVVC).Manyoft he public

motorbikeswereexhibited

by membersofthe Central

Scottish branchofthe Vint age

Motorcycle Club.

LochsideVehicleServices

fromOrchardbank,Forfar

alsodispla yedsome bikes,

includingBSAs, Triumphs,

Nortons,Hondas andYamahas.

Therewereeventwo ex-WD

motorcyclesbeing displayedin

the militaryvehiclesection.

All enquiries on this event

should be directedtothe

organisingclub at http://www.svvc.

co.uk.

Fran cisLee.

From 1923,the McKenzieRoadsterisarea lrarit y.

10 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019

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