‘Whyarewewaiting?’
couldhavebeen
thechant from the
groupofvintage
motorcyclists
anxioustostart
theirsessionon
averyhot day.
Private passions
andpublicpleasure
Therewas an impressiveand much-varied entry at this free to the publicFrenchevent.
Wordsandphotographs:MIKEDAVIS
neclecticrange of two-wheeledmachines,
spanningmorethanacentury of
motorcycling,wereput th rough their paces
over the 1200metrestreetcircuitthat plays host to the
ChinonClassic eachJune.While manyaremodern
machin es,fromJapan, therewereenougholder
machin es,ofEuropean provenance, to make the eventof
interesttoclassic motorcyclists.
Theevent’s increasingpopularityise videntfromthe
fact th at whereas onlyfour years agoitattractedbarely
40 entries, this year th at number hadmorethantripled.
And what’s more, it no wattracts marque club stands and
vintage motorcycledealersbeneaththeplane trees–a
covete dlocation on aday when temperatureswerein
the 30s–inthe motovillage stretchingalongthe banks
of theVienne.All th at and no admission charge too
makesthe ChinonClassicatop attraction intheFrench
motorcyclingcalendar.
Theoldestmachinepresen twas Jean Louis Naveau’s
1905 FN.Theoperational idiosyncrasiesof thismachine
meantthat Jean Louis decided against usingitonthe
circuit.But so grea twas the interest in thisseminal362cc
four-cylinder inlinemachine that, probably,he wouldn’t
have hadthe time togetito ntothe circuitinany event!
It is only one offive early FNsthat Jean Louis owns.“For
many yearsIsearchedworldwide forthis specificmodel
–1905was thefirst yearFNmanufactured afour-cylinder
machin e–only tofind itin 1979closetomyhome inLe
Mans,” Jean Louis explained.
“However thepurchasewasn’t easy and tookfive years.
Itspreviousowner shared my passion for FNsbut,het old
me,at9 0rarelywasheable toride it andhewas anxious
to ensurethatitw ould pas sontosomeone whowould
care aboutitasmuch as he did.Iwas able to persuade
him that Iwas th at person.”
Asked whether he’d restored the FN,Jean Louis’
response waspositively negative. “No,”hesaid. “Itwas
in perfectconditionwhenIacqui redit. Bu tconsidering
80 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
