Page 1 Paradise & Gell has been located on Michael Street in Peel since 1974. Here you will find a wide range of furnishings to enhance any living space. Whether you are looking for something contemporary or a more traditional piece, then look no further than Paradise & Gell. Page 2 Contents Page 2 Secretary's Notes Page 3 Chairman's Chat Page 5 David Dunfey's 'Grey Flash Replica' Page 9 John Daly's Racing Memories Page 14 MV Revival Page 19 Distance No Object Page 22 Book Review - That Man's Bikes Again Page 24 Cromie McCandless - Rider Profile No. 17 Page 26 Forthcoming Events Page 27 Sons of Thunder - Pt 5 - Allan Jermieson Page 33 Motorcycles - Part 6 - Bob Thomas Editor: Job Grimshaw Sub Editor: Harley Richards Cover Picture:- A determined looking Des Evans waits to start the Hillberry Hill climb on his 2-stroke, watercooled, 850cc SAAB Special in the 1980s Full story next issue. Page 1 Secretary’s Notes Hi Everyone, Another fantastically successful VMCC MGP Rally is now over. Despite very difficult weather conditions every event was completed with the exception of the “Concours on the Prom”, which was a Dept of Economic Development initiative assisted by the VMCC. This cancellation was prompted by the Government on health and safety grounds along with the planned beach racing, and upset many people as there were no signs as to the cancellation and nothing put out on the radio. The VMCC may need to rethink for next year and take on the whole organisation of the event. Many activities will change for 2013 so we will have to wait and see. We have received many, many emails and encouraging messages from our rally entrants, quite obviously our visitors enjoy the mix of events on offer even those who waited an inordinate time in the pouring rain to do the Parade lap. Nowhere else in the world can you take part in such an iconic event, and with full Govern- ment backing the Parade will play an important part in the Classic weekend planned for the middle weekend of the MGP 2013. Despite no serious accidents taking place, discussions are to take place shortly with a view to improving safety briefings and course awareness. Jurby, although stressing the Events Committee and volunteers to the max, was a fantastic day and the Spifire flypast was a joy to see. Record crowds and charging at the gate resulted in some vehicle queues to get in, Silverstone, Brands, Cadwell Park, Stafford etc all have considerable queues at peak times so the solution is to arrive early. Just under 6,000 paying customers came through the gates, with the crowd estimated at 15,000 it is obvious that many people got in for free. This will certainly be addressed in 2013 with stricter controls on vehicle passes included in a range of measures. For our first year of charging I think we have done really well and we have learnt a lot of lessons, our thanks must go to Gary Corlett and his team of volunteers on the gate. We will need many more members to get involved next year, so please volunteer I can promise you a fun day out with a real sense of achievement at helping out YOUR club. We should all be proud, as a Section, that such a major attraction for the Isle of Man was started with the vision, enthusiasm and work of your events committee and that it is now recognised as a must event by the Government in their planning for 2013. Continued next page Page 2 Chairman’s chat The last ramblings from me were written on the eve of the TT, and now it’s the eve of the MGP. Where does time go? All I can say is that I hope you enjoyed the Vintage Rally with all its facets. It has been suggested by various members (not to me personally) that we concentrate too much on visiting riders and Jurby in partic- ular. We as your committee try to accommodate everybody in all our events, but to the detractors of Jurby I will say that the club funds have benefited greatly from these type of events and enabled us to purchase useful equipment for club use i.e. our own defibrillator, and make donations to local charities. You don’t do that from bring and buy sales! OK. Rant over! The clubs winter programme starts soon, with several new items on the horizon, so please come along and enjoy an evening in convivial company. There are still a couple of runs in the calendar, so hopefully we can finish off the season with a flourish. Best wishes. Richard Cont.. Now for something completely different, the T.T. Rally has been running for many, many years and has been enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. However, it will not be run in 2013 unless a team come forward to take on the running of this event. A new leader is required and a new T.T. Committee, to liaise with and be supported by the Events Committee. You would have your own budget to run the event and experienced members to fall back on if required. Lots of enthusiasm, good organisational skills and a cool head for problems that occur are required but most importantly new ideas to keep the Rally fresh. If we cannot find a new team to run it, then after all these years there could well be no 2013 T.T. Rally. If there is no response to this appeal then we shall know there is not the appetite within the Section to continue with this particular event. This is in your hands !! Please be aware that Club nights restart in September and also that Shaun Seal needs observers for the forthcoming Trials. If you need more information please ring me or Pat on 878242. That’s all for now, safe riding. Tony. Page 3 David Dunfey's When I was searching for a pic for Ray Knight's Article on the Slater Vincent 70 (page 9, issue 30) I contacted David Dunfey in America. David sent the 70 pic, and a short piece about his own Vincents, It looked good, so I asked him to give me more. Here is the very interesting result . JG David rides the Grey Flash at a warm up race for Daytona I own an original Grey Flash that I purchased it from Coburn Benson in Massachusetts. Coburn had raced this bike in Canada and the U.S. including the Daytona 100 mile Amateur race in 1968. The bike had originally been ridden by Eddie Stidolph to become a Canadian National champion in 1950. It had been racing for decades and I finally retired it in 2009 by putting it back to original condition. I replaced it on the track with a Comet that I had been building over the years. I got many of the pieces from a racer that John Renwick built. John has established a name for himself in the past decade as a sprinter of Page 4 Vincents and most recently he ran his Vincent Streamliner at Bonneville. Back in 1999 he came over to race Daytona with his Comet Racer and did not want to ship the bike back, so I bought it. On the Flash Replica After I had a bad crash I rebuilt it as a Flash replica. I run it in Class C, the original AMA class from the 1940's, in AHRMA. Last year I took third place nationally behind Dave Roper who was second on his Moto Guzzi Don- dolino and Alex McLean was first on his Stu Rogers Norton. Note the excellent workmanship and attention to detail The gearbox is a replica of one of the original six Bur- man BAR boxes made by Burman for Phil Vincent. You can see these boxes on some 1935-6 Vincent Se- ries ‘A’ TT bikes and the Grey Flash prototype from 1949 ridden by George Brown. The gear box de- livers its power through a Bob Newby clutch. Page 5 I did all the fabrication and building myself. The body work and primary cover are fibreglass crea- tions that I made. The petrol tank is a cover which is used to hide a smaller petrol tank on the right side of the UFM and there are the coils and a remote oil filter on the left side. By doing this I can keep the weight low. The bike weighs in at 285 pounds. I use a stock production 500cc head that is ported, the stock 32mm 10TT9 carb, 11.5:1 piston and a special cam. The alloy rims are 18” front and rear. The front and rear dampers are stock replacements made by Works Performance, but I modified the rear shock to be a “coil over” after I had problems with the two spring boxes, not to mention the weight savings. I use the stock Vincent Girdraulic forks, but the front springs are my own design. The igni- tion is a new twin plug BT-H. The bike has been remarkably relia- ble. It has never failed to start a race or failed to finish a race. It has had to suffer from an unpredictable rider. Although it is de- signed for road racing and I enjoy racing the bike, I have taken it to several Land Speed events. It has raced Bonneville, Maxton, South Carolina and Loring Timing Association in Maine. Page 6 As you know the Flashes were not competitive in terms of HP.