Cafe Racer day in Kidlington this Saturday

[David Brown]

Hi all,I will be at Cafe Racer day in Kidlington this Saturday on my Cafe Racer. It would nice to meet up with any other Rotary owners Cafe Racers or not or is it just me flying the Rotary flag.See info below from Peter Scatchard from NOC Oxford Branch.Should be a good day out.Kind regardsDavidWell folks, it’s less than a week to go until we all gather together at Sturdy’s Castle, on the A4260 a few miles north of Kidlington, for the first ever of the Norton Owners Club Oxford Branch’s Café Racer Days.Thanks to you all, we’ve a super display of café racers lined up, some factory ones like BSA Rocket Gold Stars and Velo Thruxtons, plenty of Tritons and Norton CRs (including the new 961 Black Panther), Norvins, Metisse, Harley engined CRs, Rotary CRs etc - lots to see and admire.We’ll also have a display of Featherbed models, from which so many café racers have been built of course, ranging from the first ever such frame, the Manx, through the early bolt-up Widelines, ‘lazy-loop’ and later ‘tight loop’ welded Widelines to the final incarnation in the Slimline that ran in production throughout the entire 1960s, finishing up in the Mercury. Most are complete bikes, but we’ll also have some bare frames and a Manx rolling chassis so people can really see what all the fuss was about!!Hopes of getting the entire range of Norton ‘factory’ café racers together has faded – no trace of an O’Donovan BRS from 1911, for instance, but we’ll have at least one representative of the Rotary production café racers, a Yellow Peril Commando Proddie Racer, and the afore-mentioned 961 Black Panther Café Racer, and hopefully a couple of cammy CRs in the form of Inters, though no CSI I’m afraid!The meeting starts officially at 12 noon – if you arrive before then, don’t be surprised if you’re press-ganged into helping to set-up, in which case your assistance will be very welcome.We’ll start to close-up shop around 5pm with the awards ceremony, that will be conducted by one of the NOC’s Vice Presidents, Ken Sprayson, who I term the midwife of the Featherbed frame, having built more of them at Reynolds than anyone else. After this, we’ll be packing away all the display material etc, but Sturdy’s Castle will of course still be open for business as it will have been all day, serving Hook Norton real ale plus other alcoholic drinks, tea and coffee etc, and a wide variety of food at very reasonable prices.They also offer accommodation; should you be interested in this, please contact Vanessa on 01869 331 328, or enquiries@sturdyscastleinn.co.ukPost code, for those with sat-navs or Google Maps is OX5 3EPThis is largely an informal affair – it’s the first time we’ve held this event, so we will all be part of the Development Team in a way!! Please bear with us through the snagging we’ll doubtless have to indulge in from time to time, and feel free to comment and make suggestions during and after the event.Sturdy’s has a large field alongside, and has offered free-of-charge camping for attendees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights – this will be unsupervised, by which I mean you’ll be on your tods, but the folks at Sturdy’s are a very nice, friendly lot, and will doubtless make you feel welcome; hopefully, some of the local NOC members will pop in to meet you, and we will of course be with you on Saturday night for a by then well-earned pint or two!I’ve re-attached the poster and flier for the event to confirm all the relevant details, and to enable you to pass on to others who may be interested – I should emphasise that whilst pre-registration is required to be in with a chance of the Best-of-Show awards, EVERYONE is very welcome to come along, by bike, by car, trailering bikes, by helicopter if you prefer!! The more the merrier is the message, so if you have got some mates looking for a fun day out, tell ‘em to pitch up on Saturday!!Please note my mobile number, 07775 631 044 in case you need to get hold of me on the day – I’m very much looking forward to meeting all of yoy and, of course, your splendid bikes!!Peter ScatchardSecretary, Oxford Branch, Norton Owners ClubThe Old Barn, 51 Chawley Lane, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PX, U.K.peter.scatchard@motorcyclewriter.co.ukTel/Fax: +44(0)1865 864 864 Mbl: +44(0)7775 631 044

[Interpol2471]

Sorry mate Netley Marsh for me too much rusty metal to miss

[commando-rotary]

Hi David, I am booked to go on my commander sport hope to see you there. Dave Green

[David Brown]

Excellent Dave, look forward to seeing you there.It looks like it could be good turn out.Not sure about the weather. The forecast looks a bit wet in the afternoon. Might need a brolly.David