Why Motorbikes?

The 1960s to the ’80s was a time of great change for motorcycling, both on and off the track. The Japanese invasion was soon complete. New little bikes became as quick as the old big bikes. It was a great time to be involved as a writer, competitor and promoter.

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It Was All About Being in the Right place at the Right Time

I had done a little freelance writing for a couple of papers so some friends thought this gave me the qualification to start a paper. With $20 in the bank and obviously being easily influenced, I agreed and called it Popular Motorcycling. After an encouraging start, it fell over when the distributor went bankrupt owing me far too much to continue. Contact with other creditors determined there wasn’t much point haggling over the $2.00 left as the distributor’s fully paid-up capital.

 Renowned automotive engineer Phil Irving, designer of the classic Vincent V-twin, and the Repco-Brabham used by Jack Brabham to win a Formula One World Championship, convinced a large publishing house that they should take me on, so Motorcycle Action was born. Phil had been the first person called on to write a column for Popular Motorcycling and our interesting and most informative relationship went on to include two books of his work.

Leaving the paper three years later, Motorcycle Publicity Services seemed like a good name for a business handling promotions and advertising for race events and the industry in general, in addition to conducting national and international racing events. Mostly road racing, but also dirt track. Obtaining sponsorships for events and individuals also formed part of my activities.

Regular newspaper and magazine columns, including road tests on bikes, for a variety of publications helped keep me busy. Through all this, competing, (mainly in road racing but also a little short circuit, trials and scrambles – initially as a sidecar passenger) became my principal way of ensuring my finances were always under assault. I was also part of a team that set a plethora of Australian motorcycle distance records. We might have set a few more had I not crashed at 3.00am and put our bike out of action. More to that than meets the eye too.

My business strategy seems to have been ‘that looks good, go for it.’ Being in the right place at the right time with the right subject a lot of the time was not a plan. It just happened. As a result my media profile in Victoria was reasonably prominent, to the extent that I became the ‘go to’ person for things motorcycling with several media outlets. Being invited into the darkrooms of a daily newspaper to help select the photos to be used following a publicity event, and ghosting racing personality interviews for a television station (with the journalist overdubbing for the news) sums it up. You couldn’t plan for stuff like that. Things just happened. It was a hoot.

These days, a 700 Honda is my preference. It’s used for domestic purposes and for touring in Europe. It took me on a 5,000km, five week trip to the Isle of Man for the Classic TT  a couple of years ago.

From Berlin to Portugal

 After some time in the fascinating city of Berlin, our base is now in Portugal. Because of this, I became reacquainted with competition when the International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) came to our backyard in The Algarve. My involvement in bodywork (as in, human physical healing) internationally, for the past couple of decades, gave me the opportunity to work with the Team Australia physio for the ISDE, treating riders each afternoon after their gruelling day’s work.

One of our local enduro champions has been a patient for some years. His family has the best seafood restaurant in the district but this did not influence my desire to help him (well, not very much). 

Perhaps one little feather for my cap  – I don’t think a dedicated Bowen Therapist has been part of an official Australian Government supported team before. Motorcycling Australia’s ISDE management also invited me to part of the team for the following year’s event in Italy but it was Covidly interrupted. With more certainty about viruses and such, it would nice be to join Team Australia in the near future. It was a good thing to do.

And, hopefully you’ll enjoy my blogs about a time in my life that was nothing less than a hectic, chaotic, confusing, fun-filled, mostly enriching, party time that coincided with a desire to improve the role of motorcycle racing. It was a time of learning along the way, trying to avoid making the same mistake three times. There were wonderful triumphs…and huge disappointments. The biggest, ultimate disappointment was when, learning that trust was not enough, I had to walk away from it all. There will be a blog about this soon…something to do with an international road racing series that everyone was excited about, sponsored by an insurance company.

Did I mention that I also like going fast on motorcycles? Here are a few I’ve owned, tested and/or competed on. The posters are of a couple of my race meetings.

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