Some classic footage from Snetterton back in 1986
I have met and continue to meet
great people through Scotts and the drama adds zest to my life. Recently, a man
named Barry Lain phoned me for some info about Scotts. He had long wanted a
Scott and had seen one racing in 1986 at Snetterton which had much impressed
him. He had recently found and bought both a Scott and a vintage Douglas. In
1986, he had bought a video camera and filmed a good selection of paddock and
racing at a Snetterton Vintage racing event. He asked if I had ever raced at
Snetterton and I told him I had, but not very often. He told me that he had
filmed the Scott in the paddock with an old man sitting on it- I asked if the
bike had droopy bars and carried the number 115. He answered in the
affirmative. I then knew that particular event.
My dad had had a heart attack and
was getting over it, but was a bit shaken and frail. I wondered if I could do
something to lift his mood and decided to invite him to the next race meeting
at Snetterton On the way over, he asked me if I thought I would win. To my dad,
you either won, or it was a waste of time. We are quite a bit different in our
outlooks! I told him that Snetterton was a track that suited bikes with a good
top speed and that the Scott was not as fast as a cammy Norton for example, but
I thought I would be well up. In truth, I knew the track pretty well as I had
raced my Laverda and 750 Ducati production bikes there many times from 1970
onwards with the BFRC club of which I was President. My dad went to watch the
race by the fence and next to him was another man who told him, “I have come
specially to see the Scott, It was here last year and he will win. My dad told
him that it was his son’s bike and I had told him I did not expect to win.
The first circuit saw me with a
big lead and went on to win comfortably. The man told my dad that he should
have more faith in his son! The video shows a great selection of bikes and is
quite well filmed for an amateur, as video filming is never as easy as
expected. The sound is quite good which suits the Scott as it was before it was
banned for excessive noise at Oulton and obliged to wear a silenced system...
This video can also be downloaded at Snetterton 1986
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