Moto Guzzi Cafe Racer..........

...........project. Long overdue but the final assembly can finally begin. The engine is a 1100 Sport fitted with Carrillo conrods and dynamically balanced crank. I've fitted new piston rings and new guides with re-cut valve seats.
   There are still a number of jobs to be done,but as it progresses I will continue with updates on here.
    My other Guzzi project a 'Roadster' has moved on a little too so maybe within 2 - 3 months one or the other,maybe even  both of them might be finished or close to.

Cafe Project

I never thought about the extra casting on the gearbox end cover being a problem
until going to fit the rear brackets.
Frame raised for removal and fitting of another g/box

Roadster and some progress here too

Ben Part - Moto Guzzi

Every now and then I happen to go through my falling apart cardboard box of photographs. These particular ones are mostly motorcycle related  and generally span from the very early 90's.
   In 1996 I went to a BEARS (British European American Race Series) meeting at Thruxton to see the Raceco Guzzi Daytona racing against the Britten.  I remember the year because I was on crutches after a motorcycle accident and so had to go in a car.
   Looking round the bike park I saw a few bikes that caught my eye including the Ben Part Cafe Racer (I didn't know of him then) before it became what most now know it to look like.
   At the end of the day when we were leaving we took another look round at the bikes and also happened to catch Ben in one piece black vintage looking leathers and  puddin' basin helmet, complete with a small skull and crossbones on the back and young woman in,I think,one piece white vintage leathers and puddin' basin sit astride his Guzzi and she on a 50's / 60's BMW and casually - and cooly - ride off down the dirt track.
  A few years later,when I ran a 'motorcycle accessory shop' in Bristol Ben came to the shop with his friend Jake Bowie - the latter I'd got to know,but had never met via the selling of used  Moto Guzzi parts. By then I knew of Ben from,like many others,the Davida advert.
  I never actually put the two together (the Guzzi at Thruxton) until Ben spotted a pic of his bike, in it's earlier incarnation, in a picture up on the shop wall.

Ben Part's Guzzi at Thruxton

......and a few years later outside my shop
Ben actually took some luggage off the top of what you see.

The young women who was with him rode pillion on the seat hump
with those 8mm bolts as footrests and they were riding up to Liverpool like that,a journey of approx 180 mls

Here and below some other bikes in the car park that day

Cummins Napier Railton Replica

When I first started using Chris, a vapour blaster tucked away in the back roads of Somerset I  thought that the small garage on the same plot  nearby was a modern car workshop. A couple of weeks later when I wanted to drop some more casings off for blasting Chris said "I won't be there,but  leave them with Terry"
  It turned out that  Terry doesn't really work on modern cars,but he does on Classics and also high up in the air on a lift was a alloy bodied and what I thought was a 30's / 40's racing car. This also turned out not to be the case and was actually something Terry had built from scratch so far taking 4- 5 years  (working weekends - 5,000 hours) and although useable and on the road is still a ongoing project.                 It's based on the 1930's 24 litre Aero engined Napier Railton Brooklands Racer.
  Terry has done the majority of the work himself including the chassis,suspension exhaust etc. The diesel 6.7litre engine was donated by Cummins and produces 500hp (up from the standard 300hp) with a turbo. The alloy bodywork was produced by a local craftsman and it will also soon be getting a bonnet.
   Terry recently had a GPS speedo on it and it turns out that for every 1,000 rpm it is doing 50mph.
  There is some short footage of it on Youtube at KOP HILL hill climb last year to give an idea of what it goes like.
  Why did he build it..... he couldn't afford the original or anything similar and because he could !