Concorde Rally

Organised by the Triumph Owners Club Bristol.

It was open to all makes of bike, even Japanese ones (like I used to have then!).

The first Concorde rally was in September 1975, I was the proud owner of a brand new Honda CB500T at that time (it hadn't started to play up yet!) I was keen to put plenty of miles on it so I set off from work late on Friday with only vague directions of where the Rally site was. I got to the general area hoping to see a castrol arrow or something, but no such luck. It was well after midnight when I spotted a Police car approaching. I flagged it down and asked if they knew of anything involving lots of motorbikes going on in the area, but they said no, they had no idea, but that just down the road there was a campsite and they would lead me to it. I had had enough of being lost so I followed them and put my tent up in the wind and rain using the police car lights to illuminate the field!

The next morning I awoke bright and early to see that the Rally I had been searching for was in a field behind the next farm down the road ... next field but one to me!!!

I think I moved on that year down to South London for the White Horse Rally, but I went back to the Concorde the following year and stopped all weekend. That year I was on my brand new CB400-4, the replacement for my by now completely knackered 500T! I'd had a busy eleven months of ownership; the warranty was six months or six thousand miles in those days. I did twenty six thousand, but got through two sets of rings, a set of valves and guides and a clutch. Oh and two cam chains and tensioners and a speedo and a rev counter etc. etc. ...

I can't remember what was arranged on site pub wise, but I met up with a mate who had been in the Potteries Phoenix Club but had joined the navy. He was up there with a group of sailors, and they had all got weekend ration packs and lots of booze from the NAAFI.

It turned out to be a cheap weekend for me plus I came home with enough food to keep me for the rest of the week!

- Ted Trett