Norton Owners Rally
Dave and myself were extremely lucky to escape without injury because it was a head on collision.
The NOC held their annual rally in the grounds of Stanford Hall and it is so close to Leicester I decided not to bother camping. In fact I visited the rally on all three days on different bikes.
On Friday I collected Dave Cockerton as my pillion passenger to show him what a real bike sounded like, and meeting Ben at the Hinckley and District Club we rode down the A5 to Stanford Hall. There were only a few members of the NOC present so after a pint we headed home, but thanks to a homicidal minded motorist my 850 got no further than Lutterworth. Dave and myself were extremely lucky to escape without injury because it was a head on collision. Fortunately I was able to find plenty of witnesses and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't be off the road too long although the Norton is probably a write off.
On Saturday afternoon Dave collected me and we met Steve White and Sue at the rally. We spent an hour chatting to some rallyists finally adjourning to the Cave Arms at Swinford where we spent the evening in company with Pete and Chris Vines and loads of Norton owners, although a look round the car park showed there were more Japanese machines than British.
On Sunday Steve White called for me and after washing his motor down we rode onto the Cave Arms to join Pete and Chris and Tony Bradley. The afternoon was spent talking to rallyists including a nice couple with an R registration Lead Wing (they left the Noggin at home) and we really appreciated a featherbed framed Commando special that will be appearing in Bike mag soon. Attention to detail by the owner Dave from Northants was incredible and we spent a good half hour talking to him about the difficulty he experienced. Now Steve has a spare featherbed frame and I've suddenly got a spare 850 motor. Umm!
After watching the prizegiving we headed to Lutterworth to inspect my bike but Tony obviously felt very strongly about me falling foul of idiot motorists and attacked a car head on at a junction. Although Steve and I did not see the incident Tony reports the car suffered all the damage. After a good cry over my/Pete's Norton we headed over to Steve's to straighten out Tony's mudguard and head home.
Although it was only a small rally the NOC are a very friendly club and we all enjoyed their company, the only blot being, of course, the accidents - so be warned. Lutterworth doesn't like bikes.
Terry Reynolds