30th August Ballasholague Farm, Isle of Man

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Kms today 112
Kms to date 10,299

We started the day at the Ramsey Sprint an 1/8 mile track along the seafront.  The bikes were amazing from a 50cc step thru to a turbocharged nitro breathing Hyabusa.  The most impressive bike was a record breaking BSA Bantam with a big bore and reed valve conversion.  It went like a rocket!
A very special BSA Bantam launched off the line at the Ramsey Sprint
Then we had lunch at the Ginger Hall Hotel and carried on to the ARE Motorcycle museum in Kirkmichael.  This was in a private house and the VMCC were there too on a run, so the car park was full of interesting bikes too.  The collection was all British, lots of Greeves and included a Hesketh, the ill-fated 1000cc V twin produced by Lord Hesketh and a couple of DMW's. 
A DMW Cortina - Betty might have built the wheels on this one

We then went on to Murray's Motorcycle Museum near the airport south of Douglas.  This had a much wider variety of bikes including a 1966 Honda CB450 Black Bomber just like mine. There was a 1990 Red Wing Honda RC30 with Marchesini Mag Rims.  There was an RC45 and NC30 and a British Armstrong and a very weird Fuin.  Lastly was an Ariel 3, a trike that lent over like a motorcycle and was a complete disaster and probably the final nail in the coffin of the British motorcycle industry. We rode home around the TT course through Kirkmichael and Ramsey and I gave the V-Strom a few more berries. After dinner we watched TV with Betty and they had a bit about the RC30 display in the paddock and I was in one shot checking out the bikes!
I used to own one of these back in Belfast

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