Skip to main content

Rally’s in the 80s. Mother Hardy’s Rally 1981...

Previously I had started to do a write up on Rally’s in the 80s. Here is the second Rally I went to. Mother Hardy’s. This is being written from my memory. 27 years on.






It was in February 1981 a weekend after my first rally. Mother Hardy’s was held down in Victoria. Inland from Bairnsdale. I can’t remember the club that ran it. After my first rally I wanted to go to another straight away. We would turn to AMCN to give us the dates and places for rallys.

I rode with John (Jacko) who I worked with and his mate Greg. They both had XJ650s. We left from work on Friday arvo at about 3pm and set off down the coast. Being on a 250 I lead at times so as to set the pace. Most of the ride is now just a blur of non stop riding. Fueling up and rising. As it got dark Jacko took over and lit up the road with his 9 inch head lamp.

We got as far as Bega and rolled into the servo for fuel within 60 secs of the locks going on the pumps. The attendant didn’t have the keys. So we slept on the forecourt next to the bikes. At least one car also joined us waiting for dawn and arrival of the keys.

Dawn indeed did bring the keys. Fuelled up we headed for the border. Had we have gotten fuel the night before we would have pushed on until we got to the rally. In hindsight I am glad we didn’t. I don’t know if we really knew the threat of wildlife at night.

The road on the NSW side was so different than that of the Victoria side. This was the first time I had been to Victoria. The NSW was a goat track. There was a visible line in the road from the NSW tar and the Victoria tar. The road was now very smooth and wider than that in NSW.

I remember riding through Lakes Entrance. Then Bairnsdale. Then the dirt road into the Rally site. Remember this is way back for the ‘Adventure Bike’ and chook chasers were frowned upon at Rallys. How things have changed today.

The Rally site was great. Lush and green. We wandered around the rally site checking out the bikes that were there. Learnt about what camping gear is good to take on a bike. There were a lot of European bikes there too. Most people at the rally were from Victoria. Some from other states like us. The drinks flowed on Saturday night and many stories both true and not so true went from camp fire to camp fire. We had travelled over 700kms for a drink. Then another 700 to get home. But that is what rallying was like back then. Oh and it was in the days were you had to bring everything with you and there were no bands.

I took out “Longest Distance Under 250cc” trophy. But as we had to leave very early to head back the way we came I could not accept the award. So they mailed it to me. I have since lost this trophy. It was a piston and conrod mounted on a varnished bit of wood with the award plaque and Rally badge.

At the rally we meet Brad and Andy. Brad was on a GSX750 (first model) and Andy on a Kwaka 650. Andy also wore green leathers. He was of course christened Kermit. I think they lived out west somewhere. They rode with us up to the NSW border and then took off west.

On the way home I learnt a very important lesson. Don’t mess with Semis. I went to overtake one semi. Now on a 250 with a big barn door handle bar fairing on it I had to slip stream the semi and then scoot out and try to get past him. Being that close behind I couldn’t see what was coming the other way till I pulled out. And guess what was coming the other way. Another semi. I had no time to pull back. I ended up riding between the two of them. Both Jacko and Greg following thought I was a going to get run over. Somehow I held onto the handle bars and rode between them. I did do this once more on the way to another rally. Hey I was 19 and thought I could conquer the world. Not anymore.

Between Genoa and the border the Victorian Police placed white tape on the roads. The tape was a certain distance apart. Then a helicopter would time you between these two tapes. If you were going over the speed limit the helicopter would radio a Police car to chase you down and book you. We looked heaven ward for the helicopter. None was seen. So we tried to cut the tape by slamming on our brakes as we went over the tape. It didn’t work. The tape remained in place.

I arrived home well after dark. I was worn out but buzzing from the trip.

So this is what I remember. If you are reading this and knew were this rally was held and which club please let me know. Also for some reason I had black and white film loaded in my camera.


Jacko enjoying a few cold brews.







Brad, Andy and Greg. On the way home.



Lunch time stop Sunday. Where I can't remember. Bikes from left to right. Greg's XJ650, Brad's GSX750, Andy's Z650, my GSX250 and Jacko's XJ650.


Comments

  1. WONDERFUL pictures. thanks for sharing the memories!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuning 40mm BING CV carburetors for BMW motorcycles by ear.

Steve Doyle has put together this great and simple guide to tuning your Bing carbs. No need for expensive tuning equipment. So over to Steve...... Any feed back on this How To please email me and I will pass it onto Steve. There are 3 common methods to syncing the carbs. They will all work 1. Shorting the plugs. http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/synchcarbs.htm and http://www.airheads.org/content/view/216/98/ 2. Using a manometer of some sort. Carbtune, Twinmax or home made http://www.airheads.org/content/view/183/98/ 3. Using your ears. No comprehensive articles that I could find.. In the spirit of learning to service and tune at home and after lots of reading, I decided that for me the "by ear" technique might be the most useful, as it doesn't require any special tools and can be performed anywhere. There is no risk of electrical damage to the bike or the one doing the adjusting. It was very difficult to find a comprehensive description of the procedure, so using the combi

On a Sure Footing....

I love my BMW. More than any other bike I have owned. This doesn’t mean that it is not without its blemishes. Take the hair trigger sidestand. Known to fold up when an Alpaca herder in the Andres sneezes and the bike is in Australia. Many a BMW owner has found their bike on its side on the ground. Fairing broken. The sidestand has folded up into the raised position. Why? Because it likes to. Once the smallest amount of weigh transfers off the side stand it will fly up. Also if you have an RT type fairing as mine does you can not put the stand down when sitting on the seat. Well I can’t with my short legs. I have to clamber off the bike while holding it up right and then use centre stand. I don’t trust the sidestand. This Video shows how vicious the original sidestand is. Click on the play button. That all changed yesterday. I fitted a SureFoot sidestand . Moto-Bins in the UK supply these. They are of a very sturdy construction. Comes with full fitting instructions and 2 new

Ride impression of the Yamaha MT-03.....

Yamaha have realeased their new 660 based single. The MT-03. See I so want one....MT-03 The bike can be had in Europe but not here in Aussie land. I have asked Yamaha Australia if they will bring them in. They said "No plans at this stage to introduce the MT03 in to Australia." To rub salt into the wounds, axxess , the forum admin guy at http://forum.monoconnection.nl/ got to ride one. NOOOO!!! So unfair. He translated his ride impression into English for those of us who will not get to ride this. Thank you mate for doing this for us. So lets see what he has to say..... Saturday 16 February I could try the Yamaha MT-03 at Gebben Motors. I could try a brand new red 2008 model. After a short instruction and a warning because of the new tires we were ready to go! The first thing I noticed was the enormous wide steer and the upright riding position It gave me a feeling of absolute control and power! The seat was quit hard but not uncomfortable at all. Unless it was still freez