IMPORTANT STUFF . NOW ON .

No 1 .Right now Boastie and Tim Greig are out at Daytona trying to get in the Main Race , and i'm on a plane tomorow to support them . So should everybody .

Boastie says - Tim Greig and Pete Boast fly out to the States tomorrow to race in the Daytona speed week.Tim is competing in the Winter Amateur National Championship held at the New track at Daytona, over 3 days to be held on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Pete is riding in the Pro Series, with his first meeting on Saturday evening at the 1/2 mile banked oval at Savanah, Georgia, then back down to Daytona for the Pro All stars meeting at Daytona on Tuesday. They will be followed by the two Grand National Championship rounds on the Wednesday and Thursday.We will keep you up dated how our riders do and also hope that the Shorttrack UK members who are going out to spectate will have a great time and bring us some of that good weather back!

No2 . SIDEBURN MAG No5 is about to appear on sale ! Buy it .

No 3 . Mefo race dates are out for European Flattrack and all American Series . Join and Race . See poster above .

No 4 . Scooterfarm racing's practice track is built and the moment i'm back , it's up norf to have a go . Way to go boys - i know a lot of hard work went into that (and i can't even get a field to play in down here !). We are not worthy .See daves pics - stolen from his blog Full frockle fiasco !

No 5 . Don't visit REDMAX cos i'm not there , got 8 races to watch vintage n modern , Ducati have leant me a bike in Daytona and after the racing we're riding it down to Miami and out on the Keys for some chill out time !

If you need me e-mail and i'll pick it up on the wi-fi (whatever that is !)

Adios amigos .

SKID LIDZ , BRAIN BUCKETS AND BONE DOMES !

Yep it's all about Helmets !

Sometimes i'd rather not wear one - but i always do .

I went up the smoke the other day and met up with Dave (death spray) and popped into see his mate Johnny - a real cool character , we could have talked for a year - and i could have spent a year looking round his Mews house garage , so full as it was of cool bikes and stuff .

Now it's that stuff i'm talking about today , cos in this garage was a shelf and about 30 lids on it , reminding me of just about every one i know , cos you have bikes , parts , gear and then lids .

Helmets go out of Fashion like everything , but then they come back in again as classics or something that reminds you of a time (wether you were there or not !)

Triggering this off was the realisation that my dad has thrown out about 4 of my old lids that were in his way aparently in his attic in a box in the corner minding their own buisness !

One of those lids i particularly wanted , a Bell mk1 full face i'd had since i was 16 ! painted to match my Enfield Connie 700 (which i still have ), so slightly pissed off .

Anyway here's a few of mine kicking around the house at the mo......

Firstly a Phil read 70's helmet bought recently from a well known GP commentator and Author. this has been signed by mr Read himself and is actually part of a range Phil launched and had made for himself (so not a Kangol then !) . i liked the colours and it was a steal !

Next up on the shelf a Wes Cooley Mk 1 Arias , found at autojumble for £25 after much haggling and pretending i did'nt know who the popular yankee GS1000 superbike rider was !

Next to that a crappy metalflake 70's lid of italian extraction , that always makes me grin as the chin bar is an add on that would fly off if you sneezed !

Then one of my best lids , a Everoak racemaster from the early 60's . purloined from and old boy in my village when i was a pup it was gloss silver with black leather and red silk interior and cork/netting for protection. i used this as my no 1 lid up to 94 when i got a Davida pudding basin to use instead , when i painted this one satin black and added a bubble visor and decals a la PHYSCOMANIA (best brit biker flick ever !) and went to the opening of the ace cafe !(we are on the ace day video wearing them !

Next up my Bell moto-111 , not much to say bout it - classic MX lid , had it since new (spot the AJS and Captain scarlet stickets !) fab looking lid tho . Spot the 8-track collection behind !

Lastly a Arias Quantum i had kicking around waiting to be used , so i painted it up to match my Romero style jacket (seen behind ) in 70's biege and mettalic red n blue stripes , with my race number 59 on the sides . OLD SCHOOL or what , now i'm gonna look cool on the grid with this set up and my Metro -racing gloves i just got !

As i said most people i know have a little collection of lids , hope you enjoyed a few of mine !

BEST SHOW ! THE OFF ROAD AND RACING SHOW TELFORD

That's right , BEST show i've been to for a long time (even if it was in Telford!).

Me n Boastie hauled our cookies over to the Off road and Racing show for two days this weekend , with Sideburn girl for support - and sent up the SHORTTRACK UK and REDMAX stands for action . And boy did we get some ! The interest was non-stop in racing and building Flattrackers , probably due to the fact most twin-shock / pre 75 scramblers are ideal for flattrackin' or ripe for conversion . And these are hardened race boys lookin' for more sport .

Boastie nearly lost his voice talkin to punters non-stop ! we sold a shed load of stuff of the stand and gave out 400 cards and tons of shorttrack fixture lists , had to fight people off of the co-built framer we took along and wipe the drribble off the sexy stainless pipe of theirs we took along ! Think co-built's phone is gonna be ringing away this week (stand by Anthony!) We also had to fight Guto and his dad off of it (cos they knew it was their chassias we had taken to show !).

So we had a REDMAX , SHORTTRACK UK ,CO_BUILT , SIDEBURN stand at a classic scrambles show , and got our best result yet from a show ! Analyise that boys .

For me tho , i was in heaven . Put me within a mile of a 70's CCM and i can't think straight , i just want it - and there was about 10/15 or so nice examples , not to mention HL500 , Cheneys , Rickmans , Maicos , Jawas , Fantics , Bultacos etc etc etc . KIN FAB .

3 massive halls and autojumble outside and in , i bought a few things too - later we had to fight Boastie off of a real nice '83 KX 125 going for £950 as he explained that it was his dream bike back then ! Even after the OK from Jackie , he still resisted the temptaition , despite going back 150 times to "have a look !" bet he's regretting it right now . I'd have had to stump up around 5K for a half decent CCM 580 , so i did'nt .(cos that's good Trackmaster money !)

All in all the show gave me a smile i could'nt get rid of , and i can't remember that from a show since the Ally Pally road n race show first started years ago !

We had a good hotel for £75 for two nights , and got to eat out at a couple of good places too ! Rach got to listen to me n Boastie swap bike stories and in return she told us what driving a HGV was all about !¬

GOOD ONE .

Cheers To Pete for setting it up too .

CHARLEY GOES REDMAX MAD !

All round nice guy and motorcycle enthusiast Charley Boorman gave me a ring the other day - and as usual i was'nt paying too much attention (think i was off to the loo !), but had a bit of a chat , put the phone down and said to Rach "think that guy is on TV or something - did'nt get his name " !! Anyway he phones back and Rach has a nice chat to him and puts me right about who it was (she's a big fan ) - so he phones back and it seems he likes the REDMAX web site and has got the Flattrack bug big time !(quite rightly ).

So Charley is building a W650 Streetracker and his mate has a SR500 project too , and he'd like some parts to help the build progress ! CAN DO ! (cos that's the kind of guy i am ).

He purchased a Trackmaster Tank , a Knight seat and pad , a pair of oval K&Ns and some white number boards - sounds like it's gonna be a good build ! Was going to post it all up as the Tank was still in the States , when as if by magic one appeared - so i gave him a ring and offered to take em up to him in London (in the hope of seeing some cool bikes) and meet the man so often in my Telly !

And he lived up to my expectations as a cool guy with plenty in common to a Rev head like me ! In fact we chatted away until we both realised the Traffic was closing in around us and we had to make a move before the usual gridlock set in !

Chat included talk of a Flattrack ride on a Co-built bike and Joining Shorttrack UK for a race even ! i'm gonna send the info pack on to him asap .

Charley really is a nice , down to earth guy and knows the bike world as well as anyone i know .

Bet he's got the grinder out on that Kwack right now - keeping the nieghbours awake !

If he's lucky i won't put the phone message he left me out on general release ! (mum liked it !)