Visiting an old friend

I had a drive up to Waltham Cross and Welwyn on Saturday to do a deal on some GSX parts for my Pendine bike. I had arranged to meet a guy called Jules Boag at the pub. I attended sprints with him in 1983 and hadn't seen him since! As luck would have it, the place where I was supposed to doss down on Saturday night was full, so Jules offered me a bed for the night at his rented farmhouse in Ashwell, near Baldock on the A1. I arrived at 1845 on Saturday night , had a brew and started reminiscing about the old days. We drove to the pub for the inaugural PLRC meeting , had some dinner and I got drunk. We drove back, Jules was sober, looked at some old photos from the 80s and 90s, drank more beer and then retired for the night. In the morning, before breakfast, Jules showed me some of his vehicles, here they are;
Clutch from Jules top fuel dragbike.

Maserati Bi Turbo 425


Alfa Romeo Guilia (I think)

Under the Bi Turbo bonnet, flat six engine.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6



Top fuel drag bike front end, Yamaha cylinder head, Puma block and casings


Ex Mick Grant 1100 Katana with 33mm slide carbs

 

Nice selection of vehicles!

 

This man has a serious Italian car habit. He appears to be losing the War on Rust with one of them. All beautiful and desirable but they remind me some of the girls I knew when I was 21: now needing excessive amounts of LC and A to keep the body together. Few manufacturers knew how to make an engine sound like that, however. An Alfa at full chat can be spine-chilling...

 

We went for a short blast in the Maserati. That sounded awesome, with both turbos spinning up and then lighting the tyres up on wet, country lanes.