Classic Bike Guide - Real rides, real riders

Festival success

The car parks were over spilling, the campsites rammed and paddock full to bursting as the increasingly popular Festival of 1000 Bikes landed on Mallory Park over the weekend of 10-11 July.

Pre-65 trials, grass track, sprinting, road race parades, past masters parades, autojumble, avenue of clubs, big names and wall to wall sunshine - what could have been better?

The record crowd were treated to displays from the rotary Nortons with their regular pilots, star turns such as Freddie Spencer and Carl Fogarty and a host of regular domestic classic names. However, it was the sprint demo which brought spontaneous applause from the huge crowd, as first John Hobbs unleashed the Hobbit and then a brain shakin' top fueller ripped up the strip. Awesome in every sense of the word. There will be a full report in the September issue and images will be on the gallery here soon.