Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

able to use the faci lities of the assemcustoms officials who were intensely bl y line a fter giving an ultimatum interested in my can of film . My th at I would resign unless this was Arabic phrase book did not help m e done. The momentum of pol ice orders to con vince th em that it wa s not a blue movi e but ultimatel y the y seemed extended to oversea s markets and th e Int erpol became an important factor sa tisfied that the label o f th e British in Norton business. leading ultimately Government Informat ion Mini stry to its lar gest, a nd its last order. Which wa s good eno ug h to giv e it an innocent class ifica tion. My visa. which wa s th e reason why I wa s in th e d iving Tri-Star . had cos t plenty in London . was The prospects of the nine-year-old stamped. and I went looking for th e Norton Villiers co m pa n y were not Norton in the freight build in g . wh ere looking bright at the beginning of I was joined by Sabah Bijjani . who 1975 but police business had reached was looking for me . H e wa s th e agent for m v citv of London friends an d a level which kept the Andover assembly line busy. From Nigeria and their iiaison connection with the Kuwait I had brought ba ck substanSaudi Defense For ce. We found the tia l orders for the Interpol and to machine. but it was late on a Friday ni ght and all the freight clerks had th es e were added contracts from Greece a nd Yugoslavia where I had depart ed. There wa s no way o f movtak en machines for demonstration ing it out until the next morning. testing. There had been good publicSabah had fixed a n appointment ity in the U.K. press. and the Governwi th Gen eral Aloufi a t Defens e Headment Department of In fo rm a tio n had quarters for 12:00 noon a nd as I had made a film about the In terp o l for so me work to do in preparing th e distribution to other co untries. based Norton for the road. we were back a t on my rid e in th e 1974 International th e airport three h ours before that Circuit des Pyrenees. A fully-equipped time. Two of th ose hours passed in police machi ne was quite unsuitable th e kind of negotiations at which the for the 325-mile course in the moun Arabs excel and it was 11:30 before I tains but it achieved fine publicity wheeled the machine away. The fuel a nd th e race sequences in th e Iilrn tank had been emptied at Heathrow were well handled by th e TV crew and Sabah had brought no petrol. He flown out from London. " A Man and rushed away to a filling station and hi s Motorcycl e" was the title given to ca me back with what wa s left of four th e film . the first co p y wa s presented liters in a leaking tin. Twenty m into me. and wa s ready just in time for utes to go before I wa s due to meet the me to tak e it to Saudi Arabia in th e Gen eral, a nd as I wa s a bo ut to sta rt early part of 1975. . the motor an Arab ru shed up wav ing A few week s ea rlier I had received a papers a nd sho utin g that I co u ld not tak e the machine because th e radio telephone ca ll from a company in th e ci ty of London inviting me to visit h ad not been decl ared on th em . In th em and discuss a n en q u iry from five minutes flat I deta ched the set and told him to keep it. Sabah jumped th eir representative in Jeddah about m otorcycles for th e Saudi Defense into h is car. I started th e Norton a nd Force.The ord er potential was a ro und found that I co u ld not free th e clu tch 1.000 mach in es. plus a back-up serand en ga ge gear. Less th an 15 min vice req u iri ng technical personnel utes to get to defen se headquarters. a nd parts sup p lies. to be followed by I put th e ma ch ine in seco nd gear. annual fleet replacements. That size pressed th e starter button. a nd with a of orde r I knew wa s badl y needed by h elping push from Sabah I rode Norton . I agreed to tak e an Interpol a way . Preci sely at noon I sto p ped a t out to Riyadh . the Saudi capital. a nd th e headquarters ent ra nce a nd put th e Norton on the sta n d . The offi cers dem onstrate it to th e Defen se Force. Within a co up le of days I had preat th e door sa lu ted as th e Genera l pared th e ma chine. tested it for sevappeared. and in his impeccabl e Brit- ' eral hundred miles. a nd fitted radio ish Military Academ y En glish h e eq uipment. A booking was made for apologized to me for being two minth e Interpol a nd m yself on a Saudi utes late. Airline fligh t to Riyad h . Amongst the group of officers who With the idea of ta kin g th e gov ernin spected th e ma chine was one to m ent film with me. I phoned th e whom the General talked about it in departmental ch ief asking if I co u ld Fren ch a nd who wore no badges of rank on hi s tropical type uniform . I ha ve a ru sh co p y and would he lik e to ea rn some cred it marks for h im self by felt th at I had m et him before sometelexing th e Military Att ache at the wh ere a nd my impression wa s right. Brit ish Em bassy to Riy adh to tell him He wa s Major J ean G ouj on of th e o f m y visit? The telex was sent but Paris Guarde Republicaine and h e protocol demanded that this was done had ca p tained th e officer team from by th e Foreign Office in Whitehall th at eli te para-mil itary force in th e and so me body got mixed up. HowCircui t des Pyr en ees of 1970. the year ever, th e Em bass v wa s a lerted to th e o f m y first rid e in th e even t. They had arri val o f " A Mail a nd hi s Motorcyridden Norton Commandos and took cle" from th e Government Films Deth e fir st three places in four co nsec uparunen t. With two da ys to go before tive yea rs. The Gua rde p rovi des th e th e fligh t. n o film had a rrived and sq ua dro n which esco rts th e Fren ch a fter urgent telephone ca lls I learned Presid ent an d top ra n k visitors to th at it was bei ng processed by LonParis. a nd J ean G o ujon had trained th e riders. He was loaned to th e Sa udi don TV labo ratories. a nd it co u ld not be ready untiI IO:ooa. m . o n th e day o f Defense For ce to form a Roval Escort m y de part ure. Since th e Sa ud i plane Squadron a nd to esta blis h prog ram left Heathrow a t 11 :30. th e p roblem of training for mil itary rnot orcycl ists. ca lled for eme rge ncy anio n . Not for The G en eral invited m e to tak e th e th e firs t o r th e last tim e mv friends a t Norton to th e Mil itary Ta ttoo which Sco tla n d Yard gave valuable he lp was to ta ke pl ace th e foll owing day in a nd th e film wa s brought to m e a t th e stadiu m outside Riyadh a nd where th e G oujon Escort Squadron wa s to Heathrow by a senior o fficer of a m ot o rcycle patro l group esco rted by g ive its debut displa y. Sa ba h Bijj ani two o f hi s men who had co me a lo ng wa s not slow to invite th e Maj or 10 join us a t his vi lla in th e eveni ng a nd to see me o ff. All three had ridden th ere was mention of a bottle being with me in five of the Pyren ees Circui t even ts. The flight to Ri yadh was pr oduced to cele bra te th e reuni on o f un even tfu l, but being a Sa udi pl ane rw o , Pyr enees riders. Meanwh ile I spe n t th e a fternoon work in g o n th e th ere was no bar a nd I had to forego Norton cl u tch a nd in tem pe ra tu res so m y norm al pl ea sure o f reach in g for a hi gh th at th e tool s were a lmost too la rge wh isk y whe n th e seatbelt signs hOI to handle. I thoug ht of the freezin g a re swi rched o ff. n igh ts a nd finge rs when I had built T he a ircra ft landed a t Ri vadh in the darkh 6f';II1 ra t. n ~n ':lntt' · • t he firsr lmcrpoli n '1970: :\l -S;r!J;rlr) ' I was soon involved with a group of house the three of us enjoyed the a Neale Sh ilton w ith General Aloufi of Saudi Arabian Defense Headquarters; Aloufi ordered 1 85 police Nortons. illicit sco tch and it helped me put over th e idea to my French friend that I should ride th e Norton round the a rena at the Tattoo the followi ng da y. He promised to a rra n ge it and the promise was kept. Th e road to th e stadium wa s jammed with the Sunda y cro wds goin g to th e event a nd I used th e siren and fl a sh in g blue lights to g et through . The Norton made an im p ressive en tra nce as I joined Goujon a nd h is Honda riders. -A fleet of Cadi llacs a rri ved. a nd as th e Saudi national a nt hem was played. hi s Roya l H ighness Prince Aziz, th e Min ister of Defen se. stood in the ro yal encl os u re to be g reeted by 100.000 pe ople. The Escort Squadron lined u p in formation ready to o pe n th e T attoo with a ride around th e aren a and Goujon as ked me to lead th em . As we a pp roached the ro yal enclosu re I stood at th e a tte nt ion on the footrests a nd gave a n eyes right sa lu te. I h ad in fact met th e Prince in 1969 wh en I fir st visited Ri yadh but that time I bowed . and th ere were not 100.000 people to app laud. On Monday morning I a rrived at Defense headquarters on th e Norton a nd with my film which G oujon had a rra nged to be shown in th e headquarter s cine ma . He wa s delighted to see shots of th e Guarde Republi caine riders h e had trained . a nd a ll o n NorIOns wh ich im p ressed th e G en eral a nd h is sta ff, T he big co ntract wa s in th e bag a nd th e next severa l days were " spe n rfi na lizmg-speci fica tion deta il s• delivery arrangements. and th e ser- vice organiza tion to be based in three areas of the country supervised by factory technicians. The first consignment wa s to be 185 machines by' air and of these th e Genera l had to have l oo o n th e road in tim e to escort V.I.P.s a tte n d in g the a n n ua l Haj pilgrimmage to th e Holy Cit y of Mecca . I ga ve him m y promise and have never ceased to regret it. Back in London I reported to my cit y company friends a nd went back 10 th e factory very sa tisfied wi th the results of m y journey to Saudi Arabia . The time was late Ma y a nd with five m onths a vai la b le before airfreighting th e first machines. I made m y pl ans for a no the r ride in' th e Circu it des Pyren ees in th e third week of June. My Norton developed obscure eng ine trouble during p racti ce, a nd having failed to cure it. I left th e sta rt line and headed for th e mountains with a motor which had no power below 3.500 rpm . By th e top o f the seco n d mountain I was minutes behind sched u led time a nd tried to make so me up o n th e steep winding descent to th e ch eck control in th e ski village of Gourette. The overheated front dis c brake lock ed up in the gravel of a ti ght bend and that was (he en d of my fifth rid e in th e event . A few days a fter my return to England I had a su m mons to attend a m eetin g a t th e Norton pi a III in Wolverha rnp to n wh ere th e engines a nd gea rboxes were produced. th cn'transported 125 miles to Andover in the • "'\. \", 1 , .. ~ I l (Con ti n ued /0 page 26 ) J ,

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