Dave Leach, Four Time Isle of Mann TT Winner

Dave Leach with the famous Yellow with Red Polka Dot Helmet!

  

On my first trip to the Isle of Man in 1990, I met Dave Leach, a racer riding for FM Yamaha and shod with Avon tires.  He was a three time TT winner, with his first race win in 1988 on a Padgetts FZ1000 0W01. In 1990 he was riding a FZR400 RRSP, which is kind of a baby 0W01.

Standing at the starting line I was talking to Dave and told him we did not have that Yamaha in the States. He said to me “You can buy this one in about an hour and a half”. So during the entire race I was thinking “do I really want to buy this thing?” I didn’t think I could get a license for it in the States; I don’t race and I cannot afford to buy it and just put it in my garage. After the race, which Dave had won (his Fourth win); he asked if I wanted it.  I said no.  I guess some guy from Japan bought it and had them crate it up, with the bugs still all over the front of it and send it to Japan.  Dave also took a 3^rd in the Senior Class, a 5^th in Formula 1, and 10^th in the Junior Race.  Unfortunately his bike broke down while leading the Supersport 600 race.  But that’s just racing!

Later he asked if I wanted to go to the awards banquet, and since I had a ticket and he had won I thought it might be cool. We show up and Dave says we should sit in the back.  In my mind I’m thinking ‘you’re one of the heroes, we should be up front’.  After we sat down they start by saying “Finishing 20^th in the 125cc class is…” With that we left and snuck down to the bar for about an hour, and then came back to get his trophy. 

IOM TT Trophy

I might add they are one of the classiest trophies around.

The next year Dave came to us to race a 750 at the Daytona 200.  It’s my turn to show him around.  I took him to the short track races, to which he thoroughly enjoyed. While we were at the stadium we ran into some of the staff from the Speedway.  They invited us up to the top level, where the announcer sits.  They interview Dave during one of the breaks and asked him if he liked dirt track to which he responded that he would give it a go if they had it in the UK, as it looked like fun!  Then they asked him about racing at the Speedway. He said “It is a little scary going 170mph right next to the wall.”  Now I am thinking to myself, here is a guy that rides 100 mph on very narrow country roads with light poles, houses, and stone walls everywhere, and he thinks Daytona is “a little scary”. 

The terrible part of this story is in 1992 Dave was racing at an Irish road race and crashed in the rain.  He came off the bike and ended up straddling a tree at probably 60mph (ouch!). It almost killed him.  But it did shorten him by I think he said a little over a ½ inch. Two years later he was at Daytona getting around with two canes and informed me all the ‘important parts’ worked fine.  

In 1995 he made a return to racing the Isle of Mann TT, which at the end of the 1997 season (after sitting out 1996) he hung up his leathers for good.  Here’s a video link of Dave in Practice in Ireland in 1995 (watch for that helmet!!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuDMYUUqB0s

I guess scary is a relative term.  

Dave Leach at IOM Parade of Champions

The Fire Truck Story

As I previously mentioned the rules of the road at the Isle of Man are not the same as in the USA. There are no speed limits when you are outside of the city limits and where it’s not posted as a speed zone. Plus if there is room to pass, then you just go for it – no matter what the lines on the road say. Not sure how legal it was, but everyone did it as long as it was safe.

So on our last day on the Island, Lord Denbigh (Rollo) has offered to take us to lunch. He made reservations at some little “French restaurant” on the other side of the island. He said it wasn’t anything fancy. I think he only said that because he had never been there. The place was very nice and I think it cost him a small fortune for all of us to eat there.  Interesting thing about this little village was that it was the only place on the island I saw a Manx cat and the 4 horned Sheep that are unique to the island.

4-Horned Loughtan Sheep

Manx Cat

Anyway, getting back to my story. So the race was over and we were all suited up, on our bikes, and ready to pull out in traffic from the church just past Quarter Bridge.  We wait as we hear sirens and then a fire truck goes by.  Shortly after that more sirens and a police car goes by. It just so happens that we are going the same directions as the two emergency vehicles.

As we get out in the countryside we start to gain on the fire truck and are soon right behind, lights and sirens blazing. He is doing about 45-50 mph and Allen (remember Allen and the police story from earlier?) passes him, after all no speed limit right? So we all pass the slow fire truck and get a nod from one of the fireman. At this point I’m saying to myself this is crazy, who passes a fire truck with lights and sirens going?  It’s obvious the police car had passed the fire truck, so what’s the harm in us passing him?  

The Rover SD1

Then we started to close on the police car. I’m running third in line and we are closing fast on the cops who have lights and sirens going as well. This is NUTS. Are they going to try to pass the police car as well? 

Passing a fire truck is one thing, but passing the police is a whole different story. I did not sign up for a night in jail. The good news was the police car turned off the main road just as we caught up to them.  Luckily, they weren’t going to the same restaurant we were!

Until next time. . . 

Riding the Isle of Mann TT

No Speed Limit Sign

One of the truly unique features about going to the Isle of Man is the fact that outside of the city limits, or where it is posted, there are no speed limits! This is the only place in Europe, to my knowledge, where you can ride the country roads like a complete fool and be perfectly legal. The good news is you can ride very fast and pretend you are Joey Dunlop. The bad news is if you do this with complete abandonment you will end up like Joey Dunlop. It is important to watch the signs for the posted speed limits and know the sign for when you have reached the end of the speed zone.

So here we are riding along with several other bikes and all of a sudden everyone drops a gear or two and when we pass the sign (which I was not familiar with), and the race is on. Now the police do give tickets out frequently. They stand some where in the speed zone with their radar gun and ‘shoot you’ as you approach. If you are going too fast they just wave you over. No car, no lights, no chase. So do you think you want to run? Yes, you can get away……. but remember you are on an island so where are you going to go? The police stand at the ferry terminal and check each bike as you get on. If they have your license number because you did not stop, then you are in BIG trouble.

Everyone rides the TT course and there is a constant string of bikes on the road. After all, what other racetrack in the world can you ride the track, before or after the race?

IOM TT Course Map

One needs to watch for the Germans in particular. They are excellent riders and very fast, but once in a while they forget to stay to the LEFT side of the road. There are signs all over the place in German that remind them to stay on the left. The year we were there, a German got off the ferry and was riding the course very fast, he crossed onto the right side and hit a BMW car head on. He never even checked into his room. It is not just the Germans that like to ride fast. On one ‘tour’ of the course I noticed a skinny old bike coming up behind me so I slowed down to see what it was. Now I have several vintage British bikes and it was a guy on a Triton, ‘hallin ass’ on this old thing. Then there was the time this GSXR  comes up behind us slow ‘Yanks’ and this guy passes us, just pass the goose neck, on the outside of a blind left hand corner and he on the wrong side of the road. If that was not scary enough he had his girlfriend on the back.

 

Now if this does not get your attention, all one needs to do is ride counter course. When everyone rides the ‘track’ they go the same direction as the direction they race it. If you go the other way, remember these are public roads, it is REALLY scary. Picture yourself going down the mountain at 80-100mph and you have bikes going up the mountain at 100+ mph and sometimes they do not stay on their side of the road.

Then there are the surprises along the course. It was maybe my second or third time around the course and I got separated from my buddies by a couple of cars.  When I started to catch up I was on it pretty good; I saw them standing beside the road. They were on the other side of Ballaugh Bridge and to my great surprise I went airborne.

I do not want to scare anyone from going because this is one of the things that should be on any street riders ‘bucket list’; so if you ever get the chance to go to the Isle of Man, it is a trip of a lifetime, but make sure to make arrangements to do it on a motorcycle.

Several years later we went to the TT again and it was the first time for four of the guys I ride with in the States. We had done a quick lap before breakfast and as I pulled into the car park,one of the crew was jumping up and down like a crazy man. I thought maybe a bee got in his leathers or something but after he got his helmet off he was shouting ‘That was better than SEX!’

My Gift to the 11th Earl of Denbigh

William Rudolph Michael Feilding, 11th Earl of Denbigh.

That was his name, but we called him ‘Rollo’, as he was always introduced as Rollo Denbigh or Lord Denbigh. He was a regular guy who loved cars and motorcycles. I got to know him on my first trip to the Isle of Man in 1990 and he was an enthusiast in the true sense of the word. 

He was riding the bike Geoff Johnson had won the Production 1000cc TT in 1987 for the Loctite Yamaha team (Now shown as Production Class B). Geoff died in 1990 of a brain embolism. This was a guy that rode a 520 pound bike (a real handful in those days) around the IOM, inches from walls and poles, only to die during a party at home in his kitchen. Goes to show you never know what will happen.

Geoff Johnson on the 1987 Loctite Yamaha Bike

Now Rollo is riding this bike – with Geoff’s signature on it - with all the paperwork from Yamaha and the Loctite team.  This was one of my first trips to England and the Isle of Mann as well, and I was learning that ‘English’ is not always the same English; word usage can differ, sometimes greatly.  For example in the US we ride on the pavement in the street. If you say you were riding on the ‘pavement’ in the UK, they think you were riding on the sidewalk.  A transmission is a gear box in the UK, and a Fanny Pack is known as a bum bag.  Back in the day, you may have gotten your fanny or backside swatted when you got into trouble.  Yet in the UK, it’s more of a slang term about female genitalia.

So here I am with Rollo and friends and he states he has a Harley Davidson FLHTC as I think to myself, “Cool I have a present for you”.  You see, on my last trip to Sturgis I had bought some ‘Sturgis HD’ suspenders.  I had been using them on this trip to hold up my rain pants; but thought they would be a nice gift. I tell him I have some ‘Sturgis HD’ suspenders for him and he looks at me like there is something majorly wrong with me. After I hand them over I found out that our USA suspenders are called braces.  

Turns out suspenders in the UK are what are known as a garter belt in the USA!