TWO0110p152-156-r1tt2

Don't you just hate it
when you go to buy a new bike
and come home with a
new obsession?
Days
of
thunder
Words by ALEC SIMPSON, photography by PAUL GIBSON & ALEC SIMPSON
152
2w
153
2w
Alec’s home away from home – a converted
horse trailer and hangover the next morning.
mine. The Sound of Thunder meeting
seems to be where all the world’s TT2s
congregate, running everything thing from
350 to 1000cc engines.
Race Patina.
My particular TT2 replica had been
campaigned very successfully by Steve
I
took a risk recently, I bought
a bike I had not even seen, let
alone ridden. Explaining to my
wife why I was selling my only
decent road-bike to buy a postclassic race bike in NZ just resulted
in open-mouthed bewilderment.
Had I not been to the Island
Classic to follow Team NZ, met
Chris Bridge and, once again,
become besotted with Ducati TT2s,
none of this would have happened.
The bike
The Ducati TT2 is one of my favourite
motorcycles. As a teenager I watched
Kevin Magee slay the big boys on Bob
Brown’s TT2 and I won’t forget thinking
I needed a new and more colourful job
when, in ’86, I saw an even younger man
hand over more than $14,000 – in cash
– for a brand-new 750F1, produced to
capitalise on the TT2/TT1 successes. You
could say it left a desire that has taken
more than 20 years to quench.
Designed by Ducati legend, the late
Ing. Fabio Taglioni, to win the World and
Still active in the NZ BEARS and Post Classic
scene, Stu Whyte won the 1990 BEARS F2
championship on a 500cc Pantah. Like other
Kiwis he seems to posses an unreasonable
amount of self-reliance and so began building
race frames that were not unlike the 750 F1
frame – until a friend named Dallas Rankin
offered to let him measure up his genuine
Verlicchi frame, resulting in 27 TT2 replica
frames over 10 years, with another in the
pipeline. Stu doesn’t feel that chrome-moly is
necessary to provide stiffness given the level
154
2w
You can import any mot
1989, without restriction,orcycle manufactured before January,
Approval before the bike but you must obtain a Vehicle Import
is shipped from the cou
bought. Once you complet
ntry in which it was
a copy of your proof of pur ed the various application forms, provided
cha
se,
a
cert
ified
photograph and $50 you
should receive your app
rova
Australian GST is pay l within 17 days.
purchase price plus tran able on the total of the
sport costs.
If you don't do this in
and the bike arrives in the correct order
Australia it can
be sent back at your exp
destroyed. Should you ense, or even
be
keep the bike here whi allowed to
le you get approval,
the shipper/handling age
significant storage fees nt will charge
.
The process is quite
as you provide what is simpleas long
required.
<www.infrastructure.gov
vehicle_regulation/bull .au/roads/
etin/importing/
index.aspx>
Italian Formula 2 series,
its success at the hands of Tony Rutter,
winning the 1982, 1983 and 1984 F2
world championships including on the IoM
TT, led to more official factory racers and
demand for frame kits from the works
manufacturer Verlicchi. Other frame
builders copied the design to produce their
own TT2 replicas, one of the least known
but most prolific being a Christchurch
engineer called Stu Whyte, who made 27
Whytech frames, most of which seemed
to be at Ruapuna and one of which is now
of triangulation and
bracing but, like me,
he probably doesn’t ride like Steve Bridge.
His philosophy was to build a frame kit
that would allow the purchaser and a mate to
transfer everything from their Pantah over in a
weekend, using standard wheels and brakes. It
also meant that the original bike could be put
back as it was if required.
His last TT2 Replica chassis was built in
1996 and he is now constructing Rob North
Replica Triumph triples.
Fly in, fly
out with a
bike. Racing
at Ruapuna
was an eyeopener for
our man in
the pits.
Bridge in NZ on both the road and
at circuit races, using a 600cc Pantah
engine taken out to 980cc and running
on methanol. Steve’s experience with
this particular TT2 replica spawned the
development of his own, and it was one
of these that his brother was racing at
the Phillip Island Classic [2w 03/09].
“This TT2 frame was first used in
1996, fitted with a 983cc stroked Paso
engine running methanol, 5.5 and 3.5inch magnesium wheels, 42mm Ceriani
forks and an aluminium (late model) SS
swing arm. Christened “The Hot Rod”
it was built for BEARS F1 racing as the
ultimate two-valve Ducati with light
weight and heaps of torque.”
I finished work at 6.00am on the Friday morning after a
night shift and caught the 10.00am flight to Christchurch.
One movie later and I was watching the snow-capped
mountains of the South Island unfold beneath me as we
began our descent. As the Ruapuna racetrack is under the
approach path to the airport I could even see the bikes
circulating in the free practice as we came into land.
Being late in the afternoon, there wasn’t much time
to chat as I had to register my entry and take the bike to
scrutineering. This was a remarkably quick process.
Steve and Debbie are experienced racers so the bike was
exactly as it should be. The volunteers taking the entry
money and dealing with the necessary forms were great, and
especially friendly and helpful to the Aussie with no idea.
I would start at the back of the grid and just work my way
up if I was fast enough. Unable to do any laps on the Friday’s
free practice, my race practice would be minimal, consisting
of a 10-minute warm up before my first race. Preparation for
practice involved finding the racetrack bar.
Saturday morning was heralded by the sound of a fourlitre Ford Transit firing up as “Longley” warmed up the
Corporate Box before driving back out to the track. The
moment when I would fire up the TT2 and ride it was fast
approaching and my senses were in hyper-mode as I dealt
with the anticipation.
The first practice laps had me taking it very easy and I
was riding around the track like I was on a borrowed roadbike. I felt achingly slow, but was determined to build speed
rather than take a tutto gas win-or-die approach.
The Pantah clutch is a bastard for quick starts, and you
either find yourself in a wheelie or bogging down. My first
start had the front pawing the sky and me
buttoning off, but I was away.
As it was one of the first races
of the weekend the opening
laps were mayhem and I had
quite a few riders run off or
fall over in front of me. Race
nerves, ambition and cold tyres
don’t equal common sense. I
didn’t come last but my times
(around 2.11) were not very fast.
Steve Bridge on the 1000cc
Multistrada-based race bike was
doing 1.45s.
By early afternoon I was
doing 2.00 flat and even feeling
confident in places, then the
rain came and the meeting was
declared wet. The Ruapuna pits
were like a scene from a world
endurance race circa 1970,
with people rushing to swap
tyres in a limited time. Even
with all the activity the rain
meant no starters lined up for
the American Iron race, and
the race callers made sure
ig
b
e
th
p
c scored
everyone knew who the fairder, Ale wn personal la
ri
l
a
n
o
a new
t his o
ternati
weather riders were.
As an in s.He raced, se ent home with
“A” plate
ed but wthe weekend.
h
s
ra
c
,
records a trophy from
bike as
Saturday night was wild,
both weather wise and at
the racetrack bar. I didn’t
make it back to the
Corporate Box, but slept on
the back seat of Steve and
Debbie’s dual-cab race
truck, a converted horse
float, oblivious to the
wind-driven chaos
outside.
Debbie Bridge, motorcycle
With increasing
racer and dab hand at
confidence, I was able to
scrambled eggs…
ride the TT2 much more
aggressively, even scraping
the fairing, my knee and
boots at the same time around
the left-hand hairpin at the end
of the back straight. Righthand bends were taken a little
more carefully as I only had
one knee slider and didn’t really
want to put an unnecessary
hole in my leathers. My times
the
ion from from
had also continued to come
An applicat , is it? Eh?
nd
West Isla
down into the low 1.53s.
Sunday’s fine weather also
brought out a reasonable trackside crowd and I found
it quite novel to see people standing three deep along
the fences cheering and urging me on. Of course they
were going for the locals but I couldn’t hear what they
were saying.
After each six-lap race I would come into the pits feeling
shattered both physically and mentally. They may have only
been short races but you are trying so much harder than at
a ride day. I felt I was taking those extra mental steps and
consciously trying to brake later, or get onto the throttle
earlier and pushing my own limits in the process.
It was an incredible feeling and one I want to experience
again sooner rather than later.
One of my highlights was the bracket racing, where you
are put up against racers with a similar lap time. With a
nominated time of 2.00 from the day before, I was to be
racing in the slowest group but with a time that put me
towards the front of that group. In the end I managed a
fourth place, pipped to the finish line by Steve’s apprentice
on his 750SS.
I was determined to do one better in the second Bracket
race but the preceding Pre-’82 race was to be my last
for the weekend as I managed to low-side coming out of
the only long right hand corner on the circuit, called the
“Carousel”.
I had started on the front row of the grid and was
running towards the front when I tried to get the jump on
the bike ahead of me by getting on the power a bit earlier,
unfortunately for me it was probably both too early in the
corner and the race, being only the second lap. The bike
collected a few scrapes down the right side and my leathers
have a few new holes, but I figured I had reached the point
where it was time to have a serious go and push my new
and still novel limits. I now understand how the glory of the
podium can be such a remarkable motivator.
155
2w
“Then a customer turned up with a
genuine Verlicchi frame and tank mould
and asked for a road-legal TT2 replica.
So, before I started, I made a jig off the
frame so I could produce a chrome-moly
replica frame for myself ... I did this
and six others along with chrome-moly
swingarms.”
Steve then transferred
the race engine into his new
chassis and fitted a standard
1982 600cc Pantah engine
Shipping can be frustrat
An average bike is usu ing, with numerous hidden costs.
into the Whytech chassis
companies charge abo ally about two cubic metres and many
ut $150 per cubic metre
for his wife Debbie to race.
likely have to pay for som
– but you will most
The Decision
I had a choice, buy a
Chrome-Moly frame kit
and build a TT2 replica
it to the shipper. In Aus eone to crate up your bike and transport
tral
Once the crate arrives ia that cost alone can run to $500.
inspected by Quarantine in Australia you must pay to have it
this could cost you ano and possibly even steam cleaned, and
the
If you choose to use airfr $300.
reight, the cost is calculat
(by a volume/weight form
ed differently
shipping times are less ula) and is much higher although
.
The company I used, Get
Routed, charges $1185
one way from NZ to Aus
to ship a bike
will have to pay any imp tralia and you don’t need to crate it. You
agent he deals with the ort taxes on top of this fee, but as your
done it by myself in the customs and quarantine issues. Having
treated the bike like it past and writhed in frustration as shippers
was the first one they had
Get Routed method was
ever done, the
definitely worth the extr a pleasant change, easy and stress-free,
a. Return prices Austral
around $1550.
ia to NZ start at
<www.getrouted.com.au>
In NZ racing,
everyone’s ready to
pitch in and help.
Left: It’s all in the
mind until it’s
cartwheeling into
the gravel trap…
one thing, organising
how to get it home
was another.
The prospect of
racing the TT2 before
bringing it home was
intoxicating, so I rang Steve to ask if he
would be racing at Ruapuna, he was. The
pieces of a fortuitous jigsaw had fallen
into place; Steve and Debbie would bring
the TT2 to Christchurch, where I would
race it in the Sound of Thunder, before
Dave Milligan’s Get Routed would ship it
home. Hospitable chief scrutineer and one
of the meeting organisers, Steve Longley
(is everyone in NZ called Steve?) offered
to store the TT2 after the meeting and
drop it off at the Get Routed facility in
time for shipping. If that wasn’t enough he
also provided me with accommodation in
the salubrious mobile digs known as the
“Corporate Box”.
See for yourself
from scratch, which could cost up to
$20,000 depending on the specifications
or grab this one with its colourful racing
history and NZ Period 5 credentials.
Once here it would only be eligible for
Club and BEARS meetings as, unlike in
NZ and the UK, the Period 5 class is
only open to pre-1980 bikes, nancies!
I did my sums and figured that
selling my 900 Monster would go
a long way towards paying for it
and the other expenses involved in
getting it home, such as freight and
import taxes. I reasoned that I could
get another Monster without too much
drama, but it was unlikely I would get
another opportunity to buy an affordable
TT2 replica. So with my heart in my
156
2w
The Cir
cuit
The Rua
p
Oran Parkuna circuit remin
d
but much , not as open as ed me of
most un bigger than Bro Phillip Island
u
a
a tight se sual feature is th dford. The
e
sharply inction in the infield “Dipper”
trench. T to what feels like that drops
h
opportun e corners leadin a drainage
g
produce ities for overtakin into it provide
s
competitoome bizarre racin g but also
different rs try to get an a g lines as
with the points. Motards dvantage at
c
re
trajectory ar wheel sidewa ome past
y
quite dif
ferent to s and on a
mine.
mouth I rang and said I would take it.
Saying that I would buy the bike was
I want to return next year, but I am also
tempted to go along to the Burt Munro
Festival at Invercargill in November
as Get Routed is doing a shipment for
competitors and spectators.
Or how about a month racing the
Pukehoe Classic races, the Paeroa street
races and the Sound of Thunder? Anyone
else want to come along? I know a good
shipper. 2w
Thanks to Steve and Debbie Bridge,
Steve Degrout, Steve Longley, Mel
Bishop, the Ruapuna track marshals,
Neale Brumby, Eddy Garner,
Dave Milligan, and the
wonderful competitors,
For more
New Zealand will
information,
have a look at
never be the same
<www.rapidagain.
artnz.com>
<www.bearsracing.co.nz>