Hartmut Weidelich is a Continental contributor to another newsgroup in which I participate. He is a racing motorcyclist with Vincent tendencies and posted this which I think you might enjoy ;o))
A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! Hope you all passed into 2004 with lots of fun and in a good mood! We certainly had lots of fun as we had a couple of friends here. At 11,30 I went out with my friend Marc to prepare the Sprinter for the midnight fireworks. As we had so much snow there was no chance to start the thing by pushing. But as Nigel (thanks mate) left here his starter rollers we put it on the rear stand - frontwheel against the wall,rear on the rollers and waited for the fireworks. When most of the rockets were gone and the crackers in nearby town calmed down a bit we tried to start. Flooded the float completely, Marc tried his best to keep the rearwheel spinning and eventually after closing the airinlet completely with my left hand (it was f+++ing cold) the thing fired. What a sound in this time of year when motorbikes only appear in bikemagazines or TV spots!
130 Phon and only warming the engine was enough to quiten those silly crackers in town. After a few minutes of warming the engine it was time to do the traditional ceremony - the burn out! This time I could not start on my driveway as it was covered in snow so stayed with front wheel against the wall. Engaged second gear and let her go -within milliseconds the tire found its way through the snow onto the tarmac. Opened her up to 8000 - the smell of burned rubber and a screaming supercharged Triumph twin in midwinter can´t be bettered.Cheers
Hartmut
Regards,
Kim Siddorn