TMX Says - Hoard habit to break...
By TMX Archives on 14th Sep 16
Apparently my sister-in-law is coming to stay with us for a wee while which means I had to clear some space for her to put her stuff in the back room.
The upside of this whole deal was that I unearthed some fairly awesome motocross memorabilia during the process so it wasn't all bad.
Like a lot of racers I know I'm a bit of a hoarder and if it weren't for a move in recent years (fortunately after I'd stopped riding) then I'd have a stack of worn out tyres in the back yard – y'know, the ones you keep on the premise that you'll use for practising but never do.
Although I don't have that pile of useless rubber anymore I do have a bunch of other bits and bobs that are equally as useless to me but I can't bear to give or throwaway. For example...
Item 1: John Banks Face Mask
Scrambling fans from the seventies might remember these vacuum formed doozies that were invented and worn by The Baron himself.
Apparently, they used to come with some press studs that you'd attach to your helmet and it'd stop roost from ruining your good looks which may have been a problem to old man Banks but certainly not for my ugly mug. Probably now only useful for using as a fancy dress GI Joe Cobra Command mask. Awesome.
Item 2: Dave Thorpe jigsaw
Now this bad boy is a one of a kind. Back when I was 11 in the summer of 1986 DT was my hero and at the British Grand Prix I was fortunate enough to spy him sat on the tyres that used to mark the chicane at the bottom of the Hawkstone Hill.
I ran over with my Kodak Discman camera and snapped off a shot that made my mum and dad so proud they had it turned into a jigsaw. True story!
Item 3: Unused 2001 Husqvarna CR250 expansion chamber
I was one of the few people in the UK who bought a brand-new 250cc Husqvarna in 2001 and thanks to my habit of crashing went through a fair few exhaust systems that season to the point that I thought it wise to carry a spare.
Somebody stole my 2001 CR250 in 2003 so the pipe remains unused to this day.
I've actually promised to give this to Mark Freudenau but my delivery skills ain't the best, are they Herman?
Item 4: Renthal rear sprocket for a 1998 Honda CR250
This is unused and one of those trick looking superlight items that Renthal had the market covered with back in the day. Is it any use to me? Hell no but it's brand new – brand new I tells ya!
Items 5-239: A stack of vintage DBR magazines
I love old motocross magazines and if I had my way would do a Pokemon and ‘collect 'em all'. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed and the 234 back issues of DBR now live in my office.
Bah! I'm gonna stop there but because I'm nosey I wanna know what your five useless old off-road gems that you just can't throw away are.
Send your lists to me at anthony.sutton@jpress.co.uk...
Finally, I'd like to say a big well done to the Spanish TdN team who took their 11th TdN win on the bounce at the weekend in Isola 2000!
Now I know you're all thinking that the Spanish team have actually won the last 13 Trials des Nations and that's true but what I'm on about is the fact that the team of Toni Bou, Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany (plus Jeroni Fajardo in previous editions) have stuck together and beaten everyone in this event since 2006 – now that takes some doing!
