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Contents Listing - Articles & Features in this issue
Triumph Super-Sprinter Test: Velo Viper Sports Round Trip to Belle Vue Accessories for You On the Four Winds Scrambling for Points Keeping the Air In Racing in Wiltshire Barcelona Marathon Letters to the Editor Among the Cacti Your Help Club
Article Snippets
OFF TO THE PEAKS: IF YOU are reading this on Thursday morning switch your thoughts to the Channel. About now the British contingents for the mountain rallies are on their way to the coast, there, on boats or aircraft, or just landed on French soil. The bug has caught on in a big way. I know that 64 are heading for Val d'lsere and the Chamois at the top of the Col de 1'Iseran in the Savoie Alps. A week later 51 will be at Bormio in the Italian heights for the Stella Alpina at the summit of the Stelvio Pass. Probably there will be more at both rallies since some who are going may not have got round to telling me. Anyway, its a great response and I feel proud that the British flag will be waving so prominently among kindred spirits from all over Europe. It everybody doesn't have the best holiday they've ever known, I'll be surprised. BIG DROP: WITH justifiable satisfaction, the Industries Association call attention to accident statistics for the first quarter of the year. While casualties among those using cars and similar vehicles went up by over 4 per cent, motor-cycle, scooter and moped figures were down by about 10 per cent. Usually the statistics are accompanied by estimates of mileage or traffic volume. In the past we have felt obliged to query these estimates. We still do. Nevertheless, the official comment that goes with these first-quarter figures says that on this occasion there was virtually no decline in usage. There is little doubt that the RAC-ACU Training Scheme and greater interest shown by schools in motor cycling is beginning to pay off. GOOD SHOW: EXAMPLE, encouragement, proper training - these are at the root ef putting the learner on the right lines. For instance: at the Motor Cyclist of the Year final in Warwickshire on Sunday, 16-year-old Ruth Riley will be among the competitors. Riley Does the name ring a bell It should. She is the daughter of Michael Riley, famous trials rider of the 1930s and early post-war years, and the technical expert at DMWs. But there's more to the story than that. Ruth appears in the final by topping the W olverhampton heat. Her sister is Judith Giles, secretary of the Wolverhampton Club's branch of the RAC-ACU Training Scheme, and Judith's husband. Lee Giles, is the organizer and an instructor. Example and encouragement from dad; facilities for learning the right way through a sister and brother-in-laio. Ruth has had all the advantages, you say. True, but she is only 16 and, remember, she came out top in the heat. I wish her the best of luck on Sunday.
