Those perfect moments...

[BikerGran]

You know, when you think of the right thing to say at the time, not half anour later, or when life tosses you the ball and you catch it!

I've never forgotten this one...

Back in the early 70s when married to my first husband we had a MkI Cortina, modded for rallying, with twin Weber carbs (they were a bit special back then), and various other stuff, so it didn't behave like a standard car.

Hubby was doing a bit of moonlighting at the local garage in order to keep the car in the manner to which it was accustomed, I was there for some reason, and the garage owner (who was also the mechanic) wanted to pop down the road but our car was parked behind his so Ray chucked him the keys and said 'take mine'.

A little while later he came back in having completely failed to start it. Ray was busy with a customer so I got in the car, pushed the gas pedal flat 3 times, turned the key and - brrrmmmm!

I got out quite casual and said 'Yeah, it is a bit tricky to start'

It was back in the 70's and I was a mere female - the boss never said a word!


We've all had a moment like that - what was yours?

[D-Rider]

I think Howard may just have had a moment like that ..... someone has started a thread that mentions "Rally Car"

[Falco Frank]

Not many biking ones i can thnk of but....

Many years ago - open test ride day at a dealers in Doncaster - (I used to LOVE riding anything that moved then and rode all over for test rides....)

BMW dealer put on a really good display and had a slalom course set up with a prize of a really good pair of carbon fibre BM sunglasses, I'm talking 1980's here btw.

So, deal was to ride the course as fast as poss with points against for touching cones, dabbing etc etc...

LOADS of mega kitted BMW guys and IAM type riders had turned up while I think I'd just sold my 60/7 (!) and was really enjoying my 750 triple Yamaha at the time.

So, I had a go at the slalom on the BMW GS they supplied (very early model 700 or 850?) anyways, I thought I did ok but got some funny looks wearing my knackered leather jacket and 'draggin' type jeans.

End of the day riding many more bikes - including the Weird K1 - I only romped away with the top prize

Was quite nice walking past all the BMW suited crowd to grab the sunglasses that I STILL use in the car to this day!

Fun Days.

[D-Rider]

..... or when life tosses you the ball and you catch it!

Yes I remember some pictures of my Mum and Dad on the beach with my brother and sister (I was probably away at scout camp at the time).

Anyway they found these balls on the beach and spent quite a while playing catch and other games with them.

It was only some time later that they discovered these "balls" were actually donkey poo.


Not quite what you meant I know, Bobby - but it did remind me of this story that has given me a good laugh.

[fatboy]

many many years ago, walking in a nightclub with my girlfreind, after we had sniffed some erm performance enhancers...
We got a couple of pints,she took a sip of hers, put it back on the bar then some guy knocked the glass off the bar with his elbow, the glass fell and turned a full 360, I put one hand out and the pint landed in my hand without a drop spilled.
Seemed unremarkable at the time because were were off our heads !

[lazarus]

At the club bar for the Trafalgar night bash ( pussers rum, toast was death to the french) i was watching a very well oiled pal dressed in a Nelson outfit stood with his back to the bar and holding a full pint just as the booze really took effect. He lost his legs which slowlt slid out in front of him as he slid down the bar ending up sat on the floor in all the spilt beer and fag ends. He couldnt speak. But he didnt spill a drop.

Almost as fascinating was the look on his wifes face - she had a bit of the mrs bucket about her

[BikerGran]

[T.C.]

Back in the day when Star Rider were in business and offering advanced courses, we had a spate of crashes where the riders claimed that they were riding as they had been told by their Star rider instructor.

My boss was a little concerned about this and so he asked me and my partner if we would enroll and using our own bikes find out what they were teaching.

So the two of us rolled up one day on our own bikes in our civvy kit. At that time I was riding a Honda CB900F2B and my buddy was on (if I remember correctly a CB1100R)

Anyway, we signed up and when asked what we did for a living, we both said that we were civil servants (which was kind of true )

An instructor was allocated and off we set for an assessment ride. Throughout the ride, we rode normally did nothing fancy or out of the ordinary. We got back after about an hour and the instructor then proceeded to spend the best part of 45 minutes telling us what we had done wrong, that certain aspects of our riding was dangerous and that we were in urgent need of remedial training and that he was the best person to help us.

We questioned some of the points he made, but got brushed off with something like "When you have the qualifications and experience I have you will understand" rather than qualify the points he was making

Anyway, we kept our mouths shut and agreed to return the following week.

So a week later we returned at the appointed time. We walked in and someone asked "Can I help you officer?" "Yes" I said "We have come for our lesson with our instructor" We got a puzzled look and then the penny dropped Instead of going back on our own bikes, we arrived on our job bikes (fully liveried Police machines). The look from the guy we had spoken to the week before was an absolute picture.

So then we as qualified instructors asked him to qualify the points he had made the previous week. "But I had no idea you were/are Police riders" was his retort. At this point we put him straight and suffice to say that he did not last very long, in fact this Star Rider group did not last very much longer, but it was worth it just to see the look on this "Experts" face when we rolled up for our "Lesson"

[Dusty]

That's a cracking story, TC! It reminds me of a similar incident which involved me indirectly. Many years ago, my mate arrived at my house to ask me to give an opinion on a transmission noise from his Mk1 VW Scirocco. I duly sat in the passenger seat as he drove me down our road. After about 10 yards, I asked him to stop so that I could check something. He was delighted when I told him that he had a loose wheel.

Prior to calling on me, he had been to the VW main dealer to ask them to check the noise and was rather alarmed when, after inspecting and test driving the car, they told him that he needed a new gearbox. However, he was told, it was his lucky day as they had one in stock and would fit it for him at a reduced price. Fortunately, he was cautious and sought a second opinion from yours truly.

The following day, he called in to talk to them after his shift and, yes, you've probably guessed that this time he went in full police uniform. When challenged about the diagnosis, the service manager grovelled and apologised for the "genuine mistake" and offered all sorts of discounts on parts, new car etc. I wish I'd been there!

[BikerGran]

Years ago I took my fairly old VW Passat to a VW dealer cos I kept going back to my mechanic to get the carb sorted but it only lasted for a few months till I had to go back again.

The VW dealers told me I neede a new carb, which would cost me upwards of £400 - rather more than the car was worth but of course they didn't say that.

So I went back to Ron the mechanic and told him what they said.

Bless him, he said "Well of course you need a new carb, in fact you need a whole new car, but if you keep bringing it back to me, I'll keep it going for you".

And he did - till the gearbox fell apart!

[HowardQ]

I think Howard may just have had a moment like that ..... someone has started a thread that mentions "Rally Car"

Me? no, means nothing, then again.............

Over the years
I did have a Mk 1 Lotus Cortina.
a Mk 2 Lotus Cortina.
AND a Mk 1 Twin Cam Escort in my time.

They all had the Lotus Elan Twin Cam engine with twin 40 DCOE Webber carbs and sounded brilliant.
Actually, thinking about it, the induction noise was better than the Falco or ZX9R, which both sound great.

[D-Rider]

Actually I did have one of these moments a few months back at work.

Some time ago, one of my staff had a laptop stolen from his car.

It was subsequently reported that my department had failed to report this properly and not followed the correct processes in following this up.
This was reported and circulated to the whole company in the minutes of the Executive Committee.
I was not amused.

I bided my time as I was to be called to an investigating group to explain myself and the actions of my staff member.

The meeting was put back a couple of times.

I bided my time.

The meeting came.

I listened to what they had to say.

Only then did I bring out all of the documentary evidence showing that we had precisely followed what we were supposed to do and had actually reported this at the earliest opportunity to the department of the manager that had claimed we hadn't reported it !
That was a deeply satisfying moment.

It took a while longer to get the previous records changed to show we had followed procedure and also an update in the next minutes to confirm we had done things exactly as we should.

[HowardQ]

Back on Bobbie's perfect moments theme.
You did prompt me Andy!

I remember one of the early rallies I did in the Mk 1 Lotus Cortina......

My normal co driver was not available and a young lad from work who was really good with OS Maps, begged to stand in.
Never been travel sick before, but reading maps in a rally car was really bad for him, he puked most of the way round and we got lost all over the place. Eventually he felt a bit better and we got back on the rally route and got going pretty well.
We had a really good run down through a winding valley pretty well flat out and as we pulled into the next Time Control, the Marshall rushed to the car to tell us he'd been listening to as coming all the way through the valley, he knew it was a twin cam and it sounded absolutely fabulous.
Perfect, made us feel so much better after a shit night!
Carried on going much better until 50 yards from the final control, my navigator had called it a straight run to the finish now, nearly there.
The road had a few bends but nothing major and seemed to be really flowing well. Unfortunately he forgot to tell me there was a square 90 degree left hand bend 50 yds before the control.
Locked up with no chance of getting round, and went through a drystone wall. The stones flew into the field like polystyrene blocks and we parked it in the field.
We had a quick "chat" about his failure to call it, he just said that he meant straight to the finish with no more controls to stop at, bless him.
It would have been much cheaper if he had stayed puking up

Another "perfect" moment.

[BikerGran]

Wrong thread I reckon Howard - start your own! There are a lot more moments like that than perfect ones!

[HowardQ]

Sorry Bobbie, but the comments from the marshal earlier were the real perfect moment, (his words not mine), that made me feel so much better after a really bad night.
The other one was a perfect example of the different uses of the word straight.
He meant straight to the finish just down the road with no more controls, I thought he meant the road was straight to the finish with no serious bends, especially not a square 90 degree left as the last one before the final control.
Thought he might just have called that!
How we laughed about the different interpretations of English Grammar as we sat in the field with a not very straight car.

Good news was that we both came out "straight", with no injuries.