Davida

 

The exhibition normaly has 400 exhibitors and is visited by 6000 motorcycles and 15000 visitors.  Bikers and visitors from all over Sweden and Scandinavian but also from Europe will come.

 

Most probably the finest Custom machines you will see around the world.

 

The FINS of FLYING CHOPPERS bike won best in show in 2008. Hese in the photo played a major part in building the bike but there others. Andy carried on to take other prizes around the world.

 

We go tonight after leaving Davida this afternoon.  We will be next to the KOPTERI stand at the show all day Saturday 6th June. 

 

We see who takes the prize this year.         

 

Fid The Lid

Apart from painting your bike the flattest, mattest,  meanest shade of black, organisers of the Rat and Survival Rally, The Rat Bike Zone says Rat Bikes are the " ultimate distillation ........ don't fix it unless it's broken..........do minimum to keep them healthy...let it wear its visual history with pride...no..cleaning, polishing,washing or adding shiny parts.....So a perfect place for Fid The Lid.  Who might have been one of the few there to spot this Honda 900 still attached to a swinging arm MADE BY DAVIDA IN THE 1980's !

"Rats have been part of our history cos my bikes are always solid matt black and used in the Davida photoshoots since the 1980's ... we've got a few of my Katanas, Exups and BMs scattered around in various parts of this website. I've never been to a Rat Rally before. It was full of great brains and resourceful people.Go." - Fid The Lid.

 

The Davida Moto Photo exhibition has accepted the invitation to be part of this year’s Stockholm Rumble & Ton-up Hell Night, May 23rd 2009.

The eclectic range of motorcycling related photographs that constitutes Davida Moto Photo was first exhibited in Liverpool last year and its popularity has steadily grown through its accompanying website. http://www.davidamotophoto.com

“It was always our intention to tour this exhibition in unconventional environments” said Davida M.D., David Fiddaman. “Moto Photo was a great success last year and we think it will make the perfect accompaniment to the Ton-Up event with its exciting line up of bikes and music.”   

The Ton-Up Club will display some of Stockholm’s best Brit Iron during the day, followed by a party in the evening. As well as the Davida Moto Photo exhibition, ‘Hell Night’ will feature top Rockabilly bands The GoGetters and The Astrolites as well as DJ’s and “ Bikorama” -a bike & video installation. .

 Go to http://www.tonupstockholm.com for all entry information and the schedule for the day and evening.

Hornstulls Strand Etablissement AB

Hornstulls Strand 4

117 39 STOCKHOLM  

 

 This is Rob and Andy at it again Classic Sidecar Trial Racing

The Bike : - Ariel Red Hunter Chassis/swing arm registered 1956 with Ariel 500cc bottom half of engine and rigid rear hub. Rest is bits from various bikes, including Matchless, Burman, Norton, Suzuki, BSA, Bultaco, Harley Davidson, Triumph.

For anyone not familiar to sidecar racing the driver kneels in specially shaped kneeler trays when racing, as well as the passenger moving from side to side the driver needs to adjust his body lean to assist the passenger with weight distribution both going round left and right hand corners. The passenger’s job needs to be very precise, sometimes quick and smooth all at the same time. An experienced passenger steers the sidecar 49% and the driver 51%, a good sidecar passenger will know exactly how to passenger each corner by the speed or line a driver enters a corner, they can also get a sidecar “out of trouble” if the driver has made a mistake!!

This weekend we are off top the Cotswolds for the 3rd round of the British Championship.  http://www.cameronracing.co.uk

 The man with Davida MD, David Fiddaman aka 'Fiddy',  is John Fincher. John came up to our Liverpool workshop on his Hayabusa to collect another helmet. He has many. He says " It's the best for that bike". That's a totally independent opinion.

Fiddy said "I just had to take a photo. The Hayabusa is a fabulous bike, but together they make an amazing image. Majority of riders would not even experiment with a Davida Jet on a modern missile let alone a Hayabusa."

 

The Davida Moto Photo exhibition has accepted the invitation to be part of this year’s Stockholm Rumble & Ton-up Hell Night, May 23rd 2009.

The eclectic range of motorcycling related photographs that constitutes Davida Moto Photo was first exhibited in Liverpool last year and its popularity has steadily grown through its accompanying website. http://www.davidamotophoto.com

“It was always our intention to tour this exhibition in unconventional environments” said Davida M.D., David Fiddaman. “Moto Photo was a great success last year and we think it will make the perfect accompaniment to the Ton-Up event with its exciting line up of bikes and music.”  

The Ton-Up Club will display some of Stockholm’s best Brit Iron during the day, followed by a party in the evening. As well as the Davida Moto Photo exhibition, ‘Hell Night’ will feature top Rockabilly bands The GoGetters and The Astrolites as well as DJ’s and “ Bikorama” -a bike & video installation. .

 Go to http://www.tonupstockholm.com for all entry information and the schedule for the day and evening.

Hornstulls Strand Etablissement AB

Hornstulls Strand 4

117 39 STOCKHOLM  

 

Sammy Miller Pre 65 British Trials Championship Round 1

Davida are proud to be involved with Cameron Racings entry into; the pre 65 Championships 2009, below is the how they got on in round 1:

 8th March 2009 Newton Abbott, Devon

With everyone looking forward to a new start to the 2009 Championship and some new teams entering the series the day arrived with much anticipation. Rob & Andy were allocated start number 4 so got off to an early 10.04am start. The course was set out over approximately 35 miles including a lot of highway/road distance & involved 34 sections (special tests). The day started cold but dry, later though all the teams endured every angle of weather the Dartmoor  area could throw at them (one spell including snow!).

With a competitive entry Rob & Andy had a tall order and did make some mistakes (silly ones at that), they made up for these throughout the rest of the trial though. Rob had made some alterations over the winter to improve the sidecar even more from 2008 spec but one of these meant that the teams engine did not perform to it’s best. Both knew that the minor valve timing alteration would be somewhat of an “experiment” so this will be put back to 2008 spec for the teams next outing, both thought this was worth doing for the first round and really had to be tested under competition pressure rather than a practice session.

After nearly 5 hours of riding Rob & Andy ended the day with just 46 marks lost from the 34 sections and a creditable 2nd place finish in their class so were both pleased with this as a solid start to build on for  the 2009 season.

Davida are proud to be partnering with Castrol Classic Oils and Bruce Chapman for his entry into the 2009 Mille Miglia. Bruce contacted Davida and asked if we would be interested in helping produce some helmets displaying his sponsor’s logos and Davida were obviously delighted to be able to help. We produced three helmets bearing the Castrol Classic Oils Logo and Davida Logos for his 2009 Entry. This entry has a emotional attachment for Bruce as well, in 1955 the works MGA originally competed in the event as an MG works entry with his Grandma, Nancy Mitchell, driving in 1956. Below is a summary of the cars specification and history:

Works Race & Rally Car - The Oldest Surviving? MGA in the World

Chassis no. HDE 13/10105     Body no. 20006    Engine no. XSP 1264-2

Colour - originally Tyrolite green then Colorado red

Built - between 25 May and 8 July 1955

Despatched from Production to Competition Dept.- 18 October 1955

First registered to MG Car Co. Limited - 1 February 1956

MaBeL is the oldest MGA known to survive intact — the fifth car made, one of the five pre-production cars kept by the Works & the only one used for competition - the first Works competition MGA post-Le Mans.

Spending it early life in the Production and Competition departments it may well be the car used for speed trials at Montlhery (it was either MaBeL or 10104) in October 1955 when, standard, Ken Wharton covered 103 miles and, streamlined (le Mans trim with 3.7 diff), John Gott covered 113 mile in one hour.

A lucky and successful car, MaBeL had a near-perfect Works Competition history, always driven by ladies, a virtual Who 's-Who of contemporary British female drivers:

February 1956 ~ Thames Estuary Auto Club's National Cats-Eyes' Rally

•          Pat Moss & Ann Wisdom

•          The first competitive Works entry for an MGA

•          Retired, 2 hours late, officially due to bad weather, but later confessed to be a navigation error

April 1956 ~ Mille Miglia (no 227)

•          Nancy Mitchell & Pat Faichney

•          72nd Overall, 1st Ladies, 3rd in class

•          The only ladies team ever to finish the "real" Mille Miglia ~ 1,000 miles in 15 hours in heavy rain behind aero-screens.

•          Painted red to obtain favour from Italian officials and thereafter the standard colour for Works cars.

July 1956 ~ Alpine Rally (no 326)

•          Nancy Mitchell & Pat Faichney

•          15th Overall, 1st Ladies, 3rd in class, Coupes des Alpes & Coupe des Dames, Team winners. Beat all four other MGA's in the Works team ~ driven by men!

September 1956 ~ Liege-Rome-Liege (no 38)

•          Nancy Mitchell & Anne Hall

•          26th Overall, 2nd 1 .adies

Match 1957 ~ Lyon-Charbonnieres Rally (no 98)

•          Nancy Mitchell & Doreen Reece

•          32nd overall, 1st Ladies, Coupe des Dames

Nancy Mitchell won the European Ladies Championship in 1956 & 1957. MaBeL is the car mosdy associated with that success, carrying the Mille Miglia Badge that she used on all her cars.

MaBeL was the "Roads-Opening" car for the 1956 Isle of Man TT motorcycle races, driven by Brian Mylchreest.

Sold by the works in 1957 to Robert Butler (St Albans), ensuing owners were Neil Dangerfield (Redbourn & Guernsey 1959-60), Roy Mertens (Dagenham 1960-3), Derek Sandle (Chingford 1963), John Jenkins (Leicester 1963-9), Richard Cook (Leicester 1969-1975) andPat Antill (Leicester 1975-85). Some competed her, but all used her on the road.

Bob West restored MaBeL to her Mille Miglia specification for the 1992 Abingdon Works show and a reunion there with Nancy Mitchell and later, Pat Faichney. The hard top still has period transfers from the 1956/7 events. Since obtaining FIA/FTVA historic papers, MaBcL has appeared at the Goodwood Revival 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2005, Mille Miglia 2001, Goodwood Festival of Speed 2003, Le Mans 2005 and Liege-Rome-Liege Rally 2004.

MaBeL has a close-ratio gearbox and a standard differential. The brakes are standard drums, ventilated at the front An anti roll bar replaces the retained Andrex friction dampers whilst the suspension is stiffened and there is a small negative camber. The 20 Gallon tank with central filler cap feeds a double pump supplying the SU carbs. The large Works Chronometric rev-counter with tell-tale survives with other dashboard refinements.

For more information about Castrol Classic Oils visit http://www.castrolclassicoils.co.uk

Good luck From all at Davida!

Dear Davida

I finally got some action shots with one of my new classic lids from you folks. I have 3 now and someday would like one with the old BMW logo on it. This one will look better on my 250 Bultaco Metralla like the one Tommy took 2nd on in the TT.

The bike is a 1954 BMW R51/3. I was shaking it down before delivery to my customer and this fellow jumped out with a camera. The fellow behind the camera is a old bike guy making some spare cash snapping shots. He had a small GP team in the early 1980s. His rider Kevin Stafford (not related that I know of) took 6th at the Daytona 200 in 1981 on a TZ750. You run into the coolest people on bikes.

Take care
Tim Stafford

 This is Emmanuele Di Felice from Rome, Italy with his Harley Davidason Sportster 883r. He said he is very happy with the  Scott goggles we sent him a few weeks ago. Scott goggles are really good for people with a narrow face as they sit well inside the helmet and are brilliant in all weathers.