It seems an age ago that a significant number of Indian motorcycles and their owners enjoyed a weekend of continuous sunshine when they visited Prescott at the beginning of October. Most of you will not know me; I am new to the Club and to the joys of Indian ownership although not to vintage bikes. I also have the dubious distinction of running the Bugatti Owners’Club and Prescott Hill Climb, which gives me lots of opportunity to indulge my passion for vintage and classic machinery, two and four wheel.
I organise around fifty events per year of one sort or another, which include six weekends of competitive hill climbing. Last year, I decided that it was time to indulge in my love of American machinery two and four wheel versions. While the weather was against us last year, the first weekend of October 2011 broke all temperature records in the UK. It normally takes several years to attract significant support for a major event, this year we were incredibly well supported by a host of hot rod and classic American car clubs and of course huge support from the Indian Riders Club with around twenty bikes appearing over the weekend.
Prescott, which is known worldwide as an historic hill climb venue, is little known amongst the bike fraternity. The sixty acre estate was purchased by the Club back in 1937 and within six months they had built a 800 metre tarmac track which was extended in the 1960’s to its present 1000 metre length. The track has been used for speed hill climbs ever since and today we run two rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship each year alongside other classic and modern championships. It is technically very challenging to drive and ride, with its narrow width and two tight and steep hairpin corners. Despite this the fastest cars achieve speeds of well over 100mph with a track record of just a tad over thirty six seconds.
Our American Autumn Classic meeting attracted a huge array of cars, from veteran through to the latest single seaters. However, for most of us the main interest lay in the lower paddock display area, where we managed to arrange a wide range of delectable machinery alongside our Indians. Pride of place was probably the ex-Emerson Fittipaldi Penski Indy car that did a number of demo laps of the course. This was no mean feat as the car is at its happiest cruising the oval tracks at around 200+mph, not negotiating Prescott’s hairpins. The car had to be met at the top of the track with wet towels to stop the paint melting on the bodywork! The 750BHP V8 Chevy/Ilmor consumes 1.8mpg of methanol., so not exactly cheap to run.
Amongst the other attractions were eight Stanley steam cars, three of which were competing in the pre-war and vintage class. Alongside the March Indy car were a range of hotrods, muscle cars, and some wonderfully prepared classics. Straight from Goodwood Revival was the ex-Dan Gurney Old Yellor and a 1904 curved dash Oldsmobile. The owner, Joy Rainey is intending to cross the US next year to enact the first coast to coast run by a car. However, dominating the lower paddock display area was the Demon drome. Linda and Dave’s Wall of Death, which was much enjoyed by all, with full shows all weekend.
I cannot start to identify all our own club members who came along to enjoy the fun, as being so new to the club, I am still getting to know everyone. However I was very envious of our web-mistress, when she arrived in her Ram Pickup complete with her beautiful blue 101 in the back and a lovely vintage Airstream caravan on the tow hook. What a way to travel!
Judging by the number of e-mails we received the following week, the event was much enjoyed by all. As is normal for me, being the organiser, I never have time to stand still for long and always regret not having time to chat. I was and remain very appreciative of Club members for supporting the event. I did manage to get Sybil a ride in a Bugatti over the Sunday lunch break and of those more adventurous souls, a few did try a ride up the course on their bikes. You have to ride the hill track to appreciate the serious bike hill climbers who launch their bikes into two wheel power slides around the hairpins; A sight not to be missed.
If you missed our weekend at Prescott, do come along next year when we will be doing it all again. I hope to have my bike up and running soon and look forward to seeing you on club events next year.
Ian Patton 
