Ask any Austrian to name a GP world champion and you might not get the answer you expect. Rupert Hollaus was Austria's only GP world champion, who so dominated the 1954 125cc season on an NSU that when he was killed in practice for the Italian event, he still had enough points to make him posthumous world champion.

For the last 5 years they have run a memorial event at Salzburg, Hollaus' home track, to remember their champion, race classic bikes and drink beer in the sun. Not such a bad idea really! Last year my mate Desmo lent me his 750 Ducati to ride in the over-500 race but I struggled during practice with clutch slip and then in the race the rear carb fell off on the first lap, leaving me frustrated and little to show for the weekend but sunburn and a hangover.

This year I was hoping to ride my own 750 Norton in the event with a backup ride on my RD350LC Yam. Little Elsie is a road bike really but I reckoned her race pedigree should make a reasonable bike to potter round on for an extra ride. Qualifies as a classic under the pre-1983 rules And if I was going to load up van and caravan to drive 800-plus miles down there I may as well have more than one ride!

Sadly events (and my own remarkable lack of efficiency) consipired to ensure the Norton would not be ready in time and Desmo kindly agreed to lend me the big Duke again. Still wearing the same tyres as it had the last few times I'd ridden it over a space of 5 years, but with new clutch plates and the rear carb tie-wrapped on for extra security! Our very own Olly volunteered his services as pit bitch and co-driver, Herriwullie promised to drop in as part of his touring holiday of the area and there we were, Team TRC or something like it, all set to thrash classic bikes round the legendary Salzburgring

We set off Tuesday evening, catching the midnight ferry, driving through France and Belgium in the wee small hours, catching a few hours sleep in a Belgian layby near Charleroi and waking to find the world's skankiest truckstop hoe touting for business a couple of wagons away. An odd start to a day that also brought the joy of watching one of the van tyres deflate in a mountain layby due to a split valve. The rest of the day passed less eventfully taking turns driving, rattling down autobahns, labouring up huge mountain passes, and trundling through quaint Bavarian villages until finally reaching Desmo's place near Munich for a couple of welcome beers (which I successfully turned into a gallon of foam all over the floor) and warm non-moving beds.

The drive down really is a strain, never underestimate the fatigue factor of 16 hours on the road even sharing driving. So I'd allowed an extra day to recover and faff. Knowing Desmo for a good few years I knew the faff factor mattered and sure enough we spent most of the day building his spare bike, something he couldn't possibly have done in the weeks before the meeting , and getting my van tyre repaired by a mate of his who operates a wonderful Moto Guzzi workshop set in rolling hills. A pleasant day rounded off by a walk round the nearby medieval salt trading town of Wasserburg , a medicinal beer and early night.

Friday, off to the circuit, a mere 80 miles which seemed like a trip down the shops after the last epic drive. Queued to get in, set up paddock near the beer hall (which has autographs of many past GP winners on the back wall). Scrutineering, every bit as thorough as last year, consisted of the scrutineer sucking his teeth, admiring the old bikes with his mates and checking both wheels had tyres on. Or something like that. The day closed with a fantastic sunset over the mountains, followed by a fantastic moonrise.

Saturday was a scorcher, early clouds burning off to a brilliant blue sky and spectators turning up early to sit by the beer sheds on the spectator banking for practice. Salzburgring is built along a valley, giving it its unique stretched shape, immense sweeping curves, and the best spectator stands, ever, anywhere. It lost its GP status after 1994 for commercial reasons and the difficulty of getting race motorhomes down the tiny approach roads, but it remains an awesome track. Two practice sessions on each bike and I was getting the hang of things and even realising on the little LC you don't need to shut off until the very last bit of the Fahrerlagerkurve (Paddock Bend) - something not many of the local boys seemed to have got the hang of

Race day was wet. Yuk. I watched the vintage race and the old boys on Scotts and Motosacoches seemed to be having fun on 2-inch-wide wooden tyres in the wet, giving it full modern knee-out action That more or less dispelled any excuses I might have had about plodding round, though plodding round could have been an option. Races are very difficult and expensive to organise in Germany and Austria due to legal and insurance requirements, so most motorsport events are gleichmaessigkeit (time trials). What this means in effect is "it's not a race" so you don't need race licences, the riders can ride at their own pace and the "winner" is the one posting the most regular lap times over the 7-lap "non-race". But. And it's a big BUT. When you sit 40 riders on a grid regularity is not the first thing on their minds and in fact you can't really plod round and put up regular times - the way to do it is to ride consistently but fast so that being near the limit makes your laps consistent.

With that in mind I set out in the 350 event during a thankfully dry window in the day, expecting to be well down the field and not very consistent. The start consists of a man with a red flag who walks off the track, and when he's clear of the track you can go - no lights or dropping flags, after all "it's not a race"..... Like hell. My low-geared Elsie wheelied past the first 2 rows and I tucked into 4th place for most of the first lap as the TZs started to scream past on the straights. Rather ungentlemanly I stuffed it up a few of them in the bends but power told and they gradually pulled away, followed by a couple of the nicely-prepared and susprisingly fast Aermacchi singles including Desmo himself (maybe the faffing pays off!). After 7 laps of wringing poor little Elsie's neck, bashing exhausts on the deck and hanging off round bends like a demented monkey I was ready for the the flag, and quite pleased with my efforts. I was the first LC home, had stayed ahead of about 1/3 of the TZs despite their far superior power, only lost out to 3 of the classic singles and lapped about 6 people in the process.

The over-500 race was held just after a cloudburst left the circuit waterlogged, and despite my earlier enthusiasm I didn't fancy throwing away Desmo's rare 1971 750SS, 800 miles away from home, so I took it a bit easy with thoughts of possible regularity awards in mind. Shame the rider of a nice Rickman Kawasaki didn't do the same when he highsided in front of the main grandstand and caused red flags on lap 1.

The award presentation was by guest of honour Giacomo Agostini and the organisers explained Ago had to leave early to get his flight but particularly wanted to present one set of awards himself, the 350. I was pleased as I'd heard Desmo had won the regularity award, but was a bit confused when they called my name. Seems despite my best efforts to the contrary I'd come 3rd and none of the rotten sods on my team had said a thing all day! It was a surreal experience, standing on a podium at Salzburgring hearing the British National Anthem play (for Desmo, who won) watched by Agostini. Surreal, but rather enjoyable.

Then we went home

Big BIG thanks to Desmo for the loan of his Duke, which I managed not to blow up this year (phew), to Desmo's other half Mrs D for looking after us all, to Dale66 for the loan of his transponder, to Olly for being a great helper, good company and a tireless co-driver, and Herriwullie and his other half for the company, laughs and general help and gophering.

Home from home



Why is this man smiling?



Desmo's dog checks out dinner. Yes they really do graze sheep between the paddock and the trackside.



Trying hard to look nonchalant and not at all sweaty, Desmo gives us a the clue that he's been very regular. Faster than me too, the old git.

Excellent stuff, sounds like a good time was had by all. Any more pics - other classic bikes, the racing?

Sounds like fun, well done...i eagerly await more photo's

Aye, lets have some more

Dale66 is a good lad

Have thrown a couple of hundred photos up here: Salzburgring 2008 - a set on Flickr


A few of my favourites:


No, Tomcat, it has handlebars, not a steering wheel!



Blissfully sleeping through ear-bleedingly loud bikes



'Desmo' on his (beautiful) Aermacchi 350, on his way to the win!



Simple, stunning bikes



Just going to the shops, dear...



What a stunning location for a racetrack



Just because the bikes are classics, doesn't mean they're not pushing hard



A successful team

Slideshow view here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/2888190...th/2694669993/

Links no workey

Some more pics here: www.classic-motorrad.de - GP Österreich - 2008

The Iron Duke is on the bottom left (#47)

Blimey, the old bugger's having so much fun, maybe there's still hope for us young 'uns

Well done mate

We're back safe and sound. Thanks for giving us a reason to run our little holiday around, we had a great time and it's fantastic to see Olly's photos up close and personal. Till next time!

Originally Posted by Olly

You could have loaded a bit more stuff on the TDM, I reckon...

We did

Bit of high speed cheese and saucisson

I had to restrain myself with the Team Joe Bar t shirts in one bike shop, but we did get an NSU shirt from Irbo's a few twisty hours west of Desmo Towers. It did get a bit wet but was lovely in France, found a couple of lovely places to stay. (not as nice as sleeping in the bike trailer/ bier keller )


The headlights seemed a bit awry coming back from the ferry and the shock was getting a bit warm on the French bumpy bits..... The bike feels like an absolute missile now all the tat's come off.