GREENWICH MOTOR & MOTOR CYCLE CLUB Ltd 2008

NICK HOOPER

I have been a member of the Greenwich club for about 15 years, undertaking the role of Treasurer for most of that time.

My first motorbike experience was in 1963 as a five year old on the back of dad's 197cc Francis Barnett Falcon. I rode my first bike, a 120cc Suzuki, on my 17th birthday.  However I only kept it for a few months, being tempted by a CB175 Honda for sale at Gilberts of Catford. Like many, I have owned several bikes, which included a 250 triple Kawasaki, a 400/4, a Kawasaki Z500 which I bough new and took to the local dump after 92,000 miles, an ill-handling LeMans and a Ducati Hailwood replica.  I currently ride a BWM R1100S and also have a couple of old bikes.

I enjoy making bike trips abroad.  The first of those for the Bol d'Or at Paul Rickard, near to Marseilles, was bit of an initiation. We made the trip from home to the circuit in one very long day.  I have since been there several times and also to LeMans, Spa and Montjuic Park, Barcelona for 24 hour races.  I have made several other bike trips to Europe and one to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco through Italy and back through Spain.  I did the last leg alone because my friend’s 400/4 gave up the ghost in southern Spain so he came home by train.

I started marshalling at road race meetings in the early ‘80s and then joined the time-keeping team at Brands Hatch a couple of years later.  I became Chief Timekeeper for KRC, producing results for their races for the next 10 years. I also undertook the role of KRC Secretary.

In 1993 I decided that before I was too old I should have a go at racing myself.  I ran a TZR250 reasonably competitively for 4 years and then joined an endurance team, first on a Kawasaki 400, winning the 400cc class of the first KRC endurance race and then on a 600 Honda.  Later I changed to Classic racing on a 350 Ducati and then a 350 Honda.  However having utilised helmets for their purpose in crashes in the Isle of Man and then Snetterton, the latter resulting in a couple of days in hospital and being off the road for three months after suffering a fit, I then decided it was time to stop.

I enjoy Greenwich club runs and social events as well as VMCC runs for older bikes. I am now the Chief Time-keeper for Classic Racing Motorcycle Club and thus have responsibility for producing the result for all CRMC races.