2023 BSA International Rally - Hahndorf

[BagONails]

just wondering if anyone on here made it to the superb rally last week in South Australia?

We had over 300 people and around 160 machines of all eras including a good number of A10's and A7's in plunger and S/A derivatives some with side cars, most not.
Surprisingly few breakdowns and no serious incidents on the road.  A great time was had by all, the weather was perfect, bright sun, dry surfaces and a nice cool southerly blowing most of the time keeping temps down to the low twenties  except that is the day after when people were travelling home it got to 39 in Adelaide.

I had a lot of fun and met lots of new people, including from all over Aus, NZ, UK, USA, NL, B, Fr, E. We live only 45 minutes away so took our caravan up to stay on site. The whole thing was very well organised by our local club and the runs were excellent with a variety of terrain around the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula, something for everyone.  The hahndorf Resort proved an excellent venue and did a great job of catering for such a large group.

I helped out on the last couple of days as a corner marshall, we used a system whereby we had a man of every junction in a distinctive coloured vest to indicate which way to turn. This worked along with the ride leader, rescue vehicles and a tail end charlie to ensure nobody got lost or went the wrong way. I must admit on our way out with the other marshalls, mostly riding later A65's, Rocket Three's and on what was to be a faster ride out to the lunch time stop at Mannum out on the Murray River I did find myself wondering if the old girl (my 59 A10 rickety rocket lookalike) would be able to hold her own, of course I should have had no such concerns and we did not embarress ourselves at all. In fact I enjoyed the ride, which went at a faster clip than the main run as there were fewer of us riding in the group and because ...no sidecars 

The oldest bike amongst some lovely pre war examples (slopers and V twins amongst them) was a 1915 model K which completed every run and never let its rider down, albeit at a stately pace around 50kmh most of the time. I'll post up some pictures later when I am able. Cheers

[Topdad]

Very interesting thanks for the update ,how many from the uk and did the have there bikes with em.or cost to much ?

[BagONails]

Hi TD, I think we had about 12 from the UK. At least 3 had shipped their bikes over. They were great lads actually, turned out they were from the North East, the same area as my mother in law but I didn't hold it against em! They became known collectively as The Three Stooges, Geordie Steve, Dave Campbell and Tim? Here's a pic and two of their bikes.

There's also a picture of the lovely old flat tank Model 15 (1915) and that's my bike hiding behind it!

The other Brits were all very nice too and most of them borrowed bikes off local club members including two other guys I got to know a bit Graham Lofting and Peter Wright from Surrey. I also met Brian Pollitt who told me I had a rare timing cover because it had carrots on it (1954 only) and an unusual cylinder head (alloy but with a separate manifold, 1953 I think)  the rest of the bike is 1959 as far as I know ...which isn't very far...I think he's a bit of a rivet counter but very knowledgeable clearly!

[Topdad]

Brian was a BSA dealer with his wife ,dealt with him a few times and sold when he retirr#ed if I've got the right guy