MCN day Out


9:30, Arrival at the offices of Emap publications in Peterborough. The weather was already warming nicely
A few pensive looking faces waiting in reception for Adam to appear, at least there were a few mags to read.
Adam appeared soon enough dressed in day-glo leathers. I don't think we'll have trouble spotting him on the ride out to Bruntingthorpe.
Arrival at Bruntingthorpe. After a traffic choked ride down the A14. We stopped for fuel prior to arrival courtesy of Adam
.Mark Horridge's Bike. Looked great and had some lovely detail touches. I think it's a 700cc conversion courtesy of James Holland.
Michael Eustace's SV700 and James Holland's SV750. Also Adam's SV650 Crescent Suzuki special.
The group gather to hear the proposals for the days events.
Emma Dighton gets her shot taken by the MCN Photographer - Weeble!
Nick Pillangers's turn for the camera
Stephens Hayes Silver SV
Another Silver SV belonging to Allan Sullivan
Alyn Sparkes waits patiently for his photo.
A rare SV400 owned by Emma Glover This lady had a personalised number plate which I forgot to snap, ?400SVS or something like that. After today's events I could hear her talking about a 700 upgrade. That plate will have to go if she does!
Our third lady rider, Claire Richardson, I recall that she is a fairly new Sv owner
Ian Stones gets interrogated.
Michael Eustace's SV700 with matching leathers.
Adam Morrisey's loaner from Crescent Suzuki. Only 325 miles on the clock and getting caned at Brunters
And again. The more you look the more goodies you see. One of only 10 being made.
There were mixed feelings about the sound of the Yoshi exhaust.
James Hollands mad and bad 750. Too many alterations to list here. Looked good. Unfortunately the starter solenoid gave up the day before at Brands. Bump starting this thing in sizzling temperatures was not fun.
Another shot of the JHS 750
And another.
Stephen's Silver SV
Stephen Pages naked SV. Stephen uses this machine to commute to and from London each day. Lots of useful sensible stuff including heated grips. The Givi rack followed the line of the bodywork nicely.
Photo lineup. Look at that straight behind, two miles of Gatso free concrete
Same shot without the clutter but the straight behind doesn't look so impressive.
Yours truly. A bit self indulgent, sorry.
After lunch, we headed for a different part of the track. Weeble wanted to use this bend to get some action shots. His camera cost thousands, mine a few hundred and it shows.
Mark Horridge on his SV700
Hugh Allcock-Green and Stephen Page
James Holland
Waiting our turn. For safety reason we went out in two groups of 8. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. People were sensible and took time to learn the track. I felt myself going faster, braking later and leaning further as confidence grew. The track was very flat and lacked visual cues although some bends had braking markers. No one binned their bike, thankfully.
Michael and James follow Adam onto the track.
That black bike again. The Mark Horridge is the chap in the white shirt. Gold mesh in the vents looked good.
You might have guessed that I'm quite keen on the Silver SV
More track shots
More fun
A bit blurred, my camera has limited control over shutter speeds.
Faired and un-faired side by side
And again
Michael gunning the 750 out of the bend.
Adam and Weeble sum up the day. I want that camera!
Stitched panorama shot
Finally, a big thank you to Adam, Weeble and MCN for a fantastic day out. I'm sure I'm speaking for all of us when I say that we had a great time and look forward to seeing the finished article in MCN, which should appear on the newstands on the 7th August 2002. I've reduced these pics in size for easier viewing on the web site. The originals are 1600x1200 and will print much better than these. So if you want a copy email me with the image name (in the address window when viewing the large version) If any of the participants want to add their feedback to this article, just email it to me and I'll add it here.

Some video snaps courtesy of Alyn Sparkes. At Emap pt1.mpg 1.8mb At Emap pt2.mpg 2.0mb Group2 corner1.mpg 1.5mb Group2 corner2.mpg 2.0mb JT.mpg 1.8mb (I thought I was going quick until I saw this, oh well, more practice required..John) Group1 start.mpg 1.7mb Group1 corner1.mpg 2.0mb Adam&blackandyellow.mpg 1.4mb OutsideBruntersCafe.mpg 1.4mb Rednakedblueblack.mpg 1.5mb SVcurve.mpg 1.3mb


Some more images and MPG's from Stephen Page Hi John, Attached should be a ZIP file of some stills from the video footage I recorded at Brunters on Monday. Not brilliant quality admittedly but the more the merrier eh? Thank Stephen. The qualities fine considering it's from a digital camcorder, and yes the more the merrier...John All MPG's are about 1.3Mb to download
The final article looked like this.



For those who missed the posting in July 2002, I was contacted by Adam Morrisey of Motor Cycle News (MCN). Adam was keen to do a piece for the paper on the SV650 and wondered whether I could put him in touch with a few owners! Adam promised a blast around Bruntingthorpe test track as a sweetener. I posted his request on the site and Adam got an avalanche of email, needless to say that I soon got another email telling to hold everyone off. Adam did a sift on the replies and lucky owners were emailed with details of the event. So July 29th we all arrived at the MCN offices with silly grins on our faces.