A selection of the chariots of the road that I have loved and hated – but mostly loved – and have loved and hated me…

Number 1. ’74 Monaro. 5.7 V8….I never dared to work out the fuel consumption on it, but what a beautiful note.

Number 2. FZ1 Yamaha. 143 BHP. ” Not a motorcycle, a weapon.” Current shag.

Number 3. Gpz550. Object of desire for many years as a youngster. Realised, and taken down to Portugal. (Beginning of love affair with GPz’s). Going ‘quite fast’ and watching a fire by the side of the road, I ran into the central reserve of the M1, but managed to get back on the road…

Number 4. Love affairs with big Kawasakis. Bought this beauty in Sydney for a thousand dollars. Bored out to 1220 cc. Fast as. Couriered on this in Sydney…if I could see the lights changing, I could be through before they were red..

Number 5. GPZ1100. This was pretty fast as well. Assen, Mugello, Le Mans and Donnington one long summer on this – and back for baby number one being born :).

Number 6. Z1R. Unfortunately minus the tasty bird. Weaved across the Nullabor on this for one 12 hour stint. No good in the sand.

Number 7. Tenere. Got me alive across the Sahara. Was pretty much destroyed by the end though. Needed chain and sprockets sent down to Ouagadougou, Bukina Faso.  Did manage to sell it sight unseen to a French guy in Cote D’Ivoire , though.

Number 8. 350RD Torque Induction. Bought from some gypsies for 160 quid. Minor issues with reliability and stability but heaps of fun.

Number 9. CB350. Bought from Splay for 25 quid. No muffler. Spent two days in a car park in Sheffield rebuilding this. Got my first job as a courier in London (Nine-four, Pegausus, Clapham) and when the guy saw it to put the top box on, he said he wouldn’t have given me the job if he’d seen it earlier. Lasted about four days, and I got heavily nicked by two bobbies on the beat for all kinds of thing awry with it. Loved it.

Number 10. Firestorm. V-Twin 1000. Nuts torque. Owned this while living in Nagasaki. Lots of fun on the Kawasaki test track in Kyushu.

Number 11. Gpz750R. Couriered on this in Sydney. A certain tunnel under the Sydney runway would always hit 200 ks on…

Number 12. Gotta love your Magna.