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WATCH A EURO ROAD RACE list the
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Bikes, Belgium beer and brilliant racing. Chimay’s Classic Weekend has it all...
Motorcycling
must-dos ✓
The start and finish of all the racing action
l ‘It’s a friendly affair, and there’s beer everywhere’
Prepping the Black Bomber for another on-track raid
Exotic bikes, tight racing, glorious sunshine and fine lager. That’s Chimay
nEIL MURRAY
Y
ou won’t see another event like this. Blazing sunshine (usually), incredibly close racing on public roads, gallons of fantastically strong beer, the best chips in Europe, live music and more classic bikes than you’d believe. In Belgium, of all places. This is the Chimay Classic TT. Yes, Chimay - where the beer comes from – is where you want to be this coming weekend. There’ll be no fewer than 450 racers and 500 race bikes. There are classes for almost every type of racing bike. The cut-off date is 1974, but the organisers
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snakes, dicing with have recognised that the greybeards many people are on their pre-1939 interested in bikes slobbering singles. later than that, so Play ‘guess the you get parade laps combined age of bike by Yamaha LCs, and rider’ for these. Kawasaki GPzs, It’s quite easy to get Honda CB900s and By NEIl Murry to over 150. CBXs, and even early Lover of old bikes, fried Stroker fans will Suzuki GSX-Rs. Well, sausages, proper racing love the 250/350cc they’re supposed to and nuclear-strength ale class races. When be parade laps, but did you last see more the red mist descends and every than two dozen two-stroke racers rider wants to be in front… on a starting grid? When they set A lot of races involve two classes off, they leave behind a smoke going out at the same time. So you cloud that completely obscures get the slender 1970s 50cc twothe track - sorry, road. Suzuki and strokes, ridden by lithe racing
Yamaha air-cooled twins abound, leavened with a smattering of Kawasaki 250cc and 350cc triples. There are usually a few optimists on BSA and Triumph singles as well, smoking almost as much as the strokers. The racing is deadly serious. You’ll see priceless museum pieces like 750cc Ducatis, Yamaha TZ700powered sidecars, Triumph/BSA triples and SOHC Honda fours being thrashed within a millimetre of their crank bearings. In the paddock, you’ll witness engines that have let go, looking like those cut-aways you have at bike shows, only with more oil everywhere.
l ‘If you miss the Bol d’Or at Paul Ricard, you’ll love this’ Off the track, bike-spotters will have a field day. It’s almost a point of honour to do Chimay on an old bike because, well, getting there is half the fun, isn’t? Assuming you
do make it. I’m proud to say that my 1976 Honda 400 Four has been there. And even made it back. You’ll see examples of just about every desirable bike made in the last 60 years parked in town or in the campsites. Here, a trio of Benelli 750 and 900 sixes. There, a couple of old Norton Commandos, gently poisoning the grass with leaking hydrocarbons. Kawasaki Z1s are two a penny. And sometimes there’s a real rarity, like a Motobecane 350, a two-stroke triple built in the mid-1970s. They only made a few hundred of them.
It’s a friendly affair. You can wander everywhere you like, and get properly trackside. Whole families camp by the circuit. Children zip in and around the paddock on their kids’ bikes. The smell of frying sausages and frites drifts everywhere. There’s even an auto jumble. And at night, the big marquee holds a free rock concert. Oh, and there’s Chimay beer everywhere. Rouge is 8% ABV, Bleu is 9% and Blanc is 10%. There’s also a ‘light’ lager at just 5% for the teetotallers. There are permanent bars adjoining the road
A Ducati lump in a sidecar? Oh yes
At Chimay they use every inch of track
350 Honda gets a good thrashing
‘Light’ refreshment is never far away
circuit and the Chimay brewery has strategically located marquees dispensing their flagship product. Try the famous Chimay Walking Lap: once round the four-kilometre circuit with a Chimay Bleu (9%) in each of their eight establishments. Head into the town centre, a walk of maybe a mile, on Saturday night. Sit outside the bars in the main square, have some more Chimay beer and frites, and then weave your way back to your tent. If, like me, you miss the old days of the Bol d’Or at Paul Ricard and all its insanity, you’ll love this. Don’t dither. Head off for one of the best weekends of the year.
‘I did it too!’ ‘The racing’s utterly insane’
Tim Crowther, over 50, South-east “The circuit is roughly a long rectangle and all the entertainment is on the inside. It’s very relaxed. No fences separating the paddock from the punters and you just stroll about admiringthe bikes and talking to the crews. “Fencing at Chimay is either a stretch of Armco or straw bales, either is decorated with red and white z-tape. That’s Belgian safety organised then: the tape obviously has special powers... “The racing is insane. Some of the bikes might be old drippers or precious rarities, but there’s no slacking. It’s also close as on some stretches you can, if you’re mad enough, reach out and touch them as they pass. “At one of the trackside bars there’s always someone trying to pass a pint to the bloke in the sidecar!”
Perfect spot for a post-ale nap
YOU CAN DO IT TOO When and where?
Friday 19 to Sunday 21 July at Chimay circuit, Chimay, Belgium.
How much?
Tickets €25.50 for the weekend including camping by the circuit. About €30 at the gate.
How to get there?
Ferry or Eurotunnel to France, head for Dunkerque. Take the A26 towards Lille and
Maubeuge. Head through the Ardennes, Avesnes and Trélon to Chimay. Just over 150 miles.
Where to stay?
Camp free by the circuit, or in the town (www.chimaycamping.be) for €14 a night for bike and tent.
Where to eat?
Lots of places in town. At the circuit payment is by tokens only. Cash isn’t accepted. www.circuit.be
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