Barry Sheen Would Have Been 70 Today

Tried to buy it off Amazon. Not in stock yet...

 

Yep me too. Teenage bedroom walls covered with him & James Hunt pics

 

You must have had a massive bedroom! There wasn't any space left space for Bazzer on my walls, as the tennis girl & Debbie Harry filled it all up. Still, I did have him on my t.shirt, and we both rode Suzukis & wore Brut...

 

He would have been 70 today, but the 7 would have had a dash through it

 

I had this huge poster of Debby Harry’s face in close up right over my bed-God knows what my mum thought about it!

 

Plus the Ducks

 

I just watched the preview clip and have a bit of a lump in my throat now. Not really sadness as such tbh, but more a sort of wistfulness, nostalgia (even though I got into bikes about 10 yrs after his prime I used to watch bike racing when I was a kid), pride at belonging to the same two wheeled brethren and admiration for who he was and what he achieved grabbing life by the scruff of the neck, only to be struck down in his prime

I did have a bit of a chortle at remembering an anecdote I once heard that he had a hole drilled in the chin bar of his lid so he could enjoy a fag without having to take it off.

 

I didn't see any programmes yesterday on the box paying homage to this wonderful cheeky chap,he was certainly a product from the seventies and untouched by the P.C control freaks back in the day.Nobody has come anywhere near this man for his fun & winning personality in modern times.The motorbike racing world desperately needs another Barry,PDQ.

 

I saw him at Donno years ago, 1977?, anyway his caravan back window was blocked out with stacks of empty fag packets, wonder what killed him!?, good old Barry, did a lot for the sport.

 

Barry didn’t wear Brut Jez, he hated it , I did though, and a Suzuki belt buckle, although I rode a Malagutti at 16, fixed that with a GT250 at 17.

 

I had my blue AGV lid painted up as a Sheen rep after watching him and Roberts either at Silverstone (British GP) or Mallory (Transatlantic Trophy) in c1980. A mate of one of the guys at the original M&P in Swansea did it for me and I felt top dog wearing it.
Shortly after that you could buy the rep lid already painted IIRC.

 

I watched the Transatlantic and saw Bazzer win!

 

Are you sure about that?



Now I thought at the time we were very similar. Long hair, blonde girlfriends, Brut & Suzukis. OK mine was an AP50 and he had an RG500, but I had to pay for mine & he didn't...

 

AP50s. That brings back memories.....I used to "tune up" a mate's one. We had a long dead straight up at what we used to call the "RAF" This is the airfield at what is now the Science Museum at Wroughton used by "The Grand Tour" for fast car laps.

The craziness of youth: AP50 v Puch Grand Prix. 46 mph v. 46.5 mph!

We moved on to Yamahas RD250s against Suzuki GT250s!

 

We had a very similar youth Perry, and Suzuki vs Yamaha was pretty even until the RD400 came along, then the LC350's... Suzuki managed to reply -finally- with the RGV250.

My AP50 had ace bars & a nose fairing. I must of looked like a total wanker! But I was lighter than most so almost always the fastest.

 

There where an older group equipped with a Suzuki GT380, a Yamaha RD400, but nobody with a Honda 400/4, when I had a RD250.

And then some bar steward turned up with a Kwacker 500 triple. It was the quickest probably, but all I remember was lots of smoke and noise! Ah, the 2-smoke days....

 

Here it is. See if you can spot the Grand Tour test track! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5106251,-1.788404,1347m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Found a picture of my lid, not the best shot of it in the world, but you get the idea.