Feeling a bit rusty on the keyboard after almost a month and a half without writing anything on this forgotten corner of the zombie blogosphere. Blogs were the coolest thing that happened to communication in the early 21st century but, unfortunately, were rapidly killed by shark marketers and human stupidity. Anyhow for the chosen few that still read this lines, I feel its well deserved the effort.
Glemseck 101 is a racing party that takes place in Germany. That was all I knew a few years back when I first met Jorg Litzenburger. Trying to remember, I think it was in Verona and I was imediately cautivated by his charm and avant-garde way of understanding The Motorcycle and its culture. Apart from being a motorcycle lover and connoisseur, the man behind Glemseck 101, is also a full time professor dedicated to those kids that need the most help. Jorg works with special kids must be remarkable and surely fills him with joy, as one can perceive that unique fire, at the back of his eyes, only present in brave men. Also remarkable is the fact, that Glemseck 101 Races, which are now at their 10th anniversary, had their origins in a series of Challenges and Races, Jorg organized with his kids more than 20 years ago. These were Soap Box Races, which had to be built first by the different teams in the class, and then raced downhill. These races got to the point were the quorum got out of control and came to an end, although Jorg realized his potential to organize racing events. Et voila! Glemseck 101 was born!
Fair enough with the story of Glemseck 101, now lets cross it with the story of El Solitario MC. Well… More than 5.000 kilometers separate us, and only this alone, could have been enough to set the end of the story for us, but thanks to Jorg’s extraordinary support and our recent works with the Yamaha Yard Built Crew, the incredible distance was just reduced to the time spent tripping in the Wolf Van.
So, the date was set and guns were loaded. El Solitario Big Bad Wolf was to be presented at Glemseck 101. (Presented? Well… at Glemseck, presented meant RACED!) Big Bad Wolf although not conceived to win at the drag strip joint, was equipped with tons of race shit and could surely pass the first race round, or at least that was our plan. We knew we had no chance against the purpose built sprinters like the Young Guns Ferdinand the Sparrow, Plan B’s Cherry Bomb or the coolest BMW alive, the Invictus Sprint Beemer from the Lucky Cat Garage.
There is a reiterative “funny” fact that knows no frontiers when speaking about premieres and motorcycle builders. We always miraculously finish our bikes just hours (In some cases even minutes!) before you need to put the bike on the van and drive or fly to wherever the premiere is. This is a fact that will get on your nerves but we’re normally lucky guys, so its not that big deal… But when you’re going Racing?!??!?!?! Yeh baby, thats another story!!! As it couldn’t be any other way, we were finishing the last details on Big Bad Wolf on the Leonberg Hotel Parking Lot, the night before the event kicked off.
On Friday we were “ready” and I rode the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) to the event flipping passers by on the road through Leonberg. Fuck yeah it worked!!! Our buddy and Southsiders Padrino Vincent Prat had just arrived and brought along, straight from Toulousse, the Wheels & Waves tents to host all of us speed freaks. Jorg Litzenburger had already given us a fabulous plot with nice grass to install our mini Wheels & Waves guerrilla style. Young Guns, UCC, Caveman Choppers, Valtoron, Blitz Motorcycles, Chathokine, The Lucky Cat Garage, The SouthsidersMC and us. We were the invincible tribe. It was clear that we were destined to have fun!
Our little Wheels and Waves in the middle of Germany
El Solitario along our partner in crime Mauro Abbadini from Classic Co. brought 3 bikes to race. Mauro should race the BBW, (at the International Class & the Infamous Cat Killer Class), as with him at the throttle we would have a better chance against the sprint rioters. Winner of many gnarly battles, we all know around here, that Mauro doesn’t let victory scape between his teeth for minimal the chances might be. I would race Classic Co’s own all original 1974 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport Factory Racer at the Classic Racer Class. This was the N.2 of the two bikes that Moto Guzzi raced in the 1974 Bol D’Or among other mythological races until they were retired in 1981. I was speechless. This bike had not even been started for almost a decade, since the last time that Mauro took it to the Jarama Race Track for a few laps in the midst of a Classic Club Exhibition. The holy grail of Moto Guzzi between my legs… Sorry for the Yamaha fans, but there is no 4 cylindered jap monster that can beat this sketchy, all magnesium, Mandello twin, or at least not on my book! Last but not least, we also brought along La Sal del Diablo for Valeria so that she could race at the cool Starrwars Class with all the rigid framers.
Mauro Abbadini on ESMC’s The Big Bad Wolf
My dream bike: The Original 1974 Guzzi V7 Sport Factory Racer
Valeria & our old 1969 Triumph Bonneville AKA: La Sal del Diablo
That same friday we did two test runs with the BBW before security closed the track for good. It didn’t smell good. A cool but never ending wheelie was the sign for defeat. With only 183 kilos and 148HP on the rear wheel, the SWB Yamy couldn’t withstand the acceleration. We planned to start in second gear on race day and we’d take it from there. Minutes after it was my turn to test the Guzzi. The Track was closed, but we knew of a nearby road that could be enough for a few starts. Hit the starter on the rear wheel and BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!@#$ The beautiful old monster roared like champ. Mauro jumped on La Sal, Seb on his rigid Shovel and off we went. I could hardly fit in the cockpit but the feel was incredible. Super light and punchy, with a deafening noise. Once on the open road, geared for first, reved it up, somewhere above 5k, and released the clutch… OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH MY!@#$%^&*>>>>>>>>> The creature went sideways and so it stayed all through second and almost until third was in. The power was magical but the 18′ (Impossible to replace) 1981 slicks were hard to handle, as later on, when hitting the grass, I would softly make sure but that’s another story… 😉 Back to the tents, we had an amazing reggae party directed by the Valtoron Bros and their german family with Jens (Mr La Bulla 1600) playing records with a killer sound system and even Disco lights. Believe, it was almost 3:00am when we went to bed.
Frank Chatokhine playing his magic with La Sal’s screaming clutch so that it could survive the StarrWars
Saturday was race day, so made a quick devil’s pact to leave the hangover aside. The International Class was the BBW’s first official run. Mauro started in second gear, as planned, and took an easy win against dear Shinya Kimura’s crazy boso-racer, with Shun Miyazawa onboard. Ok! We were in for second round. This time it wouldn’t be so easy. A false start after winning against a FAST Triple Triumph fully charged with race bits, had us on the starting line again. On the second run, of the second race for BBW, a missed gear change due to some misconfiguration on the the GP Quick change killed our chance. (Then you curse at the lack of training and preparation!@#). A quarter mile race is done in roughly 6 seconds! Any mistake, as tiny and insignificant it might be, will kill you, and so it did. That same afternoon was the France vs. Germany battle which was super fun to watch, and to close the day we had the StarrWars Race, with all the rigid frames and Miss El Solitario was racing in it. The vibes and the machinery in this class were hard to beat. Organized by Kraut Motors all the rigid dudes & dudettes made it really worthwhile. In Valeria’s first race she had to battle against a super tight XS650 and although she killed it with a great start, our tired 1969 Triumph motor had little or nothing to do against the superior XS… But well done girl! Racing had not been a success for the ESMC crew… naaaa… naaaa… but in the tents, and like in “Groundhog Day“, to the rescue were again the Valtoron Bros and Reggae Master Jens with another killer late night groove.
International Sprint: BBW Vs. Shun Miyazawa on Kimura’s Special
Valeria with La Sal on the StarrWars Class
Finally it was Sunday. The big day for us. We raced BBW in the Cat Killer Class and in the Classic Race with the 1974 V7 Sport. The Cat Killer Class was formed onwards and upwards by the gnarliest Turbo Charged, Nitrous Oxide powered drag bikes you could imagine, all wanting to take the Lucky Cat’s life. Some of you might ask yourself, and Who the F***K was the Lucky Cat? The infamous Lucky Cat Sprint Beemer, ruler of the Sprint Riot movement, Invictus for three years in Glemseck & Wheels and Waves. The Wolf was again avocate to defeat but Mauro had a plan: D, Im going in first gear now… Oh dear… I thought, we’ll see… Its just a silly game in the end, but meanwhile everybody wants to win… :)))) What happened then will be remembered in this house for years. Race by race we kept winning all fights. Turbos, Compressors, N.O.S…. Whatever!@# Mauro just kept getting better and better, and we’ll never forget the sound of the BBW on the start line all revved up to 9.000 RPM before the flag went down, with the knife between his teeth. Finally we were the ones chosen to fight the Cat and we were out of control!
BBW Vs. Wrenchmonkees Monkeefist
BBW Vs. The Young Guns Ferdinand the Sparrow
So the big fight was sealed. The rookie, our Big Bad Wolf after killing all the other Sprint Creatures was going to fight The Lucky Cat. This was something we had never imagined while we were building it, acknowledging that ours was a killer road bike but not a sprinter. Only to make it this far felt like a big win. Like a wreck full of nerves we headed back to the start line, but the Lucky Cat didn’t fire up… Kapowww powwow…. Brrrrrrr…… Kaaprrwowowwrrrrrr…. No way!!! With the heart at halt, suddenly heard it firing… and… BOOOOM!!! The ignition moved and its cover blasted accross the sky. AUCH! The Invincible Cat was in trouble. Needing some preparation time, to adjust the ignition, the Final Battle was delayed till the end of the Classic Race. That meant me, on the 1974 Guzzi. Heat the rock solid slicks, check, get the starter, check, BRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPP!!!!!! The lovely scary sound of the huge Dell”Ortos again. I remember Mauro saying: no worries D, we’ve already won… Fuck yeh, but I wanted to squeeze the last horse out of the Mandello old girl. Our race was against the Valtoron’s with their Kawasaki H2 “La Bomba” a beautiful looking, mean machine. The practice run was Ok, and when heading back for the race run… The motor shut down.
ARIGHT!!!! Looked for the problem and found the battery flat. Fast as lightning sourced another one from the Young Guns bike, strapped it as we could and placed the rear wheel on the starter again… Paapapap… No answer… Papapapapa… and then the transmission belt of the starter snapped… FUUUUCKKKKKK… Curse? Ok we push… And BRAAAAAAAPPPP!!!! The beast roared again. OK! Race. Start line. 1st gear down, foot ready for 2nd gear. Flag down. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP, feel the bike’s awesome thrust, totally twisted, sideways, but propelled towards the finish line, Pablo got ahead of me while I was skidding. 2nd gear. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP… I overtake Pablo. Loose him. 3rd gear. BRAAAAAAAAA >>>>>>> pssshhhhhhhoooooooooo >>>>>> … Suddenly the motor gave in. No noise. No force. No friction. Nothing… Sudden death… Holy fuck! Am I cursed? The spirit of Mononoke at Punk’s Peak suddenly invaded my breath. Is it Italian Bikes? Sprint Races? Me? 2 out of 2 is an evil score. Whatever happened down there between my legs will be found later on, but definetely left me with bitter taste. But one way or the other it wasn’t my day. Today it was Cat Killer day and our baby the Big Bad Wolf had a feline head to cut. And so it did. Once the Classic Races were finished, the Lucky Cat returned to the start line in all its glory, only to loose its head. End of the story. NAAAAA!!!! >>>>>> I’m sure there will be more to come, specially when we talk about that crazy french garage so close to the Chatokine family. xxx
The Cat to beat: The Lucky Cat
The final fight: BBW Vs. The Lucky Cat
We win! The Big Bad Wolf was the Cat Killer!@#
Who the Fuck is the Lucky Cat killer?
Photos courtesy of the cool David Marvier, Tadashi Kono, Motor Rausch, Scavone Laurent, Aurore De, Freederic Seemann, Uta Bodenstein and Hangplay
PS: Seb we love you 😉
This video sums it all. Front wheel in the air way till the end of third gear and no surrender! Long life to the BBW