"Ducati Days at the Hurricane" by Alf Cole

This is my own composition (and monologue!) recalling my first motorcycling experiences in East London in the UK, and my first motorcycle (a Ducati 250cc single cylinder; a genuine 250cc 100mph bike ). We had a sort of 'club' in 1967 when Ducati motorcycles were rare in the UK. My Ducati owning friend had an elder mechanic brother who had a large lock up garage where we used to hang out and strip and tune our bikes.. There was an old disused trailer parked near there that had a name printed on the side; 'The hurricane food bar'. Eventually it was removed, but the place continued to be referred to as 'the 'hurricane' by us. We sometimes used to go the ACE cafe on the North Circular road in London, (getting a lot of interest in our bikes) and more regularly to Vic Camp's Ducati motorcycle shop in Queens Road Walthamstow in East London (now demolished). Vic specialised in Ducati motorcycles and parts. He also built racing Ducati 250cc bikes that you could buy and race privately. It was also the only place you could buy the Vic Camp bespoke BSA gold star style 'silencer' that we all fitted to our Ducatis (for the unique rasping roar!). A far more unique sound that the usual megaphone replacement exhaust. Resident there was Vic and his two mechanics Bert and Alf in brown overalls. Motorcycles are now rich people's toys mostly 🤕
Thanks for l👀king🙂.




"Ducati Days at the Hurricane" © Alf Cole 2024