Hello to Tom Mick and friends also anyone out in the Basrah area or Shaibah. looking forward to TT in June 04. Will meet up at Bushys tent on the prom for the first meeting of the Basrah and District TT supporters club. membership free to anyone who has sat out here in Iraq for more than 3 months! D&V optional but not compulsory. Jim RAMC 22 Sqn L Troop Shaibah.

I'll bring Big Jim K who was out there this year and missed the TT and NW200!

I'd be privileged to buy ALL the lads of the Basrah and District TT Supporters Club a pint or three next June. I am not elegible to join, living 400 miles south of Basrah, in Riyadh. However, having travelled there many times in the past (in peace time) and also having suffered Saddam's Scuds in 1991, I have feelings of pride for the Guys and Gals serving there.

It is most amazing just how motor cyclist get together in unusual situations. I remember reading stories of the "Bar None" club that operated in North Africa during the '39 - '45 hostilities, made up from dispatch riders and other enthusiasts. I have a treasured book, titled "The Flywheel" which was printed and published from the writings and drawings of POWs.

In Riyadh here, I am priviledged to head up a club of Motocross riders and we run about 15 race days over the 'winter' months. There is a strong following of desert riders and road riders. At least one of the guys is an ex-road racer from NI.

I look forward to meeting members of a rare club, loyal to our sport.

Quit the moaning and get on with the job out there ..!
serves you right for joininng the w/end warriors in the first place! d'ya think Bushy's could open a Tent in Shabiah next June for those unable to get back in time ??
Don't s'pose the locals would mind any more that the Manx inhabitants .. It'd probably be a bit noisy for them .. allsorts of lunatics riding stupidly fast motorbikes would be more scary than the Yanks in their Apatche's ..
hope the BAD TT supporters club get the recognition it deserves.. can't say I'd want to be out there, but then again I've done several years at the TT now, I doubt it'd be any more scary than riding out of Douglas for that first lap on Mad Sunday morning ..
Mind you, it's all a bit sanitised now on the Island, all those speed limits in the really scary areas.. it used to be flat out past campsite entrances, junctions, pubs, two way traffic and all the normal road hazards.. when you got to the Mountain it was a relief .. 'ahh just the Mountain to do and I've survived another lap .. easy-peasy..'
See you on the Mountain Jim ..

Mad Sunday is certainly more intense and i would say more frightening for for the 10 minutes or so it takes to go from Ramsey hairpin to the Creg' (i am not saying it takes me 10 min's) I want to survive it not time it! Out here it's a 24 hour type of fear that becomes monotonous, to that end you yearn back to something you have done that also scared you. As good as the Mountain is, i defy anyone not to admit they were glad to to get it over with intact! Thats what its like out here we are obliged to do it but we want to get through it intact! Thinking of other things that scare you helps put the job in perspective and you find yourself looking for the next challenge. The Mountain! again. Hence the Adrenalin junkies out here look forward to the TT, at least there is a ready supply of beer to calm the nerves. So to all those who may or maynot get to the TT 2004, I will see you at Bushys or drink to your health Jim M-C B.A.D.TT Supporters Club

For Jim Capes, if you are out there.
Any news on who may be coming to the TT from the BAD TT Supporters Club?

I will gladly buy you all a pint (one each that is) in June.

Keep safe
Chris