 | ||
        |
 | Beezumph 12: The Greatest Gathering of Hurricanes ever! Even the Triumph factory never had so many complete Hurricanes in one place! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meriden, 1972 I know... I was at Meriden in 1972 when Hurricanes were being produced. They were having a hard time getting the orange seat-tanks. Hundreds of incomplete Hurricanes awaited tanks. It is a good bet that nobody ever saw this many completed Hurricanes until now, 30 years later. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cadwell Park, 2003 Hurricanes in a row... just as Triumph made them 30 years ago. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Imagine my pleasure when Tony Page of the Trident and Rocket Three Owners Club of England invited me to Beezumph 12. The occasion was the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Triumph Hurricane. Now, the Triumph Hurricane was designed to appeal to American riders and, as such, really was never expected to sell in England. But it has become very collectible to the English. In fact, they seem to be "mining" the US for Hurricanes to bring home! |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some 1172 Hurricanes were produced for 1973... virtually all of them sold in the US. In the past couple years, the most we in the US have been able to gather together were six! That was at Randy Baxter's shop in Iowa, last year. At the 2002 Beezumph gathering, some 17 Hurricanes showed up. This year, Tony thought, they might get 24. Wow! My wife, Carol, and I made plans to fly to England. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Craig Vetter 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Craig Vetter 1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This is the Craig Vetter the Beezumph crowd were expecting to see: 30 years old, as I was, at Meriden. | This is the Craig Vetter they got: not who they expected. They recognized the Hurricane, though. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club member, Andrew Chisholm and son, Chris, picked us up at Heathrow and took us around Southern England in their vintage Jag, towing a green Rocket 3 and a Hurricane! Stylin! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Hurricane sign-in. Hurricanes were ridden in from all over Europe! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I had expected some variety in the Hurricanes... like modern suspension components, twin rotors, trick wheels. Not a chance. "Modified" is a bad word to the Beezumph crowd. "As they were at the factory" are good words. Tony Page entertains Carol Vetter at the track. Tony is very happy because he has just learned that over 50 Hurricanes have shown up and maybe more are on the way! Carol is just happy to be there. (the English call them "Hurricns") | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turns out that the final tally was much higher. So many, in fact, that we had to ride around the track in two waves! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Riding in England on a Hurricane, with other Beezumph enthusiasts will be one of the high points of my life. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My talk Friday night at the tent Yep. This was a good time for us all. I showed them everything I know about my part in the development of the Hurricane. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Afterwards, our new friends from the club, John and Sonia Young, took us on a marvelous tour to Scotland where we went Nessie hunting. It is funny how the images I had of Loch Ness were blurry, black and white. In reality, Nessie hangs out near a beautiful castle and swims in bright blue water! John Young wouldn't change out of his Hurricane commemorative shirt we brought over for the club members. The T-shirts were so popular, we had to do a reprint when we got home. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The commemorative Craig Vetter Hurricane T-shirts are available again. I'll sign them if you like just as I did in England. Black only These are very fetching. Go to Order page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thanks to all our friends in England at the Trident and Rocket Three Owners Club. Who would have thought that my design work in 1969 would be so much fun today? updated Aug 18, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
