Lundy Flyers Golden Mile

Waiting for an escort down the beach.
The jeep is a tender vehicle, all the tenders
were WW2 machinery. Very cool.

Been meaning to post this for a while as the event was back in early September but, hey, this isn't a hot of the press news site so it hardly matters.

I'm not a fan of the phrase 'bucket list' but taking part in a beach sprint has been on mine for a good while now. I knew from my work schedule that I would be at home for the Lundy Flyers event and it being in Devon it was relatively local.

As it turned out in the end I was kind of wrong on both these counts as come that weekend I could only manage to attend on the Saturday and it was a three hour drive from home, but totally worth it.

Saunton Sands 'village' in the distance, it's a long
beach and access is all the way in the distance.
Given the number of 'civilians' on the beach riding
to and fro needed an official escort.

The event is at Saunton Sands in North Devon and is organised by the Lundy Flyers, a local Hot Rod club. The entry is eclectic and the atmosphere wonderfully casual. Basically, enter, turn up and ride / drive. The racing is head to head and not timed so escapes too much regulation

I entered my ZB32 Gold Star, yes, I had some concerns about thrashing it on the sand but ultimately it's only a few runs and if you make sure to wash carefully immediately after there's no long term damage.

Over the day I got in about six runs down the 1/8th mile strip. The sand was reasonably solid but none the less as the speed gets up it's fairly hairy, just keep the power on and the weight back and cross your fingers. At least the ZB32 carries its weight nice and low. As above it's all fairly casual so it's definitely the taking part rather than the winning. On the day you chose a partner for the runs, just picking someone with a bike that looked like a fair match, it worked well, we (the Goldie and I) won as many runs as we lost and in the end most of it came down to gear changes and which line on the sand was taken.

So, in the end, yep, a brilliant day out and a fanstastic event. Totally recommended either as entrant or spectator. There's a really good friendly vibe there and some great machinery to watch being thrashed.