Most of the year, I should think Holme Farm – nestling in the beautiful Cumbrian hills, just a few miles from the market town of Sedbergh – is a pretty quiet place. The odd sheep bleating, the wind whistling round the trees and maybe the rumble of a passing tractor are perhaps all that would disturb the peace for 51 weeks of the year. But for one weekend a year (this year, 19-20 August), Holme Farm becomes something else – the home of the Nostalgia Weekend.
With its origins going back to 1990, when the Westmorland Motor Club ran the first Nostalgia Scramble, the event has grown since they agreed to run a twinshock class at their new classic meeting. Two years later, in 1992, the club added a Saturday evening trial to the proceedings and the basic formula for the future was established.
As with all good things, the event suffered from the occasional growing pains and, after its successful beginnings, the Nostalgia Weekend temporarily faded from the scene until the current crew resurrected the event in 2003. That it now appears to be going from strength to strength is a tribute to that team.
What’s it all about then? Well, what really sells the event for me is the way it brings together all the elements of the classic off-road world. Twinshock and pre-65 trials riders battled side by side with the rock becks and wooded hillsides of the three lap, 15-section trial on Saturday. And the quality of the entry had to be seen to be believed – both in terms of riders and machines. Naturally, our columnist Mick Andrews was up at the pointy end of the entry, riding one of trial sponsor, Richard Deal’s (of Greeves Motorcycles) new-build Anglians, but there were plenty of other top class riders in the field.
Mick Grant and sparring partner Eric Boocock were laughing their way round in the unit class, which was headed by Dave Thorpe, while a serious looking Alan Wright topped the two-stroke class. Elsewhere, familiar faces from the past abounded, with Colin Dommett, Peter Gaunt and ex-British championship runner Tony Calvert all enjoying their day in the fells.
The scramble the following day followed the same inclusive formula. Where else can you see bellowing pre-60 class machines sharing the same race card as screaming 70s twinshocks?
Sure, by the end of the day, the track was starting to cut up a bit – making it harder work for the classic lads – but no one complained and the racing was fast and furious in all classes. What’s even more impressive is the size of the entry. No championship points to be won and yet there were 27 riders on the grid for the pre-77 class – a class which isn’t regularly run in England. Other classes were similarly well subscribed...
