Vintage Road Racing Association

The 1st day of Daytona started out well- I took my '72 Norton 750 Commando to victory in the BEARS class- my on board video edited by my friend NYC Norton rider Kenny is here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=funNlm0XIFE Just 45 minutes later I was out for the Formula 750 race and lying in 3rd on the 2nd lap when I had a con rod break, blowing a large hole in the front of my crankcase and seizing the motor solid while in top gear and wide open on the banking. My on bike video- edited by Kenny- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwmXS_Q1rnw I was thrown from the bike and knocked out, waking up in the Halifax Medical Centre (Across the street from Daytona) with a headache and pieces broken off 4 vertebrae. The back is still sore, but I'm getting better. Thanks to Walridge Motors and a big thank you to Herb Becker for his help with the bike- we took the BEARS win at the Roebling Road Daytona warm up race as well. Here is Herb firing up the bike in the pits at Daytona- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s71KQdn3Yh4


douglasmacrae.com

Hmmmm. I don't recall this big hole in my motor before.

Good to see you are well enough to post Doug, wishing you a speedy full recovery!

Big congratulations on the earlier wins!

Don't know what the appropriate word is to describe the fact that your bike got tended to quicker than you.

My Daytona siezure a few years back was on the pre-grid, my level of disappointment just lost a whole lot of it's merit!

Take care!

Glad you're not worse Doug! Sad that they got to your bike before you though.

To echo Mike...congratulations on the wins!!!

Hope to see you on the grids with the VRRA!

Mal

Congratulations on the wins. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Frenchie

Great story, and here's to also wishing you a speedy recovery. Great footage. What camera was used? Looks like a Go Pro?
Great story about the videos as well.

Camera was a Gopro Wide. Worked well except that it is so wide angle that unless you are inches away from someone, they look a bit far away. I used it without the rubber seal to increase the sound.

Hey Doug
Glad to hear your healing.
Congrats on your wins. You deserve them,bloody fast and fun to race with.
Hope to be racing with you again this year.
Take care
Steve

Congrats Doug!
... sorry 'bout the back though.


That must be the SECOND worst case of Norton engine failure I've seen.

Eh Herb?
... and that's the Norvil side isn't it? Who's rod let go?

How did Kenny do?

It was a polished stock rod although with all the damage it was difficult to say whether the rod bolt or rod let go first. That is the Steve Maney ($) aftermarket crankcase with the big hole and the Maney Alloy barrels ($) were also completely cracked in half. The motor is all junk but the head.

With the right commentary,that race would have been better than the 200 shown on Speedvision.

Way better than the 200, even without commentary.
Congrats on the wins, hope youre recovering.
Croz

Doug MacRae wrote:Camera was a Gopro Wide. Worked well except that it is so wide angle that unless you are inches away from someone, they look a bit far away. I used it without the rubber seal to increase the sound.

Was that the seal on the door, or the front lense cover? I've heard that some have removed the lense on the cap for improved sound, but I haven't tried that yet. LO is too low, and HI pickes up a lot of feedback. My trip home from work today will be without the door seal as a test. No rain today like n Sunday, so it's OK to have the seal removed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IodM2KNy ... annel_page


Dang, sounds like that was an expensive engine.

Your first racing time at Daytona?

It was the seal on the door and the camera sound on low. You're a brave man in the rain. It was my first time at Daytona- we had 2 practices in the morning and it was the BEARS race followed by the F750 video. The engine is the start- my leathers and helmet are toast too- one boot is broken but I think I can fix it.

Hey Doug
Congrats on the win.sorry about the crash though.can relate to injury part myself.have a speedy recovery.take care.
Regards Paul