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This man, Paul, did it all. By day we raced each other on dispatch bikes, by night we hurtled around the countryside racing each other on road bikes, and at the weekend we careened around race tracks at even faster speeds. This man rode a Suzuki GSX 1100 frighteningly well; he was very, very quick and would slide the BMW through corners at work... in the wet.

When I said I was a 'DR in the Smoke, this is not quite the impression I was trying to give. Some fool had argued how long tyres would last on a TR1, I had other ideas.

Dispatch riders and their bikes were easily at one with each other, anything the stunt boys could do was no problem for a shaft driven GS 650.

The 'fuck you' attitude reared its grossly misshapen head, once again, when I was told it was impossible for a pillion to get their knee down alongside the rider... on the road... yeah righto... whatever you say, must be true.

Being able to put stuff together yourself and actually have it work was another skill needed, and you could be asked to race at a moment's notice.

This supercharged Top Fuel bike started off life as a Yamaha and underwent many, many home modifications. Nothing was too excessive to achieve the end result.