twpd. . . . . .
- Thread starter jms
- Start date
Anteater
Active member
Nige & myself had conversations about the 2011 season - he was seriously intrested in making a come back in the Minitwins class where he had previously won a Championship with NGRRC.
There was a loose plan in place for the pair of us to race our 800ss's together / against each other at Croft and East Fortune with NEMCRC.
I fully expected hin to skelp my arse but suppose we'll never know now.
As a tribute to Nigel I feel it's appropriate his #97 gets an outing in one more race meeting before he passes to a memory for all of us.
Therefore there will be a yellow and black 97 (Nigels bike colours)on the tail piece of my bike this weekend.
I may be starting from the back of the grid as a Sunday only rider, but I hope and intend to ride as hard as I possibly can. I wont win, but I will try to do well to honour the memory of a man I respected a hell of a lot.
Alex
There was a loose plan in place for the pair of us to race our 800ss's together / against each other at Croft and East Fortune with NEMCRC.
I fully expected hin to skelp my arse but suppose we'll never know now.
As a tribute to Nigel I feel it's appropriate his #97 gets an outing in one more race meeting before he passes to a memory for all of us.
Therefore there will be a yellow and black 97 (Nigels bike colours)on the tail piece of my bike this weekend.
I may be starting from the back of the grid as a Sunday only rider, but I hope and intend to ride as hard as I possibly can. I wont win, but I will try to do well to honour the memory of a man I respected a hell of a lot.
Alex
Funeral of Nigel Wright (twpd)
Thursday 14th October, 1:15pm
Darlington Crematorium
This is to be a celebration of the life of Nigel Wright (twpd).
Bikes are welcome, bike kit and colourful gear also welcome (especially Ducati colours, or Nige's black + yellow racing colours)
To be followed by refreshments at Darlington Rugby Club.
We'd like to get a reasonable idea of how many will be attending - it would be great if you can let me know, ideally via Facebook | Funeral of Nigel Wright (twpd)
Thursday 14th October, 1:15pm
Darlington Crematorium
This is to be a celebration of the life of Nigel Wright (twpd).
Bikes are welcome, bike kit and colourful gear also welcome (especially Ducati colours, or Nige's black + yellow racing colours)
To be followed by refreshments at Darlington Rugby Club.
We'd like to get a reasonable idea of how many will be attending - it would be great if you can let me know, ideally via Facebook | Funeral of Nigel Wright (twpd)
Spud Raver
New member
Best colours Anteater....
RIP Twpd.
RIP Twpd.
iconic944ss
Elite Member
Nige was given a great send off this afternoon.
Around 20 bikes turned up at his home - I'm sure he would of been amused that more Adventure style bikes turned up than any other but, three Ducati's turned up including a top-notch effort via Pete and friends from the Huddersfield area.
The bikes followed the motorcade with traffic being stopped by local police as we left, which I thought was a fitting touch.
At the crematorium, there were many moving floral tributes and three well delivered eulogies. At the end of a period of reflection, a soundtrack of a Ducati at full-chat from one of Nigel's many video's was played, quite a few tears were shed in farewell to him...
Ride In Peace, mate.
Around 20 bikes turned up at his home - I'm sure he would of been amused that more Adventure style bikes turned up than any other but, three Ducati's turned up including a top-notch effort via Pete and friends from the Huddersfield area.
The bikes followed the motorcade with traffic being stopped by local police as we left, which I thought was a fitting touch.
At the crematorium, there were many moving floral tributes and three well delivered eulogies. At the end of a period of reflection, a soundtrack of a Ducati at full-chat from one of Nigel's many video's was played, quite a few tears were shed in farewell to him...
Ride In Peace, mate.
Thanks to everyone who attended the funeral today. Your efforts and support were very much appreciated.For those who couldn't be there, here's what I shared:
Nigel Wright
1964 - 2010
Motorbikes defined Nige. They were his true passion, and nearly every part of his life involved them. Naturally, most of my memories of him involve bikes in some way, and I’m sure many of you are the same.
I first met Nige with a group of bikers known as the “Northern Monkeys”. Soon we did lots of road riding together, and got to know each other well. Our friendship was a factor in me moving to Darlington, and we spent our time together riding, drinking beer, and talking about bikes.
He was one of the best riders I’ve ever seen. Riding with Nige was always a lesson in how to travel exceptionally quickly, whilst looking relaxed, safe, smooth and effortless. He introduced me to many of his favourite roads in the North – he loved living in Darlington with its easy access to some of Britain’s best countryside and finest biking roads. We both enjoyed riding underpowered bikes, and sometimes surprising other riders on much more powerful machinery. Nige always laughed at “power rangers”, with their need for the latest and greatest bike, and their expensive matching kit. Plain black leathers and lid for him, always. White boots? “@@@@ing ghey”, he would say! I still laugh remembering the time I made him ride a Virago across Darlington, to an MOT test. Really not his style of bike. He sulked, and insisted on sporting a black visor, in case anyone recognised him!
Nige was a bit of a purist in many ways, and his bikes were always immaculately prepared and maintained. His technical knowledge was vast, and he was always willing to share, giving freely of his time and experience to help other people.
Nige loved nearly all bikes, but had a particular soft spot for Ducatis. They appealed to him as an engineer, a petrolhead and a rider. Through the winter of 2006, he was preparing his dream – his Ducati 800SS race bike. Although these bikes were raced in the USA, nobody in the UK had raced one, and Nige was on a steep learning curve, breaking new ground, trying to develop and perfect the bike for the Minitwins class.
His passion for racing was infectious and I got involved, going along with Nige to the NG races in 2007. This provided some of the happiest times of my life, and I think Nige’s too. His hard work preparing the 800 paid off, and he started to win races for the first time. We filmed some pit diaries that year, and many people watched and shared in our racing experiences – the highs and lows, the frustrations and opportunities, and most of all the joy. From the first moment of a race weekend as we loaded the ‘Armageddon race truck of doom’ to the time we returned, late on a Sunday evening, Nige brimmed with pure excitement, exhilaration and enjoyment. We laughed a lot. He was often like a small child, wide eyed with pleasure at being allowed to play so hard.
On one memorable occasion, he had ordered a handmade, one-off titanium underseat exhaust system from the states, to further improve the 800. After extensive work getting it to fit perfectly, we took the bike off to the dyno, to make final tweaks to the fuelling and make sure the power was good. After the first couple of runs, it was a disaster. Peak power was 15 bhp down, and the curve was full of holes. And there was a race weekend coming up. “Not to worry”, I told him. “Just put the old pipes back on.” Nige looked embarrassed. “I’ve sold them already!” He ended up spending several very late nights working with George Miller on the dyno, and developing a new fuel map from scratch to make the pipe work properly! As usual, it turned out a complete success in the end.
Nige raced hard and set himself terribly high standards. Second place really was only first place loser for him, and as the 2007 season went on and a championship win became a real possibility, he became even more focussed. He drank less, trained at the gym more, worked even harder at practise and setup, and the good results kept coming. At the same time, he was dealing with a lot of negativity in the paddock, from a few people who accused him of cheating. This was hurtful – Nige was incredibly competitive, but believed entirely in fair play (which was eventually proven.) He managed to retain his composure amazingly. As he always said; “When the flag drops, the bull@@@@ stops” and he let his riding do the talking.
I began racing myself part way through that season, and Nige mentored me and taught me how to race. In return, I taught him how to fart. I think he learned quicker than me!
He went on to win the championship in 2007, and boy, did we party! He realised a lifelong dream, and I felt honoured to have been involved. I felt such pride in my friend and his achievements. A real champion racer.
On Monday mornings when we returned from racing to our respective offices, we shared our suffering of post-race blues; the real world seemed so drab and dull compared to racing, as if a vital part was missing. That’s a bit like how I feel now Nige has gone. We shared so much fun and laughter, so much exhilaration, risk and adrenalin, trust, and yes, anger and awkwardness at times. He was my riding buddy, my team mate, and my friend. I’ll miss him.
Nigel Wright
1964 - 2010
Motorbikes defined Nige. They were his true passion, and nearly every part of his life involved them. Naturally, most of my memories of him involve bikes in some way, and I’m sure many of you are the same.
I first met Nige with a group of bikers known as the “Northern Monkeys”. Soon we did lots of road riding together, and got to know each other well. Our friendship was a factor in me moving to Darlington, and we spent our time together riding, drinking beer, and talking about bikes.
He was one of the best riders I’ve ever seen. Riding with Nige was always a lesson in how to travel exceptionally quickly, whilst looking relaxed, safe, smooth and effortless. He introduced me to many of his favourite roads in the North – he loved living in Darlington with its easy access to some of Britain’s best countryside and finest biking roads. We both enjoyed riding underpowered bikes, and sometimes surprising other riders on much more powerful machinery. Nige always laughed at “power rangers”, with their need for the latest and greatest bike, and their expensive matching kit. Plain black leathers and lid for him, always. White boots? “@@@@ing ghey”, he would say! I still laugh remembering the time I made him ride a Virago across Darlington, to an MOT test. Really not his style of bike. He sulked, and insisted on sporting a black visor, in case anyone recognised him!
Nige was a bit of a purist in many ways, and his bikes were always immaculately prepared and maintained. His technical knowledge was vast, and he was always willing to share, giving freely of his time and experience to help other people.
Nige loved nearly all bikes, but had a particular soft spot for Ducatis. They appealed to him as an engineer, a petrolhead and a rider. Through the winter of 2006, he was preparing his dream – his Ducati 800SS race bike. Although these bikes were raced in the USA, nobody in the UK had raced one, and Nige was on a steep learning curve, breaking new ground, trying to develop and perfect the bike for the Minitwins class.
His passion for racing was infectious and I got involved, going along with Nige to the NG races in 2007. This provided some of the happiest times of my life, and I think Nige’s too. His hard work preparing the 800 paid off, and he started to win races for the first time. We filmed some pit diaries that year, and many people watched and shared in our racing experiences – the highs and lows, the frustrations and opportunities, and most of all the joy. From the first moment of a race weekend as we loaded the ‘Armageddon race truck of doom’ to the time we returned, late on a Sunday evening, Nige brimmed with pure excitement, exhilaration and enjoyment. We laughed a lot. He was often like a small child, wide eyed with pleasure at being allowed to play so hard.
On one memorable occasion, he had ordered a handmade, one-off titanium underseat exhaust system from the states, to further improve the 800. After extensive work getting it to fit perfectly, we took the bike off to the dyno, to make final tweaks to the fuelling and make sure the power was good. After the first couple of runs, it was a disaster. Peak power was 15 bhp down, and the curve was full of holes. And there was a race weekend coming up. “Not to worry”, I told him. “Just put the old pipes back on.” Nige looked embarrassed. “I’ve sold them already!” He ended up spending several very late nights working with George Miller on the dyno, and developing a new fuel map from scratch to make the pipe work properly! As usual, it turned out a complete success in the end.
Nige raced hard and set himself terribly high standards. Second place really was only first place loser for him, and as the 2007 season went on and a championship win became a real possibility, he became even more focussed. He drank less, trained at the gym more, worked even harder at practise and setup, and the good results kept coming. At the same time, he was dealing with a lot of negativity in the paddock, from a few people who accused him of cheating. This was hurtful – Nige was incredibly competitive, but believed entirely in fair play (which was eventually proven.) He managed to retain his composure amazingly. As he always said; “When the flag drops, the bull@@@@ stops” and he let his riding do the talking.
I began racing myself part way through that season, and Nige mentored me and taught me how to race. In return, I taught him how to fart. I think he learned quicker than me!
He went on to win the championship in 2007, and boy, did we party! He realised a lifelong dream, and I felt honoured to have been involved. I felt such pride in my friend and his achievements. A real champion racer.
On Monday mornings when we returned from racing to our respective offices, we shared our suffering of post-race blues; the real world seemed so drab and dull compared to racing, as if a vital part was missing. That’s a bit like how I feel now Nige has gone. We shared so much fun and laughter, so much exhilaration, risk and adrenalin, trust, and yes, anger and awkwardness at times. He was my riding buddy, my team mate, and my friend. I’ll miss him.
iconic944ss
Elite Member
You did fantastically well Olly.
It was great to see so many guests turn up in Ducati clothing or Nige's favoured colours, what a shame it was under such sad circumstances.
I did laugh in your eulogy when you mentioned ' White Boots' as I was only looking through a certain album the other day
LOL
Even more bizarre is that I still own the same type of boots !!!
I was even going to wear them on the day as well but I'm glad I didnt as the rain threatened on the way home.
I did raise a big glass of Whisky tonight - Cheers - Frank
It was great to see so many guests turn up in Ducati clothing or Nige's favoured colours, what a shame it was under such sad circumstances.
I did laugh in your eulogy when you mentioned ' White Boots' as I was only looking through a certain album the other day
LOL
Even more bizarre is that I still own the same type of boots !!!
I was even going to wear them on the day as well but I'm glad I didnt as the rain threatened on the way home.
I did raise a big glass of Whisky tonight - Cheers - Frank
Beth
New member
Olly you have a pm
+ 1 x
HighlandMonster
New member
I have somehow managed to miss all this and am shocked.
Sincere condolences to family and friends. Another good person lost, what a waste.
Thinking of all those who knew and will no doubt miss him.
Gill
Sincere condolences to family and friends. Another good person lost, what a waste.
Thinking of all those who knew and will no doubt miss him.
Gill