Club Arnage

Nothing to do with Le Mans, but to anyone who values our motoring heritage, the devastating fire is terrible news. About 650 classic bikes gone up in smoke. Grand Prix winners, TT winners, Brooklands winners, Land speed record holders, all gone for ever. It's just too awful for words.

I grew up in Birmingham and I remember the museum being built in the late eighties. I went the week it opened, tho it has been extended hugely since. I called in about a year ago when I was passing by for another look, but it was closed. Bugger.

Let's hope they manage to salvage something from the ashes, with true Brummy defiance.

I too was extremely saddened to see the news on TV this morning. Now and again when I have been in the Brum area on business I have taken the opportunity to look in and the collection is (was :() truly wide ranging and unique.

The pictures on TV showed an awful lot of damage but as Andy says let's hope something can be saved.

Terrible news!!

I went there for a conference a couple of years back and it was an incredible collection.

News this morning says that the owner is adamant that he will rebuild the museum and look to start a new collection.

And the rumours are that it looks as though it was all started by someone discarding a cigarette into a box of rubbish outside the building!!   >:(

Three out of five halls destroyed from what I have heard and the Fire Brigade will be there for another day or two  :o

Very sad to hear this.

This has 'Insurance Job' written all over it if you ask me. I'll bet the boys from Lloyds are all over the place like a rash.
H

You may be right H but the owner was on TV this morning and was totally distraught, his lifes work in up flames etc.

Hmmm, I know, it seems cruel to be cynical at this stage; let me just mention a complete b*stard tw*t though.....Lord Brockett.

If I remember rightly, the b*gger was crushing Ferraris and Maseratis and putting them in landfill. Even with my rudimentary understanding of recycling techniques I would say that the Environment wasn't foremost in his wrinkly little aristocratic head. I wonder if he's out yet? Personally I hope he's stitching mailbags with the rest of them and only drops the soap in the shower now and then. Mind you, given his privileged background he's probably treating that bar of soap in the same way Grobblejar attacked crosses. It'll be wriggling around on that tiled floor like a lively mackeral, while Brockett chases it, bent double but with straight knees. I bet.

You have to wonder though, how a modern facility like that museum could go up in flames, especially when the contents could be considered high risk.

Maybe the nightwatchman was indulging in some flatulatory pyrotechnics to impress the schoolgirls he'd smuggled in. And who could throw the first stone?
H

Normal modern building construction requires all kinds of fire retardant treatment and I would have thought their insurance company would have stipulated minimum fire resistance specifications.

The deliberate fire theories may not be right.  If it is a charitable trust (not sure, but likely) then one person or a group arent likely to benefit.  

That bounder Brockett is a total cad. It would be funny in an Ealing comedy starring Terry Thomas, but torching rare cars for the insurance in real life is a shits trick. He should be blackballed, and not just from his Club.

Bad news tho H, the swine is out of clink and swanning around as if nothing had happenned. He was on TV recently, giving it the old humility bit, prison changed his life etc. Happily he is virtually penniless, his awful money grabbing wife having grabbed what was left and run of with another chap, who is likely to be another absolute rotter. Hurrah!

I wondered also how a modern building can go up so fast. Did they not have sprinklers, alarms etc. You are right tho, something smells of a very large and pongy rat. But really it cannot be Roy Richards, the museums founder. He is an honest, guiless Brummy, with a huge  and genuine love of the British motorcycle industry (as was). If you know Brum, you will know what I mean, there are a lot of people like this in Brum, genuine salt of the earth types. So I cannot believe him capable of even contemplating torching it.

Maybe it was the night watchman with a grudge or a rival museum owner with an axe to grind.

According to some news article I read, the fire started from the outside of the building. The article stated that the fire was started by a still glowing cigarette. That makes it even more unbelievable that the whole complex burns down that fast.

However it started, it is devastating news :'( :'( :'( :'(

I wonder what the precautions are at Beauleigh?

Thats right, they always blame everything on smokers in the absence of any other reason.

I sometimes wonder if it is still possible these days to die of anything other than a smoking related illness. They are about to crack down on "passive drinking" next. I kid you not!

This is a great tragedy guys.  The AMA has a similar museum here in Ohio and I hope they're checking the sprinkler system today.  Its about to get wet, Isabel's here!
Fax

I wouldn't mind a little passive drinking.  Lay back and let some other blighter pay for stuff, and poor it down my throught ;D

Isn't Ohio a little far inland for Isabel to cause damage?  I would have thought she'd weaken a lot by then.

Hi Gib,
Yeah, we're far enough inland that we won't have to chase the trash cans & lawn furniture down the street.  Just in for a serious soaking tomorrow from what's left of her.  Some pretty hilarious footage earlier today from the outer banks of NC.  One of the networks had a very small woman of Asian descent reporting out in the thick of it and I swear to God they had her tied down with nylon straps!
Fax

Just seen on the news that the health nazis reckon 4 pints should be classed as binge drinking. God help us all.
2 or 3 binges a day at LM?

Know what you mean Fax.  The UK TV news has been showing some US TV news clips showing how the local TV stations seem to be competing to see who can get their reporter into the most dangerous situation. ::) ::)

Hope all is OK for you guys.

gib

Truly laughable if these pathetic little morons wern't actually serious.  I heard one of the 'ladies' on the radio this morning, and I could't beleive my ears.  Shoot the f***ing lot of them.

I heard this too.. (a little off the thread..) and it was the way the reporter announced that it was causing the NHS a huge amount of money to deal with (his tone then implied) "the outrageous drinking binge habits of this country which has even reached the despicable level of 4 Pints"...

This was a BBC report on the radio. So basically we pay our licence fee for this chap to act like he's working for the Sunday Sport (nowt against the Sunday Sport - but if I want to read stuff like that, then I'll choose to pay for it in a shop rather than have the government tax me for it) It really does show the poor quality of a BBC journalist if they have to put that much spin in order to make their story's interesting. Mind you, they are only reading what's in the papers and passing it off as their own journalism. I often find that what I hear on the radio in the morning is actually word for word in all the papers, and sometimes it's from the previous day!

Sorry... another soap box of mine...  ::)

Perhaps the person who dropped the fag out side the motorcycle museum was indulging in 'binge smoking' :o

should we ban that as well ::)

B**l**cks to the lot of 'em :(

Surely the binge drinkers have to buy their alcahol, which carries an excess tax which subsidises the NHS anyway??   ;)

So anyone who is binge drinking their four pints is paying more towards their state healthcare than someone who doesn't drink and is therefore entitled to the extra treatment!!   ;D

What makes me smile is when they say "we are the worst in europe for binge drinking, we should be more like the europeans."
I seem to remember the more relaxed opening hours in europe help, no having to finish work on friday and rush to get out to the pub for 8pm knowing you only have 3 hours to get loads of beer down your neck.
Barstards the lot of them.....

Good News  :)  (over a year since the last post on this thread)

Following an 18 month rebuild and repair / restoration to an amazing condition of most of the damaged motorcycles, the museum has now reopened and is definately worth a visit.

I went there the other day and was very impressed with the level of restoration and preparation of the bikes.

Here's a link to my photos at Webshots if you fancy a look.
http://community.webshots.com/album/251394192WIMlir?40 (http://community.webshots.com/album/251394192WIMlir?40)

Links to my other Le Mans and motorsport photos from here.
http://community.webshots.com/user/route66weasel (http://community.webshots.com/user/route66weasel)