Kim Newcombe

You can watch this full doco on Kim Newcombe on the NZ On Screen website here.

I'd seen this a while ago but looked it up again today because I've been reading this book:

Which James Woodhams loaned me. It's a really bloody good read and I'd recommend it to anyone.

For those of you who don't know Kim Newcombe was an amazing rider and also engineer/mechanic, who essentially built his own bike using a 2 stroke Konig boat engine and then almost won the European GP. Almost, because he was killed in an accident before he could do it.

It's a really interesting story and obviously there's a lot more to it than simply him designing and building the bike. He has a lot of help along the way, esp from the Konig factory. Tim Hanna, author of the book, is very critical of the movie. I can't remember exactly why? But, as usual, I reckon you'd be best to read the book and then watch the film. Kim's wife, Janeen, is a major feature of both book and film, which can seem a bit strange at times. But obviously they were very close, and I guess a lot of the story inevitably needs to be told through her now that he's not around.

Anyway, if you're at all interested in motorcycles read this book! It's good.