DEL.ICIO.USFROM ATLANTA TO ... LEEDS, ALA.
One-tank trip: Vintage cycles on display at Barber Motorsports Park
For the Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Whether traveling by two wheels or four, this trip is sure to get your motor running.
PEGGY COZART / Special
More than 1,100 vintage motorcycles, such as these models from the ’70s, can be found in the museum at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala.
PEGGY COZART / Special
Kenny Brogan rode a 1907 Peugeot in the 2007 Century Parade. The parade is held as part of the Barber Vintage Festival.
Barber Motorsports Park, in Leeds, Ala., just east of Birmingham, is home to a world-class museum showcasing a collection of 1,200 historic motorcycles. And more than 40,000 vintage motorcycle fans are expected to descend on the facility next weekend for the fourth annual Barber Vintage Festival.
Founder George Barber’s passion for performance and perfection fueled his dream to establish the premier motor-sports park, which opened in 2003. The showpiece is a five-story, 80,000-square-foot museum set on 840 acres of immaculately groomed grounds that some have described as what the Augusta National Golf Club would look like if the focus were on motorcycles. There’s also a 2.4-mile road course.
The grand scale of the facility is something one must see to fully appreciate. The cavernous museum has 700 motorcycles on display at any given time and an additional 500 or so waiting in the wings. Everything from early 1900s motorbikes to examples of current production models is on display. In between, visitors are as likely to spot the Universal Japanese Motorcycles of the past as they are to lay eyes on the unobtainable creations of their dreams — such as the eponymous, handmade racer of the late John Britten.
The collection is so significant, 30 of the museum’s bikes were displayed in the Guggenheim Museum’s 1998 exhibition “The Art of the Motorcycle.”
The facility employs a full-time staff of mechanics and restoration experts who have at their disposal an in-house library that includes more than 5,000 books, back issues of 50-plus motorcycle magazines, parts catalogs, service manuals, photographs and more than 650 video titles.
One of the largest gatherings of vintage motorcycles and riders in the U.S., the fourth annual Barber Vintage Festival takes place Oct. 17-19. The highlight of the event will be the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association-sanctioned racing competitions — both off-road and on — but other festivities include bike shows, a Century Parade of working motorcycles at least 100 years old, a swap meet featuring more than 400 vendors, an air show by the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, and Rhett Rotten Wall of Death, featuring vertical wall stunts and more.
Tent and RV camping are available onsite. Visitors planning to stay on the grounds should make arrangements through the event Web site.
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