Extreme Ironing - not girlie safe

[Ol Boc]

I know there are several amongst the posters on this Forum who are absorbed in this dangerous sport - perhaps not so many, alas, of the little womenfolk. For the few of you here who are also motorcyclists, you may find this of interest. It concerns the once-mighty Parilla company, a fine Italian manufacturer of great racing machinery. <here (http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_early_consignments1.htm)> is the website of the great J.Wood & Company,and their Daytona Auction. About two thirds of the way down is one of the thunderous machines that started it all.

Rare indeed; but probably Biggles will have driven one of these, and maybe SidSquid - or perhaps TimWilky in his Derek Bennett days - will have helped engineer them. Pedrosa probably still hankers after one, but I suspect it would be just too much for a younger generation, and certainly too much for girlies.

[Welsh_Wizard]

http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/honda_kick_and_go.jpg

This is the machine...

[Ol Boc]

....err, not really (although a wonderful thing this is....). It's not a Parilla is it?

Lower......

[Richie]

This is the Parilla formula one racing iron used by the countess Maria Bandini ?Mama? when she won the 1953 Italian speed ironing championship at Rome. The countess vanquished all her opponents with her tremendous, on the edge, display of blistering speed and amazing control over a track of both linen and silk, becoming a racing legend in Italy. Just imagine the sheer adrenaline buzz of witnessing a pack of these screaming machines at speed, cheered on by delirious Italian fans. While training for the World Speed ironing championship to be held in Paris, her beloved son, Luigi was tragically killed practicing for the 1954 Milano Taranto endurance race on his experimental MV Agusta Monomoto.T he Countess? husband, count Enzo Bandin ?The Falcon? forbid her to ever race again, declaring that racing was just too dangerous! A short time later, due to some rather nasty explosions during iron racing events, the Italian government outlawed the sport and ordered its citizens to turn in all internal combustion powered irons. The Golden Age of iron racing was over. No one knows how the Contessa was able to keep her Parilla iron, but it was discovered among her effects after her death at age 103 in 2004. A family member contacted the collector Todd Fell offering him this fascinating piece of Italian racing history.
http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/small_pics/racing_iron_closeup1_small.jpg (http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/racing_iron_closeup1.jpg)

Offered at No Reserve
Do not miss this exceptional piece of racing history.

http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/small_pics/mama_Bandini_small.jpg (http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/mama_Bandini.jpg)
http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/racing_iron_stand.jpg

Look at that beauty, look at the sleek slender lines, too much for a woman to handel...

[Pedrosa]

Parilla the ultimate in Italian exotica. My heart races at the very thought. No extras need to be bolted on as is so common with folks in this neighbourhood as they buy all manner of bits and bobs which in truth is similar to polishing a t*rd.

[Lozzo]

http://www.jwoodandcompany.com/2008/2008_pics/1964_Ducati_Monza.jpg

Back in 1981 I owned a bike almost identical to this - it's a Ducati Monza, which I think was a 250, I had the 160 Monza Junior.