Driving Seat: Motorcycling: Diary dates as the days get longer.

Byline: WILLIAM LEECE

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HILLY it may be this week, but once St David's Day has been and gone there's a definite feeling that spring is just round the corner.

Soon that time will come when you feel you're better off riding the bike rather than tinkering with the mechanics and polishing the plastic. Or, in my case, fibreglassing and spraying the plastic, ever since someone with a warped sense of humour decided the bike would look far better on its side in the centre of Liverpool than on its stand. But that's another tale.

First up for the diary are two events that have been featured in this column before, but nevertheless come up fresh each time round.

Both the Welsh National Rally and the National Rally are late spring or summer events, but the time to get your entry in will be very soon.

The National Rally is the second of the two events, although in terms of history it was in fact first. A once-popular event that was revived in the late 1980s, it has gone from strength to strength since then with tweaks each year to keep it fresh.

As ever, it is being held this year over the first weekend in July, and gives riders the opportunity to criss-cross England and the Welsh borders over a period of up to 20 hours, logging control points before heading for a final control and well-deserved breakfast, this time in Rugby.

The rally is co-ordinated by the Auto Cycle Union and the BMF, with Mencap the approved charity once again this year.

Full details will be ready around the middle of this month, but an SAE now to the ACU at ACU House, Wood Street, Rugby.

Warwickshire, CV21 2YX would not be premature.

It was the success of the National Rally that led Dave Dowling, a member of the Clive Motorcycle Club in Welshpool, to propose a broadly similar event around the roads of Wales.

The Clive club took on the organisation, and the first Welsh was held in 1994 with just 46 entries. The rest, as they say, is history.

Once again, several changes are planned for this year, but, in the meantime, keep the weekend of May 7/8 free on your diary. SAEs please to the event secretary of the Clive Motorcycle Club at 4 Maesgarmon Close, Castle Caereinion, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 9BQ.

Unfortunately, the planned date drops across the ever-growing Thundersprint meeting in the centre of Northwich on May 8, although in past years the Welsh has been set up with the option of spending just one day on the rally, so it is just possible to visit both events. Latest news from Thudersprint is that veteran racer Jim Redman will be taking to the track once again.

Arguably the finest bike racer never to have won a 500cc world title - although he made up for it by winning just about everything else in the 1960s - he has been one of Thundersprint's most loyal supporters in the last few years.

'It's the nearest thing to a classic Grand Prix that still exists in terms of the sheer excitement and scale of the event,' he said.

'There are many other classic bike races in the world and I enjoy them all. What makes the Thundersprint special is the atmosphere. It's electric

CAPTION(S):

Forty years after this photograph was taken at the 1965 TTs, Jim Redman; is still racing - and enjoying it