I remember back in the day the first time I met Tony Rutter I was racing at Brands on the saturday and came off mangling the exhaust,I was at Lydden Hill on the sunday and it was a right jaunt to some of those meetings down south so I really wanted to race there if possible,anyway someone said that Tom Arters' place was on the way down to Lydden, Tom was well known for tuning G50 Matchless's and used to sponsor some good riders at the time so I thought I'll ask him if I could buy any bits of pipe or something just so I could race at Lydden.When I got there it was fairly late and Tom was in his house which was away from his garage and I was a bit wary about knocking him up,I mean I was only a poxy club racer coming on the cadge,what I didn't know was Tony Rutter was there picking some stuff up ,I didn't know him personally but both him and Tom were really welcoming and they both got my bike in Tom's garage and we cut and welded the exhaust up,I will never forget that day,I couldn't believe that these two blokes who I'd never met before helped me with my bike.I never met Tony again but seen him on the island and short curcuits and always used to brag about how he'd fixed my bike that day,what a smashing bloke.R.I.P.
