Barber Vintage Festival 2026 - OCD Custom Cycles & Auto Repair

Marc and Franny attended the 21st Braber Vintage Festival put on by AHRMA at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham Alabama. Lot’s of preparation to make sure the bikes will run well and the Trailer tires have tread and the Sprinter Van has been serviced. Extra tires and rain tires are packed, tools and extra parts, different sprockets, jets, batteries… Still we may have to wrench. This year the weather looked like it would be rainy so we were hoping that was wrong. Turned out there was a hurricane coming and Birmingham (Leeds) was to be on the outskirts and experience lots of rain

OCD Sprinter Van Pulling Kraut Racing Trailer

Buc-ees in Leed AL 10-7-26

Sky High Diesel Prices 10-5-26

We Made It! 10-7-26

The drive took 2 days (1254 miles) and we stayed in Leeds the 2nd night near the track. We wanted to visit the Barber Motorsports Museum at 10am when it opened and then go set up our pit at noon. It is officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest motorcycle museum and home to the world’s largest motorcycle collection. Collection size is over 1,800 motorcycles spanning more than a century of production history, representing more than 200 manufacturers from 22 countries. On display more than 1,000 motorcycles are typically on exhibit at any given time across its multi-level, 5-story facility. Additionally it also houses the world’s largest collection of Lotus race cars alongside rare and vintage automobiles. They were paying tribute this year to George Barber, who passed in early 2026, and had a video biography of his life running during the museum open hours. They had a special section celebratin Ducati’s 100-year anniversary and the 40-year mark for Suzuki’s GSXR model.

See the museum for yourself in this video:

360 Degrees Around Barber Motorsports Museum

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Barber Ducati Display for 2026

40 year Anniversary of the Suzuki GSXR Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Barber Motorcycle Museum Display 10-7-26

Bottom Floor Restoration Shops Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Looking Down at Lower Floor Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1867 Roper Steam Velocipede Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1867 Roper Steam Velocipede Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1885 Daimler Maybach Reitwagen Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1885 Daimler Maybach Reitwagen Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1894 Hildebrand and Wolfmueller Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1894 Hildebrand and Wolfmueller Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-3

1942 Harley Davidson XA Military Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1894 Hildebrand and Wolfmueller Motorcycle Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1941 Indian 841 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1941 Indian 841 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1942 Harley Davidson XA Military Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1943 Zuendapp KS 750 Barber Motorcycle Museum

1943 Zuendapp KS 750 Barber Motorcycle Museum-2

1943 Zuendapp KS 750 Barber Motorcycle Museum-3

1947 Foucaux Tandem Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1947 Foucaux Tandem Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1948 Imme R100 barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1949 Jackson Rotrax Speedway Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1952 Egli-Vincent Barber Motorcycle Museum

Egli-Vincent Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1956 S-1 Saloon Beatles Bentley

Beatles Car Barber Museum 10-7-26

1970 Honda CR750 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1970 Honda CR750 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

1984 Honda RS 750D

1984 Honda RS 750D Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1996 Majestic Eagle Drag Racer Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

1996 Majestic Eagle Drag Racer Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

2001 BMW R1150 GS

2001 BMW R1150 GS Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

2010 JRL Cycles Lucky 7 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

2010 JRL Cycles Lucky 7 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

American Chopper Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Indian Motorcycle Display Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Around the World on Two Wheels with Jim Rogers and Tabatha Eastwood-3

Around the World on Two Wheels with Jim Rogers and Tabatha Eastwood

1989 BMW R80 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Around the World on Two Wheels with Jim Rogers and Tabatha Eastwood-2

Barbers Rotax

DKW Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Drag Racer Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Early 1900s Indian Motorcycles

Early American Motorcycle with Bosch Magneto Ignition System-1

Early American Motorcycle with Bosch Magneto Ignition System-2

Early American Motorcycle with Bosch Magneto Ignition System-3

Early Bicycles with Gas Engines Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Flying Merkyl Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-3

Flying Merkyl Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Flying Merkyl Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26-2

Franny Barber Honda CB400F Display

GSXR Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Ice Speedway Racer and Behind is a Hill Climber

Imme R100

Imme R100-2

JAWA Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Matchless Off-Road Display at Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Motorcycle Winter Tire Chains Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Neracar Coast to Coast Record

Vincent Lawnmower Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Whitelock 48 Barber Motorcycle Museum 10-7-26

Your can buy anything at SEARS

The Kraut Racing Pit set-up went well, we got our bikes teched and made the track walk with motorcycle legends Nick Ienatsch and Nate Kern. Nick wsa a former Moto America and AMA champion racer and now the founder and chief instructor of the Yamaha Champion School. He is also a writer with published books and regular journalist for various motorcycle magazines such as CycleWorld.com.

Nate Kern is an official North American brand ambassador, factory test rider, and professional road racer for BMW Motorrad. He has been a champion in MotoAmerica’s Super Hooligans class and other various professional racing circuits. He also hosts exclusive Kern Track Days and RR Fest events, offering high-level track riding mentorship and coaching on BMW machinery.

The main thing I want to share is that both of these men are excellent instructors and down to earth humans. I have been on several track walks with them and absorbed great pointers even while off the bike.

Nick Ienatch and Nate Kern BVF Track Walk 10-7-26

Kraut Racing Pit with Franny 10-8-26

Unloading at BVF 10-7-26

View from Kraut Racing Pits BVF 10-8-26

Andy-Marc BVF Tech 10-7-26

Franny Hauling Tires on the Buddy 50 10-9-26

Kraut Racing Pit Barber 10-8-26

Marc-Tech-BVF-10-7-26

The lunch-time entertainment which is usually on Saturday after the morning racing was switched to Friday due to the weather prediction. We got the absolute pleasure of seeing in person some of the greats: Kenny Roberts Sr., Kenny Roberts Jr., Kevin Schwantz, David Aldana, Dave Roper, and Stefano Mesa including Nick Ienatsch and Nate Kern get out on the track and get after it! They were on some beautiful motorcycles some taken from the musuem’s collection and some from Boulder Motorsports collection of Ducatis. They interacted and took pictures with us. It was great. The traditional Beer-N-Brats happened in the covered area under the Tower and was very merry. We had some racer friends from New Mexico participating, 4 other plus ourselves, which made for great camaraderie.

Videos:

Legends in Person

Stefano Mesa explains to his techs what was going on with his bike on the track.

Aldana #13 Lining Up for Legends Lap BVF 10-9-26

Beyer, Schwantz and Roberts

Dave Roper not riding

Ducatis Prepped for Lap of Legends

Ducatis Prepped for Lap of Legends-2

King Kenny Roberts and Aldana BVF -10-9-26

Lap of Legends BVF 10-9-26-2

Lap of Legends

Lunchtime Show Legends Lineup BVF 10-9-26-2

Lunchtime Show Legends Lineup BVF 10-9-26-3

Beer-N-Brats 10-9-26

Beer-N-Brats 10-10-26-2

Now to the important stuff – practice and racing. The weather prediction did not change even though there must have been many people praying to the weather gods. Solid rain and high winds starting Friday night and continuing though Sunday late morning. We tried to focus on the Thursday and Friday practices that were on a dry track and getting our racing lines down. There was a mandatory order to put away all easy-ups and everything loose in the pit. This meant we packed the trailer again and hunkered down in the Sprinter. Fortunately we only got heavy rain and medium high wind. We woke on Saturday morning to a constant rain and put up our pit area again with the easy-ups to have some shelter. It was cold and we went to the riders meeting that was scheduled 1 hour later than normal to give people a chance to get themselves in order. The racing was going forward and the BEARS was race #1 at 9:00am, which Marc Beyer was in. We had been warned about how slick this track was in the rain. All the professionals and riders who had been out in the rain on this track simply did not go out. Marc and Franny did. We confirmed the stories about the track being slick and repeated that confirmation with every rain race. It did not get better and we are darn lucky to not have gone down. Franny says she will not do this experiment again at this track!

Videos:

Marc Beyer #673, second day of practice on his SV650 closeup coming around the last turn.

Sidecars going out for practice.

Riders meeting before racing in the rain.

Marc Beyer #673 getting suited up for race #1 BEARS.

Franny’s Formula 250 Race Start in the pouring rain.

Marc Beyer #673, 700 Challege race start, 10-11-2026

Marc Race 1 BEARS BVF 10-10-26

Franny Before the F250 Rain Race 10-10-26

Franny F250 Rain Race 10-10-26

700 Challenge Grid Rain Race MArc SV650 BVF 10-10-26

700 Challenge Race Marc SV650 BVF 10-11-26

F500 Race BVF 10-11-26-2

F500 Race BVF 10-11-26-3

F500 Race BVF 10-11-26-4

Formula 500 Grid 10-11-26

Formula 500 10-11-26 Franny BVF Heading Into Charlottes Web

Formula 500 Grid See Franny 10-11-26

Franny going into Charlotts Web

Marc 700 Challenge Race BVF 10-11-26

Marc Charlottes Web 700 Challenge Race BVF 10-11-26-2

Marc Going Out for 700 Challenge Race BVF 10-11-26

Marc Practice Group 3 10-9-26

Marc Waiting to go out for the F750 Race BVF 10-11-26

Practice Group 5 Marc SV650 BVF 10-9-26-2

Starting Grid F750 Race BVF 10-11-26

We pitted in the same place we were in last year. We were 3 spaces down from pit out on the track side. This made for easy in and out, electricity was accessible, and our neighbors were wonderful. We were pitted around some of the Moto America teams. Melissa Paris was with MP13 Team and directly across from us (Brian Roberts was her tech from Speedin’ Motorsports in Farming New Mexico!) Light Force full race all electric motorcycles was across from us, Mikayla Moore was next to us and stood on the Podium in all 3 of her races. Very exciting. Someone gave Melissa Paris a Husqvarna 175 2-stroke to race in the SOS lightweight so she tried to go out in practice 1 with Franny but the bike never ran well.