Hear about the highlights from 2023’s Barber Vintage Festival, featuring Festival Grand Marshal Fujio Yoshimura and more prominent guests.
It’s not easy keeping the largest and best vintage motorcycle festival in the U.S. fresh and exciting year after year. Somehow, the staff at the Barber Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Alabama, continues to raise the bar each time. The 18th edition of the Festival took place October 6-8, 2023, and while some traditional aspects remained as in previous years, there were several new attractions as well.
Foundational attractions include the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of motorcycles (more than 1,600 machines, including MV Agustas ridden by the late John Surtees), motorcycle racing sanctioned by the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA), a swap meet with hundreds of vendors, the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) exhibition area, Norton Hill, the Fan Zone, demo rides from multiple manufacturers, stunt shows, parade laps, technical seminars, and discussions in the Barber Advanced Design Center (BADC).
New for this year was the “Isle of Triumph” (inside the track), flat track racing on pavement, and a major presence of BMW Motorrad, which celebrated 100 years of motorcycle manufacturing in 2023.
Admission to the Isle of Triumph was included with general admission, and the area featured an exhibition of Triumphs and specials based on the marque, live music, vendor tents, and organizations such as the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. The location also offered the best close-to-the-track photo opportunities for those who were willing to climb up the hill.
BMW was a major sponsor for the weekend and had a huge presence in the Fan Zone area. They used the opportunity to unveil their new 2024 R 1300 GS model and brought dozens of street, competition and custom bikes to display. BMW Design Director Edgar Heinrich was also a guest speaker at the BADC, discussing his vision for the company’s motorcycles.
The BADC also hosted a discussion with photographer John Owens and tech guru Kevin Cameron about their new book on Superbike racing from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s, an era that saw production-based race bikes come to the forefront of road racing. Racing legends David Aldana and Steve McLaughlin also discussed their experiences in those seminal years of Superbikes.
Sticking with the Superbike theme, this year’s Festival Grand Marshall was Fujio Yoshimura, son of the famed race tuner Hideo “Pops” Yoshimura. Fujio was interviewed by Steve McLaughlin at the annual Motorcycles by Moonlight benefit dinner on Friday night and was available throughout the weekend, chatting with fans and signing autographs.
Also present at the Festival this year as informal guests were “King” Kenny Roberts and his son Kenny Roberts, Jr. (KRJR), the only pair of father-son World Roadracing Champions. You never know who you’ll bump into at the Festival.
As in previous years, there were technical seminars each day in the museum. Famed tuner Leo Goff gave presentations and answered questions about how to make your classic bike run better and faster. The amazingly skilled metal artist Evan Wilcox demonstrated the fabrication of a Norton fuel tank from sheet aluminum. Kennie Buchanan talked about building spoked wheels. There were also sessions on pinstriping, painting and carburetor restoration.
The graphic artist Makoto Endo created several illustrations of classic motorcycles over the weekend, including a beautiful Italian Rumi 125 Sport and the first Yoshimura race bike, a 1962 Honda CB72. He works primarily with black and white inks and uses chopsticks rather than brushes — it’s quite fascinating to watch him at work.
Between all the seminars, demonstrations, and other activities, attendees were spoiled for choice and really needed to carefully study the event schedule to plan their weekend.
Seminars and discussions held in the museum were not included in the cost of admission to the Festival — a separate museum entry fee was required ($20 for adults, $10 for kids). There was an additional donation required to attend the Friday night benefit dinner in the museum as well. The festival tickets were $65 for three-day general admission. Motorcycles parked for free on-site, and cars could purchase a preferred on-site pass for the weekend for $40. There are a limited number of RV and camping slots, so plan accordingly.
Brian Case, who was previously co-founder and chief designer of Motus Motorcycles, created and has been the Director of the Barber Advanced Design Center since its inception. He was recently promoted to Executive Director of the museum. When I asked him to comment on the event, he replied: “This year’s Festival coincided with the 20th anniversary of Barber Motorsports Park and hosted over 80,000 vintage motorcycle enthusiasts. Thanks to the perfect Alabama weather, we saw more motorcycles around the park than ever. We appreciate all those who made the trek to Barber this year. The future for the Festival is bright, and we hope to see you all again in 2024!”
Next year’s event will be held October 11-13, 2024. More information about the Vintage Festival can be found at the Barber Vintage Festival website. MC
