Pauline has just emailed me: "I didn't know about it, so I will have a look at whats being sold."
She and David are of course over for the Centenary TT, he riding Mike's Ducati.
Whatever the exact providence of the machine, and even allowing for the fact that Dave never raced (at all, let alone the TT), it seems the best way to honour the memory of arguably the most popular/best motorcycle racer of all time, so please, let 'em alone?
It is surely a lot more worthy than what I saw in the "Lap of Honour" on my last visit - soap opera actors on road bikes allowed to ride with people who really deserved honouring - sheesh!
Your hmmmmm is totally justified ian, as Pauline knew nothing of the sale until I emailed her! Unless of course there is a distant cousin somewhere.....of course it is completely impossible that MCN would have published something without bothering to find out if it is true? Come back Norrie White - even dead he is five times more of a journalist than the present incumbents.
It said in the original blurb that the main items were from the 1997 sale. That was held on behalf of Pauline, but the items bought there would hardly be re-sold for her??