MUSEUM openings tend to be rather stiff and stuffy events where invited guests gather before an exhibit and expound learned facts.

Not so when Ulsterman Sammy Miller picked St Patrick's Day to open the new Racing Gallery at his museum.

It was more like a family reunion with bikes being the common denominator as guests including racers who had ridden some of the exhibits, talked and laughed about "the days". It was a gathering of legends, human and mechanical.

John Surtees opened the first museum in Gore Road and the current one when it moved to Bashley in 1996, so it was fitting that he officially opened this new gallery. After brief and entertaining speeches a plaque was unveiled and everyone got on with the happy task of looking at the bikes - not exhibits that are roped off and kept away from the public, but bikes parked so that people can get as close as the riders did.

The new Racing Gallery was built to satisfy the need for even more space as the collection grows.

In the light and spacious hall sit bikes from the golden age of racing alongside displays of Hondas, Green Meanie Kawasakis, Yams and Suzukis - bikes that swept the old order and many of the marques into the bin. There are bikes that will not be seen anywhere else, such as the 1930 Excelsior with a supercharged 1,000cc V-Twin JAP engine that was clocked at 163mph on the TAT Autobahn in Hungary - fast by today's standard but that was with a rigid frame and girder forks, like riding a gate!

Jawa and CZ are nowadays associated with low budget commuters, but go down and see the highly competitive racers that used to storm the tracks.

I have always had a soft spot for Italian machines and I can't decide between the 500cc Moto Guzzi Dondolino and the 125cc MV Agusta as the bike I'd like to find in my garage. Sheer elegance on two wheels.

All this in addition to the extensive display of road machines.

A lot of these bikes have been restored from states of delapidation in the museum's workshops by Bob Stanley, a truly talented mechanic for whom this is obviously more than work.

On my last visit Bob was working on the 1914 Verdel, a five-cylinder radial engine racer.

The Verdel was "unusual" to ride as it has no neutral, just a bicycle front brake, and exhaust gasses vent from short stubs to toast the rider's leg. They were real men in those days.

The museum is a goldmine for anyone even vaguely interested in bikes; somewhere to see how bikes got where they are today. Those involved in its running are far too dedicated to be referred to as staff.

The museum is in Bashley Cross Road, New Milton, and well signposted, or check www.sammymiller.co.uk.

The next events at the museum are an autojumble on April 3 and then the AJS and Matchless day on April 17.