Please remember - the interview is in blue text and the editorial is in black text.
This is how the conversation went and developed in the interview.
As you read this .....you are reading the words unedited. I recorded the whole meeting on my dicta phone and have typed it out word for word so that you get the full story and understand Pere better. This also means that what's written is not my interpretation, it is direct from the horses mouth (That will confuse Foreign tongues when run through Google translate :) )
As you read this .....you are reading the words unedited. I recorded the whole meeting on my dicta phone and have typed it out word for word so that you get the full story and understand Pere better. This also means that what's written is not my interpretation, it is direct from the horses mouth (That will confuse Foreign tongues when run through Google translate :) )
This is a present for you James
I’m sorry, lots in Spanish, but it is all of my life from when I begin as a child. I had a great bad illness that I suffered much with. Then when I was aged 14, I work at Derbi motorcycle, before this I worked with Jordi, his uncle is director of Derbi, then growing growing growing and getting older.
Thank you very much. You have been a very busy man, I have read about you. There’s no doubt about it, you’ve been very busy.
Some days more than others ha ha.
One thing I must tell you when I ride I am young. At this time I am called Pedro. Pedro is Spanish. Pere is Catalan. You know in Spain we have dictator, Franco. After Franco is dead, I change the name to Catalan. My identity card is Pere.
Thank you very much. You have been a very busy man, I have read about you. There’s no doubt about it, you’ve been very busy.
Some days more than others ha ha.
One thing I must tell you when I ride I am young. At this time I am called Pedro. Pedro is Spanish. Pere is Catalan. You know in Spain we have dictator, Franco. After Franco is dead, I change the name to Catalan. My identity card is Pere.
Were you born in this area?
I was born and have always lived 40 kilometres from here, near to Barcelona.
Do you have brothers and sisters?
I have one brother, who is older than me. He is five years older than me but never involved with the motorcycle.
How did you get involved with the motorcycle?
Because I begin working at Derbi. I explain because it’s complicated. I begin also in a small village near Derbi, then I have a problem with my health because I am nearly dead and then I am growing up and when I am 13 years old I am ready to work because my father no have any money and he has nothing.
I was born and have always lived 40 kilometres from here, near to Barcelona.
Do you have brothers and sisters?
I have one brother, who is older than me. He is five years older than me but never involved with the motorcycle.
How did you get involved with the motorcycle?
Because I begin working at Derbi. I explain because it’s complicated. I begin also in a small village near Derbi, then I have a problem with my health because I am nearly dead and then I am growing up and when I am 13 years old I am ready to work because my father no have any money and he has nothing.
This is the only picture of the house in Llica d'Amunt, Barcelona where Pere was born on the 12th of June 1940. This picture hangs on the wall of Pere's and Maria's house.
Also my mother and father separate. When I was nearly 14 years old one friend of my father had a big restaurant and he ask him if they need a boy to work there in the kitchen. The man think about it but the next day my father keep searching for work for me and he speak with a man at Derbi to try and get work for me there. The next day the man at Derbi say “ok, he can come”. Then the next day the man at the restaurant say yes, you can come “. We say sorry, we decide to go to Derbi”. This was the time that the life turned to motorcycles and not to restaurant. The world would have been very different if they had said yes, the day before as we would not speak with Derbi.
You were working in the factory, here at the bottom of the hill? Yes, just here. At just 11 years old Pere, who's birth name was Pedro nearly died from tuberculosis.
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Derbi was founded in Mollet de Valles, 12 miles from Barcelona in 1922. Founded by Simeon Rabasa, Derbi grew to become one of the largest manufactures of cycles in Spain. In 1946 they started work on a powered version supported by the revenue of the cycles. The new company formed to manufacture the new cycle framed mounted engines was called "SRS" Simeon Rabasa Singla.
Derbi grew and grew producing predominantly small capacity engined motorcycles. Never the less they became arguably Spain's strongest and most successful motorcycle manufacturer of the 1980's and won many many World Championship titles.
The Derbi factory is so huge that it has morphed into the small town of Mollet. The office and administration walls stretch along the entire town centre streets and have recessed shops within them. The iconic Olive wreath sign stands today proudly above the town but is a reminder of past days. In 2001 Derbi was bought by the Piaggio group. Today Derbi are manufactured thousands of miles away in the Italian Piaggio factories and sadly the Derbi factory closed for ever just before Christmas 2013.
Derbi grew and grew producing predominantly small capacity engined motorcycles. Never the less they became arguably Spain's strongest and most successful motorcycle manufacturer of the 1980's and won many many World Championship titles.
The Derbi factory is so huge that it has morphed into the small town of Mollet. The office and administration walls stretch along the entire town centre streets and have recessed shops within them. The iconic Olive wreath sign stands today proudly above the town but is a reminder of past days. In 2001 Derbi was bought by the Piaggio group. Today Derbi are manufactured thousands of miles away in the Italian Piaggio factories and sadly the Derbi factory closed for ever just before Christmas 2013.
These 3 photos just show a small proportion of the Mollet Derbi factory. At the end of this report I will post a link where you can see many many photos from 2013 when I was lucky enough to look around.
In behind with the father of Jordi, I work in a big office. I work just outside of the office of Jordi’s father.
I work just to make some small cards and record administration. It was not much, I just start. Then his father say come here, please go to pick up these things for me and I go and collect these things he want and return to him. I was doing these small errands for one year and a half. I see the motos around me at the factory and I like this. Then after this time I say to Jordi’s father can I please go and do some other work. I told his father that I would love to work in the competition department. Jordi’s father was a great man and he say ok you can work at the competition department and you must find something else to do to fill your time. |
Mecatecno Jordi Rabasa's father Pepito Rabasa with Pere on his arm. You tell he was the favourite rider. It shows a lot in many of these photos.
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"A view from inside the factory grounds ". The now closed administration buildings of Derbi where Jordi Rabasa's father Pepito was one of the senior managers with Pere as his run around.