newlsletter 38 pp6 working - whats your vintage? · page 6 ybn “the benelli brothers did not make...

Paradise & Gell has been located on Michael Street in Peel since 1974.Here you will find a wide range of furnishings to enhance any livingspace. Whether you are looking for something contemporary or a moretraditional piece, then look no further than Paradise & Gell.

Contents

Editor: Harley Richards [email protected]

Cover Picture:- It may have been 75 years since BMW won the Senior, butthey haven’t been absent from the Winner’s enclosure in that time. The covershows Nick Jefferies on his way to winning the1985 Production TT (more BMWwinners can be found on the “Moments in Time” page). (Photo by Amulree)

Page 2 Secretary's Notes

Chairman’s Chat

Page 4 Moments in Time

Page 6 YBN “The Benelli Brothers Did Not Make Ice Cream”

Page 8 Help Needed!

Page 9 Life Lessons

Page 10 New Members

Page 11 Forthcoming Events

Page 12 ScooterMANIA

Page 15 IOM VMCC TEST DAY

Page 17 Floggers Corner

Page 20 Book Review - The Triumph Tiger Cub Bible

Page 22 Trials Results

Page 24 The 59th VMCC TT Rally 2014

Page 28 Rider Profile No. 23 - J.H. Simpson

Page 29 A Thank You to the Section

Page 30 Pride & Clarke

Secretary’s Notes

Tony

Hi Everyone,

Very short this time down to pressure of work, and going away for a week. TheMuseum side of my life has been hectic as we have had a large number ofvisitors, and visiting car and bike clubs, and also a couple of film crews filmingprogrammes to be shown later on in the year.

The VMCC side of life has also been very hectic with planning for the VMCCMGP Rally and Festival of Jurby going at full pace. Our Closed Roads Paradeis fully subscribed with 108 riders, and numbers for the Rally and the GalaDinner are also up, although with a disappointing turnout from our localmembers (there is still time to enter!!). It is a truly international rally with entriescoming from Hong Kong, America, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France andIreland so please give our visitors a warm Isle of Man welcome.

The VMCC Festival of Jurby on August 24th will be the largest event we haveever held. We do need help, please telephone my mobile 474074 or speak to Paton 878242 - all offers of help, however small, are gratefully received. New tothe event will be the National Motorcycle Museum who are bringing rotaryNortons for both on and off track display, as well as our regular friend SammyMiller riding two fantastic machines not seen before.

Most of the stars from the Classic TT will be in attendance as well as over 200of our own VMCC members parading.

By the time you read this member, Chris Procter will be on his way to theBonneville Salt Flats to attempt two land speed world records. We wish himwell and look forward to his safe return.

Many issues need to be discussed and these will be raised at the next Club Nightwhen there is more time.

Happy riding

We are now into July, unbelievably, and the riding season is firmly under way.The TT rally went well, in spite of the changes to the race schedule, and Brianand Jim are to be congratulated for their efforts.

A team also attended the Stafford show to promote our events in particular andthe island generally. In spite of our “off piste” position in the hall, all ourliterature was given out before Sunday morning was through. Interest is clearlyvery high for the Classic TT and also our events, especially Jurby Day, so thankyou to Roz, Chris, Rupert and Tony for your efforts - we were “all talked out”by the end of the show.

Tony and Rupert picked up silverware for their machines on display but regret-tably this was over shadowed by the theft of Rupert’s toolbox and tools, andTony`s inspection light from his Triumph: there really is some low life about.

The number one issue raised by show goers regarding the Classic TT is gettingto the Island, with many people being disappointed at not obtaining their book-ings. This, in turn, has a knock on effect on our rally numbers, but we will keeplobbying the powers that be.

Our Jurby test day proved very worthwhile, track sessions continued throughoutthe day and were enjoyed by everyone who attended.

The first evening run of the year proved extremely popular with a vast array ofmachinery out for an airing. I must say that, compared with photographs in theVMCC journal, which largely show a line of small commuter transport on theirroad runs, our line up is vastly superior.

We still need volunteers to help at our Jurby Day so please make yourselfknown, I have had several several offers of help but more are needed, you willeven get a free lunch!

Don’t forget that club nights continue at Knock Froy throughout the summer socome along, it’s your club.

Chairman’s chat

Richard

Momentsin Time

Picking up from thecover shot of NickJefferies, here arejust a few of theBMW machines thathave been clockingup wins around theTT since the 1939Senior victory.

1. Willy Faust -1955 Sidecar TT

2. Fritz Hillebrand -1957 Sidecar TT

3. Helmut Dahne -1974 Production TT

4. Dave Morris -1999 Singles TT

All photographscourtesy of Amulree

1.

2.

3.

4.

In 1959, four 250cc singles were made in the Benelli race shop in Pesaro,this one being GPX1003 (Pic 1) - it also appears in Mick Duckworth’sbook “Classic Racing Motorcycles”. The ASI Moto Show held at Var-ano in May saw it back on track where it belongs.

In a coffee shop in Louth just before Christmas, a plot had been hatched.Arch Velocette enthusiast and gnarled racer Rob Drury, who is the owner ofthis historic Benelli, suggested that a group of us take bikes to this fabulousevent (see Vintage Mann No 22 for more information about the event). I wasin because I wanted to run my ‘Macchi engine in, prior to the pre T.T. andwe would also be taking a Mk. IV KTT and a Mk. VIII KTT because,according to Rob, “It would be a treat for the Italians to see some proper racebikes”.

Yellow Belly Notes“The Benelli Brothers Did Not Make Ice Cream”

Pic 1

Varano is in a scenic valleynot far from Parma and anumber of the coffee shopplotters had flown in oncheap flights. On Fridaymorning the paddock wasalready full as we unloadedthe bikes and set off forscrutineering. This wasmore of a social occasion, abit like a ‘weigh-in’ on theIsle of Man. In front of meand the ‘Macchi was thisbeautiful Morini (Pic 2).

The interest in the Benelliwas huge and before long we were introduced to an ex- racer called Frances-co Guglieminetti. He was nice old boy who told us that he rememberedracing the bike at Monza against Mike Hailwood, who was on a similar bikeowned by Fron Purslow. He said that he won the race, adding with a smilethat Mike had broken down. This was in the early 60’s but by then the singleswere obsolete, and Benelli had produced their four cylinder racers.

The time came forRob to take the bikeout on track. Thenoise it made was oneof the loudest I haveever heard, but ofcourse in Italy thatwas not a problem, soout it went (Pic 3).After a few gentlewarm up laps, it bel-lowed round at a briskpace - mission fullyaccomplished.

Pic 2

Pic 3

How did the Velocettes go down? Well, just have look at this young man onthe Mk VIII (Pic 4). His name is Davide and now he knows all about FreddieFrith!Pat Sproston. Photographs by Raymond Ainscoe

HELP NEEDED!Does anyone know the where-abouts of the Guzzi in thispicture? It belonged to PamBrown (Norman Brown’sdaughter) and, as she is com-ing up for a big birthday, aclandestine mission is under-way to possibly reunite herwith it again.

If anyone has any information please call Roy Hall (496380) but, pleaseremember, this is all a secret.

Pic 4

As the riding season looms once more, your editor thought it might be aopportune moment to remind you of those valuable lessons that we pickup after years of riding but somehow forget at the exact moment wereally shouldn’t.

1. Any aftermarket part labelled “universal” will fit no motorcycle.2. Nasty noises from the engine that go away should be treated with thesame level of suspicion as those that don’t, or indeed those that get worse.Engines, by and large, do not mend themselves.3. Before major surgery to tackle an oil leak, check that the bike doesn’thave a chain oiler which is turned full on.4. If your workshop manual doesn’t make sense, it might be worth check-ing how “stock” your bike is (I’m thinking here of a keen young type ofmy acquaintance who was cursing Mr Haynes for the inaccuracies in hismanual covering BSA’s C15, when it was pointed out to him that, forreasons no one ever fathomed, the bike in question had been fitted with aTiger Cub motor).5. If you buy a bike and the seller claims to do all their own maintenance,ask to see the manual they use (assuming it doesn’t come with the bike).Either way, a lack of grubby fingerprints would suggest All Is Not As ItShould Be.6. No matter how tempting it might be to pull up and assess the situation,you will get further with a broken clutch cable by not stopping.7. When carrying a tool kit, make sure that you can access it without need-ing the tools themselves i.e. tool kit is behind a side panel, side panel isheld in place by bolts.8. If an advert claims a bike is “rare”, take it as read that spares will beeven more so.9. If “lefty loosey, righty tighty” isn’t getting you anywhere, that wouldn’tbe a left hand thread by any chance would it?10. They may not look the part, but modern tyres do grip better than the oldones did.

LIFE LESSONS

A hearty welcome to these eight new members:-

Chris McGahan – 4 Walpole Apartments, Marine Parade, Peel, IM5 1PB

Francis Lobb – Moaney Quill Farmhouse, Laxey, IM4 7JL

Bob Dowty – The Brewers House, Casyle Hill, IM2 4AD

George Drinkwater – 5 Snaefell View, Jurby, IM7 3BF

Andrew Sharpe – 5 Spinney Close, Douglas, IM2 1NF

Norman McKibbin – The Creggans, Ramsey Road, Laxey, IM4 7PY

Maria Stringfield – Callow – 22 Derby Road, Peel, IM5 1HW

Geoff Evans – Little Mill Nurseries, Onchan, IM4 5BD

July 20th Road Run. The Charles Craine MemorialRun from the Sea Terminal (OrganiserSteve Price). 1:45 for 2:00 pm

August 10th Road Run. Waterfall Pub, Glen Maye fol-lowed by BBQ (Organiser Dudley Robin-son). 1:45 for 2:00pm

August 17th Trial. Carnagrie. 2pm

August 21st – 29th VMCC Classic TT Rally

September 11th Club Night. Knock Froy, Santon. 8:00pm Speaker TBA

When I took up my position within the Library and Archives depart-ment with Manx National Heritage in 2010, I became aware of the hugeamount of Manx press coverage given to the annual Scooter Rally thathad started in the late 1950’s, and began collating all the articles storedon iMuseum, and on microfilm held in the Museum Reading Room.

Scootermania! Recollections of the Isle of Man International Scooter Rallyoffers a complete history of an event that took place on the Island’s roadsover a period of 20 years, bringing in visitors and competitors from farafield. The first rally took place in 1957, and went International the follow-ing year. The main events were the gruelling 12 and 24 hour endurance trialson the TT course, but was expanded to include closed road racing in the1960’s, along with Navigational Trials, Hill Climbs, Scrambling, GymkhanaCompetitions, Assembly Rallies, Sand Races and Circuit Racing.

As well as rally reports and standings, the book tells the story of thecontroversies and difficulties experienced by the Rally Committee in whatbecame a remarkable chapter in the history of Scooter sport and tradition.

SCOOTERMANIA!

Despite reaching the height of popularity in the late 60’s, coverage in thelocal papers

declined, and the gaps were filled in from the UK papers and scooteringpress. Over the following year, several people came forward and shared theirpersonal experiences and photographs of the Rally, to whom I am eternallygrateful! The Manx Press Pictures collection, held within Manx NationalHeritage’s archives, uncovered many images that can now be seen in theiroriginal quality. A number of TT riders also competed at the event, and I wasfortunate to be supplied with images of Eddie and Pauline Crooks, from theyear Pauline was crowned Scooter Girl in 1963.

From as early as the late 1970’s, the Isle of Man Government becameworried about the prospect of trouble that was often reported at ScooterRallies held throughout the UK. Approximately 900 travelled to the Isle ofMan during the August Bank Holiday in 1980, and organizer Alan Evespredicted that they would return in their thousands in 1981. However, they

Pauline Crooks - Scooter Girl 1963

were prevented from doing so, asthe government’s ExecutiveCouncil called an emergencymeeting and imposed a ban onscooters coming on to the Island.On 23 April 1981, the Manx Starheadlined on the front page thatthe Executive Council was con-sidering upholding last year’s de-cision to keep out ‘hordes ofmarauding Mods, involved instreet fighting and looting inmainland resorts.’

The restrictions on visiting scoot-ers, certainly in large groups, con-

tinued and remained in statute until 2002. The following year, the LambrettaClub of Great Britain announced the Isle of Man Bank Holiday Weekender,held on the Isle of Man between 2nd and 5th of May in celebration of its first50 years. Turnout was modest, but the scooters returned to the Island in 2003in their numbers for an event that included a ride-out on the TT course, acustom show in Peel and a Sprint Session at Jurby airfield. The Isle of ManScooter Club still thrives today, organizing events throughout the year,including gymkhanas, ride-outs and numerous social gatherings.

Eddie Crooks 1960

Steve Jackson

Although not directly related to vintage bikes,the book in the photograph certainly relates toa vintage Isle of Man. The question the ownerwould like answering is whether anyone knowsof the book and, if so, when was it published?References in the text would suggest around thedawn of the twentieth century but if anyone hasa more precise publication date then pleasecontact Richard on [email protected].

MORE HELP NEEDED!

It certainly wasn’t the warmest of days (it was April after all) but thesun put in a welcome appearance as a steady stream of machines, all 25years old or more, took to the Jurby circuit.

The 15 minute sessions wereloosely split between road andrace bikes (with a little blurringaround the edges for the fasterroad bikes and slower race bikes)and there were definite improve-ments to be seen throughout theday – both in the riders and theirmachinery.

Fears that the circuit would get crowded were unfounded as even the fullestsessions quickly became strung out to allow riders to circulate at their ownpace.

All round, it was a complete success for the section and the hard workingorganisers (all riders returning safely, even if one or two bikes were deter-mined to misbehave) and, if we do get the chance to run another one, I wouldstrongly recommend putting it your diary.

The Isle of Man VMCC Test Day

Harley

Flogger’s Corner

FOR SALE: Lathe - Rivett model 6083 jaw and 4 jaw chucks + collets. 4 1/2" swing, 18" between centres.

Single phase motor. Mounted on its own bench.£200 ono. Phone 375444 (Nick)

WE PRINT

YOUR PHOTOSPeel Copy Centre

1 Atholl PlacePeel, IM5 1HE

Tel: [email protected]

6x4 / 7x5 / 8x6

BOOK REVIEWBy Jonathan Hill

A labour of love and the result of many years of research, here is thecomplete reference source to the Triumph Tiger Cub in all its forms –The Triumph Tiger Cub Bible.

Every aspect of the Cub’s design, production and development is covered, togetherwith its success in motorcycle sport and record breaking, and its use by the utilities,police forces and the military. Every now and then there appears a motorcycledestined for stardom; a machine which, when compared to the others in its class,stands head and shoulders above them. One such machine was the Triumph Terrierand, to an even greater extent, the Tiger Cub.

When viewed in the light of history, it is obvious that the Terrier was destined to bea winner and a trend-setter. Not that it was perfect: like all machines, it had itsfailings, many of which were apparent from the start and should have been correct-ed before the model went into production. However, when prospective new ownerscompared the Terrier or the Cub to the opposition, there was little room for doubt.

It’s not known exactly when designer Edward Turner first thought of a newlightweight model – there had not been a small machine in Triumph’s rangepost-war. Turner, however,was an astute judge of the market and, in the summer of1952, the climate must have seemed just right to him, with an opening for a smallcommuter motor-cycle with sufficient performance to easily carry two people yetnot consume great quantities of fuel. To demonstrate this point the factory dreamedup a publicity stunt in 1953 with Turner and two senior staff riding Terriers fromLands End to John O’Groats under ACU observation. Dubbed the “Gaffer’s Gal-lop” (and the subject of a book in its own right) the machines successfully coveredjust over 1,000 miles at an average speed of 36.68 mph at an average fuel consump-tion of 108.6 mpg.

However, Turner’s principle of making the minimum amount of metal do themaximum amount of work was to be the direct or indirect cause of most of themachine’s troubles. With hindsight, it was a flawed philosophy, the Cub’s truepotential far exceeded its specification. Nevertheless, the small Triumphs wereexported to many countries and were very popular in American short track andspeedway races. In England, too the Cub gained many successes in trials andscrambles.

Author: Mike EstallPublished by Veloce Publishing Ltd., Veloce House, Parkway Farm Business

Park, Middle Farm Way, Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 3ARTel.: 01305 260068

E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 01305 250479Hardback, 250 x 207mm (portrait); 208 pages with over

160 photographs and illustrations.ISBN 978-1-904788-09-6 UPC 6-36847-00309-8

£50 (UK); $79.95 (USA)

TRIALS RESULTSVMCC Trial, Scarlett, 20th April 2014

Shaun Huxley took the honours in Vintage A class at Scarlett, closely followed byPhil Ward. The sea air seemed to suit their two-strokes, while the four-strokes ofchampionship challengers Steve Lace and Jim Davidson suffered several splutter-ing fives. However, Ian Sleight had his little Honda working well and led home JonDuncan in Vintage B.

In Invitation A class, the familiar duo of Sam Ansermoz and Nick Warburton tookfirst and second, but young Daniel Smith pressed them hard on his much older bike,only losing second place to Nick on the basis of furthest clean. Invitation B went toMatt Duxbury with a clean ride and Andy Sykes parted with a single dab to takesecond place, with Jade Corrin third.

VMCC Members A route:

1. Shaun Huxley (James) 2 marks lost2. Phil Ward (Bultaco) 73. Steve Lace (Triumph) 164. Graham Thomas (Honda) 225. Brent Seal (Yamaha) 236. Jim Davidson (Triumph) 277. Neil Kerruish (Yamaha) 38

VMCC Members B route:

1. Ian Sleight (Honda) 152. Jon Duncan (Yamaha) 52

Invitation A route

1. Sam Ansermoz (Gas Gas) 02. Nick Warburton (Montesa) 2 (furthest clean)3. Daniel Smith (Triumph) 24. Jonny Notman (Gas Gas) 4

5. Paul Smith (Fantic) 96. Gareth Notman (Beta) 147. Sammy Ball (Fantic) 158. Gwilym Hoosen-Owen (Fantic) 209. Ralph Mooney (Montesa) 24 (21x0)10. Jason Whittaker (Beta) 24 (16x0)11. Paul Ansermoz (Fantic) 27

Invitation B route:

1. Matt Duxbury (Montesa) 02. Andy Sykes (Rigid Bantam) 13. Jade Corrin (Gas Gas) 64. Juan Brain (Yamaha) 75. Ian James (Beta) 266. Brian Christian (Yamaha) 297. Billy Booth (Gas Gas) 318. Curtis Kelly (Beta) 409. Liz Childerley (Beta) 4210. Jonathan Watts (Scorpa) 4711. Mike Vinton (Sherco) 49

VMCC Trial, Bim's Field, 17th May 2014

A sunny Bim's field hosted 44 riders at the VMCC's Geoff Cannell Memorial Trial.Amongst them were 9 young Oset riders who, although effectively riding up at leastone class from usual, tackled the Sections with plenty of skill and enthusiasm.

Clear winner of the premier Geoff Cannell Trophy was Steve Lace, who parted withjust 4 marks to also head the Vintage A class from Shaun Huxley and Phil Ward. Inthe Adult Invitation classes Nick Warburton dropped 5 to take class A, while withthe ride of the day, Andy Sykes on his Rigid BSA Bantam dropped just 1 mark towin class B from Chris Palmer. The Cawte name was well represented by Tony,William and Antony, with the latter winning Youth Invitation B on 18, while FraserHeginson topped Youth Invitation A.

Geoff Cannell Memorial Trophy:

Steve Lace (Triumph) 4 marks lost

VMCC Members A route

1. Steve Lace (Triumph) 42. Shaun Huxley (James) 13 (24x0)3. Phil Ward (Bultaco) 13 (23x0)4. Geoff Griffiths (Fantic) 42

VMCC Members B route

1. Jon Duncan (Yamaha) 72

Invitation A route:

1. Nick Warburton (Montesa) 52. Sam Ansermoz (Montesa) 113. Daniel Smith (Montesa) 144. Colin Scarffe (Triumph) 155. Paul Smith (Yamaha) 186. Sophie-May Hardie (Gas Gas) 217. Sammy Ball (Fantic) 308. Mark Bimson (Sherco) 32 (18x0)9. Ian Lees (Yamaha) 32 (17x0)10. Nigel Woods (Honda) 3511. Jade Corrin (Gas Gas) 52

Invitation B route:

1. Andy Sykes (Rigid BSA) 12. Chris Palmer (Beta) 93. Billy Booth (Gas Gas) 154. Tony Cawte (Gas Gas) 215. Ian Gribble (Fantic) 236. Curtis Kelly (Beta) 377. Liz Childerley (Beta) 398. Mark Wilson (Scorpa) 69

Youth Invitation A route:

1. Fraser Heginson (Beta) 412. Matthew Howland (Sherco) 553. William Cawte (Gas Gas) 80

Youth Invitation B route:

1. Antony Cawte (Gas Gas) 182. Josh Blackburn (Beta) 213. Bobby Moyer (Oset) 284. Bradley Calvert (Oset) 415. Ella Doherty (Beta) 566. Kantlyn Adshead (Oset) 737. Corey Peters (Oset) 758. TJ Teare (Oset) 1019. Dylan Kelly (Oset) 10910. Summer Peters (Oset) 116

Though the TT races were beset with weather problems and stoppagesagain in 2014, the 59th TT rally somehow managed to be a dry, thoughon occasions foggy, event.

Starting on Sunday 1st Junefrom a very misty Laxey prome-nade, a somewhat depletednumber of entries made theirway to Port St. Mary. Partlyfollowing the Clerk of theCourse, Jim Crooke’s route wasamended to miss out some ofthe higher roads which wereshrouded in low clouds, the run

finished at the Vintage Engine and Tractor Show at Port St. Mary for adisplay. An excellent packed lunch was provided by the Neb Café, thedisplay of bikes attracting many spectators and much photo taking - thanksare extended to the VE & TC for allowing us to use their show.

Tuesday 3rd June saw signing on at Onchan Park and then a run round theNorthern part of the island which was enjoyed by most of the entrants. Yetanother TT course road closure, due to idiots on modern missiles misbehav-ing, saw very heavy trafficdiverted onto lesser roads (farfrom ideal conditions for vin-tage machinery), but the runreturned safely to Onchan Parkwhere a packed lunch fromViews Café was enjoyed and aconcours judging took place.We are very grateful to On-chan Commissioners for theuse of their excellent facilities.

THE 59th VMCC TT RALLY - 2014Organised by the Isle of Man Section

Tuesday evening saw entrantsmeeting at the Neb Café at Tyn-wald Mills, St. Johns for an in-formal evening meal and chanceto socialise, the simple fare onoffer being enjoyed by all.

A road closure order for Castle-town Market Square had beenobtained for the afternoon ofThursday 5th June and entrants

signed on at the car park, opposite the now demolished Farmers Arms pub,in St. Johns for a tortuous run into Castletown. Sadly, a great many riders didnot bother with the route and just rode straight to Castletown (it makes onewonder why Jim went to so much trouble in organising and printing the routesheets) arriving somewhat early at the square, where the bikes were dis-played and concours judging took place. Having caught VMCC veterans Patand Ann Davy looking around the bike display (they didn’t enter the rallythis year as they came on a modern bike), Pat was coerced with the offer offree food to present the awards. The wait for the buffet tea (supplied by Food4 Thought and served by Irene Leonard & Dee Ward) and awards presenta-tion held in the Castletown Centenary Centre did test some folk’s patiencebut the quality of catering hopefully made up for that. The organisers areindebted to Castletown Town Commissioners for their unbridled supportprovided for the event, and arranging some beautiful summer weather.

As organising secretary I wouldlike to thank all entrants, and givespecial mention to Jim Crooke forworking so hard preparing routesand printing routes, entrant listsand riding numbers, and also toChris Bridson who carried outbreakdown duties and helped mar-shal the square, keeping out ridersof modern bikes who apparentlydon’t know that “Roads Closed”signs apply to them as well as cars!

VMCC TT Rally 2014 Concours Award WinnersONCHAN PARK

The Oliver Shield: awarded to the Furthest Travelled Entrant -Heinz Schweickhard (entry No. 10) from Tubingen, Germany riding a BMW R25

The VMCC Trophy: awarded to the rider of the best post war machine -Alan Payne (entry No. 1) from Port Erin riding a BMW Sidecar

The Manx Heritage Shield: awarded to the rider of the best Pre War Machine -Peter Lewis (entry No. 27) from Port St. Mary riding a New Hudson Model 3

The Dennis Reid Shield: awarded to the rider of the best continental machine -Jon Hicks (entry No. 45) from Ballough, riding a Nimbus Type C

The Bill Christian Trophy: awarded to the rider of the Best Manx Reg. Machine -Peter Lewis (entry No. 27) from Port St. Mary, riding a New Hudson Model 3

The Sentry Insurance Shield: awarded to the rider of the most original machine -Howard Ostle (entry No. 21) from Penrith, riding an Ariel Square FourThe Newcomers Cup: awarded to a rider having not been a TT Rally entrant before -Gilbert Charlton (entry No. 15) from Berkeley, riding a BMW K75 S

CASTLETOWNThe Classic Motorcycle Trophy: awarded to the rider of the motorcycle with the mosttechnical interest -Peter Addison (entry No. 38) from Port Erin, riding a DOT Bradshaw model D1 Sports

The R & S Field Trophy: awarded to Man & Machine in the Best Spirit of the TT -Michael Fortune (entry No. 7), from Hutton Rudby, riding a BSA Bantam D5

The Steam Packet Seaways Trophy: awarded to the rider of the Best Machine in the RallyMax Stewart (entry No. 11) from Onchan, riding a Honda CB77

The D M Brown Memorial Trophy: awarded to the rider of the Best Machine not havingbeen a previous Concours Winner -

Steve Leonard (entry No. 37), from Glen Vine, riding a Honda CB450

The Best British Bike Trophy: awarded to the rider of the best British Built Bike -Roy Clarke (entry No. 25), from Stonehouse, riding a Triumph T 100

Brian Ward Photos by Jim Crooke

J.H. Simpson – Rider Profile No.23Jimmy Simpson, the Island’s mostdynamic rider from 1922 1934, was bornin Birmingham in 1898. During that peri-od he rode in 26 TTs, including one side-car race, but won only one.

He won the 1934 Lightweight TT on aRudge and finished second on a Norton inboth the 1934 Junior and Senior TTs.

During his TT career he made 8 record, orfastest, laps. He was the first rider to man-age a 60mph lap in the 1924 Junior TT onan AJS, the first 70 mph lap in the 1926Senior TT on an AJS and the first 80 MPHlap in the 1931 Senior TT on a Norton.

He also recorded four 2nd and four 3rd places. His one and only sidecarventure, with George Rowley, in 1925 saw him finish in 5th place.

Jimmy Simpson was also a winner of 20 GPs between 1925 and 1935.

Retiring after the 1934 TT, he continued with Shell-Mex and BP as Compe-tition Manager, and finally as a Senior Executive with the company.

The Jimmy Simpson Trophy, given by Arthur Birkett, is awarded annuallyfor the fastest lap in the TT races.

Dorothy Greenwood

Jimmy Simpson, the Island’s most

A Thank You to the Section

When I went to work there in the 1960s Pride and Clarke, dealers inmotorcycles, spares and accessories and much else, occupied a longstring of shops on both sides of Stockwell Road, London. All the street-level shop fronts were painted bright red, creating a surreal effect whichthe film director Antonini used in a scene in his movie 'Blow-Up', whereDavid Hemmings drove past the Pride and Clarke showrooms (Pic 1).

Mr Pride and MrClarke had startedthe business in1920 and, by1960, it was thebiggest motorcy-cle showroom inBritain, with over2,000 bikes instock, all availa-ble on hire pur-chase. As well as

motorcycles the company sold cars, three wheelers, sailing boats, campingequipment, clothing and spares and accessories for two, three and four-wheelers. If you were into motorbikes, regardless of where you lived in thecountry, you knew about Pride and Clarke - their postal sales ads, foreverything from clothing to clip-ons, occupied pages of every bike magazine(in fact, at one point they had even produced their own bike mag - thePopular Motorcycle Magazine).

Stockwell Road buzzed on a 60’s Saturday afternoon as bikers from all overLondon, and points beyond, converged on P and C to buy or window shop.Every one of the cafes dotted along the road had bikes parked outside, andinside groups of bikers chatted and listened to the juke box while theyshovelled down those solid fry-up meals which used to cost 3/6, with tea andtwo slices of bread and butter.

Pride and Clarke

Pic 1

I worked in the New Spares Department at the top end of the shop. Thecounter, said to be the longest in the motor trade, ran all the way down fromour department through clothing, sailing, camping, accessories and electricaldepartments. Each section had its own manager and staff. Our manager wasMr Cook, the most organised and even tempered man I ever worked for. Hisworst expletive in stressful circumstances was 'God Bless the Prince ofWales’. I once watched him have an incredibly calm and reasonable phoneconversation with a lunatic who was demanding a set of valves, and valve-springs, for a Bantam - we later discovered this was a set-up by two otheremployees who wanted to see if he could be made to crack. He didn't.

Several of us worked in New Spares, and we all had bikes, so it wassomething more than 'just a job' to us. There was no computerisation, andevery single part was in one of hundreds of small metal drawers, or on theshelves above. When we did a stock check we climbed ladders and wentthrough every drawer and bin, counted the parts, verified the numbers on thebin labels and noted what had to be re-ordered. At the rear of New Spareswas a small glass office where Dan the Mail- order man lived. Dan dealt withall the thousands of postal sales which came through our department. Prideand Clarke would sell anything mail order - even new bikes were regularlycrated and sent abroad.

New Spares extended to other floors above and below. The buildings musthave dated back to the mid-19th century and up winding staircases was ahoneycomb of rooms, large and small, each one packed with spares.Sometimes they were stacked on shelves, sometimes they were in boxes, or

simply piled on thefloor. There was a roomfull of exhaust pipes,some of which datedback to the 20’s and30’s, all with labels at-tached giving the modeland year they fitted.

One room was full ofparts for Pannonias (Pic2) These Hungariansingle cylinder two-Pannonia advertising material – not

shot at Pride and Clarke!

Pic 2

strokes, made in the Czepel works, had been brought in by Pride and Clarkeat some past time as a cheap ride-to-work machine. But there had been aproblem. While we had vast amounts of major spares including wheels,frames and tanks, the supply of essential small parts to keep the bikesrunning had dried up and no substitutes could be found. Pride and Clarkewere embarrassed about the Pannonia and we were always trying to think ofways of clearing our stock of spares including trying to market the frameparts as the basis for scramblers and specials. However I don't think anyoneever built one despite a very imaginative window display I once did with aPannonia frame and forks fitted with custom accessories.

Storage extended below too - a stairway, reached through a trap door in theshop floor, descended to subterranean regions where, stacked high, werewooden boxes stencilled WD. These contained reconditioned BSA side-valve engines, packed in grease and ready to be dropped into the frame, arelic of the post-war years when Pride and Clarke sold ex-WD bikes for £3910s “delivered to your nearest railway station”. We did occasionally sell oneof these engines, which cost £3 10s.

The shop was always busy - at weekends we sometimes had French andBelgian customers, mostly looking for Triumph and BSA custom parts.Before crossing on the ferry they replaced the standard tank and seat on theirbike with any tatty piece of junk which would fit. They would buy fibre glass

Pride and Clark London

or alloy units from us, ditch the old ones in our yard round the back and fitthe new tank/ seat before heading back to the continent. The parts left behindwe sent across the road to our 2nd Hand Spares department.

We had many laughs in our department. We went through a period where thetill was always short at the end of the day. No-one believed anyone wasactually pilfering, but there was one member of staff, Vic who chattedconstantly to customers while he served and gave change - we were all surehe was the culprit. Mr Cook hatched a plan to `wake him up a bit'. While thesuspect was away on some errand, we inserted a pair of fork springs behindthe cash drawer of the old-fashioned till. It took three of us to force thedrawer closed. When Vic came back we waited till a customer appeared andthen made ourselves scarce so that he had to serve. He was, as usual, talkingto the customer while he rang up the sale and pressed the change key. Thedrawer hurtled open, slamming him in the midriff and scattering coins allover the shop. The springs flew out and went bouncing around the floorwhile the customer stood open-mouthed. Vic thought the till mechanism hadbroken and was trying to gather up change and fit the springs back - the restof us were hysterical with suppressed laughter. Vic took it in good spirit -he must have learned his lesson because the shortages stopped.

Across the road from our department, where the bike and car showroomswere, was 2nd Hand Spares, accessed through an archway which also led tothe workshops. 2nd Hand Spares was basically a breakers’ yard where bikeswere stripped for parts. The staff there were a wilder crowd than us - theirmanager habitually smoked a pipe and one day when he had filled it and setit down somewhere, they introduced a quantity of petrol into the bowl.When he tried to light it the results were spectacular. I remember himappearing, very unhappy, in our department minus his eyebrows. Mr Cookconsoled him while the rest of us tried desperately to keep our faces straight.

Mr Clarke, the founding father of the firm, used to visit us on a Saturday.He seemed very old to me, and arrived in a chauffeured Rolls or Bentley.He always brought something with him to be fixed - usually some householdutensil that would have cost shillings to replace. I remember a kettle on oneoccasion, a small saucepan on another. He would approach Mr Cook, lay theutensil on the counter and say: "Well, Mr Cook, do you think we can doanything with this?”. Mr Cook would study it intently and then reply: “Ithink something could be done with that - leave it with me till next week”.

He did, in fact, always repair these items, to Mr Clarke's obvious delight,thenext week. With Mr Clarke often came with his son or grandson, a nattilysuited public school type, with a plummy accent. He obviously felt he had toprovide us with bright ideas and each week would come up with some strokeof genius such as: “I have been thinking Mr Cook, that a useful moneyspinner for us might be to offer the customers a plastic bag of assorted nutsand bolts - say for £1?”

Mr Cook would consider this as intently as he had studied old Mr Clarke’ssaucepan and eventually say: “I think you might have hit on something there- can you leave it with me to go into the practicalities and costing of it ?”

It was always left, and I can’t think of any occasion where the youngentrepreneur's ideas were ever adopted.

On one occasion my friend Derek, who had a Norton twin, came to see meat the shop. I was working in the display window with the window dresserand, when Derek left, I climbed back in there. Derek had been having someproblems starting his bike and when he left I saw he couldn't get it to fire onthe kick-start. He then decided to bump start it. He ran past the windowpushing it, leapt on, and slipped on the wet road. The Norton fired and took

off with Derek still clinging to the bars, opening the throttle as he did so.There was an elderly gent looking at the bikes in the showroom window onthe opposite pavement. The Norton careered across the road, mounted thekerb, and knocked him flying. Several of us ran over to help. I thought theold chap would be badly hurt, but in fact he hadn't a scratch and as anex-biker was very understanding about the whole thing, even being con-cerned whether Derek’s Dominator had sustained any damage!

We handled a lot of Panther spares - in fact, in the 1930s Phelon and Moorehad made a 250cc Red Panther model exclusively for Pride and Clarke.Panther's invoices seemed to belong to those pre-war days - they werepainstakingly handwritten in purple indelible pencil on beautifully headednotepaper. Within a few years they would be no more, along with all theother marques we stocked parts for.

Alfred Clarke obviously saw the writing on the wall. At the end of the 1970she sold the firm for, supposedly, a cool three million. In 1982 Pride andClarke, by then trading as a general holding company for Toyota GB,became part of the Inchcape plc auto dealership chain. But for those of uswho worked in, or visited, Stockwell Road during its 60’s heyday, those redshop fronts and showrooms will remain a vibrant memory of the Londonmotorcycle scene.

Allan Jermieson

300+ VEHICLES ALWAYS ONSHOW AT BETTRIDGE’S

Mines Road, Higher Foxdaleopposite Foxdale School

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