31 Tuesday Jan 2017
I am grateful to our readerStewart Ellison who drew my attention to this excellent photo taken of #52 Miss E Foley with her Triumph 499cc ohv alongside #64 Miss L Ball James 499cc.
#52 Miss E Foley 499c Triumph with #64 Miss L Ball James 499cc [DM4687] at Brooklands circuit ISDT 1925
21 Sunday Feb 2016
Posted in England, Reliability Trials, restoration, Spain
The famous Lampkin dynasty of off-road stars will be known to nearly all readers of this blog, all of them famous far beyond their home in Yorkshire. The family also has connections over the border in Lancashire.
Photo – Graham Lampkin and BSA in 2014 ridden to Lerwick, Shetland and back from Colne Lancashire
Graham Lampkin is one of the less well known Lancashire Lampkins and a regular classic bike long distance trailer and in 2014 undertook a ‘there & back’ ride to Lerwick in Shetland on a favourite BSA to raise funds for Cancer Research.
On 24 May 2016 he is planning to head to Santander in Northern Spain by ferry from Plymouth then will head back home in Colne via the Picos de Europa, Pais Vasco and Rioja then crossing the Pyrenees heading up France to cross the channel in Brittany. As much of the route as he can do will be off surfaced highways. Rather than choosing the soft option of taking along one of those plush BMW or KTM adventure trail bikes, he’s decided to go a bit ‘off-grid’ by taking a 500cc Royal Enfield he rebuilt himself along with Chris Nutter on an ex-WD BSA B40.
30 Saturday Jan 2016
Posted in Czechoslovakia, Enduro, England, Europe, Gelände Sport, International Six Day Trial, International Six Days Enduro, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, Media, Mezinárodní Šestidenní Soutěž, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Photography, Regolarità, restoration, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux
Tags
I’ve been lagging with a number of articles needing posting but here I’ve now put up a short article on the ISDT 1953 winning 498cc AJS ridden by Hugh Viney which turned up in auction in 2015 after its long term owner passed away.
Photo – Works AJS 498 of Hugh Viney ISDT 1953 (Courtesy Bonhams)
read the article here in our Folk’s and Motors section
01 Tuesday Sep 2015
I am grateful for the recent contact from a new reader to ask about persons appearing on a list of Autographs he had acquired that was signed during the ISDT 1928 in Harrogate. I am grateful for the further generosity in sending and allowing us to publish the image and would welcome anyone’s help in putting names to the undecipherable ones. I have endeavoured to put a name to each, although hard to read, the missing ones may be sidecar passengers not listed in the programme which can be checked here.
The owner of the document has indicated a willingness to sell this to any ISDT collectors and if anyone is interested let me know and I will pass your details on.
image – event autographs p1 ISDT 1928
07 Friday Aug 2015
Tags
Having acquired an original copy of a 1927 Official Programme, we now have the route mapped out on Ordnance Survey base. In addition we also have the daily time schedule naming the stopping points and checks on the route. The pages also provided a listing of the hills steeper than 1 in 7 that the event encountered.
image – Course map ISDT 1927 (Speedtracktales Collection)
02 Sunday Aug 2015
Tags
Bleatarn, Bootle, Fool Step, Harknott, Honister, ISDT 1927, Keswick, Lake District, Shap, Wrynose
Finally got around to scanning the copy acquired of the ISDT 1927 official event programme prepared by the ACU. We will post a link to an online edition available at our issu.com library of ISDT material shortly. The event was based in Ambleside in the English Lake District between the 15 and 20th August 1927. The six days saw the riders cover over 700 miles with some 219 hills steeper than 1 in 7 gradient. The programme includes organisers details, history of the ISDT, regulations, final instructions, route map with course details, entry list and teams
You can view the whole programme at the Speedtracktales library at issue.com using this link
Future blogs on this material will include a “Mapping the ISDT feature”
Front Cover if the official ACU Programme ISDT 1927
09 Saturday May 2015
Posted in England, Magazine, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Reliability Trials, UK, Wales, Welsh Borders
This report appeared in the December 1926 issue of ‘Motor Sport‘ of a Sporting and Classification Trial held by the Liverpool M.C in North Wales starting from Chester. This trial shows that the riders by even today’s standards rode for a considerable distance on machines that today many would be surprised to find out how versatile these machines were.
Photo – BSA S26 500cc 4.95Hp 1926 still going and ridden in VMCC Trials similar to the BSA ridden by J B Donaldson 1926
05 Tuesday May 2015
Posted in England, Magazine, Reliability Trials, UK, Wales
This report of the Hill Cup Trial, a reliability trial organised by the Sale and District MCC was found in the December 1924 issue of ‘Motor Sport‘. There are no images available with this report. The event is quite an epic starting in South Manchester. The ‘Colonial Sections’ were public road where a low speed average was maintained due to frequency of other traffic) A number of riders appear mentioned here also featured in contemporary event reports.
This Club’s Annual Hill Cup Trial was run off recently, in an interesting way, on lines which the Committee of the Club have found to be most generally acceptable to the average member. There were no checks on those portions of the route which ran along good main roads. There were some stiff hills to be observed and some short stretches of colonial section had to be traversed in order to reach them. Checks were instituted over the Colonial Section and hills only. The route led over Helsby Bluff and Glyn Ceiriog, and lunch was taken at Llangollen. After lunch Allt-y-Bady had to be negotiated and the run home from there was comparatively easy.
05 Tuesday May 2015
Posted in England, ISDT, Isle of Man, Motorcycling, Motorsport
Tags
Nees reaches us a few days late that one of motorcycle sports greatest stars passed away on the 1st May 2015. Although famous as a road racer he made a significant impact in later years through his company which sold classic historical films of bikes as video and later DVD. There are many tributes in the motoring press which I will not be able to compete with in this mark of respect. Here however is a photo of the dapper Geoff Duke at the ISDT 1951 with British Trophy teamster Hugh Viney.
photo – Geoff Duke greets #205 Hugh Viney ISDT 1951 (Speedtracktales Collection)
02 Saturday May 2015
Tags
AJS, Australian's, Beggars' Roost, Bruton, Devon, Draycott Hill, Dunkery Beacon, Exmoor, Fingle Bridge, Harley Davidson, Indian Chief, ISDT 1925, Kingsettle Hill, Lynton, Middle Down Hill, Norweigians, Porlock, Raleigh, Shepton Mallett, Somerset, South Molton, Wedmore, Wellington
Information about the ISDT 1925 is rather sparse. The event started at Southampton before heading for the first time ever to Wales. We recently discovered that an article published in Motorsport was available online and we reproduce that article below. The auto magazine Motorsport has an immaculate online archive with every article in every issue since 1924 available to be read.
Photo – #57 on Middle Down Hill – first severe hill of the ACU Six Days Trial – ISDT 1925 ( Motorsport)
ALTHOUGH not a “sporting event” in the strict interpretation of the term, the International Six Days’ Trial calls for more than passing comment as being one of the most strenuous events organised up to the present time.
