The sport is endebted to the following for their assistance in providing materials and information to help with the compilation of this collection of ISDT related materials.
- Lynn ‘Taff’ Isaacs – the originator of the idea and founder and creator of the site
- “STB” – our undercover agent out there in Europe
- Nigel Clark
- Steve Dolling
- Jan Melssen – a significant contribution by this great expert of the Enduro scene from Netherlands. Sadly after an illness, Jan Melssen passed away on 24 July 2010 in his hometown Wijchen. Jan was a Member of Merit of the KNMV. He is also co-author of the book ‘100 Years KNMV. January Melssen was 82 years. Speedtracktales will for ever be endebted to the amount of pointers forward he provided putting names to faces and locations to places in photographs.
- Neal Owen
- Stephan Edwards
- Mr Van der Duim
- Stuart Towner
- Stephen Royer
- Alistair Crook
- Steve Wedgbury
- Yve Campion
- Andreas Holthaus
- Deryk Wylde
- Brian Catt
Speed Track Tales 
ATTENTION, ATTENTION PLEASE
CARLO UBBIALI, NINE WORD CHAMPION, I.S.D.T. 1949, NUMBER 27 M.V. 125 C.C., GOLD METAL I.S.D.T. 1949, LIVING, LOOK FOR PHOTOGRAPY, WRITE, TANK YOU.
Carlo Ubbiali, 9 word campion, i.s.d.t. 1949 m.v. 125 c.c., lookfor photografy,write,
Thanks again for the great site & access to a fabulous archive. I’ve found photos of my late Dad, Eric Wilson, that I’d never seen before. He was No.255 in Austria in ’52. I will send you a photo of the Silver Medal he won & the Competitor Medal I assume was given to each rider.
Thanks again, DBW
Brilliant news makes it so worthwhile to see today and the past reunited here.
Hi ISDT knowledgeable folk,
We are restoring a march 1939 BSA 350 competition model engine number KB 25171 frame KB 241383 sold to BSA Cycle Ltd and we believe run as a BSA works bike by Mr Cartwright who we believe in 1937 rode an earlier BSA 350 empire star in the ISDT of 1937.
We have very little history for this machine and as the second world war was obviously looming in 1939 it has been tempting to conclude that war may well have curtailed plans for this machine at least before the war?Do you have any records or evidence that this machine was used in the ISDT or any other events pre war possibly by Mr Cartwright or even another BSA rider?
After the war shall we say in 1946-1947 there would have probably been a shortage of usefull potential competition machines so I would believe that either Mr Cartwright or the machine owner BSA would have pressed the machine into some sort of post war competition usage possibly out of necessity?We have no known immediate post war history so if you have any ideas or entry lists with a BSA empire star then we may be able to identify some use of this machine.
We do have some hearsay competition usage of the machine which we believe must be at least post 1947 and possibly later.The motorcycle was certainly sand raced in Scotland possibly at Kircaldy on the east coast and it was believed to have been ridden by Arthur Fife who was alleged to have been a well known TT rider on triumphs?When the machine came to us it was shod in very old competition tyres and bore 2 old competition number plates below the saddle with the competition number 644.The lower parts of the machine also carried a quantity of fine sand.
To bring the history up to date the rear end of the machine at some time post 1947 has an exquisitavely brazed on swinging arm system identical to the early McCandless systems.It is so well done that it is either genuine McCandless or a very good craftsman made period copy and it appears to be very functional and obviously catapults a pre war rigid into a 1960’s winner!We discovered the machine on a Scottish east coast croft and a number of the previous owners had died in the preceding years so much of the history had also been lost.
Although missing some parts we are well advanced restoring the machine as a working competition model probably as an immediate post war machine with its obvious pre war history.To broaden the possible historic events eligible we are assembling a spare set of wheels which we plan to have say Avon TT type pure road tyres so the machine can be displayed and entered in historic hill climb and speed events as well as ISDT and sand racing type historic events.
We would appreciate any help you can give to put together the pre or post war history of this machine however small as we know very little of its early usage?
Contact details Stuart Black stuart@quaysurface.co.uk or 07974750820
Thank you in advance
Best Regards Stuart Black
Hi Stuart, thanks for making contact. Your message is very interesting and I wish you much luck in what sounds a great restore project for which we would love to see the end result .Whilst we make particular effort to gather material on the people and venues of the events we are happy to allow the VMCC and others maintain the archives on the bikes. The VMCC have shown a lot of interest in interwar ISDT BSA’s and have been trying to gather as much material as is available, however if we do find new material I know they are regular readers of out pages and are taking what they can to add to their own archives. Your best bet would be to look at the FIM’s results sheets we have for the interwar ISDT’s which are only available publicly here and they are free for non commercial use. From this you should be able to identify the BSA 350 in the event before enquiring of the VMCC regarding any frame or serial numbers you have for the bike. If you think we can help you more let us know and we will also make our own enquiries as time permits.
I have the WSK works bike that raced in ISDT in 1973. I think raced by polish race team 175 class.
Robert we would love some photos
You have a picture labeled “Photo – #278 Sebastian Nachtmann winner of the ISDT 1961 (courtesy Metzeler Tyres)” at the ISDT 1961. This man is Manfred Höring and not Sebastian Nachtmann. Could you please change that. I absolutely know that it is M. Höring because he is my grandfather.
Thanks for all the info and pictures on your site of my Grandfather Bill WT Howard, and mentions of Dorothy, my Grandma.
If you like a donation toward the upkeep of your site, please do let me know.
Thanks
Neville