Page under Construction always…
Introduction
This year the 41st edition of the ISDT took place in Villingsberg, Sweden August 30th to Sept 4th.
image – Front cover Programme 41st ISDT Villingsberg, Sweden 1966 (Courtesy Brian Catt)
Speedtracktales wishes to thank Brian Catt for supplying a scanned copy of the 1966 programme which we will make available shortly
Photo of cover of official programme of 41st ISDT 1956
Photo of Poster for ISDT 1966
Arthur Williams is to blame for digging up data for this page!, ‘worth it though!, I shall gradually build the tale of the event in with anecdotes & info.
22 Teams of 4 in the Vase events from 13 countries, plus 36 x 3 rider manufacturer Teams.
Brit Trophy Team had 5 on Triumphs & one on BSA. Veteran Frank Carey could not start his 125 Suzuki in the permitted hour & became a non Starter. 11 Special Tests awaited competitors 149 of 287 starters obtained Gold Medals, of 58 others, 34 took Silver, the rest Bronze.. Karlskaga to Orebro Artillery Training Ground was being largely used & 2nd day had 90 miles south of Villingsberg to cover. 22 retired on Day ONE!. East Germany took the Trophy & West Germany the Silver Vase.
Photo of event enamel badge for ISDT 1966
This Badge & above poster gently stored & unearthed by Brian Catt for us, many thanks Brian.
Photo of Pat Slinn’s beloved BSA ISDT 1966
Pat Slinn’s would love to get it back or at least find where it is, DVLA know where the number is registered from now, however cannot tell Pat, so please CAN ANYONE LET US KNOW???
Photo of British Trophy Team in regulation Barbour International jackets L-R Ray Sayer, Ken Heanes, Ray Peplow, Sammy Miller, Johnny Giles, and Arthur Lampkin with his BSA at ISDT 1966
Brian Catt came up with info which would escape a great many of us, at least it is now recorded here. BSA & Triumph’s joint efforts were shown at a pre ISDT meeting Triumphs wore BSA Victor forks, Triumph frames & motors with low-level right side siamesed exhaust pipes. BSA? were BSA except for Triumph engines with High level left side siamesed exhaust pipes. Triumph frames gave more ground clearance than BSA plus riders wanted greater access space to deal with the carburetor than high pipes allowed.
Manufacturers moaned about the small GB plates
Photo of Britain’s Vase A team has Gordon Farley (Triumph), Arthur Lampkin (BSA) Peter Stirland, and John Lewis ISDT 1966
whew!, well spotted by Brian Catt & thanks for otherwise lost accuracy. Arthur Lampkin is of course a member of an impressive off-road dynasty from Yorkshire.
Photo of One of the works Greeves set up with Tyrenfire system too [KOO 927]
Photo of Harry Heward who lived near the Greeves factory on a works machine at the Welsh 3 Day Trial event
Photo of Laurie Hampton’s own ex works Greeves [6 LHK]
Photo of Pat Slinn here at the Team selection Trial at Bordon on that 175 Bantam Prototype ISDT machine.
Photo of #152 Pat Slinn who rode to a Gold Medal here in Sweden on a 420 Victor BSA machine, note Barbour suit worn not jerkin here with Union Jack on front of helmet at ISDT 1966
Photo of Pat Slinn on his BSA Victor 420cc at ISDT 1966
Photo of 600cc BMWs with #109 West Germany’s H Schutze & #110 B Rindar of Sweden at ISDT 1966
Photo of #111 Ken Heanes again Trophy Rider at ISDT 1966
Photo of #133 P Suckling Brit Privateer on an Ariel [YKL 327], however with BSA engine in ISDT 1966
Photo with a better view in a far worse situation of that #133 P. Suckling machine which looks to have Norton Roadholder forks as well!
Photo from the collection of Brian Catt, a long-term ISDT enthusiast.
Photo of #246 P Chicheka 125 CZ goes onto Coutry section from Road at ISDT 1966.
Photo of USA rider #269 P Hochderffer 100 Hercules at ISDT 1966
USA were one of the Teams which could not get their bikes there on time (non arrivals!!) & he was provided with a 100 HERCULES, to get him to a Silver medal. – Check out ‘Where are they now?’ feature below for a recent photo of this bike.
Photo of Polish Vase rider, Jan Orzepowski 175 MZ crossing a slippery wood bridge in ISDT 1966
Photo of British Vase man #130 John Lewis emerging from a Special Test on AJS in ISDT 1966
Photo of British Vase rider #30 Bill Wilkinson Greeves 250 in ISDT 1966. Day 3 had 92 miles of Rain.
Photo of Jock Wilson Triumph at Kulma Slagtip where most spectators were noted to gather!, probably for spills!. Jock later on the British Team Manager was the best British Privateer in ISDT 1966.
Photo of #259 Heino Büse of the WG Panzer Trappen Schule Team on a factory Hercules K 100 GS at ISDT 1966
Thanks to Leo Keller we can identify Heino Büse of the WG Panzer Trappen Schule Team (Army School for Tank Forces Munsterlager), he rode with team-mate Burchard Lenz both on Hercules K 100 GS Factory machines along with Ruprecht Lamers on a Zündapp 100cc, they won the Club award, presented with their Cup by a Russian Admiral, ALL IN THE MIDDLE OF A COLD WAR only these plus Swedish Army & British Army Clubs were against 27 Civilian Clubs.
Photo of #194 Y Ekeburg here on 125 Husqvarna leaving a checkpoint ISDT 1966
Swedish Army managed Special tests & Control points & check points.
Photo of #17 Hans Weber, East German Trophy Team man on 250cc MZ ISDT 1966
Photo of East Germany Trophy teamster #165 K Wagner 300cc MZ on 4th Day Special Test ISDT 1966
Day 4 had slower speed schedule after night rain. Sweden lead turned to a loss when Torsten Anderson’s Husqvarna packed in, he had repaired a leaking tank on the second day. Day 4 used the 1st day course in reverse direction.
Photo of #235 L Muller on the 5th Day Hill Climb on his Hercules 125 in ISDT 1966
Photo of Ray Sayer on 350cc Triumph on 5th day at Kulma Slag heaps at ISDT 1966
Day 5 had the 2nd day course in reverse direction 217 Starters.
Photo of #75 Brian Bonny on a 250cc Butler in ISDT 1966. Riding for the Civil Service Club had been on zero penalties until finally the Chain adjusters gave out
6th Day had a 72 miles ride to a 3km winding but flat Karlskeger circuit. Tweesman on BMW went out plus lofty Tony Jones who hit a branch & broke the crankcase of his Matchless. Mick Andrews AJS Crankcase plug came out & all Gold hope was lost. Brian Messenger on Greeves had troubles which saw him miss Gold by seconds, (Greeves always blamed plugs if anything went wrong!!) Sonny Absolom of Southend Club could only get 11 out of the 13 required laps in on his 175 Triumph & he lost Gold.
Photo of German Army team in Barbour Jackets talking to Swedish Officer. On the left is Heino Büse ISDT 1966
Photo of Büse on his Maico 125 at an FIM World / European Championship round (Courtesy Metzeler)
From the Metzeler 2013 Classic Calendar – Captioned: “A regular in the German army, Heino Büse, born in 1944, is riding hard on his 125cc Maico. In the seventies, the highly talented rider should rise to be one of the most successful German off-road competitors. Büse went on to win a dozen national championships, two European titles and collected another dozen gold medals in ISDT events.”
Photo of #116 A J Lampkin’s BSA not Triumph framed beast [GOB 657 D]
The Final Score: Results
Speedtracktales wishes to thank Marc Pétrier of FIM Information Resources who has facilitated the scanning of the FIM archive of ISDT results material and is allowing us to make it available here as a public service. Download a copy of the original Results and Stewards Report at the link below.
Download Stewards Report for the 1966 ISDT here
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Image of scanned magazine results ISDT 1966
Artefacts and Collectibles.
Enamel Lapel badge of ISDT 1966
This Badge was unearthed by Brian Catt for us, many thanks Brian.
Where are they now?
I am very grateful to STT reader Mark Reul who has sent me this photo of the 100cc Hercules of American rider Charles Hochderfer in it’s actual condition as found and purchased by an Italian collector.
Photo Charles Hochderfer’s 100cc Hercules as it is today ISDT 1966
Photo – Restored ex Arthur Lampkin TriBSA ridden as part of the British Trophy team (image Andy Westlake)
This bike was recovered and restored and features here in an interesting article, there is a article for subscribers to Classic Bikers Club that describes both the bike and the turmoil the British Bike industry was getting into during the mid 60’s which had an impact on the British performance and interest in the ISDT which had ceased to be a race of modified road going bikes into an event for specialist off road machinery which the British Manufacturers were not so keen to produce. The images featured in the article can be seen here.
Speed Track Tales 
The pic of the Greeves in the shed at Bordon is my pic, but it needs to be placed a bit later in history….can’t remember exactly when, but probably 1968.
Brian thank you very much for coming by to the new site, your help in setting the original site up was invaluable and I have made amendments to the Greeves image replacing it in the report on the 1968 ISDT. Please come back with more of your recollections and memories when you are able.
Hi,
My compliments for this very nice site!!
I have a 1964 AJS Works ISDT. For this bike I’m looking for all sort of info, pictures or other documentation..
My AJS is restored about 25 years ago but they didn’t do it well..
That’s why I’m looking for all sorts of info about this type of AJS..
Thanks in advance for reading this and maybe we will find some info..
Regards, Ronald (the Netherlands)
I am looking for more information on your 500 AJS pictured in Classic Bikes March 2002; can you, please contact me. Hans. hkzuest@bluewin.ch
Hi Ronald, who rode your bike in the ISDT and in which year/years?
Hi Ralph,
I have no Idea who rode the bike. At this moment I know that the frame number is changed into a number with a licence plate. The engine number is Original and tell’s the bike is from 1964. I also know what parts are not correct. The exhaust (rickman), toolbox, seat and headlight are not correct and I’m missing the airbox.
The Original 4″ Lucas headlight I found in june 2015 on Ebay.
I ride the bike like it is now and I will restore the AJ in the future with the correct parts.
My model is the same a the one Peter Gaunt rode with.
My AJ is restored in the early nineties in England, sold in 1994 to Frans Apers. He sold the bike the same year to someone in Belgium (he used it on the road). After he died I bought the bike in 2001 from his son. I met Frans Aper (old Begian motocross racer) first time in 2005. He still want’s to buy the AJS back after all these years…
I do not know howmucht their made of. I have several frame and engine nuber lists but only for the (normal) CS scrambler or cross models…
All info about these bike are welcome also names of drivers etc are very welcome!
Thanks for you reply!
Regards, Ronald
I presume that the bike in question is one of the 3 (?) built and progressively modified for use in the Welsh and ISDTs. They were beautiful bikes, but were really too late as they were heavy and not competitive against the Triumphs. I only have one photo of one of these bikes, but they were well documented in the British Motorcycle magazines of the time.
It is the same model like the 3. All info of these bikes are welcome! I have several photos from books and several of Mick Andrews bike that James Holland send me some years ago.
I stil have some questions about these bike only no one can answer them at the moment..
So is there someone who knows howmuch bikes of this model are build? Are the all painted in the cromatic green or also in cromatic blue? Are the engine specs the same as the scrambler , G85 etc. or are they differend?
I’m a member of the ajs/matchless group on yahoo but they do not have ifo about these bikes…
Can you tell me in what magazines I can find the ISDT machines?
thanks in advance!
In terms of original reports you might want to contract the Morton’s Archive who acquired the copyright and entire archive of ‘the Motor Cycle’ which would have period articles on the ISDT events, teams & machines at that time they have a dedicated archives / sales set up which can provide good quality copies of the articles or photos if that is of interest to you.
http://www.mortonsarchive.com/the_archive_print_shop.html
Ronald, I think one of the ISDT AJS machines is owned by Bill Faulkner, the former Oxford motorcycle dealer and ISDT competitor and BSA works rider. He has a large collection of motorcycles including a few ISDT machines. I was lucky enough to have a guided tour of his private museum last year when my local section of AJS & Matchless Owners Club organised a ride out to Bill’s house.
Ralph do you have some photo of that bike? And are the engine specs known, are these the same as the scrambles or different? All info is very welcome.
I have several photo’s of Mick Andrews bike. James Holland send them to me some years ago. The bike was on a offroad bike show but unknown for me where and when..
Ronald, the best period photos that I have seen of the 3 bikes are in the large A4 format book called British Trials Motorcycles captioned by Ralph Venables and published by BMS. John Lewis and Peter Gaunt were Mick Andrews’ team mates on identical looking bikes. I recall seeing a magazine article a few years ago of one of the bikes which was a metallic green colour which I have since been told was correct colour! I personally prefer black or metallic blue for AJS comp tanks.
Thanks, I will search for this book..
The bikes I saw were all Green and were outstanding in that colour.
This green is that the same as the green of the later Norton hybrides?
Ronald, steel flywheels and big inlet valve. Almost certainly G80CS spec. Take a look at http://www.mortonsarchive.com/v/stock/51329850/5793845002/ajs-matchless-scrapbook-mortons. Kind regards.
My engine haves steel flyeheels, 35mm inlet with big valve like a CS. Only the cams are differend and not marked..their not std., not HS or CI.. carb. Is a 32mm concentric at the moment but must be a 30mm 389 monoblock. Ignition is condensor coil ignition like original on the isdt. This condensor replace the heavy battery (runs without battery ) and works perfect!
thanks for the link. I found that photo with Peter Gaunt some times ago on the net. Not sure of it was the same site.
BGC979B has capacitor ignition as they all did in 1966 no battery, the capacitor fits in the tool box which is modified to fit the chain oiler behind. Know the cams are specials my father carried a rubbing of it for years looking for a spare!
No idea, but if you can send me an e-mail address, I will send my photo.
my email is r_v_v @ zeelandnet dot nl. Regards
My friend has acquired a Triumph 5TA reg EHW 437C,Engine No H42297w,Frame No 5TA H42297.
The previous owner claimed that it had been ridden in the 1966 ISDT in Sweden.
Can anyone confirm this and if so who rode it?
We know it was a police model supplied by Fowlers of Bristol in November 1965.
Brian Catt may know this?
Thanks have contacted Brian but no luck so far
Hi Ronald
I have one of the 3 AJS works bikes built in 1964 and raced in 64,65,66. My one is BGC979B the one ridden by Mick Andrews that 1966 John Lewis was on BGC978B and Peter Gaunt was BGC980B. My father who passed away last year brought our bike in 1971 and when he found want it was he collected ever bit of history he could find he also went to very long lengths to get the bike into exactly 1966 condition. Ours too was missing the air box and it went back to John McLaren from the comp shop to make a new one. These bikes had many many one off bits, exhaust, the frame was modified I can go on but by late father was the expert. He took the bike to meet all its ex-riders, there was an article in the classic bike magazine March 2002 on it, think you can get back issues from th web. I know the 980 reg is out there on a ‘non ISDT AJS bike’ and my father saw 978 in the uk around the early 90s in a very sorry state but the owner would not part with it. Hope this info helps
Peter
Peter, i own BGC 978B, and you have confirmed what i thought. I have seen pictures of BGC 878B being tested by the press in the late 1960’s. Do you know if this is a 4th bike, or was it my bike with an incorrect registration no ?
Thanks Peter!
Mine is restored in 1994 back in England but I do not know who it did..
Regards, Ronald
I own BGC 978B, which Arthur Bates and John Lewis rode. It is exactly as it was last used in the 1970’s and is still in excellent condition. The fuel tank is dark green though.
Hi Ronald, I’ve just come across your website and notice you ask ‘where are they now?’
My dad has No 273 a Suzuki K11 raced by Olga Kevelos. The first registered owner is Suzuki GB Ltd and he has the original and current log books. My dad bought the bike from Arthur Lampkin who is the previous owner on the original log book.
Olga retired on day one due to medical reasons.
The bike remains in England.
Kind regards
Stefanie