14 Wednesday Oct 2015
Tags
Tomas Melander bought this Monark 125 in 1974 and promptly parked it hence its exceptional condition. Who would not want a gem like this.
photo – RH front view of Tomas Melander’s unused 1974 Monark GS125 ISDT (Courtesy vintagemonark.com)
15 Tuesday Sep 2015
Tags
Thanks to the marvellous resource of Google Books I have been able to find the Nov 1971 issue of the American Motorcycle Associations AMA News which includes a 20 odd page report on the ISDT 1971 written by US motorcycle journalist Ed Youngblood, giving as good a history of the Isle as a report on the racing.
Image – cover Nov 1971 AMA news with review ISDT 1971
15 Tuesday Sep 2015
Filmed and produced for Penton Motorcycles this interesting Pro movie shows the changing nature of the ISDT as well as the technology that was being developed.
The below 2 videos were produced by Penton covering their riders involvement in the ISDT 1974
1 of 2
2 of 2
more videos like this can be seen on the ISDT Tube video collection
03 Thursday Sep 2015
Tags
From my early days riding in events, Dot and Jim Jones have always been an important part of the UK enduro scene both as riders, helpers and often importers of motorbikes most notably Moto Gori.
Dot and Jim who were responsible for organising the ISDT centenary Rally held in 2013 in Carlisle to celebrate the 100 years since the first ISDT have attended many ISDT events and are most familiar to UK team riders for their support to British National and Club team riders. Dot gathered a lot of unique material she had collected and recently produced a movie of her experiences at the ISDT 1975, which held in the Isle of Man. In addition to a lot of home movie footage Dot has added a very informative commentary detailing the background to the event, the persons involved in running it and other details of many of the local riders I knew as a youth around the North Wales and Merseyside area. Hopefully Dot will make more of her memories of the event available for the world community of ISDT fans
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)
06 Thursday Aug 2015
Tags
Bill Snelling, ISDT, ISDT 1965, ISDT 1971, ISDT 1975, Isle of Man
Bill Snelling, a living legend from the Isle of Man and the keeper of the history of the TT races as well as the ISDT on the island recently contacted me to say he was reducing his archive and was hoping Speedtracktales might be willing to take his collection of negatives for the ISDT events in the Isle of Man. Hardly unable to hold back my joy, I of course accepted and was told to wait for a package.
Photo – just part of the Bill Snelling collection of images from the Isle of Man ISDT events.
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
24 Friday Jul 2015
Posted in International Six Day Trial, ISDT, Magazine, Motorcycling
A recent raid on eBay liberated an original ISDT 1927 programme and a story of the participants in the ISDT 1914 after the event was cancelled as it was due to start because of the declaration of WW1. Both items will be covered shortly in STT editorial.
Photo – front cover official 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
Speed Track Tales 