New & Features

Rain battered this year’s run The annual run is usually supported by individuals and clubs who provide a sideshow of classic machinery, but turnout was low this year due to weather. As the long cavalcade of 500 entrants wound its way out of London and down to the break at Crawley, it was hit by…

Continue reading »

VIP guest John Surtees at JD Classics Surtees talked about working for Vincent where he earned £2-10s a week and his first race on a Triumph Tiger 70. Later, he bought his Vincent Grey Flash in pieces from Mike Hailwood’s father Stan. Success followed resulting in world championships in 1956 and 1958-60. It was Britain’s…

Continue reading »

Bonhams BMWs Headlining the team of machines is a very rare and much admired Kompressor, or supercharged, 1939 RS255, the model that legendary racer John Surtees said “rightly deserves a place as being one of the all-time greats of motorcycle Grand Prix racing”. The RS255 (‘RS’ stands for rennsport, or race sport) is a genuine,…

Continue reading »

BSA was on a sales roll before the war Why was the year’s Exeter Trial held in January of the following year? That was the question asked in the car and motorcycle Press. Publishers carried in their December issues details of the 1937 event, which would be held January 7-8, 1938… Logic of sorts applied…

Continue reading »

Rally around… “There is already great interest in next year’s JD Rally and we are hoping for a field of at least 150 motorcycles built between 1913 and 1936, when the last of these famous races took place on public roads between the two cities,” said clerk of the course and chairman of the Classic…

Continue reading »

Norton calendar can be bought by non club members The NOC is this year offering the 2013 NOC Calendar for sale to non club members. The calendar has 12 full colour pages of various lovely Nortons in A3 format. Calendar price is; UK £10.32, EU £12.74 and ROW £13.16, which includes postage. It’s available from…

Continue reading »

Rare 250 JAP racing model Unfortunately, it might have offered some clues to the bike’s history, as the engine is a rare 250 JAP racing model – one of very few known survivors. It was in remarkably good condition. Ray put it into a 1934 Triumph Tiger 70 frame, which is somewhere near contemporary with…

Continue reading »

Yamaha’s dual purpose machine After losing his ride with the Agostini Yamaha team, Rob McElnea rejoined Suzuki alongside American ace Kevin Schwantz, at the expense of Kenny Irons. After finishing ninth in the 1985 500cc title chase, McElnea had left Suzuki for Ago’s squad. History informs McElnea finished 10th in the 1988 500cc Riders World…

Continue reading »

Sidecar ace Florian Camathias The Swiss rider set 250 and 350cc 100km records at 192.09kph (119.28mph) and posted a new one hour 250cc record. With his last major trials win over a year previously, BSA works scrambler Jeff Smith took a jaunty light hearted approach to the Northern Expert trails to drop 42 marks and…

Continue reading »

Tommy Robb blags a ride In 1964 he simply retired in the 125cc race. He was out of luck in the 250cc race too; though he set off at a flying pace on a year old works Yamaha, he was forced into repeated stops when the plugs fouled up and he had to call it…

Continue reading »