JUNE Update

Stafford Show

It seems a long time ago that I ventured up to Stafford on 24 April and witnessed the world record breaking sale of the 1932 800cc Brough Superior BS4 which is one of only 10 examples manufactured. 

At first sight it is a curious machine, and one that appears to be more at home in the custom sheds of today rather than a serious design intended to bridge the gap between motorcycles and cars in the early 1930’s. 

The machine is powered by an Austin Seven car engine and therefore appeals not only to the high end Brough collector, but also those historic Austin collectors. One thing is sure the £331,900 sale price will need to be matched by a hefty restoration bill before it comes anywhere near the excellent example housed in the National Motorcycle Museum.

The BS4 with the other Broughs discovered in a Barn near Bodmin

This, the first of the lots billed as the Broughs of Bodmin was first up at the Stafford auction, and we have the bidding in full in the film below. Excuse the camera shake, but the atmosphere was electric. Hear the gasps in the room as a fresh bidder, and eventual buyer, came in at £270,000 meaning that the bidder who came all the way form Australia was squeezed out. 

The other bikes in the collection; which at any other time would have been hugely significant in themselves all sold for prices well over their original estimate. Whilst it seems that every Auction House currently needs a Brough on its front page, the word on the street is this just can’t go on. Bonhams Motorcycle lead Ben Walker agrees. He said “I don’t think another cache of bikes like this will turn up again. The collection had been squirreled away......for between 40 and 50 years” 

I was on business, so missed the other lots as we were transporting the 1929 490cc Ex Pat Driscoll Model 18 Norton Norton, bought earlier in the day back to its Brooklands home. 

1929 Ex Pat Driscoll Norton 490cc Model 18

It was a huge privilege to drive it back through the Brooklands Gates and even more of an honour to be only the second person to ride the bike on this hallowed ground since it left in period.

The Norton back at Brooklands

Brooklands Sunbeam

The Brooklands Museum Sunbeam Tourer, like most other museum bikes is fully running and gets used for demonstrations on a regular basis during School holidays. It does not tend to get used during events, as these are normally tailored towards the competition bikes. This together with the fact that the demonstration area will be out of commission during building works led the Volunteers to consider more outreach events. The Sunbeam is therefore being prepared to take part in more events during 2016. 

Earlier in the year the tyres were renewed, and the front brakes relined. During the past month we have also been servicing the clutch and gear-change linkage. New woodruff keys have been fabricated, the clutch plates cleaned and a couple of damaged corks are being replaced. It should be ready for a test run in a couple of weeks.

Kempton Park Motorcycle Show

21 May was the date for the legendary Southern Classic Motorcycle Show and Jumble held at Kempton Park. Organiser, Eric Patterson was, as ever pulling the strings to ensure all was in place by the time the gates opened. On Friday evening Eric’s shed was well represented with at least three of his own bikes already in place including his new Brough Superior newly delivered by Brough Boss Mark Upham who was on hand on Saturday as the new bike got its inaugural engine run.


Meanwhile back on the Jumble Stall the rain held off until it was time to pack up. We look forward to the next Jumble which is being held on 25 July 2016. In the meantime if you have a Pre-war bike to sell or find that old parts are getting in the way of your latest project then contact us at info@fenlandclassics and we will give you a price.

Future Events

We are currently gearing up to provide support at the Banbury Run and will be riding at Chateau Impney Hill Climb on 9/10 July 2016.

George Cohen

As I finish writing this I hear the sad news that George Cohen has just past away after a short but brave fight against cancer. It is a  particularly poignant moment as I remember the pack for The Pat Driscoll Norton above, to which George had included a copy of his book and a special message to the new owner. A Bonham’s consultant, he was a passionate Norton Man to the end. Paul d'Olreans fellow writer and friend of George, has penned his memories of George on his “The Vintigent” site. 

George at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014

JULY Update

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Crowds flocked to Sussex on 26/28 June for the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed. This high octane garden party is hosted by Lord March and is a celebration of the history of motor sport. The event has grown from a few hay bales along the Goodwood House drive to an internationally renowned parade and hill climb event. The Festival is now the place to be for top motoring brands that spend many weeks building vast temples to their products. Visitors get to see the vehicles up close and the drivers and riders love it because they can get in among the punters without all the usual hassle. I heard one owner, new to the event saying; ‘Is it OK to leave the kit here’, as they manoeuvred starters and placed their helmets by their bikes. The reply was ‘Oh don’t worry about the kit, Goodwood’s not like that’ and they left a few hundred thousand pounds of machinery and kit for us to admire. There is a special atmosphere at Goodwood and long may it continue. 

We’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Jet Bike rounds the Flint Wall on the way upthe Hill

 

Bikes by the bucket Full.. 1984 Honda NSR500

Sammy Miller's 1927 Brough Pendine Racer

George Coen's Manx Norton

Velocette 1938 KTT

1650cc 2015 Bienville Legacy

Fun with The Dakar machines

...and Kimi's just confused by the whole thing

Warbike Project: The History of British Military Motorcycling 1899 to 1919

Work continues prior to publication and as the research draws to a close on this part of the story I should mention a few people who have helped along the way. The Brooklands Library team have been an invaluable and ongoing source of  both material and support. The Museum Library has a vast catalogue of records concerning Riders/Drivers, Cars and Motorcycles that raced at the track as well as a vast library of books relating to every aspect of Brooklands History. I was privileged to also have access to the photograph archive which contains some stunning images.

The National Motorcycle Museum allowed me access to their Clyno Motor Machine Gun Carrier which has resulted in some great detailed images of this machine.

The Royal Logistics Corps Museum gave me access to the Annual Reports of The Mechanical Transport Committee, which tells the War Office side of the story as far as military motorcycling is concerned. These records gave a fascinating insight into the procurement process. For example, I was interested to learn that Douglas almost failed to make the grade on several occasions but still managed to become the second most successful supplier of WW1 motorcycles.

Mortons Media and The Manx Aviation & Military Museum have also provided some great Dispatch Rider images and I am also indebted to the many people who have shared information and images through the Great War Forum.

It has been an interesting journey and I hope the book will dispel a few myths and pay tribute to the many riders that played a vital role during WW1.

The Ethanol Debate.

 

Another damaged tank liner to deal with.

Last month we started to look more closely at the issue of ethanol in petrol and in particular the issues people have running older vehicles on pump fuel. We hear lots of stories, but are these urban myths? Also is it all down to ethanol, or are there other substances lurking in our favourite cocktail?

Well, the story so far is that the effects are real. We have personally experienced bikes with treacle in the carbs, damaged fuel lines and only today I saw yet another melting tank liner. We have also trawled the fuel company websites for information and they seem to be devoid of any mention of ethanol information. Furthermore, the experts would seem to confirm it is ethanol is most likely to be the culprit. However, tt is important that we do not demonise the fuel companies. They have to comply with the regulations and legislation that is rightly there to protect us and the Planet. But, the historic vehicle community does need ready access to up to date information to make informed decisions. There is still more research to be done and the final piece with links to ethanol friendly products and locations of ethanol free fuel will be on our eagerly awaited new website.

We have also discovered some long-life ethanol free fuel which we will be reviewing and running at the Shere Hill Climb in September. Keep checking out the Twitter feed @fenlandclassics for updates.

Future Plans

The Ton-up Boys at Brooklands

The website is progressing and we are busy sourcing some of those difficult to obtain bits for your restorations. For example we will have sight glasses for vintage oil pumps and other high quality reproduction items as well as a range of good quality used parts. Our approach will be to aim for high quality difficult to obtain merchandise. You can see the first of our gift range, based on adverts of the 1900’s via Red Bubble.

We have also been busy behind the scenes advising on an American TV pilot filmed during May and are currently working with Brooklands Museum on the Great War 100 commemorations in September. This event will feature a recreation of the 1915 service events held at the iconic Surrey circuit. This blog has also been delayed as we have been filming Ton-up Day at Brooklands for the Museum and our new website.

Fenland ClassicsTV

This month we have our regular visit to Bike World as well as some other Cafe Racer and Street Custom inspired films:

Old Timer

JANUARY 2014 Update

Cambridge: 1 Jan 2014. On the Water in any Weather!

As you can see from the photo it is rather a wet New Years Day in Cambridge and as I write this introduction I hear that lots of people are arriving at Brooklands Museum to enjoy the annual New Years Day Meet which is growing every year. This is particularly good news following the news that parts of the Museum were flooded on Christmas Day. Thanks to the dedication of the Museum Staff and Volunteers all the exhibits were kept from harms way and work is already well underway to get the worst affected areas ready for today. I gather that the ground floor of the club house may still be closed for a few days but other areas are open.

Southern Classic Off Road Show

December turned out to be quite busy. We were supporting the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers at the Southern Classic Off Road Show at Kempton Park. Stars of the show were the Record Breaking Brough Superiors which were run at this years Bonneville speed week by Riders Eric Patterson, Alan Cathcart and Henry Cole.



The Eric Patterson Record Breaking Brough

Also on the Brough Stand was The new Brough Superior SS100 on one of its first outings. We try not to do press lines in this blog, so it was great to have a chat with Brough Superior CEO Mark Upham about his own personal views of the project. This is a man who is passionate about delivering a modern state of the art machine which earns it's place beside the George Brough Marque. In a parallel to developments in the aerospace industry this motorcycle is a European engineered machine and a lot of time and care has been taken to develop what is a beautiful motorcycle.

The New SS100 Photo: Fenland Classic Motorcycles

I have to admit that I was not sure about the bike when I first saw the pictures and Mark explained that despite taking a lot of time which the publicity shots he was not sure that they captured the full essence of the bike. Surrounded by others prior to the show as the bike was placed on its stand it was clear that others were also sharing my view that it looks so much better in the flesh, and therefore my final verdict is that it is worthy of the name and could easily be the sort of machine produced if there had been continuity of production over the last 80 or so years. It is details like the retention of a state of the art girder fork suspension as well as the positioning of the cylinders and radiator that I found were not so evident in the photos.

Mark Upham and the new SS100

You too can get to own and ride one. However, this is not something that you just go down to your local bike shop for. No; you will get the Mclaren style service in keeping with its state of the art engineering heritage. Mark says that the bikes are essentially bespoke and buyers will be measured for their machine, then taken through a range of options including a number of performance packages as well as bike part options. All I will say is the price seems competitive when viewed against other specials and limited editions. And as they say if you have to ask you can't afford it! More Information at http://www.broughsuperiormotorcycles.com


It would be unfair to do a stand by stand report, because I am sure that I would miss something, particularly as my viewing time was limited. It was good to see the Pendine Landspeed Record Club guys and they won a few awards. The Frends of Speedway stand made a big effort and were rewarded with best stand, and we should also mention The London Motorcycle Museum which I need to pay a visit soon.

As for the Brooklands Stand we had a lot of interest and gave away thousands of leaflets and New Years Day promo flyers. As always, the Motorcycle Volunteers and events can be found on their facebook page.

Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers Christmas Lunch

It was great to attend the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers Christmas lunch. Good to see so many people from the world of motorcycling present. This was their end of term bash and turned out to be an end of an era event as Team Leader John Bottomley announced that he would be leaving. You can read a statement from John on the facebook page and we which him all the best in 2014.

John "Brooklands" Bottomley at Brooklands Ton-up Day

Warbike Project

The Warbike Project continues to be the main focus at present and once again I would like to say thanks for the information I have received so far, but we are still on the look out for stories of individuals and details such as maintenance of machines in the field (World War One). Email us with any information warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk

Plans for 2014

We will continue to support the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers and also look forward to expanding the site which will also include a sales area later in 2014.

This year we will be promoting Sense, who provide support for Deafblind people. Find out more about Sense on their website and how you can support Deafblind People By Clicking Here

Old Timer