July is the
month for the Brooklands Motorcycle Show and this was the first
event since the reopening of the Start/Finish Straight.
 |
| Anticipation builds for the start of the Test Hill Runs |
The WW2 Bellman
hanger, now a Grade 2 listed building, and the last of 10 temporary hangers
built on the site, has now been restored and relocated to the side of its
original position, revealing the original 1907-1939 track beneath. The
contractors removed the hanger floor and found the track was still intact if a
little lumpy in places.
There was as
usual an array of bikes from all eras ascending Test Hill, whilst builders and
manufacturers displayed bikes in the paddock area.
During the
lunchbreak attention switched to the clubhouse paddock where the Grandsons of
Bert Le Vack, Nigel Spring and Bert Denly were acquainted with their
Grandfathers’ motorcycles.
Museum
volunteers Roger Bird and Perry Barwick were instrumental in bringing the
Grandsons together. Roger has researched the Norton racing heritage of the
Spring and Denly families for many years, whilst Perry had a chance interaction
via Instagram which led to Dale being united with the Brough Works Scrapper on
which Herbert “Bert” Le Vack set a record of 129.06 for the flying Kilometre in
1929 at Arpajon in France. Perry said “For Roger and I it was a once in a
lifetime event, seeing the grandsons together on the bikes in the paddock where
their grandfathers raced some 90 years ago”
Paul Denly (left) Dale Le Vack, (centre) Johnathan Spring
(Seated) and Tim Spring (in sidecar) soaked up the atmosphere as they were
interviewed about memories of their famous Grandfathers whilst sitting astride
the from the Brooklands Museum Collection made famous by their grandfathers.
Paul Denly interviewed aboard the Spring Norton MT3501 one
of the 1927 Spring Norton Team Motorcycles.
Bert Denly with Norton MT3501 at a Brooklands Society
Reunion in June 87 (c)Roger Bird
The Motorcycle Show event provides a unique opportunity for
visitors to see the continuing marques of Triumphs, AJS’s, Francis Barnett’s
and BMW’s against the bikes that made those brands famous back in the 20s and
30s.
 |
| Steve Hayes (R) with a Hollis Motorcycle & New Owner |
Also at the show was a growing band of new builders such as Steve Hayes of
Hollis Motorcycles. As we walked onto the banked circuit, Steve told me about
the Hollis project explaining he prefers the term “new vintage” to refer to their
bikes which use state of the art engineering to produce a modern bike inspired
by a Norton Model 18. Look out for news more news about Hollis later in the
year and if you can’t wait that long check out the Hollis Website here.
 |
| The Hollis on the Brooklands Banking |
Return to Fenland Classic Motorcycles Home
Old Timer
