Brackley Festival of Motorcycling is still riding high

Now in its ninth year, the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling has become one of the biggest motorcycle events in the UK, and is now spread out over 50 acres of the Northamptonshire town. Still run on a not-for-profit basis, the festival continues to put money into the local air ambulance (£100,000 to date) providing the local Blood Bikers’ group with a new machine and supporting local town charities, writes Ian Kerr.

Its evolution, embracing every facet of motorcycling from custom bikes to off-roaders, racing machines and modern road bikes, ensures that people return each year and bring even more spectators with them, and virtually every modern manufacturer now takes show space.

For many, the biggest draw is seeing race bikes circulating up and down the main high street, their screaming exhaust notes bouncing off the windows of shops that are used to a much quieter existence. The centre of the main shopping area is turned into a race paddock, and this year’s theme, Classic
Italian GP Race Bikes, featured many classic riders and machines including the evergreen Sammy Miller on his 500 Gilera.

These days, though, Brackley isn’t just about classics, and a brace of more modern Ducati GP3s could be seen in action along with a few Japanese machines from various classes of modern racing. The 1962 Marsh MR4 racer was just part of a display organised by the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, which has long supported the Brackley event.

Read more in the September issue of OBM – on sale now!