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The Preston & District Motorcycle Club were holding round 5 of their championship races at 3 Sisters race circuit near Wigan on September 8 and, taking part in the Classic and Post Classic races, was Mike Powell on his BSA Bantam racer. His chicken chaser gave a supreme performance, coming second overall in both race…

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I too have fond memories of going to Cadwell Park. I went with Charlie Freeman in the late 1950s. He raced his Manx and sidecar outfit there and at other meetings, including over on the Isle of Man. This picture was taken somewhere on the Clypse course with Billie Nelson in/on the chair. These were…

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I enjoyed the article about A E Wildman & Sons in Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The history with this shop is amazing. Perhaps I could add a bit that I think is also amazing, and involves the same shop. I own a 1951 BSA A7, pictured here.  The previous owner called at the shop in the ‘90s…

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The near side seat knob on my Norton Commando had to be removed to allow the seat to be fully lifted up and rest against the seat stay cable. But removing the knob meant that I could leave it behind, or leave it loose and so lose it when riding. Therefore I came up with…

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To finish the images of Colin Clark I conclude with the final three, which show the duel of the twins, at least one of which is a Triumph. The look on the face of rider 7, which can be seen on the full-sized prints, is of absolute joy! The second is a picture of a…

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When wandering around the wonderful Greek island of Spetses I entered an art gallery and found these two machines taking pride of place. One is a Norton and the other is a Sterling. I was told that they had been left behind after the Second World War and had been restored by a local enthusiast…

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So Arthur Pentney (OBM Letters July) likes his Norton sidevalve solos but not his BSA M20 which was “somewhat heavy and ponderous and lacking cornering ability” – could this be because he was talking of a rigid model with girder forks? Not so the postwar 600cc M21! My plunger one with teles and the wonderful…

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When Colin’s nephew gave me this batch when we worked for a Lincoln company in the 1980s, he had a huge pile of the card-backed prints. I just wonder what happened to them all if they are gems like these! Maybe they will surface sometime. In Part 7 we have a rigid framed Norton Inter,…

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What a great cover photo on your July 2019 issue: London’s Metropolitan police officers on the Noddy Course. When the Met put hundreds of officers on two wheels in the late 1950s, many of them had no motorcycling experience. The two-week Noddy Course at the police’s Hendon Driving School taught them the tips of motorcycling…

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This picture (left) could have been taken in 1948 but was actually taken last month. It shows my 1951 BSA C11 next to Tornado, which was the first steam locomotive built in Britain for 50 years in 2008. Both machines have a connection with Darlington. Tornado, a Peppercorn class loco, was built by enthusiasts in…

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