Classic Dirt Bike — Autumn 2017

Just aquick emailto congratulateyou on the

Broadslidepublication,averygood volume

of work. Coveringpersonaland technical

articles,Broadslideshouldbecomepartof

everySpeedwayfan’smagazinecollection.

Thankstoo for the article on our WSRA

(World SpeedwayRiders’ Association)

NationalSpeedwayMuseumat Paradise

WildlifePark,verywell doneand let’shope

that it will encouragesomemorevisitorsto

comealongas it is the only pure speedway

museumopento the publicall year round.

Thereare manyother museumsand private

collectionswhichfeaturespeedwaybut they

usuallyfeatureothermotorcyclestoo or they

are not accessibleto the generalpublic.

Lots of interestingphotographsin the

four-pagearticle on the museum,plus Eric

Boocock’stwo-valveJawa,but you missed

my last 4-valveJawa,tartan TT Leathers

and varioustartan-paintedBell helmetsbut

that’sokay, you did agood job of bringing

the museumto life.

Youmay alreadybe aware that next year,

February2018, will be the 90th anniversary

of whenspeedway, (or dirttrack racingas

it wasthen called)beganat High Beech

in EppingForest, not far from whereour

museumis situated.

EveryFebruary, we have the annual,

“Celebrationof Speedway” exhibitionat

ParadiseWildlifePark to markthe occasion

and this year,wehad over 1,500people

attendingon the Sunday. We use the

car parkfor boothswith bikes, leathers,

memorabiliaand somespeedwayteams

comealongto promotetheir newseason.

The museumis open(obviously!)and we

also have the big events marqueewherewe

have stallssellingold programmes,photos,

books,DVDs, etc and we have astage for

rider interviews throughoutthe day.

Thereis also apit area outsideand on

the hour,everyhour,westartupsome of

the olderunsilencedDouglas,Rudgeand

Jap machinesand that wonderfulsmellof

Castrol‘R’fills the air.

Next year,being the 90th anniversary, we

are working on someideasto trytomake

the event even morespecial,so if you put

the date,Sunday, February18, 2018in your

diary, you maywant to comealongand enjoy

the day.

BertHarkins

WSRACommitteeMember.

FormerWSRAPresident

FormerInternationalRiderand.......

FormerSoleUKImporterforScottGoggles

andAcerbis(Italy)Plastics!

(EndofPersonalPlugs!)

Email

PraiseindeedBert, thankyouforthe

complimentsonBroadslide.Ihopetoget

alongtothe90thanniversarycelebrations,

thoughthespeedwayeventoftenclashes

withtheClassicDirtBikeShowatTelford.

TB

Iread with interestyour article on yet

anotherworks BSA –Mart’sBeesa.It is

veryimportant (to me at least)that as

manydetailsas possibleare gleaned

at this time as the witnessesare

fast disappearing.

Afew observationsif Imay –thefirs tis

that both this and Sid’sbikeare derived

from the BSA Victor GP as opposedto the

productionC15Twhichusedthe heavier

frameof the Victor Enduroamongstothers.

To makeitmore suitablefor trials,the

wheelbaseis shortenedbyfitting the

swingingarmfrom the Enduro/C15T/Victor

Specialetc, whichis an inch shorter than

the GP and by puttingan extradegreeor

two into the top yoke. Youcan see the rake

on the veryfirs tbig picture–daylight at top

yokegreaterthan bottom.Also you will note

the chainguardisfixed to the welded-on

bosson the swingingarm.

The pictureof the threebrothersisvery

revealingas it showsthe painted(yellow)

GP tank completewith bungon Sid’s

bike–Ithink Mart’sone wasalso yellow

in this picture;it mighthave beenpainted

whitelater,and it wouldhave had the tank

with the bung–theyhavedone away with

the airbox(too heavy) and use abit of

fabricto shieldthe airfilter and electrics

from the mud.The works enginesall had

adistinctivepointscover turned from a

lumpof alloy–this is abit of asecretto

distinguishworks bits –both Sid’sand

Martin’sbikes had them.

Worksbikes tendedto have nickel-plated

frames–both do –the platingbath was

right next to the compshop.

The forks are interestingas theyare

bolt-upend caps and are chrome-plated

–again aworks thing–Idon't knowthe

originof the forks but theyare longerthan

productionitems.

Youshow apictureof the bulb horn

situatedadjacentto the seat loop of the GP

frame–unusedfor the trialsseat as they

were attemptingto keep the seat lower –

this loop wascut off the works scrambles

bikes in 1967.

Both hubswouldbe Bantam–being so

muchlighterthan others.

Iwould saythat Martin’sbikewas

as muchaworks bikeasany other–it

has bits only availablefrom the comps

departmentand it wouldhave beendifficult

to get hold of aGPframeat that time.At

aroundthis time,perhapsalittle later,

ScottEllis had aGPframedC15 –itwould

eventuallytransmogrifyinto the Otter.

Somebikes werefittedwith ascrambles

cam, whichmadeit abit livelyto ride –

henceyou usuallysawthe works BSAstake

sectionsat speed!

The frameshowssignsof someone

addingbrackets for bits and piecesand the

ignitionsystemwouldhave beenenergy

transfer–which the works mechanicstook

alot of troubleto set up and whichdid

work, so Iamtold.

Thankyou for averyinterestingarticle.

MikeWadsworth

Email

HiMike,theproblemallmagazine

editorshave–andwe’vediscussedthis

before–isspace.Forbikessuchasthe

Lampkins’BSAsIcouldeasilyhavefilled

themagazinewithinformation.Thanksfor

solvingafewqueriesaswell,perhapswe

oughttodoadefinitiveVictorpiecetoo...

TB

Sideways on

Lampkin Beezer

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