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Sunbeam Motorcycle Club at 100: a celebration of motorcycling's preservation pioneers
1928 Scott ran extremely well up and down the Finishing Straight
The oldest vehicle in attendance was this 1896 Léon Bollée
It was accompanied by Kate Baldock's sister car from 1897
Sidecars are an excellent way to involve the family, as with this 1914 BSA Model K
An early Humber tricycle is put through its paces
This mysterious creation utilised a De Dion-Bouton engine and rotary-valve cylinder head
This is one of two motorcycles made by Cecil and Alick Burney in 1926; it never made production
1928 Ariel moved swiftly
1912 New Imperial looked pretty in mint green
1902 Dart was one of the oldest two-wheelers
Made in France: a very handsome vintage Dollar
1928 BSA S28 was bought in an incomplete condition, and with a few home-made touches looks extremely mean
Andy Brown follows in the tyre tracks of C. Pullen-Brown astride his 1902 Clément-Garrard
The 1904 Rex
This machine gun-carrying 1914 Matchless replicates a lost prototype with which Matchless unsuccessfully hoped to impress the British Army
1932 Moto Guzzi Sport 15 was immaculate
A real preservation piece: unrestored 1939 Sunbeam B24 had just two owners from new
1911 Humber was demonstrated alongside other early machines
Restored 1903 Minerva
1930s Benelli 4TN looked very smart
Eye-catching 1928 Raleigh Model 26 SS sported a particularly vibrant colour scheme
1903 Werner featured a 344cc Paris-Vienna race engine
Andy Brown's oily-rag Clément-Garrard was a deserving winner of the Best Pre-1905 award
This other Clément-Garrard had a sportier flavour, utilising a lower frame
Andrew Howe-Davies didn't shy away from demonstrating his formidable 1904 500cc Peugeot
The pointed brass tank was a very attractive feature of this c.1904 Buchet with Chater-Lea frame
Wall Auto-Wheels represent the economical way into Pioneer bike ownership; this one is paired with a 1914 Rudge-Whitworth ladies' frame
Historic 1902 Ormonde 2¾hp is one of four surviving Ormondes and wears a 1949 restoration. It was formerly owned by Brigadier Bennett, President of the Vintage Motorcycle Club 1953-57
Attractive Quadrant Autocyclette dates from 1902
1914 Ixion sported one of the prettiest liveries
The glorious recreation of the 1930 AJS 1000cc Arpajon record bike
Its engine is a work of art
A spotless restoration of a 1911 Triumph TT racer
The best-looking Pioneer? 1911 Wooler looks brilliantly futuristic with its 'copper rocket' fuel tank
Many of the old bikes, like this Douglas, had a wonderful patina
1922 Norton 16H Sports cut quite a dash with its Zeppelin-style sidecar
At Brooklands once more: Harold Karslake's Dreadnought returned to familiar territory
A young enthusiast gets to grips with an ABC Skootamota
Scruffy Terrot was one of several Continental bikes
Another Douglas with patina
The extremely rare Vincent HRD Model W was quite an astonishing sight
Unidentified wreck was lurking under the Bonhams marquee
The unlikely trio of PVs from Perry Vale
The four-cylinder engine of an early FN
The ex-Bob Burnett racing Norton wears its knocks with pride
It is natural enough to muse upon what the inhabitants of the past might have thought about the future, and certainly the early members of the Sunbeam Motorcycle Club must have had some ideas of their own. What were their hopes for motorcycling and what were their fears? Could they have anticipated the machines of today, which might travel four times as fast as a typical machine from 1924 and require not half as much maintenance, but have completely lost their charm along the way?
It's probably correct to say that any of the SMCC's founding members of 1924 imagined that the world of 2024 would be a greatly changed place, and they'd have been right, but what they might not have expected is that the club itself has barely changed at all, and it's all the better for it. Although no longer a one-make Sunbeam club as it was at first, its status as Britain's only club exclusively for pre-war motorcycles has been unaltered for decades, and the Pioneer Run and Register, which were created in 1930 and 1938 respectively to champion pre-1915 machines, are as relevant today as they have ever been.
The Sunbeam Motorcycle Club Centenary at Brooklands was therefore not to be missed. Although initial expectations were bleak owing to the steady, miserable drizzle which persisted throughout the early hours of Sunday, March 17th, but eventually cleared, and the traffic problems which had been forecast on account of a major road closure, the event ultimately transpired to be everything one could have hoped for, with the one unfortunate concession that damp conditions meant that pre-1930 bikes were refused the Test Hill ascents.
By ten o'clock, nearly 300 pre-war motorcycles had spread themselves out around Brooklands. Vintage and post-vintage machines occupied the racing car bays, and, on account of it still being winter, the notorious Brooklands Astroturf has not yet blighted the paddock in front of the historic Clubhouse, so the bikes of the Pioneer era were able to be displayed before a suitably period backdrop.
Famous and forgotten marques
So many of the great names of motorcycling were there, and by 'great names' we mean not just the famous ones, but also their early competitors with their mellifluous, even poetic-sounding names, such as Chater-Lea, Kerry-Abingdon, Monet-Goyon, Warwick Sports, Hazlewood, Clyno and Ixion. Among the most obscure marques was PV, named after the south London suburb of Perry Vale, which was emblazoned across a trio of extremely rare Spring Frame models. Further along was to be found the similarly loconymic NUT, for Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Having highlighted in a recent article the wonderful 1931 Pathé film Old Crocks Meet Again, it was impossible not to reflect on what looks to have been much the same sort of event. We saw in that film "the famous" 1903 Dreadnought of Harold "Oily" Karslake, C. Pullen-Brown's 1902 Clément-Garrard and an early Rex from 1903. It was a veritable joy, then, to revisit Brooklands some 93 years later and find within a few feet of each other that very same Dreadnought, the separate but very similar 1902 Clément-Garrard of Andy Brown and a Rex from 1904.
Several much later machines stood out as highlights, too. There was an exquisite recreation of the lost AJS 1000cc overhead-cam record bike, which hit 132mph at Arpajon in 1930, unfortunately two miles per hour shy of the motorcycle speed record, and a pleasingly scruffy 1934 Vincent HRD Model W, a remarkable if rather un-Vincentlike machine which utilises a 250cc water-cooled Villiers engine and is said to have been one of just 16 made.
There really was too much to list, but the photographs might give a more detailed impression of the tremendous sights and atmosphere that pervaded around Brooklands and give an insight into the regular activities of the SMCC. It's a very worthwhile organisation, so we wish it another very prosperous hundred years.
Words and photographs: Zack Stiling
Pubblicato:
giovedì marzo 21st, 2024
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Commenti
James Holland
21 Marzo 2024, 18:06
A wonderful event indeed despite the fact that restrictions at Brooklands make running quicker machines rather difficult. The original blown V-twin AJS does still exist—it was owned for many years by keen Bugattiste and engineer Geoffrey St. John. I'm not sure where it is now, however.
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