Indulge a need for speed –
BRITISH Historic Racing, the racing arm of the Vintage Motorcycle Club, returns to Anglesey Circuit this weekend.
They will host a race meeting featuring solo motorcycles, scooters, sidecars and B3 cycle cars from the 1930s up to 1986, together with ACU-sponsored championships.
The ACU Girder Fork Championship will be for the club’s very early solo machines, such as Norton CS1 and International, Rudge, Triumph Twins and Velocettes.
The smaller capacity solo races are for Formula Bantams, developed from what was known as the Post Office Bantam. These developed bikes reach speeds of up to 100mph and bring some exciting racing.
There is also an open 125cc class which includes Japanese bikes.
The club has race classes for bikes up to 250cc, 251 to 350cc, 351 to 500cc and 501, to unlimited cc machines from 1934 to 1972, split into three championships.
This will include legendary marques including Velocettes, Rudge, Royal Enfield, Ducati, Greeves, Norton, Royal Enfield, BSA, Seeley, BMW, Moto Guzzi, Laverda, Benelli, Morini, Aermacchi and other machines.
Running alongside these will be the Air Cooled Japanese Championship, with Suzuki, Yamaha and Hondas of all capacities, all giving some thrilling and competitive racing.
There is also a Single Cylinder Ducati Championship for solos 250 to 500cc capacity, sponsored by Lacey Ducati.
Other Solo classes include Super Mono Championship for the single cylinder KTM’s, Tigcraft and others of unlimited capacity and up to 2005; We Three Bears Championship for up to 750cc machines mainly of three cylinders; and the club’s own version of what was B.E.A.R.S racing - BEARS being British European American Race Series.
This includes Laverda, Ducati, Triumph, Moto Guzzi, BMW, Nortons and others from the 70s and 80s – a very competitive class.
The BSSO Scooter Club will be running two Championships, the Group 6 championship sponsored by Casa Lambretta of Italy and Group 4 championship backed by the Lambretta Club of Great Britain.
The scooter racing draws a great deal of interest around the country and is quite a spectacle – very competitive and exciting to watch.
The sidecar races are diverse and have four classes, some with sub-classes. The early class is for up to 1958 sidecars, sit- up-and-beg type with traditionally bolton sidecar platforms, a real handful to control.
Then there is what is termed the kneeler class, in which the sidecar and motorcycle form is from one construction, for two cylinder bikes up to 1972, mainly Triumph, BSA and Norton with the odd BMW.
There is a B3 Cycle Car class for threewheeler Morgan’s, Berkley and Buckland machines.
Running with these will be Kneeler sidecars of over 751cc, such as Vincents and twin-engine Triumphs.
The event’s newest three-wheeler class is based on BEARS solo machines and bolt-on sidecars as in the up to 1958 class.
This has built up into a large very competitive race series, most machines, based on the BMW K100 motor cycle and the Moto Guzzi Le Mans.