MARVELLOUS MADNESS

The concept of board track racing blows your mind. The crazy speeds that were attained some 100 years ago are enough to stop you in your tracks, but it’s the sheer madness of using all that timber to create massive motodromes and grandstands to host the events that really beggars belief. Especially as there were countless dirt track ovals around at the time, where the racers could ply their trade. Still, motorcycle history is all the richer for boardtrack racing and we can only marvel of what those pioneers achieved back then on such basic machines.

What’s more impressive, though, is seeing amazing pictures like the opener on page 64 of Paul Anderson – it looks like it might have been shot today, such is the clarity of the image. The story came to us by chance when I was asking Amy Herl how she happened to be running a motorcycle photographic library – and she casually mentioned that her great grandfather was a works rider back in the 1920s. But he wasn’t just a top rider – he was also a controversial figure and I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading the story to discover why...

We’ve also got a revealing insight into the life of Velocette enthusiast and expert Ivan Rhodes, as well as a wonderful tale of British endeavour about a man who designed and hand-built his own racing 250 in his shed, took on the GP factory teams’ best bikes and beat them.

That spirit of creating great British machines continues in the mag, with a thoroughly modernised Commando – a wonderful machine with all the latest modifications that make it a totally useable road burner while retaining that classic British style that we all love so much.

We’ve covered the whole spectrum of classic motorcycling to help you see the new year in.

Enjoy the issue.