Full throttle into the fast world of motorcycles
THIS week in 2008 a major new talent in the world of motorcycle racing introduced himself to fans of the sport in emphatic style and made history in the process.
Born in Quedgeley, Scott Redding became the youngest rider to win a Grand Prix when he took the chequered flag at Donnington Park at the age of 15. It’s a record he held for ten years.
In 2019 Scott won the British Superbike Championship at his first attempt riding for Ducati. This year he is a works rider for BMW in the World Superbike Championship and a household name to those in the know.
Fans with long memories may recall another name from the county that made headlines in two wheeled motor racing. Jack Williams, nicknamed “The Cheltenham Flyer”, was a successful competitor in all forms of motorbike competition in the decades either side of the Second World War.
Jack took part in the first Manx Grand Prix in 1930, which until then had been called the Amateur TT, and finished seventh in the senior event. He was also a member of the British squad at the International Six Day Endurance event, which started in Germany and raced across the border into Switzerland, resulting in the manufacturers’ team prize for the Rudge motorcycle company.
Then in 1948 Jack was a member of the gold medal winning Norton works team that secured victory in the six day trial event at San Remo, Italy. By the way, the Norton motorcycle he rode in this event was sold at auction by Bonhams for £21,000 in 2011.
A true all-rounder in motorcycle competition, Jack Williams competed in trials, scrambles and road racing. His family ran the long established business in the town that, as you can see from the advert of 1957 reproduced here, once sold petrol powered two wheelers and today specialises in two wheelers of the pedal powered kind.
He gained a particular reputation as the man to beat in scrambles. Such meetings attracted spectators in their droves to local circuits. One of the most popular was at Upper Hill Farm on Cleeve Hill where for some years a race named the Noverton Grand Prix was staged. Stroud built Baughan motorcycles had a good record in this event.
Enthusiasts will recall that in the 1950s and 60s Tirley was home to the Gloucestershire and Cotswold Motorcycle Club. Road racing, scrambling, hill climbs, trials, motorcycle football, motorcycle and sidecar polo and other such events were staged at the course and drew large crowds.
Part of the attraction was that in those pre-health and safety times onlookers weren’t stopped from getting up close and personal with the machines that sped by, scattering mud, fumes and high volume decibels in all directions.
Motorcycle grass track racing was staged at Tirley as part of the Holidays At Home initiative. There was no shortage of riders who wanted to take part in the meetings, but in the immediate post war period there was a severe shortage of petrol.
Undaunted, many bikers tweaked their machines to run on methylated spirits, which was available from chemists, but only in small bottles. In the weeks prior to a race meeting, many Gloucestershire chemists found that meths sold out as quickly as they could get it.
After the war motorcycle clubs burgeoned. Races and scrambles were arranged almost every weekend and crowds of 10,000 or more turned out to watch the most popular events, one of which was the Cotswold Cup.
Star riders of that era included Bill Jackson (also known as The Gloucester Flyer) Jim Timms (a works rider for Gloucester made Cotton motorbikes) and Cecil Sandford, who lived at Blockley and was works rider for such long lost marques as AJS, Velocette, MV, Mondial and DKW.
Perhaps you were one of the many motorcycle fans who took part in, or watched the road racing weekend events that were held on the runways at Staverton airport in the 1960s.