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Spokes in the sun: scenes from the Brooklands Veteran & Vintage Motorcycle Day
Visitors admire a well-restored 1943 Harley-Davidson WLA
The c.1914 Woodrow cyclecar: a delightfully curious machine
It's powered by a vee-twin of about one litre
With all the polished chrome fuel tanks of the 1930s, as on this 1938 500 c.c. BSA,, sunglasses were to be advised
They don't come much more oily-rag than this Koehler-Escoffier
Roger Horsfield's 1900 Phébus is still actively raced in Team Jarrott events
Roy Tubby commences a quick Test Hill ascent in his 1916 Morgan
This 1939 Triumph 5H Deluxe was unassuming but interesting—it was an export model originally supplied to Denmark
The unmistakeable profile of a 1920s Scott
A 1912 Harley-Davidson Model X8E piggy-backs on a 1936 Ford pick-up
Frazer Sloan's superb Seal had plenty of visitors scratching their heads
A well turned-out rider astride a 1913 Rex 6hp
1915 Zenith 770 c.c. looked extremely clean
It carries a Bucquet badge and a De Dion engine, but in all other areas this car is a mystery to us for the time being
Tony Crump's 1921 machine took centre stage in an ABC display
Robin Batchelor offers a philosophical wave after his 1921 GN declined the Test Hill
1926 Zenith 175 c.c. is an excellent preservation piece, and believed to be a unique survivor
The remarkable racing Blumfield has connections to the very beginning of the British motor industry
It's not every day one encounters a 1938 Nimbus
The petite JAP vee-twin of the sole-surviving 1913 Rollo
1928 Douglas 500 c.c. is a rare example of an early speedway and grass-track racer
The 1914 Hatfield JAP built by Horace Moore
The sight of the Mills Busy Bee always raises a smile
Not one but two two-stroke Woolers
For those of us in England, 2023 and 2024 felt at times like one perennial winter, so it's with a sense of optimism for 2025 that I report from the Veteran & Vintage Motorcycle Day at Brooklands, which was blessed with clear skies, a fresh vernal zephyr, first-class two- and four-wheeled machines and the most genial of atmospheres.
The event really owes its existence to the Sunbeam Motorcycle Club, which celebrated its centenary at Brooklands last year with such a large and successful assembly of pre-war motorcycles that Brooklands decided to repeat the event under its own organisation. This year's occasion was the lesser in vehicle numbers but the greater in variety, with members of motorcycling's extended family participating, too—the Veteran Cycle Club produced an exhibition of pre-Kaiser War bicycles, and a display of some 14 rare and unusual cyclecars. On top of that, there was action in the form of demonstration runs, Test Hill ascents and gymkhana activities.
The motorcycle world is full of delightful oddities and one that stood out was the Blumfield, a water-cooled racing machine of a type which competed in the Isle of Man Senior T.T. The Birmingham firm of Blumfield was primarily a maker of single-cylinder and vee-twin engines. Founded by Thomas William Blumfield, its first motorcycle had been built by 1903 with a Minerva engine, but machines with its own engines were built from 1910 to 1914. Its engines were also used in cyclecars, notably the Crescent, but what is perhaps most fascinating is that their originator was the same Mr. Blumfield concerned with the Garrard & Blumfield electric car in 1894.
Other unique machines included the two Darts of 1901 and 1919 constructed by Brooklands racer Frank Barker, Harold Karslake's famous 1903 Dreadnought, a fully-restored 1903 Royal Sovereign and the 1914 Hatfield JAP, built by Horace Edwin Moore of Hatfield Peverel. Among later machines, one of the most interesting was a Danish-built Nimbus, a 750 c.c. inline-four touring machine from 1938. The amassed cyclecars included a few familiar sporting marques—Morgan and GN—plus a litany of the lesser-known and downright obscure, encompassing Humberette, Benjamin, Twombly, Rollo, Seal, Grahame-White, OTAV (made in Milan), Woodrow, Bucquet and the do-it-yourself Grafton. The Woodrow was a particularly agreeable-looking machine produced in Stockport by a firm better known for making hats, which have a far higher survival rate. The display was organised by Kate Clark-Kennedy, who completed the line-up with the unique 1919 Mills Busy Bee, built by the Mansfield garage owner Joseph Mills.
The time fairly flew by, and before anyone knew it, closing time had rolled around, leaving us all to hit the road and hope that the Veteran & Vintage Motorcycle Day will henceforth be a firm annual fixture on the Brooklands calendar.
Words and photographs: Zack Stiling
Published:
Thursday April 10th, 2025
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