There was an increase in the number of participants with local connections when the British Historic Racing Club ran its 2008 season of motorcycle road race events. The BHR promoted 11 race days at six circuits in England and Wales.

See pictures from the race in our gallery below.

With nine solo, three sidecar/three wheeler classes, plus races for single cylinder Ducati, BSA Bantam and Scooter machines, the BHR club provided a huge variety of competitive events mainly for older machinery.

Wellington sidecar passenger Colin Banks had to miss the entire 2007 Historic race season when his previous driver retired from racing.

In 2008 Colin joined Lancashire’s Tony Bannister to race a 650cc Triumph outfit in the pre 1958 sidecar class.

Tony’s very competitive driving, aided by Colin’s efforts in the sidecar soon saw them up with the class leaders. Their first win came in May at the Three Sisters Circuit event.

Two more wins followed at Mallory Park in June, one of which was a round of the Champion of Champions series.

Bad weather

Adverse weather conditions at the Welsh coastal location reduced the Anglesey meeting to racing on the Sunday only. Consequently Tony and Colin only had two race starts, finishing a close second in their first outing.

Unfortunately during race two, a “racing incident” involving another outfit, caused Colin to tumble from the sidecar. Thankfully he was not injured, but it spoiled their chance of another good placing.

There were no mistakes a month later at Lydden in Kent, Tony and Colin having three wins and one second place, making the long trip south worthwhile.

The final weekend of BHR racing at Cadwell Park had a delayed start due to thick fog on the Saturday but most of the races were completed. Tony and Colin rounded off their successful season finishing all their events in the top three.

The final overall points tables saw Tony and Colin win both the Pre 1958 Sidecar class and the Champion of Champions title.

Victory for Triumph

This latter victory means the Bannister/Banks 650cc Triumph machine will carry the Number One racing plates during all the 2009 sidecar events.

A long established feature of Historic Racing is the sight of Morgan three wheel cars racing with conventional sidecar outfits and these encounters are always popular with spectators.

Guy Shotton from Ditton Priors began his Morgan racing activities by using a car owned, and previously raced very successfully by his father Dave.

Guy then totally rebuilt his own 1933 Racing model Morgan and has been using this machine for the last two seasons.

Powered by a 1200cc Vee twin JAP engine, the car has been going extremely well in 2008 enabling Guy to challenge some of the leading Morgan drivers.

During the 2008 racing season, Guy had several second and third places, however on one occasion he did cross the finish line in first position.

Relegated

Alas Guy was deemed to have jumped the start and relegated to second place! The racing rules require Morgans to carry a passenger, and Guy is sometimes assisted by Lincoln’s Ian Scutt who is a top rider in the BSA Bantam races.

In the solo machine events, Llanfair Caereinion’s David Sale was again racing the 1955 500cc Velocette loaned by his friend Ken Haynes.

Dave planned to compete at all the BHR rounds, and apart from some clutch trouble at Mallory Park in June, was having a good season.

Dave could usually be found involved in some close racing with his brother Barry, who rides a similar Velocette, and some other riders in the 500cc class races.

Unfortunately after some earlier races at the Lydden Circuit, Dave’s Velocette engine stopped suddenly with a loud bang from the exhaust!

When he examined the machine in his workshop, Dave found the engine was extensively damaged and he was unable to rebuild it in time for the final meeting at Cadwell Park.

While he was very disappointed, Dave remarked that he could not complain as the engine had given him almost four seasons of racing with no real problems.

After an 18-month absence, Stuart Balnaves returned to race the 1952 350cc Velocette owned by John Carter from St Georges.

However with the March Mallory Park being abandoned, and missing Donington Park when his son was taken ill, Stuart did not start in a race until the June Mallory meeting.

Back in the driving seat

After five races, with improvements to his lap times on each outing, Stuart reckoned he had “blown the cobwebs away”!

As mentioned, racing was only possible on one day at the Anglesey track, leaving Stuart with only five races. Despite not having ridden on the redesigned circuit before, he rode very well.

His final race of the day had been the Velocette event which ran concurrently with two other races which made it rather difficult to follow.

When he collected his result sheets, Stuart was very surprised to find he had won the Velocette class by ten seconds from Dave Sale!

The Friday night storms had wrecked Stuart’s tent, but he travelled home very happy with a first race win to his name!

Stuart’s short season was completed at Cadwell Park with top ten finishes in seven of his races. The Saturday delay caused the Velocette race to be moved to the Sunday evening, and it became the very last race of the BHR season.

In the lead

This time there was no confusion over the result as Stuart lead from start to finish! Incidentally, it was almost exactly 27 years since the Carter Velocette had won a race at Cadwell.

The scooter races at Historic events are arranged for members of the British Scooter Sporting Organisation by the BHR Club. With their traditionally styled bodywork and small wheels, the machines used in these events outwardly resemble those seen on the streets.

As may be imagined, for track use these scooters are extremely well prepared. Engines, transmissions and brakes are uprated, and those small wheels can be fitted with a variety of different tyres to suit the prevailing track conditions.

Some riders even pre heat their tyres with heated covers to obtain maximum grip as soon as the race starts.

With engine sizes from 70cc to 250cc and standard and racing machines, scooter events have several sub divisions to cater for these differences.

High attendance

The races are very well supported, so with 30 or more riders on the starting grid, the first few corners are very busy places.

A very keen scooter racer some years ago, Chris Geyton restarted competition in 2008 and rode his 203cc Lambretta at all the meetings.

Despite quite a long absence, Chris, from Bridgnorth had obviously lost none of his previous track skill by finishing fifth overall in the 250cc racing class.

Chris mentioned how friendly the general atmosphere was at BHR events and hopes the link with the BSSO can be retained in the future.

In addition to actually racing, Chris enjoys preparing his machine, and his workshop activity has significantly increased the performance of his Lambretta’s engine.

One of the newest recruits to scooter racing is Oswestry’s Kevin Griffiths, who made his competition debut at the Anglesey meeting. Kevin also rode his Lambretta at the end of season Cadwell event, and said he had enjoyed racing at both circuits.

Kevin added that getting started in scooter racing had been made much easier with the help of his friend Brandon Smith. Not only had Brandon built a very good 230cc engine for the Lambretta, but had given a great deal of assistance to Kevin at the race meetings.

Kevin is now planning to contest a greater number of race meetings in 2009.

For further information on Historic Racing visit to www.britishhistoricracing.co.uk

By John Carter