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Post by mikael on Nov 12, 2019 14:43:38 GMT
JC, impressive that you were actually there, at that race in Hawkstone Park. What a field of star riders!
Hawkstone Park was also the track where the, arguably, most famous overtake in the history of the sport took place, in 1984, when Georges Jobe overtook Andre Malherbe "from above", by taking two consecutive jumps as a double jump, whereas Malherbe carefully approached one at a time.
Georges Jobe overtakes Andre Malherbe "from above" at the British Motocross Grand Prix at Hawkstone Park, 1984.
Thank you very much for the link to the film "The Roughriders". So far I have just watched the introduction, but I will look forward to seeing it in its entirety. I have seen quite a number of photos of Jeff Smith (he was one of the great heroes of my father) but I have never seen him on film before, so this is really interesting. Also, a curious thing, I don't think I have ever seen a colour photo of him, only black-and-whites; so it's interesting to see the BSA in a bright yellow colour!
Interesting also to hear Smith tell that the 500cc class BSA was a originally a 350cc, bored up to 440cc; so nimbleness and good handling was apparently more important than "raw power". And interesting, finally, to see a young Murray Walker!
Below are a couple of photos of Jeff Smith, borrowed from the homepage of Palle Høst Andersen, one of the best riders of Denmark in the 50's. The photos are from Motocross des Nations 1955 in Volk Mølle (near the town/city of Randers, near to Aarhus). What looks like a flower field in the first photo is actually a "sea" of spectators. Amazing so many people motor sport could attract in those years.
Jeff Smith at Motocross de Nations, Volk Mølle (Denmark) 1955.
Jeff Smith at Motocross de Nations, Volk Mølle (Denmark) 1955.
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Post by charleselan on Nov 12, 2019 17:34:14 GMT
The only downside to that Mikael is that it makes me feel very old, however I do actually feel privileged to have seen those times for they were the great days of motor sport. At the time one really did not want it to end and as a kid you would try and hold on to those times for ever, I hope I am conveying my thought clearly here.
Jeff Smith truly was a great motocross/scrambles rider who had an unbelievably long and illustrious career. In those photos from 1955 he would have been a very young man, but even then he was outstanding as a rider. Physically very fit and long before training regimes came into play, and the absolute tactician in races. As a teenager I was not a big fan of the man as he was somewhat of the enemy against my own personal favourite(s). As I have mentioned previously my favourite was Vic Eastwood and he would often be the guy to go into battle with Jeffrey, and usually loose to the older master. Vic was more often than not quicker over a lap but Jeffery was relentless in races and also very canny, riding around difficult sections of the track rather than trying to blast his way through, thereby conserving his stamina.
However by 1966 Vic had matured and as Jeffery approached his later years the balance swung. The other rider in the UK that was on a par with Jeffery in the 1960's was the great Dave Bickers who had some titanic battles with him in National Championship events and the legendary Grandstand TV Trophy races that gained huge coverage in the winter months. Prior too the 1960's the big rivalry for Jeff Smith was with another great, big Dave Curtis the factory Matchless rider.
These two had some titanic battles during this period and I saw some of them, one in particular at the Cotswold Scramble (a very big event annually) where Dave Curtis had dominated for years. I think it was 1960 when this confrontation occurred and it was a race that anyone spectating would never forget with Jeffery winning on his factory BSA Gold Star beating Big Dave who had won the event five times previously. Curtis gained his revenge in 1961 by returning the compliment.
Dave Curtis was a farmer and due to this he often had to miss events as the farm took priority, this actually prevented him from doing a full world championship calendar, and due to harvesting always missed the very big national event in August at Tirley for the Gloucestershire Grand National. Incidentally Curtis actually won the very first Brian Stonebridge Memorial meeting I mentioned previously.
Incidentally in closing you mentioned the yellow tank on the 440 BSA Victor. The original machine on which Jeffery won his first world title was a 420 BSA and that had a traditional plain alloy fuel tank, this was followed by the 440. After that BSA changed the tank colour every season thereafter as well as gradually increasing the engine size, eventually to 498cc. In 1966 with a full 498 engine the bikes had black tanks and the world championship machines had the ill fated titanium frames which were a disaster for reason I may have explained some while back. The 1967 BSA's had pale blue tanks (the front section) and to me were the most lovely of all motocross bikes, just beautiful things. After that I think they went to white and then red front tank sections.
JC
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Post by charleselan on Nov 12, 2019 18:14:14 GMT
That is a brilliant little film Mikael which I have downloaded some time ago in my archive. I was at that event, a small 8 year old boy who had journeyed all the way from Gloucestershire to Shropshire in the sidecar on my dad's BSA 600cc. That was the year we attended our first Motocross Grand Prix meetings, we also did the 1959 250cc European Championship (not world status then) at Beenham Park near Newbury. Bill Nilsson as is shown in the film was masterful in winning at Hawkstone Park and this little lad could not believe there could be anyone better than the British riders I had been watching for the previous three years. Bill's Cresent motorcycle had an engine that was developed from a British AJS and i only found that out the other day when I chanced upon a Swedish site devoted to Bill Nilsson. It was at this meeting that the older Rickman brother (Derek) was challenging Nilsson quite strongly on then then very new Metisse machine but on that big steep hill (we were watching about two thirds of the way up) he crashed and broke his leg. John Charles, I enjoyed the short video Mikael posted without realizing who were the central stars that day. Theoretically, given the right equipment, a close-up of you and your father might be seen.  What a great memory for you!
Cheers, Carl
Carl, Indeed it was, and a whole family affair as my mother was on the pillion of the BSA. It will seem strange today but a trip like that in the 1950's was quite something, no motorways and all across country and through towns. I am not sure how my dad planned routes as he never really studied maps or anything like that, he just seemed to know where to go, maybe as a result of all his years as a long distance lorry driver for the Gloucester Aircraft Company (GAC). As an aside I was trawling through YouTube two years ago looking for old scrambles/motocross footage and I came upon a Pathé News short film of the 1967 British MX GP at Farleigh Castle which we as a family attended of course. The event won by a great East German World Champion Paul Freidrichs. The short B&W film of high quality showed a brief sweeping clip of the crowd receiving the winner as he did a parade lap. It was fleeting but by some weird chance as I looked at the passing crowd I shouted aloud that is my mum in the crowd; believe me it was fleeting but it just seemed to register. I downloaded the film and ran it through some editing software on my Mac, and by slowing it down frame by frame, sure enough there was my mother and alongside my dad, with yours truly to one side between some females  . As the quality was so good i did some screen grabs and have some excellent B&W enlarged prints of something I had no idea existed. John Charles |
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Post by Carl on Nov 12, 2019 18:40:04 GMT
John Charles, I enjoyed the short video Mikael posted without realizing who were the central stars that day. Theoretically, given the right equipment, a close-up of you and your father might be seen. What a great memory for you!
Cheers, Carl
Carl, Indeed it was, and a whole family affair as my mother was on the pillion of the BSA. It will seem strange today but a trip like that in the 1950's was quite something, no motorways and all across country and through towns. I am not sure how my dad planned routes as he never really studied maps or anything like that, he just seemed to know where to go, maybe as a result of all his years as a long distance lorry driver for the Gloucester Aircraft Company (GAC). As an aside I was trawling through YouTube two years ago looking for old scrambles/motocross footage and I came upon a Pathé News short film of the 1967 British MX GP at Farleigh Castle which we as a family attended of course. The event won by a great East German World Champion Paul Freidrichs. The short B&W film of high quality showed a brief sweeping clip of the crowd receiving the winner as he did a parade lap. It was fleeting but by some weird chance as I looked at the passing crowd I shouted aloud that is my mum in the crowd; believe me it was fleeting but it just seemed to register. I downloaded the film and ran it through some editing software on my Mac, and by slowing it down frame by frame, sure enough there was my mother and alongside my dad, with yours truly to one side between some females . As the quality was so good i did some screen grabs and have some excellent B&W enlarged prints of something I had no idea existed. John Charles Was it modesty that prevented you from revealing which females surrounded you at Farleigh Castle? 
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Post by René on Nov 12, 2019 19:08:34 GMT
I downloaded the film and ran it through some editing software on my Mac, and by slowing it down frame by frame, sure enough there was my mother and alongside my dad, with yours truly to one side between some females . As the quality was so good i did some screen grabs and have some excellent B&W enlarged prints of something I had no idea existed. Nice!  |
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. As the quality was so good i did some screen grabs and have some excellent B&W enlarged prints of something I had no idea existed.
