24 minute read
70, 60, 50 and 40 years ago
From the archive
Sometimes a chance comment changes the direction of a feature ever so slightly… in this case, by spanning a few more decades.
Words: Tim Britton Media Ltd Pics: Mortons Archive
With a new year on the horizon, there’s always a bit of reflection on what has gone before. The archive at Mortons – CDB’s publisher – stores the bulk of what was in MotorCycle and MotorCycling, which were the UK’s premier motorcycling publications from 1902 to 1983 when MotorCycle Weekly fizzled out. The addition of Nick Nicholls’ Collection a year or two ago was a good thing as his colour image resource from many major off-road events is an important part of CDB.
As well as pictures, slides, prints, negatives and line drawings from 80 years of motorcycling publications there are also 80 years’ worth of motorcycle papers on the shelves. Happening to have MotorCycle Weekly January to June 1982 open, and looking for something for another feature, it eventually dawned on me that 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of Bernie Schreiber’s win in the SSDT. A momentous occasion as Bernie is currently the only American to win this event and I remember reading about it in the paper in those days. This set off a chain reaction along the lines of ‘hmmm, what was happening in 1972…?’ So, I had a look at the 1972 issues, then further back to 1962 and the title for this piece became obvious: ‘60, 50, 40 years ago’. In my mind the calendar was flicking back like the counter on the wonderfully steampunk time machine in the film based on HG Wells’ book. It’s a shame the archive doesn’t have even a pretend lever to operate like Rod Taylor did in the film… anyway, back to 1962 which is a long time ago... Then our archivist Jane came in looking for pics of John Avery as she’d been speaking to someone about the BSA works rider and they wanted a couple of pics of him as a present. With John still being around it was obvious another decade had to be added to the list. So, here’s a sample of what was going on from 70, 60, 50 and 40 years ago and recorded by MotorCycle and MotorCycling – with a smattering of mainstream news items to spice things up a bit.
Above: Homeward bound, BSA’s Maudes and ISDT team. Fred Rist chats to the official ACU observer, Brian Martin casts a wary glance at the camera while Norman Vanhouse has the ‘we've done it!’ smile.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN… 1952
Though we tend to focus on motorcycling, often to the exclusion of all else, there are things which happen in the wider world which bear mentioning, if only to put our motorcycling in context.
As around the world there were nuclear arms tests by several countries, Japan and the Allied powers signed a peace agreement to formally end the Second World War and the occupation of Japan. On a happier and more automotive note Chevrolet introduced the Corvette prototype to the world.
Here in the UK King George VI passed away and we entered the second Elizabethan age when his daughter Elizabeth II became queen though the coronation wasn’t until 1953.
In the sporting world both Olympic contests were held in Scandinavia in 1952 with Finland hosting the summer games and Norway the winter ones. The UK gained one gold in each contest in case you were wondering.
1952 was the year when…
… motorcycle dealer John Avery repaid BSA’s comp shop boss Bert Perrigo’s faith in him by winning the 500cc British Scrambles Driver’s Star in his first season as a member of the BSA works team. Avery had been doing well on a converted B25 250 BSA which he’d acquired when it had been taken in part exchange at his father’s car dealership. The bike was nearly new but seized solid; Avery rebuilt it and used it in trials including the SSDT and then converted it to scrambles trim. Despite giving away quite a bit in capacity Avery and the B25 acquitted themselves well and he was ‘noticed’. The lad had started his own motorcycle shop after his obligatory National Service and combined his scrambling with building up his business. It is likely his regular success in off-road events would help increase the traffic to his shop as everyone likes to be associated with a winner.
BSA were grabbing headlines elsewhere in motorcycling in 1952 when they fielded a successful team in the ISDT and also gained the Maudes Trophy for this feat. In those days the ISDT was considered a shop window to the world and teams were expected to enter on catalogued machines which could be bought by the general public, less the on-the-daymods to make the motorcycles suitable for an enduro. BSA entered a team of three riders – Brian Martin, Fred Rist and Norman Vanhouse – into the ISDT on the newly introduced A7 500cc twin and announced they would also attempt to win the Maudes Trophy at the same time. Maudes Motors presented this trophy to the ACU to be awarded to anyone who in the eyes of the judges ‘furthered the cause of motorcycling’. The trophy was hotly contested though not always awarded, however BSA’s attempt was successful and consisted of three machines being pulled from the production line by an independent observer, run in under supervision, serviced as would be a customer machine then prepped for the ISDT. The three riders then rode from the factory to the event in Austria, taking in as many BSA dealers on the way as they could, competed in the event and won gold medals, then rode back to the factory…
Above: John Avery speeds towards his British Championship win.
Right: Fred Rist hustles his BSA along a dirt road in Austria.
Below: Norman Vanhouse deals with a treacherous road surface.
Above: After an inauspicious start to the championship, eventual winner Torsten Hallman leapt ahead.
Left: Hallman pulls ahead.
Below: High above Kinlochleven, Sammy Miller gives away one of the few marks he lost in 1962’s SSDT.
1962 was the year when…
…Sammy Miller won his first of five SSDTs and the quarter litre scrambles class gained world championship status.
It was inevitable once the 500cc class was granted world status the 250cc contest would also want to be recognised as a similarly important one. Here in the UK with new riders restricted to machines of 250cc it is no wonder future 500cc world champion Jeff Smith was often in action on a C15 BSA in both home and international contests. As the contest began in 1962 the smart money was on Dave Bickers being the likely winner as he was the reigning European champion and riding well. However Greeves decreed Bickers would contest the UK home championship and was expected to bring the 250 title back to Greeves after Arthur Lampkin won it for BSA. This meant no Bickers in the world championship contest though both Jeff Smith and Arthur Lampkin were there for BSA. Despite good showings with their C15s, Lampkin was the overall winner in the first round in Spain when all sorts of troubles beset the entry and few two-strokes finished the races. As the 250 contest went on there was little doubt the world was seeing superb racing and there was no clear favourite for the top spot and even with only three meetings left the title could go to one of three riders – they being Torsten Hallman, Arthur Lampkin and Jeff Smith. In the end though, it was Sweden’s Torsten Hallman who was to be the first 250cc world champion but didn’t have it all his own way as the British 250 GP near Glastonbury provided a tantalising glimpse of what might have been had Bickers been in the world contest. Hallman couldn’t stay with Greeves-mounted Bickers on the Gloucestershire circuit.
While the majority of top line scrambles and trials riders concentrated on one discipline or the other, BSA’s two top men had to make an overnight dash from the Belgian 250 MX to Edinburgh for the start of the SSDT. Lampkin and Smith had their machines weighed in and grabbed a few hours’ sleep before setting out on the week’s feet-up duty. Though always on the leader board it was increasingly clear to Arthur and Jeff, the rest of the entry too, as each day passed Sammy Miller was on a mission and was further and further ahead of the opposition with only 1961 winner Gordon Jackson looking anywhere like staying with him. Due to the way the calendar falls and the tradition of the Scottish always being in the first full week in May – the weigh-in can happen on the last day of April but the trial proper starts in May – the event was slightly later in 1962 and was held in glorious sunshine which the spectators appreciated more than the riders. There had been weeks of dry weather which competitors would find out made the going actually tougher in a lot of sections as the ground dried out and allowed normally well-settled rocks to move. However, at the weigh-in in Edinburgh enthusiasts could be
Above: MotorCycle's editor Harry Louis hatched a plan to ride over Applecross Pass in winter.
Below left: SSDT won... I know, let's win the Scott too.
Below right: Torsten Hallman puts small capacity two-strokes on the world MX map.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN…1962
In the wider world away from motorcycling John Glenn orbited Earth as America’s first astronaut and signalled the US’s intention to land a man on the moon before the decade was out.
Closer to the UK and in the entertainment world, musically The Beatles were riding high while the black and white TV sets of the day saw a sitcom based around a father and son rag and bone team called Steptoe and Son; it was to prove endearingly popular as both characters struck a chord with the public. On the big screen a former Edinburgh milkman stole the limelight – despite Ursula Andress walking out of the sea – when he gave movie life to Ian Fleming’s James Bond and Sean Connery’s portrayal of the secret agent gave impressionists and mimics a lifetime of work copying his accent.
It was also the year when Marilyn Monroe’s glittering life came to an end and spawned conspiracy theories which run to this day.
Right: Miller feet-up as usual.
Below: Bill Nilsson’s interesting debut to his new MXer.
forgiven for thinking they had arrived at a motorcycle show rather than the scrutineering day for a six-day event as the parc ferme glistened as sunshine was reflected off polished alloy, gleaming chrome and rich paintwork. So inspiring was the sight of gleaming machines Royal Enfield star Johnny Brittain fitted a new petrol tank to his 248cc machine for no better reason than to brighten it up.
Monday morning and the entry headed up to the Highlands with 150 miles and 24 observed sections to tackle as the weather made a pleasant change from riding into driving rain, sleet and snow. At the end of day one three riders were on clean – Miller, Jackson and Dot star Eric Adcock – it was to be the only day Miller shared the lead. After a single dab on Tuesday as the week wore on Miller kept his feet on the rests to hold the lead, Gordon Jackson was almost as frugal with dabs which meant the pair were the only two in single figures until Friday when both riders cast marks away leaving Miller on eight and Jackson on 18 by Friday night. Third place man Mike Ransom had been going up the leader board except on Wednesday when there was a slight hiccup in his progress, rectified on Thursday. With only the ride back to Edinburgh on Saturday the trial was as good as over on Friday night and Miller had his name on the Alexander Trophy at last.
The 1962 event was also notable for a young lad just setting out on his SSDT career… Mick Andrews would finish 29th in his first Scottish aboard a 347 AJS.
1972 was the year when…
…Mick Andrews matched Hugh Viney’s SSDT hat trick while Joel Robert once again confounded critics to take another 250cc MX world championship and the 47th ISDT was billed as the biggest ever.
There was some confusion in the programme of the 1972 SSDT, announced as the Golden Jubilee event marking 50 trials – some claimed it wasn’t quite so. The confusion arose because there were several multi-day events held in Scotland during the early part of the 20th century with five, six and seven-day trials featuring in the press. Still, in 1972 the trial had been around for a while and in all those years there had only been one hat trick when Hugh Viney won three times on the trot in the Forties. As the entry assembled in Edinburgh for the weigh-in a Viney-protégé was being tipped to match the feat. Mick Andrews had made his SSDT debut 10 years earlier on an AJS but, despite being in the top three six times since his debut, it was not until 1970 he won the trial. Sadly for the UK it was on a Spanish OSSA as the home industry was hardly even a shadow of its former self by then. He repeated the win in 1971 and it was all to do in ’72!
There was extra incentive for riders to do well in 1972, the Edinburgh DMC had six ‘day’ sponsors who provided an award for the best rider on each day. There were a number of riders who could be in contention for not only the day awards but the premier trophy too, however with 175 sections and 685 miles ahead of them the outcome would not be certain until the entry were back in Edinburgh the following Saturday.
Troubles hit some riders early on and a young lad tipped for stardom didn’t even make the first section… it was a blow to both the Bultaco and Bradford ‘A’ teams when Martin Lampkin’s 325 Bultaco seized its big end bearing not 10 miles into the trial. Luckily
Above: Mike Ransom has no time to admire the scenery at Callart as he heads for third place in the 1962 SSDT.
R ight: Mick Andrews guides his OSSA around a tight turn on his hattrick ride in 1972’s SSDT.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN…1972
Away from motorcycling – almost – Aardman Animations was founded in this year, and its Wallace and Gromit characters would take on the world with Wensleydale cheese and a motorcycle and sidecar. Ford introduced the Granada to the UK while MotorCycle carried a feature on low lead petrol with sugar-based ethanol as the anti-detonation ingredient.
Sadly 1972 will also be remembered as the year terrorists murdered athletes at the Olympic games in Munich.
Above: The loose boulders on Laggan Locks seem no trouble to Mick Andrews... for riders such as the editor of CDB it was a different story.
Right: Loch Eild path, a chance for Mick Andrews to take a breath. Mart would make up for this later in the Seventies by gaining his own Scottish hat trick. OSSA rider Bill Wilkinson too would hit trouble though later on in the week. As the daily results were posted each evening it looked as though the Alexander Trophy would head to Yorkshire rather than Derbyshire as Malcolm Rathmell dominated the leader board for the first three days. However Thursday’s run changed everything and time penalties made their presence felt. Some claimed the schedule was too tight yet nearly 70 riders completed the day on time with Mick Andrews showing his experience by treating the trial as one event rather than six single trials. Speaking to the press Mick admitted he was disappointed with his results up until midweek but knew the Thursday run would be tight so gambled on staying inside the time limit and losing a little on observation. It proved the correct thing to do and he was trial leader at the end of the day. On the last day, with 10 marks ahead of the second place man Alan Lampkin, Mick went for safety and could afford the odd dab to prevent a larger loss of marks. Rolling into the finish in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon Mick Andrews added his name to the JR Alexander Trophy for the third time and would go on to win a further two times to equal Sammy Miller’s five wins.
While Mick Andrews was playing true to form, a Belgian scrambler, or MXer as it was now being termed, was playing against what the ‘experts’ felt should happen. Joel Robert added a sixth 250cc MX championship to his tally in 1972 despite being repeatedly written off by all sorts of people including at one point the factory he was riding for. His first win in 1964 was deemed a fluke as it took him four years to lift another title. He was discounted as only a possibility for the second title in 1968; the same pundits dismissed him in 1969, 1970 and 1971 too. Even Suzuki admitted to signing him as a back-up to their star man Sylvain Geboers and to remove a CZ threat. No one must have mentioned this to Roberts though as he dominated the series in those years and took more GP wins than anyone. In a clear example
of dogmatic punditism – ergo ‘we’ll keep saying something until it happens’ – he was written off again in 1972 and again he dominated the series. Not sure about the other pundits but MotorCycle’s man Mike Bashford put in print he was one of the naysayers and vowed not to do it again unless Joel personally told him he was abdicating the crown.
With autumn approaching the big event on the horizon was the ISDT, in Czechoslovakia for 1972. There were changes for the UK Trophy team as, for the first time, they would be mounted on foreign machines. The stipulation requiring a Trophy team to be mounted on machines manufactured in the home country had been removed for 1970. Also removed were every sponsorship sticker or decal from the bikes, helmets and riding gear by order of the Czech organising authority, only manufacturers’ tank badges were allowed… why? No one could figure it out.
A series of incidents put paid to the UK’s attempt to win the event as crashes and breakages hit the team members – with Mick Wilkinson’s 80mph ‘off’ being potentially the most serious. It seemed the foreign machines were less reliable than they should be with teamster Gordon Farley’s Montesa looking like a hastily built afterthought rather than a factory machine. Mick Andrews’ OSSA, while decidedly tidy and well produced, wasn’t a patch on the Jawas of the Czech team so Mick couldn’t match his other six-day success in 1972. There were grumblings in the press along the lines of ‘more preparation or chuck in the towel.’
Above: If only this had been the year before... Gordon Jackson, feet up on Grey Mare’s Ridge in 1962.
Left: A classic SSDT image, waxed cotton riding kit, cloth cap and bikes which worked... Okay, Mick Andrews too.
1982 was the year when…
…American trials star Bernie Schreiber won the SSDT, Dutch racers dominated the Le Touquet beach race, while another American won the British 500 MX GP and the UK ISDE effort was decimated by a clothing crisis.
As the premier event certainly in the UK trials calendar the SSDT was always big news in the motorcycle press and 1982 was no exception. In the weeks leading up to the trial there was much speculation as to who would win in ’82 as the trials scene was changing. Yes, the three dominant Spanish marques were still represented but it wouldn’t be long before they went out but the Italians had taken an interest and Honda joined Yamaha as the Japanese took more note of the sport. Also coming to their end were the dominant riders of the Seventies and in was coming a new style of riding with younger riders doing it. A straw poll of top riders on their predictions gave some interesting answers with Eddie Lejeune being favourite to win. Joining the Belgian on the favourites list were 1981 winner Gilles Burgat, 1980 winner Yrjo Vesterinen, back on his beloved Bultaco, UK’s hope and three-time winner Martin Lampkin, now on SWM and fellow SWM rider Bernie Schreiber. Schreiber was considered a dark horse as his form in Scotland was mixed. The course too had changed and modern trials riders were not so keen on the haul from Edinburgh up to Fort William and back. So the start and finish of the trial remained in Fort William, as it had been since 1977 when a Gathering of the Clans filled Edinburgh hotels.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN… 1982
Away from motorcycling and on the world stage the UK and Argentina became involved in an armed conflict in the South Atlantic and these actions led to the shortlived Falklands War. The relic of a war almost 440 years previously was raised in this year; Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose was sunk in 1545 and lay on the bottom of the Solent until 1982.
Petrol vehicle users in the UK were aghast as the price of an Imperial gallon of the vital liquid rocketed to £1.59! Yes £1.59 for a gallon, not a litre… making it between 34p and 35p per litre. Motoring organisations stated motorists wouldn’t stand for it.
With the entry heading to Fort William the Highland weather decided to take a hand… it could be quite pleasant in the Highlands in early May, equally it could be not quite so pleasant … 1982 was a year when it wasn’t so pleasant. As gale force winds, snow, rain and low-lying clouds put a damper on the parc ferme activities and even caused scrutineering problems the organisers worriedly checked the course for Monday. Snow was the first problem; it made some higher sections totally inaccessible and were replaced by eight sections added to other groups. With sections altered and route re-routed, which would be the story for the week, the bedraggled entry made their way to the finish and once the results were out it was Eddie Lejeune in the lead. It was a position Lejeune would hold on to for all but two days; as the weather played havoc with the trial the Belgian showed mastery and kept ahead of Bernie Schreiber except on Thursday and the all-important last day when the riders swapped positions. It was interesting to see, apparently, the two lead riders’ style as Lejeune was looking increasingly like a man on the edge while Schreiber was in the groove and displaying his skills. Then it all went the other way as Lejeune put up a display of why he was never to be discounted. Even losing his jacket and tools couldn’t phase him on this last-but-one day and the Belgian was in the lead again. Sadly for Lejeune his luck started to run out, a puncture on Pipeline had him fighting the bike and section to do well to escape with a three. At Grey Mare’s Ridge – scene of Gordon Jackson’s solitary dab in 1961 – Lejeune stopped! His day got worse and Ben Nevis sections were a nightmare for him. Schreiber on the other hand just got better and better as the day went on and finally finished on 13 for the day…28 marks fewer than Lejeune who dropped to fourth and the SSDT had, to date, its only American winner.
The phenomenon which was le Touquet beach race attracted 1200 riders in 1982 including a brace of sand specialists from Holland. Beach equals sand and there are lots of sand courses in Holland and they were expected to do well… Though with an entry including former world champions, Paris Dakar winners and top factory riders from America they were up against tough competition. There was no ambiguity in what was needed; the course was 10 miles long, the time was three hours and the winner would be the one who completed as many laps as possible in the time allowed. Kees van der Ven hustled his 495 KTM around for nine laps, Bennie Wilkin was eight minutes behind him and John Ruitenbeck made a Dutch 1-2-3 by being 11 minutes behind…
Riding high at the top of the world in 1982 Brad Lackey took the 500cc world MX crown for himself, the US and Suzuki. Not the winningest rider in the series, Andre Malherbe was top with five wins but didn’t complete the series, Lackey’s three wins and consistency gained him the title. One of his wins was the British GP at Farleigh Castle in Wiltshire where, in a mirror of the Austrian round, Lackey took the win over the UK’s Dave Thorpe. In Wiltshire as in Austria, Thorpe won the first leg with Lackey second, Lackey won the second leg with Thorpe second and Lackey’s higher result in the second leg gave him the win. Eventually the American would lift the crown with 11 points more than second place Belgian Andre Vromans, also a Suzuki rider. It was to be a bittersweet victory and title too as the outspoken American had criticised the factory machines and the Japanese culture is not one to take such criticism lightly. Already the rumblings were heard after the British GP that Lackey’s contract was unlikely to be renewed for 1983.
Contractual obligations caused a fuss in the ISDE when the two top UK riders withdrew from team duties over a sponsorship row. In the old days the British team were provided with riding kit by Barbour and in any case the riders would be clad in such kit in other events already. However once the world went colourful and factory teams would have their own sponsorship deals which riders would have to adhere to, their sponsors would be less keen on playing second fiddle to another clothing supplier. Additionally sponsorship contracts often had a financial return too and losing out on income is never good, especially in a precarious sporting world.
Above: To date, Bernie Schreiber is still the only American rider to win the SSDT.
