Gold Star
A special band of riders
Gold Star History - From an article written for a 1955 programme
"If you see a Bemsee member looking old enough to have raced pre war then take a look at his button hole badge. Possibly there will be a small gilt star no larger than a shirt button suspended beneath the crossed jacks. This is a Gold Star, now nothing more than a bit of motorcycling history, but it is a rare and much prized decoration, for no more than 200 were awarded.
They were worn by those members who at a BMCRC meeting at Brooklands lapped the circuit over 100mph in each capacity class. Thus a rider could win more than one Gold Star by entering different classes 1000cc, 500cc, 350cc. Only one 250cc Gold Star was awarded and that went to Mr B Saunders in 1933.
How and when the idea was born we do not know. Records were not kept for posterity in those days and more over all Bemsee pre war records were lost or destroyed during the war years 1939-45. We can say with certainty that the very first Gold Star was awarded in 1922 to Herbert le Vack for his performance at the club's meeting on 27th October, riding a 980cc Zenith J.A.P. on a wet Brooklands circuit. We have established this fact from the Bemsee Awards Booklet produce in 1928 a link here which is also corroborated in the book The Vintage Years at Brooklands by Dr Joseph Bayley, a picture and info reproduced at the bottom of this page.
As the machines became progressively faster it became easier to win a Gold Star on a 500cc although just as uncomfortable as the Brooklands humps were no less softer or numerous and spring frames were a rarity.
An even greater rarity is the Double Gold Star
These were awarded to riders who lapped the Brooklands circuit at over 120mph.
Only 2 of these have ever been awarded.
Both in 1935 the first to Noel Baddow Pope and the second went to Eric Crudgington Fernihough
A complete list of all the Bemsee Gold Star Holders as of 1939, when Brooklands closed for WWII can be found Here
An Alphabetical list of winner can be found Here
Herbert Le Vack . . . . . 1st Gold Star winner
Born in 1888 in London Bert became interested in motorcycles after a visit to Brooklands, his first race was in 1909 at a Bemsee meeting being the Hill Climb event held there. In 1922, le Vack joined J A Prestwich and Sons, J.A.P and was employed in the experimental and racing department.
He appeared on this Zenith on 8 April 1922, when he finished second to Temple's Harley Davidson in two races. There were two of these machines, the other being used for sidecar racing, and it was on this second machine that le Vack ran second to D H Davidson's Indian in the 1000 cc 200 Miles Sidecar Race on 17 June.
However, it was on the Zenith (shown below) that le Vack made history on 27th October 1922, when, on a rather cold day with intermittent drizzle, he covered 5 miles from a flying start in 2 minutes 5948 seconds, a speed of 100.29 mph. This was the first occasion that a British motor cycle had established a record at over 100 mph, and the first time that a motor cycle had lapped Brooklands at over 100 mph. For this achievement Le Vack would later be awarded the very first Bemsee Gold Star.
On 31 October 1922, le Vack established a new world's record for the flying-start kilometer with a mean speed of 102.8 mph.
In September 1931 when working in Switzerland, he died whilst riding an outfit in what appeared to be a medical episode, he lost control of the outfit and hit a tree the passenger was thrown out but survived.