Snippets of info

How Gordon Cobbold and Harry Weslake got together and a tenuous link with gas meter.

Not long after, Harry Weslake moved his company to Fulham Road, SW London where the workforce was expanded to seven. Gordon Cobbold, a young racing motorcyclist, who competed at Brooklands, fitted a Wex carburettor to his Sunbeam motorcycle and had some success. He persuaded Weslake to sponsor him, so he could retain his amateur status, and soon Harry was spending a considerable amount of time at the track with Gordon. Sunbeam became interested and agreed to joint sponsor Cobbold. The development work for racing led Harry to develop a method of measuring the air flow through a carburettor, based on a system developed by Steven Simpson, who was the person that designed the ‘penny in the slot gas meter’ for Willeys

Sir Algernon Guinness (of the famous brewery family) was the club's President from 1931-54 upon his death. Sir Algy was a keen motorcycle sport fan, and the reason the club have this fabulous  trophy named in his honour. This snippet from an early programme. Brave man to ride a Vespa at TT !

Silverstone: Bemsee were the first  to organise motorcycle races at the Northamptonshire circuit in 1949, up until then it had just been cars. In the early 1960's informal talks were held between Bemsee and Silverstone regarding the purchase of the circuit, however nothing came to fruition. 1966 was the last year the club ran at the circuit following a disagreement over dates, the club move the majority of its events to Brands Hatch including the prestigious International Hutchinson 100. It wasn't until 1997 that the club returned to the Silverstone National circuit.

Televised Meeting: The BBC covered the 500cc race of the Hutchinson 100 event from Silverstone in 1951. Pathe News also covered it in 1953 a short clip can be seen Here and again in 1967 Here There was also TV coverage of the Super Cup events the club organised at Snetterton in the 90'

Grid Walks This novel idea first appeared at The Sun Free Day 11th March 1984 Brands Hatch, this popular season opener was also sponsored in turn by MCN

Brighton Speed Trials In 1956 as a one off the club organised the event  along the sea front at Madeira Dr, it was a success and further events were organised.

The Hutchinson 100 winners were presented with the Mellano on the day, but they weren't allowed to keep it, instead they were also presented with a small trophy as a keepsake. The one below was given to Klaus Enders in 1970, only 7 sidecar drivers have won the Hutch in it's rich history. Klaus  and Ralph Engelhardt were the last sidecar pairing to win it.

Only 2 men have won The Mellano 3 times

Cecil Charles Sandford 1953, 56, 57 and Barry Sheene, 1973, 75, 76, whilst everyone knows a great deal about Barry, Cecil's past may be a mystery to some.
Cecil first started to race in 1950 at the Ulster GP he became a World Champion in 1952 riding a works 125cc MV Agusta, there were also 2 wins at the Isle Man TT, he then went on to win the 1957 250cc World Championship as a factory Mondial rider. He retired from racing that year to Shipston-on-Stour, where he still lives with his wife Pat.  A wonderful interview  obtained by Mat Oxley with Cecil recalling his lifetime achievements can be found HERE

Medals During the 20's - 30's post WW1 medals were in fashion. The club presented this type to Winners, 2nd and 3rd's of races it organised. Keep an eye out as these will be making a reappearance with the club in 2022. It now appears that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (Oscar Wilde)  as Motogp for 2023 and now presenting their winners with medals ! Where Bemsee leads other follows.

Racing Attire In the 20's it just wasn't done for a gentleman to race without a tie !

Traveling Marshals are first mentioned in Bemsee programmes in 1923 it was in the 1990's that their use was fazed out with better radio communications available around circuits, although they are still used on Isle of Man.

Endurance From a time when Sidecars were able to compete for long distances. Here is the 200 mile sidecar race winner from 26th June 1926 at Brooklands Teddy Preswich & George Stocking averaged 63 mph. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they had some food and drink stashed in the chair for the duration ! . . . .along with a 10mm socket ! (yes we know they hadn't been invented then)

Race Meeting Format Strange as it may seem but a 2 day meeting is comparatively new when taken into context of the club's long history. Up until the 70's all events were 1 day affairs, even the Hutchinson 100 was listed as just a Sunday event, although from 1975 Bemsee ran a club meeting on the Saturday, in reverse, before the Big event which gave the stars a chance to put some practice time in, which compared with today's standard seems strange. It wasn't until 1977 that club riders got a full 2 day meeting with The Ben Ball meeting, which replaced the Hutch when it became too expensive to organise.

It was in 1982 the Sunday of the Ben Ball meeting that the British weather threw us a wobbly and a cloudburst over the circuit drop a considerable amount of water in a very short space of time. Following the contour of the land flash flooding came across from the grandstand over the start/finish line and on to pit lane, then through the garages and out behind falling back on to the circuit at Bottom Straight. As you can guess racing was unable to resume for the rest of the day.

In 1970 the club secretary Jim Swift along with Chris Lowe from MCD, (then owners of Brands Hatch) went to Florida at Easter for the Daytona 200 to instigate what was called the Match Races. which became more widely known as The Transatlantic Challenge. The story of how this came about can be found in this link to an interview with Bruce Cox HERE

Where we used to have our HQ Bemsee House (very grand) Dartnell rd Croydon

and the ladies hard at work producing a race programme, not a computer in sight