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Bexhill, birth place of British motor racing ?

Started by philippe7 , Nov 02 2004 09:39

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31 replies to this topic

#1 philippe7

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 09:39

Dear friends,

Here is a question for the "real historians"

I was driving extensively around the UK all of last week on business, having not planned any specific motor-racing related activity ( apart from a long overdue pilgrimage to the Llandow circuit in South Wales, where I had my first ever experience of seeing live motor racing many, many years ago...) . However, motor racing history did come to me as I was entering the charming seaside town of Bexhill , just next to Hastings , where the entry sign to the town proudly carried the statement as per this thread's title.

Sorry if the matter has been discussed before, but is the claim legitimate, and please what is the complete story ?

Thank you

#2 Kpy

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 10:08

Unlikely as it sounds, racing was organised at Bexhill in 1902.
See http://www.bexhill10...uk/history.html

#3 BRG

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 10:20

Yet again TNF has surprised and informed me. I have never heard of Bexhill being the first venue (or indeed ever being a venue at any point in history) for motor racing in Britain. If I had been asked, it would have been one of the last places that I would have thought of!

#4 bill moffat

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 10:34

I always chuckle as I drive past that sign. It is fundamentally an honest claim but the motor racing baby jumped out of the cot at a very young age, enjoyed its formative years at nearby Brighton before taking the train to Weybridge..

Philippe as a Cardiffian I grew up on a diet of Llandow, Pontypool Park and the Weston Speed Trials (Campbell steamer across the Bristol Channel from Penarth to Weston super Mare). I would be fascinated to hear how, as a Frenchman, you found yourself (initially) at a cold, bumpy one mile oval outside the village of Cowbridge...

#5 philippe7

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 13:30

Thank you very much for the link re. Bexhill , Kpy !

And Bill, the answer re. Llandow is very simple : I studied at the United World College of the Atlantic (more commonly known as Atlantic College) in Saint Donats Castle , near Llantwit Major, from 1972 to 1974 . Llandow was only a small hour walk away and I don't think I missed many week-ends of racing there during those years ! Great memories of real Club Racing with F.Ford , Monoposto, F.Vee , Special Saloons , Clubman's, Modsports , Prodsports, etc...

Llandow had ( and still does have ) quite a particular atmosphere , with all those old runways and plane hangars from the old WW2 Airport ( mentioned recently on the "plane accidents" thread) surrounding the race track , and used by local farmers , contractors or industrials to various strange effects...When I dropped in last Sunday I was at first happy to see there was some activity going on at the circuit, but I soon realised that it was a Kart track, built where the old paddock was, that was being used , whereas the "main" track appeared , to my horror , as being now used at its "bottom" end as a long term caravan storage park......

PS : oh , and yes , Bill.....I also used the Campbell Steamer once , to get back from a diving trip on Lundy Island !

#6 bill moffat

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 15:02

Wonderful stuff Philippe. Atlantic College is a magical place.

Along the coast road from Bexhill we have Rye. Perhaps the town signs there could be subtitled : "Home of Dan Gurney's F1 team and Elva cars".

#7 philippe7

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 15:12

Originally posted by bill moffat
Along the coast road from Bexhill we have Rye. Perhaps the town signs there could be subtitled : "Home of Dan Gurney's F1 team and Elva cars".

Bill , I'm afraid my english ( and/or my knowledge of the subtleties of motor racing history ) are not good enough for me to understand that one ....... :confused:

Help please !

#8 Kpy

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 15:28

Originally posted by philippe7

Bill , I'm afraid my english ( and/or my knowledge of the subtleties of motor racing history ) are not good enough for me to understand that one ....... Help please !

I think Bill is referring to to fact that Weslake engines (though never Gurney's Eagle cars), along with Elva cars (for a while) were built at Rye, a coastal town not far from Bexhill.
Gurney's Eagles were built at Poole. Same country, same coast, different county.

#9 philippe7

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 16:32

Thanks a lot Kpy ! :wave:

#10 fines

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 16:35

Originally posted by Kpy
Gurney's Eagles were built at Poole. Same country, same coast, different county.

Now that's news to me!

I was sceptical when Dan the man announced that the F1 cars were built in Santa Ana, but if they were indeed built in Britain, then surely in Rye!!!? You're not confusing AAR with Penske here, are you? :confused:

#11 Kpy

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 17:38

Originally posted by fines

Now that's news to me!

I was sceptical when Dan the man announced that the F1 cars were built in Santa Ana, but if they were indeed built in Britain, then surely in Rye!!!? You're not confusing AAR with Penske here, are you?

Well yes Fines, I am !!

#12 Barry Boor

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Posted 02 November 2004 - 19:54

Shame on you, KPY!

The Eagle workshop was way out of the beautiful town of Rye, a good mile or more up a long straight lane towards the sea. I once walked all the way out there (with my 1966 girlfriend) but then did not have the nerve to knock and say hello.

It took me a further 38 years to make it into Dan's factory - Santa Ana this time!

#13 Pete Stowe

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Posted 03 January 2005 - 18:18

Originally posted by philippe7
Dear friends,

Here is a question for the "real historians"

I was driving extensively around the UK all of last week on business, having not planned any specific motor-racing related activity ( apart from a long overdue pilgrimage to the Llandow circuit in South Wales, where I had my first ever experience of seeing live motor racing many, many years ago...) . However, motor racing history did come to me as I was entering the charming seaside town of Bexhill , just next to Hastings , where the entry sign to the town proudly carried the statement as per this thread's title.

Sorry if the matter has been discussed before, but is the claim legitimate, and please what is the complete story ?

Thank you

To go back to the original question, well, no, it wouldn’t appear to be legitimate.
Bexhill’s claim that the 1902 Bexhill Speed Trials were "the very first automobile racing on British soil" seems to be somewhat misplaced, even if you accept pairs of cars ‘drag racing’ as being motor racing.
Earlier racing in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, in September 1901 is described in the late Ross Finlay’s web magazine http://www.carkeys.c...storic/966.asp , while Sam Collins’ new book on Crystal Palace apparently includes details of car racing on the velodrome there in 1899.

#14 bill moffat

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Posted 03 January 2005 - 20:29

Oh dear, they're all at it. Travel just a mile along the coast from Bexhill and you arrive in Hastings. A recently erected town sign there introduces you to the "Birthplace of television"...although there is plenty of evidence that John Logie Baird did most of his pioneering TV work in Glasgow and Folkestone.

What is definite is that Logie Baird died in Bexhill so an accurate sign might anounce..."Bexhill, death-bed of John Logie Baird". I still think that the next town along (Rye) should justifiably boast "where the Eagle landed".

#15 eldougo

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Posted 04 January 2005 - 01:01

Went through Bexhill on way to Hastings1976 did not see that sign what a pitty!Probley would have not belived it anyway.. :rolleyes:

TNF has taught me once again. :up:

And Bill.
"Bexhill, death-bed of John Logie Baird". that sound correct !Not theBIRTHPLACE. :down:

#16 Stephen W

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Posted 04 January 2005 - 20:19

If you want the first 'motor sport event' then try the 1899 Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland General Efficiency Trials that took place in June of that year. They included a Hill climb and a Sprint as part of the 'trials' - both were 'timed' as part of the overall results.

Bexhil had a 'track' but is was a boardwalk similar to the early US venues and it was taken up between the events.

Bexhill is a Trivial Pursuit type venue - not really the first event in Britain or even the first permanent track!

For the venue with the longest continuous usage for motor sport then Shelsley Walsh in 1905 takes some beating.

:smoking:

#17 Garagiste

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Posted 11 January 2005 - 15:54

Originally posted by Pete Stowe
(snip)
Earlier racing in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, in September 1901 is described in the late Ross Finlay’s web magazine http://www.carkeys.c...storic/966.asp , while Sam Collins’ new book on Crystal Palace apparently includes details of car racing on the velodrome there in 1899.

Came across a photo in an issue of the still-then-green mag from last year of a UKMC event on the Crystal Palace velodrome. Not as early as 1899, but still six months before the Glasgow meeting.

#18 Kvadrat

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Posted 12 January 2005 - 02:28

Originally posted by Pete Stowe
Sam Collins’ new book on Crystal Palace apparently includes details of car racing on the velodrome there in 1899.

Originally posted by Stephen W
If you want the first 'motor sport event' then try the 1899 Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland General Efficiency Trials that took place in June of that year. They included a Hill climb and a Sprint as part of the 'trials' - both were 'timed' as part of the overall results.

Do you have dates for these events?

#19 RAP

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Posted 12 January 2005 - 10:31

There were timed trials for cars and motor cycles on the roads at Crystal Palace on 6th May 1899, followed by "motor cycle" races on the velodrome. The trial involved stopping and restarting at several points so were not conventional speed trials. However the term "motor Cycle" needs treating with care as I think it was used to cover both two and three wheeled machines, and in fact the fastest racers at this time were the tricycles. There were fairly regular "motor cycle" races on the velodrome during the rest of 1899 and beyond. The earliest date I know 4 wheeled vehicles raced on the velodrome was 8th Arpril 1901 when there was a 1 mile (3 laps) handicap for voiturettes. "Motor cycle" (tricycle) racing took place on many velodromes around the turn of the century, including Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton and Herne Hill, London.

Bexhill does deserve a place in history but it does not fit into any easily defined catergory. I suppose it could be seen as the first high-profile motor race meeting (within the limits of not being able to close public roads). If you look at contemporary magazines it is apparent that Bexhill was seen as a much bigger affair than any earlier speed contest had been. It is my iunderstanding that the lower powered classes were indeed races, albeit in a straight line, with heats and finals. The faster cars ran against the clock as the course was too narrow to safetly permit races.

RAP

#20 Stephen W

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Posted 12 January 2005 - 16:13

In 1896 the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Association held a 'trial for self-propelled vehicles' on Liverpool's Everton Brow. This was in effect a HILLCLIMB.
The club was disbanded and reformed as the Liverpool Motor Cycle Club in 1902 and then in 1904 it changed its name to the Liverpool Motor Club.
Visit www.liverpoolmotorclub.com for more details.

:cool:

#21 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 24 February 2010 - 23:57

It's a bit short notice I know but I shall be in Bexhill tomorrow. Is there anything motor racingwise to see? A museum perhaps? Had I more time I would have done some searching.

#22 fuzzi

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Posted 25 February 2010 - 07:07

You can drive along De La Warr Parade which was laid down for the first Speed Trials at Bexhill this runs east from the Pier (a small conical roofed pavilion stands on the sea side of the Parade -this was the original timing hut). Later 1920s Speed Trials ran along the broad road to the west of the front from just beyond the pier. Photographs of the early trials - produced for display in the town museum are/were on display in the large white painted Pub at Cooden Beach which lies west of Bexhill towards Normans Bay.

#23 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 26 February 2010 - 14:17

Just back. Well it was all a bit disappointing really. The Motoring Heritage Centre is a tiny exhibition of large format photographs on the Ground Floor of the Sackville Apartments on the De La Warr Parade (j/w Middlesex Road). No memorabilia. There's a little more in the Bexhill Museum in Egerton Road. A nicely restored Elva MkIII in polished aluminium, 'Volta' a land speed record breaking electric car, and a replica of Leon Serpollet's 'Easter Egg' Edwardian racing car. The white pub at Cooden Bay only has more photographs I'm told.

I'll post some images when I've time.

http://www.bexhill-m...-racing-61.html

Edited by Paul Rochdale, 26 February 2010 - 16:37.

#24 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 10 March 2010 - 15:42

#25 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 10 March 2010 - 15:45

http://s190.photobuc.....0Museum 2010/

#26 D-Type

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 00:19

A far better finish than back in the day. The unpainted aluminium-bodied Elva I remember looked far more "lived in" - in fact it looked as if the body had been shaped using a hammer and a tree stump.

#27 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 15:38

#28 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 15:39

#29 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 15:40

#30 Paul Rochdale

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 15:42

It was such an attractive car, and so well restored, that rather than simply post a link, I've taken the liberty of showing the pics of the Elva MkIII here.

#31 ianselva

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Posted 11 March 2010 - 16:04

You can drive along De La Warr Parade which was laid down for the first Speed Trials at Bexhill this runs east from the Pier (a small conical roofed pavilion stands on the sea side of the Parade -this was the original timing hut). Later 1920s Speed Trials ran along the broad road to the west of the front from just beyond the pier. Photographs of the early trials - produced for display in the town museum are/were on display in the large white painted Pub at Cooden Beach which lies west of Bexhill towards Normans Bay.

I attended a Motoring Festival at Bexhill a few years ago with my FJ Elva , Sir Stirling was there with his Mk 7 and we had a parade all along the front and through the town to commemorate the event. It felt very strange sitting at the traffic lights in the town in an open wheel single seater with no silencer !!!

#32 taylov

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Posted 12 March 2010 - 13:28

Here are 3 commercial postcard views of the Bexhill speed trials. The views of the start and the crowds probably date from 1904 and the paddock scene from 1905.