20 replies to this topic

[brands77]

I am currently reading Bob Guntrip's excellent book "Racing Line", about the British short circuit  racing scene in the 1960s. The 60s are before my time, but having been a fan from the mid '70s, I know many of the riders discussed in the book.

 

Hailwood, Ivy, Hartle, Minter, MacIntyre, Cooper, Robb, Duff and Driver may have retired (or sadly died) by the mid 70s when I started watching racing, but I know of them well and that they were the best of their era, but the book really fills in some great background. For example, I really didn't know that Minter was a habitual slow starter who often would have to come through the field or that Hailwood's lean angles when cornering were not far off what we see on recent GP bikes, which I, quite frankly, find amazing.

 

I know of some of the other top riders of that era too, mainly from seeing their names in GP results, which suggests that they were not too far off the best either - people like Bob Anderson, Alan Barnett, Chris Conn, Dan Shorey, Frank Perris, Fred Stevens, Derek Woodman, Ron Chandler, Alan Shepherd and others and I also know those who were still around in the mid 70s like Dave Croxford, Dave Degens, Peter Williams, Ray Pickerell and Billie Nelson

 

There are some names though that are completely new to me, they were obviously fast, but personally are unknown. I really would like to find out something up about these guys before they get forgotten, alongside their achievements. Riders like Tom Phillips who seems to have been present throughout the 60s and was always there or there about and I didn't even know the name at all. He must have been good to get the results he did in the company he rode in.

 

Can anyone fill in some details of any of the following riders, these are the names I saw who regularly got placings and wins, so they must have been good.

 

Tom Phillips

Selwyn Griffiths

Bob Rowe

Ron Langston

Ginger Payne

Rob Fitton

Terry Shephard (any relation to Alan?)

Tony Godfrey

Peter Darvill

Joe Dunphy

Lewis Young

Alastair King

Fred Neville

Dennis Pratt

Ned Minihan

Peter Middleton

Roy Mayhew

David Downer

Griff Jenkins

Brian Setchell

Peter Preston

Dennis Ainsworth

Dave Williams

Othmar Drixl

George Buchan

Barry Randle

Ray Whatmore

Jack Simmonds

Godfrey Nash

Tom Dickie

Reg Everett

Charlie Sanby

 

This is just my list, but it would be nice to find out about these guys, where were they from, who did they ride for, did they ever try their luck on the continent or in the GPs. I guess most were privateers, so what else did  they do. Are they still around?

 

I hope this list can help and please feel free to add names I haven't mentioned.

 

[tonyed]

Mostly very well known to us older ones.

Where do you start?

Buy a time machine and go back to the 50s to 70s.

Edited by tonyed, 02 May 2023 - 04:50.

[Michael Ferner]

Where to start? Well, let's start somewhere, to show a little TNF spirit and don't let the newbies despair!

 

I'll pick the one who was probably the best of the lot, Alastair King (you also often see Alistair, I don't know which is right - probably the less common spelling). From Scotland (Gartness, ten miles north of Glasgow), hot on the heels of Bob McIntyre (who was actually a couple years younger), King was a prolific circuit racer in Britain and had many successes on the "short track" internationals, but his main claim to fame came as a road racer, with wins in the Southern 100 and the Northwest 200, for example. His IoM career started well, with a fifth and a win in the two Clubman TTs he contested in 1953/'54, but moving on up his career almost stalled: he never finished a Manx GP in eight tries between 1953 and '56! He was fast, however, and acquired a reputation as a "hard luck racer": He would often lead and retire, sometimes on the last lap with victory or a good finish in sight. And he crashed quite a bit, making his first headlines with a fiery accident during the 1953 Manx Junior.

 

In 1957, he made his TT debut and ran in the top ten from the start, retiring from 9th in the Junior but finishing seventh in the Senior. The following year, he was sixth in the Junior after running second behind Surtees and the MV for half the race, then reinforced his bad luck reputation by crashing on the last lap in the Senior, while again running second behind Surtees. In 1959, he won the experimental Formula One race (a short-lived FIM idea on Superbike lines that did not catch on) in the 350cc class from Bob Anderson and Mike Hailwood, was third in the Junior behind the two MVs of Surtees and Hartle, and second in the Senior behind Surtees! In between, he ran an NSU in the Lightweight on the Clypse course, but retired after running sixth on the opening lap. But later that year, he crashed at Oliver's Mount in Scarborough, and was so seriously injured that he missed the whole of the 1960 racing season.

 

He was back again in 1961, but out of luck in the island, where he retired or non-started in three of the four races he entered, and finished a distant fourth in the Senior that had become a privateer's phantasy with the retirement of the only (semi?) works bike entered! 1962 was even worse, and he never made it onto the leaderboard in three races, retiring on the opening lap of the Senior which was to be his last race on the Mountain circuit, for he retired from the sport after McIntyre's fatal accident in August. I don't think he ever came back, in fact I have no idea what he did afterwards (he was described as a "motor mechanic" at the beginning of his career), or whether he's even alive today! I suspect not, because he would be pushing the centenary!

 

Early on, he was often entered by Scottish tuner cum builder Joe Potts (like McIntyre), but later on (after his big accident?) he ran exclusively on his own terms, including I believe his one trip to the continent in 1961, when he finished second in the Italian 500cc Grand Prix at Monza, to Mike Hailwood (having his first ride on the MV that day). That pretty much sums up his career, I think: more often than not, he was the 'best of the rest' i.e. best privateer in the field!

Edited by Michael Ferner, 04 May 2023 - 13:26.

[StanN]

There’s a lot of information about these riders on the internet. I did a search on Dennis Ainsworth as I first met him in 1960 when I went with my brother-in-law for a “test session” with his 125cc Moto Rumi to a disused RAF air field somewhere North East of London and Dennis and his father came along with the early 7R Dennis started racing on. I attended race meetings starting in early 1960 as gofer for my brother-in-law until I started racing the Moto Rumi in 63 and remember Dennis progressing up the ranks of short circuit racers until his retirement in 1965 due to injuries suffered in a practice crash at the 1964 Dutch TT.

 

Dennis started a thread on the old TNF Forum in February 2011 using the handle exracerden. This does not come up on the current forum search function but came up on Google. The thread has some interesting period photos from the knowledgeable riders who used to populate the forum at that time.

[LittleChris]

Robin Fitton was a friend of Denis Jenkinson who was very critical in a Motor Sport article of the installation of the armco at Wippermann which caused Robs fatal injuries at the Nurburgring in 1970 .

More info at Motorsport Memorial

 

Motorsport Memorial - Robin Fitton

[Robin127]

Terry Shephard

Became a very successful tuner particularly of 2 strokes. He was regular contributor to this board up until he died about 10 years ago.

 

Griff Jenkins

I found a copy of his autobiography in, of all places my school library, around 1973.  Some amazing stories that went to show just how hard some of those riders were, ie reaching down and grabbing a rivals gear lever to knock it out of gear.

 

Godfrey Nash

Last man to win a 500GP on a single cylinder bike when he took the flag at the 1969 Yugoslavian GP, finished the year in third place in the overall standings.  I seem to recall he got into some trouble with the law and ended up inside for a while.

 

Charlie Sanby

My favourite rider in the early 70's, he never looked rushed always smooth.  Never really got the luck some others had with machinery and also some bad accidents.  Died a few days after his last race at Pembrey in 1993.

 

[tonyed]

Reg Everett - very influential in the production of the Greeves Silverstone and then rode for Ted Broad on his Yamaha. Read his book 'Rocker to Racer', excellent reading.

 

David Downer - Good up and coming short circuit scratcher was killed at Brands during an epic duel with the 'King' Derek Minter  

 

Griff Jenkins - Welshman. Good information in the Charles Mortimer Senior book, 'We Went Racing'.

 

Selwyn Griffiths - another great Welsh rider, won the 1964 Senior Manx GP on Ray Cowles Matchless. Long distinguished TT career and later Classic MGP. Another accomplished short circuit man. 

 

Joe Dunphy - Another excellent short circuit racer, did dabble in some GPs with good results. Rode for Francis Beart on Nortons but also interestingly Francis got involved as the 'Works' Greeves Silverstone in 1963 Joe rode that on short circuits.

 

Othmar (Marly) Drixl - Swiss rider mainly remembered as the manufacturer of 'Drixton' frames, used for the 500 Honda twins and the Aermacchi motor. 

Edited by tonyed, 05 May 2023 - 08:03.

[Michael Ferner]

Tom Phillips is an interesting one, and a name you can't google*. I don't know much about him, but he seems to have been very good, too. He was basically the opposite of Alastair King, in that he didn't do much road racing, but was a demon on the (short) cricuits. As far as I know, he only ever raced in Britain, and never competed in a World Championship event, but was a force to be reckoned with for the whole of the decade. I have a ton of excellent results for him in the British Internationals, does anyone have any personal info about him?

 

 

* Actually, when you google the name with a bike theme, you get a picture of Tom Phillis!

Edited by Michael Ferner, 05 May 2023 - 07:37.

[Michael Ferner]

From the website http://darvillracing.co.uk/history/:

 

Peter Darvill (1939 – 2010)

Peter began racing in the late forties, based deep in the Chiltern Hills he honed his skills breaking onto the scene in the early fifties with dramatic effect.

He designed his own motorbikes, taking the technologies of the day and amalgamating them into capable machines designed for one purpose… ‘To Win’…!!!

He went onto win numerous local events at tracks around the country, entering into whatever race he could fund. It was at one of these events that he had an opportunity to enter into an endurance race and it was this that ‘sparked’ something within him…..

Peter began to design machines to cope with the endeavours of prolonged  stresses of racing, he developed and patented his PJD Vincent which took the capable Norton Featherbed frame and coupled this with the ‘monstrous’ Vincent twin 1000cc ‘Shadow’ engine. Peter had some great wins on this machine, eventually selling the patent to fund Darvill Racing (with himself as the main rider).

In the 1950’s Peter’s success grew, and his attention turned to the Isle of Man. His first race at the Manx Grand Prix on board the PJD Vincent in the 1957 Newcomers race he managed a respectable 17th. Peter’s talent drew the attention of MLG Racing Team, MLC were a BMW dealership in London and had entered a R69s into the 24hr Endurance race in Barcelona in 1959, they asked Peter to ride for them.

Peter was to partner Bruce Daniels and as was the set-up back then, they only had each other for the entire 24hr race. Peter had never ridden either this bike or a BMW, however they went onto win the race…!

This gave Peter and Darvill racing their ‘Big Break’. Peter returned to the Isle of Man and it took a further 4 years before he was able to lift the winner’s trophy whilst riding for the ’King’ of tuning Francis Beart…

From ‘64 through until ‘75 Peter was a regular on the ‘Mountain Course’ competing with the Legends of the day, Redman, Agostini, Read, Ivy (but to name a few), his best result here was a 7th place, which given the competition was remarkable.

Darvill Racing moved to Endurance Racing throughout the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s with successes in the World Endurance Championships, with overall wins in ’61 and ’70.

[tonyed]

Ned Minihan https://www.imuseum....nt-1276973.html

 

Fred Neville https://forums.autos...1-fred-neville/

[brands77]

Thanks all this is great. I asked the question because I thought there is a lot of knowledge out there and it isn't on the Internet. I wanted to find out and maybe record it somewhere like here before it is all forgotten. Co-incidentally it was Tom Phillips that prompted my question as I wanted to find out about him and all I could get on the Internet was a mention in a series of posting about Chris Conn here https://www.vintageb...enring-in-1967/ . In the posting was someone else trying to find out about Tom,

I really didn't know that Othmar Drixl was the name behind Drixton. I always thought it was the name of place like Spondon (I bet someone is going to tell me now that Spondon frames aren't from Derbyshire and are named after something else!).

I do remember Charlie Sanby, I recall him in the F750 races. I know he was famous for riding the Gus Kuhn Nortons and a Suzuki, but I seem to remember him on a TZ750, am I remembering this correctly? I think he was pretty good around Brands and Lydden. Was he from around that area?

Edited by brands77, 05 May 2023 - 17:29.

[Robin127]

Griff Jenkins - Welshman. Good information in the Charles Mortimer Senior book, 'We Went Racing'.

 

That's probably the book I was thinking of, he featured in it quite a bit.  Wasn't he an instructor at Mortimer's racing school?

 

 

 

 

I do remember Charlie Sanby, I recall him in the F750 races. I know he was famous for riding the Gus Kuhn Nortons and a Suzuki, but I seem to remember him on a TZ750, am I remembering this correctly? I think he was pretty good around Brands and Lydden. Was he from around that area?

Charlie Sanby was from Luton.

[brands77]

Tom Phillips was from Newbury apparently.

[Michael Ferner]

Ned Minihan https://www.imuseum....nt-1276973.html

 

Fred Neville https://forums.autos...1-fred-neville/

 

Interesting that Edward "Ned" Minihan was described as a "tailor from Kilburn, London" just a few years earlier, when winning the 1957 Senior "Newcomers Manx GP" (replacing the Clubmans TT). That was also, if I'm not mistaken, the first (only?) race when a competitor won due to a time bonus given because of a precautionary safety stop. On his last lap, Minihan was ordered to stop at Ramsey by the Clerk of the Course for "his machine to be examined and a repair to be made, if necessary", all "in the interests of safety"! The stop was timed at 2'46", and Minihan dropped to fourth at the finish as a consequence, exactly 2'59" behind the apparent winner Peter Middleton, who had duelled with him for the lead all race long. About a quarter of an hour later, Minihan was declared winner after being made an allowance of the 2'46" stop plus "15 seconds for time lost in pulling up and another 15 seconds for time lost in getting going again", which left him winning by 17" from Middleton!

 

In that same race, by the way, Peter Darvill pushed his PJD/Vincent in from Governor's Bridge to a 17th place finish, and "as officials (...) took the motor-cycle away (...) he collpased" - not really surprising, that, after two hours of racing on the Mountain circuit, and several minutes pushing the bike along Glencrutchery Road! But he beat Ken Draper by 15.8"!!

[LittleChris]

Some more on Charlie Sanby

 

 

Charlie Sanby (guskuhn.net)

[Rodaknee]

Joe Dunphy - I'm sure he had a secondhand car/motorcycle shop in Catford, by the railway stations.

 

Rex Butcher is another seldom mentioned rider who had regular top 10 results.  He rode and worked for Paul Dunstall and did okay on a converted 250cc Suzuki T20 Super 6 (it was a twin, that had 6 gears!)

 

From 2017

 

https://bikesportnew...ng-pedal-power/

[GregThomas]

Wasn't Joe Dunphy the man to see for relining drum brakes ?  Took it up as a business after racing.

[WonderWoman61]

Mick Doble and his brother Chris Doble.

https://www.doble.co.uk/racing-history

[milestone 11]

Tom Phillips was from Newbury apparently.

There's a Tom Phillips listed as having taken part in the '62 Junior Manx GP (Norton) and the '63 Lightweight 250 TT (Greeves).

Edited by milestone 11, 22 May 2023 - 11:25.

[tonyed]

Sexy Rexy as he was known.
Joe Dunphy the the iconic red stickers on the brake plate.

These names might be 'less well known' as apposed to what names? But if you were fresh on the roads in the 60s and 70s they were your idols.

Real blokes who had real jobs, sponsored by real enthusiasts.

Edited by tonyed, 22 May 2023 - 16:08.

[serafini]

apologies - late to the Alastair (not Alistair) King story.

After McIntyre's death he rode the McIntyre Special in the Oulton Park Remembrance meeting and never rode again.

He ran a garage in Ballat in Strilingshire in which he and McIntyre had invested as partners. I suspect that it did not last long after McIntyre's death.

One day he turned up at Murrays Museum at the Bungalow with two of McIntyre's helmets. He presented one to the museum, in which it remains to this day.

He disappeared with the second helmet and returned empty handed, having buried the second helmet on the Mountain.

The Museum now has one of King's helmets in a cabinet next to McIntyre's.

He died in a car accident, in the mid 1970s I think.