THE BOAT THAT GUY BUILT

Tonight BBC1 7.30.

PENDINE

We visited the tiny Museum of Speed at Pendine beach last week. It houses 5 bikes and 1 car, Babs, which held the land speed record in 1926 on the 6 mile stretch of sand it now overlooks. A year later it crashed trying to break the record again killing driver Parry Thomas and was buried on the spot. In the late 60s it was exhumed and restored and has even been driven on the beach again.
The OEC JAP streamliner of Bob Berry was also used for record attempts in the early '30s.
Pendine sands were the home of many motorcycle races right up to the early 50s, hard to imagine up to 20,000 people spectating at the Welsh TT in its heyday between the wars.

MORE 70s GRASSTRACK

Richard Greer and Graham Drury in action on JAP engined machines..



Pickering and District motor club's website has lots more nostalgic shots of 60s and 70s racing
SEE HERE

LOCAL HEROES

Sidecar grasstrack racing was big round here in the early 70s, there were probably half a dozen outfits in this town alone, mostly Triumphs but the top dogs raced Vincents. Dennis Teasdale was one of the best, his passenger was Barry Wright, known as Ken Shabby after the Monty Python character, he also ran a Norvin on the road. Barry died not long after this photo was taken but his bike is still in York, and still gloriously scruffy, now owned by Dick Craven. The entry list from a 1972 meeting shows the kind of motors being used at the time