Stamford Bridge Club's "au revoir" training scheme

Bagshot Heath was the scene of much activity on October 18th, when the Stamford Bridge Motor Cycle Club staged their “Au Revoir” Scramble around the usual Red Road Course. With an entry of just on 60, the event proved how keen the Army, H.G., A.F.S. and C.D. (to whom the racing was restricted) were to be “trained” in the gentle art of rapid cross-country motoring.

There were three main events, for 250-c.c., 350-c.c. and “Unlimited” classes – the latter two being divided into “Expert” and “Novice” groups, with a separate event for each.

Graham Berry, the Army expert, walked away with the first race on his “250” Matchless, the eight laps being covered in 29 minutes. Second came Ted Wilmot (New Imperial) and third R.J.A. Petty (Triumph). Robertson, whose riding looked promising at the outset, retired with a seized engine.

Next came the 350-c.c. Novice event, a rather dull affair, notable only for the polished performance of R.E. Hankins on an Archer-tuned Velocette. The second man home was C.E. May and B.I. Matterson secured third place, close behind.

The Experts provided much better fare and, after a little jostling for the lead, Berry was seen to be drawing ahead nicely. Wilmot, troubled with a slipping clutch, was far behind, but as the race progressed so did his clutch complaint diminish, and he crossed the finishing line a bare 10 yards astern of Berry’s Triumph. Third was G.F. Robertson, this time on a Triumph, but again suffering from impending seizure.

The “Unlimited” Novice Race followed, and H. Brown evidently decided that he wasn’t coming all the way up from Bristol for anything less than first place – and sure enough his Tiger “100” crossed the line well ahead of Major M.W. Head’s “350” B.S.A. H. Talbot collected third place, and the rest of the field was virtually nowhere.

Finally, the Experts lined up for their 10 laps, and S.H. Ford jumped ahead at the fall of the flag. Berry was soon in the lead, however, but was somewhat shaken to see Wilmot’s ” 350″ A.J.S. slip by at the end of the second lap. Berry’s Triumph handled beautifully over the bumps and he repassed Wilmot almost at once – only to be passed again half a mile later. A fine scrap seemed inevitable, but Berry suddenly found his steering damper inoperative and decided to come in at the end of the third lap. This let Wilmot go ahead to gain an easy victory, the second and third places being taken by Herbert Addie (“500” Rudge) and S.H. Ford (“350” Triumph).

And so ended the last of a long and famous line of Bagshot Scrambles. Red Road will probably witness neither fun nor games for quite a while.

R.G.V.V.