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Woodside Avenue, Eastleigh. SO50 9ES
History
Compiled by Wilf Paskins, member since 1945
Sporting History - Road Races
Between 1950 and 1990 the Club organised a total of 82 Road Races at the Thruxton Circuit, a disused airfield to the West of Andover in Hampshire. Many similar airfields had been hurriedly built during the 1939 - 1945 war, some had deteriorated more than others and, although Thruxton was not one of the best of them, it was still on the Ministry of Aviation s emergency landing list. The Wiltshire School of Flying, headed by Sqdn. Ldr. Doran Webb, was resident at the airfield and he invited the Folland Aircraft Motorcycle Club to inspect the airfield with the view of promoting road race meetings. Such a proposition was beyond the potential of the Folland club but a number of their members were also members of the Southampton club which was pleased to take up the offer and members of the committee visited the airfield with Syd Lawton who gave the perimeter track a tryout. After a detailed inspection of the tarmacadam, it was decided that part of the perimeter track was too badly broken up to be used but a circuit could be made up using the best part linked by parts of the three runways. Meetings with the Sqdn. Ldr. were held to thrash out the details and to agree financial terms - the Club to do all the work and the Flying Club to get half of the profits. At this time, the Club was running very successful grass track meetings at Ashton, a village on the outskirts of Bishops Waltham, in association with the Bishops Waltham club which went under the name of The Ashton Combine. It was decided that events at Thruxton would best be organised by the Combine but the Bishops Waltham club withdrew in 1955.
A lot of work had to be done to transform the airfield into a race circuit and, because it was being used for flying training, it had to be reinstated as an airfield immediately after the race meeting. The Ministry of Aviation was prepared to suspend the emergency landing status for only two days at a time, the day of the race meeting and the day before.
In the early years, working parties made up of Club members would arrive on the Saturday morning before Sunday race day with lorry loads of straw bales, old oil drums, ropes, stakes and other equipment, and would work until after dark to set up the circuit. Oil drums, weighted down, were strung out along the 52 yard wide runways to reduce them to a width of 50 feet, straw bales were positioned around the corners; spectators enclosures, pit areas, and scrutineers areas were posted and roped off; start line was marked and dressed and an old double decker bus, acquired from Bournemouth, was towed into position for the use of timekeepers upstairs with race control below. Entrance gates for the public had to be roped off and numerous holes in the perimeter fence had to be blocked to prevent unauthorized public access. Telephone wires were run to all the marshals posts which were all equipped with ex WD. field telephones so as to maintain communication with race control. Supper for the working parties was laid on at the Linga Longa café nearby and most of the workers would sleep overnight in draughty old crew huts and hangers, with some hardy types spending the night in the bar under the old control tower. After the races, the whole airfield had to be cleared before going home. Some of the Club s keen trials riders would work all day on the Saturday, go home for the night, ride in a trial on the Sunday then arrive back at Thruxton to help with the clearing up.
This sequence was repeated, regardless of weather, three or four times a year for 18 years, a stern test indeed of the enthusiasm and dedication of the members. 1.
Then there was the question of noise, the local authority restricted the number of days on which practice and racing could take place, Sunday morning practice was arranged to avoid church services and residents of a local housing estate were bribed with free passes to watch the races.
Application was made to the AutoCycle Union for approval of the circuit and the official Track Inspection took place on New Year s Day 1950. It was attended by Syd Lawton, Arthur Wheeler, Cyril Quantrill and a number of the Club s Committee. The Track Certificate was granted and the first event to be held was a National meeting on Easter Monday of the same year.
The circuit. The original circuit was anticlockwise and included parts of all three runways and about half the perimeter track with the start line half way along the home straight runway. In 1953 the East/West runway was cut out and the Western part of the perimeter track was included. The direction was changed to clockwise. The surface of the North/South runway deteriorated over the next six years of racing as did a part of the perimeter track where some subsidence had also taken place,
together creating an unnecessary and potentially dangerous hazard. The circuit was modified for 1959 by cutting out the runway and the bad part of the perimeter track. A further alteration, albeit a minor one, at Windy Corner had to be made in 1963 as further deterioration had occurred. In 1967 the circuit was completely redeveloped by new owners including resurfacing the whole of the perimeter track Maps of the circuit variations are shown:
The state of the circuit before the redevelopment had meant another task, not previously mentioned, for the Club s working parties and also for the course marshals. In addition to the other equipment taken to Thruxton before each meeting, were bags of cold tarmacadam and borrowed garden rollers, holes in the track surface were filled before, and even between races.
The Races The inaugural meeting saw Geoff Duke win both the 350cc. and 500cc. races with Len Archer and Peter Romaine providing the principle opposition. The 250 cc. race was dominated by Cecil Sandford and Club member Syd Lawton. The sidecar race was a procession, Jack Surtees with son John in the chair, followed by Club member Archie Appleby with brother Tom in the chair- a real family affair. In 1951 the Club ran the first International meeting incorporating a Festival of Britain Race, won by Geoff Duke on the then new Featherbed Norton. He was followed by teenager John Surtees riding a 500 Vincent. Later, in the same year we saw the first appearance in England of the very fast 4cylinder MV Agusta ridden by Les Graham, a good friend of the Club. The same meeting saw Bob Foster on a 250cc. Cammy Velo. battling it out with a similarly mounted Cecil Sandford. 1954 brought Fergus Anderson to the circuit, on one of his rare appearances in England, with his trio of very fast Moto Guzzis. Fergus, and Tommy Wood, were part of, what was known as the Continental Circus - riders who spent most of their time competing in Europe to make a living. In these early years, some fine racing was seen and events were well supported by very well known riders including Mike Hailwood, Bob McIntyre, Geoff Duke, Bertie Goodman, Phil Read, Tony Godfrey, Sammy Miller, Syd Lawton, Bill Doran, Jack Brett, Ray Amm, Percy Tait and Ken Kavanagh in addition to those already mentioned.
2. In 1955 we saw Eric Oliver just beating Cyril Smith to win one of his last sidecar races before his retirement and at one of the international races we saw battles between other sidecar aces including Pip Harris, Bill Boddice, Florian Ca mathias and Edgar Strub from Switzerland, and Frenchman Jacques Drion with Fraulein Ingebourg Stoll in the chair. Creation of the new circuit, together with start line facilities, permanent pit areas and spectator accommodation, meant that a great deal of money had been spent which would not have been a good investment for motor cycle racing alone. The British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) had secured the rights to promote all race meetings at the circuit and negotiations with them resulted in an agreement that the Club would pay the BARC a fixed sum for each motor cycle race it promoted but did not have exclusive rights to motorcycle races at the circuit.
April 21st. of 1968 was the first event on the new circuit, two more events followed in that year and up to three each year until 1974. These included a number of closed to club events. During this period a reputation was established that it was a very safe circuit to ride.
Thruxton had planning permission limiting use of the circuit for only 12 days each year
In 1975, 1976 and 1977 the only races the Club was able to hold at Thruxton were the International endurance events but we were fortunate to be approached by the Royal Air Force Motor Cycle Club to consider the prospect of running a meeting on another wartime airfield, at Thorney Island . Although there was still a detachment of the Royal Air Force resident at the airfield, it was no longer used for regular flying. An inspection was made and negotiations were successfully completed, and a temporary track certificate was obtained from the ACU. A working party was convened to get the circuit ready and a successful race meeting was run.Unfortunately the Club was unable to obtain permission to run a second event and to develop the circuit because local residents complained of the noise. These complaints could not be overcome as one of those who complained was a retired Rear Admiral who had friends in high places.
With the endurance events being held at Brands Hatch 1978 and 1979 it was possible to again run National events at Thruxton. A round of the ACU British Solo Championships and of the Kenning classic events were run and , to boost spectator attendance, races for Go-carts were included in the programme.
1981 saw a new phase in the relationship between the Club and the BARC, the Club running meetings on their behalf until 1985. During this period, some sponsorship from Marlboro was available and rounds of the Marlboro Dunlop/Express championships were included in very full programmes.
During these years, Mark Salle, Trevor Nation, Barry Seward, Keith Huewin and Roger Burnett became regulars at the circuit and they were involved is some exciting racing against Niall McKenzie, Rob McElnea, Roger Marshall, Steve Parrish, Joey Dunlop and Mick Grant and many other up and coming riders. Sidecar racing was dominated by Trevor Ireson.
3. Mid 1985 saw the arrival of professional motorcycle racing promoters at Thruxton when the Clubmans Racing Club (Two Four Sports) obtained the concession from Thruxton BARC Ltd to promote motor cycle racing at the circuit. Initially the Club s expertise and experience was required and, until 1992, we provided experienced stewards, start line staff, lap scorers, pit staff, communications, safety officers etc. in return for a moderate, but dwindling, fee. During this period we saw some excellent racing with the names of Ron Haslam, Ray Swann, Carl Fogarty, Steve Hislop, Steve Spray and Phil Mellor being added to the list of top class riders to whom the Club is grateful for their support over the years.
1992 saw the end of the Club s direct involvement in racing at Thruxton although some members of the Club still officiate as individuals.
One or two little incidents which come to mind are perhaps worth a mention: on one occasion we had to evict Mike Hailwood s father from a prohibited area, on another ,we sent Geoff Duke off the starting line when he tried to ride a 350 Norton in a 500cc. race, and then there was the occasion when the local farmer, going about his haymaking, cut, in numerous places through wires that we had run in the grass alongside the circuit the day before the race. The communications system had already been tested and the workers were away at supper when this happened - imagine their horror the next morning when nothing worked.
During the 40 years the Club ran racing at the circuit, it is estimated that over 20,000 riders completed 2,000,000 miles of practise and racing at speeds often in excess of 100 mph. with just a very few accidents causing serious injury.
During the first 17 years, by it s establishment and maintenance of a circuit at Thruxton, the Southampton & District Motor Cycle Club indirectly made a valuable contribution to the development work, not only for motorcycling but for other forms of transport as the circuit was used extensively by organisations as diverse as heavy vehicle trailer manufacturers, by sports and racing car manufacturers and by caravan manufacturers.
