This is one of a very large collection of films made by film production company C. H. Wood of Bradford: over 3,000 films and videos dating back to 1915. This highly significant collection is of immense value, especially for Yorkshire. Charles Wood senior was a notable gas engineer, gaining an O.B.E. in the 1880s, and was later to design Moscow’s gas system after the 1917 revolution.  His son, Charles Harold Wood, set up the company of C. H. Wood’s in the 1920s. Charles was employed by both Pathe and Gaumont as a cameraman for the northern region.  C. H. Wood specialised in aerial photography and filming.  Charles used the expertise he had developed through his aerial photography to good effect during the Second World War when he pioneered infra-red lenses, used by the dambusters, and for which he too earned an OBE.   When his sons, David and Malcolm Wood, took over the company was for a time known as ‘Wood Visual Communications’. For more information on C. H. Wood and his company see the Context for The Magnet Cup (1960).

 

Perhaps most impressive within the overall C. H. Wood Collection is the large number of films they made of motorcycle racing, mostly moto cross, such as the Scott Trials and the Ilkley Grand National. These include pre-war vintage motorcycle racing, and cover the 1940s and 1950s. Charles Wood started out as an apprentice fitter with Scott Motorcycle Company in Bradford, and was himself a motorcycle trial rider. David was making sound recordings of motorcycle events from the age of eleven. It was in filming motor cycling that his career as a filmmaker began – there will be more on these films in the Context for Darlington Motor Club Scott Motorcycle Trails (1951).

 

As highlighted in the film itself, the film was sponsored by Hepolite, a brand of Hepworth and Grandage Ltd.  Along with other British manufacturers, like Wellworthy and Brico, these made engine components for vehicles and were renowned for their piston rings.  The firm was founded in 1907 and moved to Bradford in 1916. At the height of their success they were producing over a million piston rings each week from the huge St John's Works (with over 500 production machines in an area of 90,000 square feet ). Their parts can still be found by classic bike enthusiasts.

 

Charles Wood’s company went on to make over 400 bike films with commissions for Norton, BSA, Triumph, Honda and Yamaha. Many of these films are narrated by one-time rival to the Duke, Allan Jefferies. Jefferies was a major figure in 1930s and 1940s racing, starting in 1928, winning the International Six Days Trial in Harrogate on a works Scott motorcycle, the first of six. He also won the British Experts cross-country trial in 1938 and was a winner of the Scott Trials.  He went on to have his own Trophy Trial named after him, to set up a motorcycle shop in Shipley, still going, set up after his father, Joseph, and to found a family dynasty of motorcycle racing riders, including his son Tony, and grandson David, who was killed in a tragic accident at the 2003 Isle of Mann TT.

The commentary on this film is by perhaps the most famous motorcycle racing rider of the day, Geoff Duke, known as The Duke – making him an ideal commentator, especially for the Scarborough Road Races. By the time that this film was made in 1955 Duke had won six World Championship races at 350cc and 500cc, starting out with Norton in 1950 before switching to the Italian Gilera in 1953 (and then back again to Norton in 1958). 1955 was in fact the last year he was to win a World Championship.   By the time he retired from the World Championship at the end of the 1959 season at the age of 36, he had 33 Grand Prix victories. He also raced in the Isle of Man TT, making many of his world record breaking rides and winning six times. A true Isle of Man legend, Duke has had a point on the Mountain Course named after him as well as three sharp bends at the 32nd Milestone between Brandywell and Windy Corner now called 'Duke's'. He was crowned Sportsman of the Year in 1951, awarded the RAC Seagrave Trophy and awarded the O.B.E. in 1953. The FIM (International Motorcycling Federation) named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2002. He was also the first rider to wear one-piece leathers.

 

Most competition riders were all-rounders in those days – taking in hill climbs, trials, sand and road racing, and scrambles – Jefferies being one of them. There were many competitions at the time with then household names like Dave Curtis, Jeff Ward, Johnny Giles, Don Rickman, Arthur Lampkin and Dave Bickers.  Jeff Smith, seen here winning the Experts Grand National Scramble, was born just over the border in Colne, Lancashire, and went on to have an outstanding motorcycle career. Following from his father, also a rider, he became a works rider for Norton in 1952, becoming the British Trials Champion with them in 1953 before becoming the BSA factory rider, where he worked, the following year and winning again riding a Gold Star. 

Another highlighted winner is Geoff Broadbent, riding a works 350 Royal Enfield, who broke his leg a couple of years previous to this (by no means his only accident!). It isn’t clear where exactly the route is for this race, although it often run on Beamsley Moor. The race is still held, still using machines of various sizes, and still with a variety of trophies, including the Scott Trophy and a Geoff Broadbent Award. The Ilkley & District Motor Cycle Club has recently celebrated its centenary, having been established in 1910 (becoming the Ilkley Motor Cycle and Light Car Club in 1919, and now the Ilkley and District Motor Club). Some Grand Nationals at Ilkley can be seen on the Pathe online archive.

As this film gives an indication, there were many tournaments at this time: others included the Victory Cup Trial, Lancashire Grand Point to Point, Lancashire Grand National and the Cotswold Scramble – motorcycle scrambling later came to be known as MotoCross.  The Scarborough Road Races at Oliver’s Mount were started in 1946 by the Yorkshire Centre of the A.C.U. and Scarborough and District Motor Club, with Allan Jefferies competing in the first race on a 350cc. It was the best road track outside the Manx TT races – which had been halted for the war, and was reduced to using low octane fuel.   Over twelve thousand spectators attended the first meeting. Since then there has been over 150 meetings and the race is still going strong. There were normally two races per year. In 1955 there was the Oliver's Mount, Cock o' the North, on 1st & 2nd July; and the News Chronicle International Gold Trophy taking place between Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th September.

It was also the heyday of British bikes, such as the Matchless BSA, Ariel, AJS and Triumph. Even back in the 1950s these were pretty fast machines. The track of just under 2 ½ miles has been altered numerous times since it started, so it is hard to compare times, although it has always had the Mount Hairpin. In September of 1955, in the 5th International Gold Cup, Geoff Duke recorded a round of 2m 05.4 averaging just under 70 mph on a 500cc Works Gilera. It wasn’t until 1979 that the legendary Barry Sheene broke the 80 mph mark on a 680 Texaco Heron Suzuki.  The latest record was set by Ryan Farquhar in 2010, averaging 83.368 on a 1000 KMR Kawasaki ZX10

Winning the 350 race is the Duke’s great rival, John Surtees (on a Norton) who would go on to eclipse him. Only 21 in 1955, Surtees beat the reigning world champion Duke at Silverstone and then at Brands Hatch. In 1956 he also won the 500cc world championship when Geoff Duke had been banned for six months because of his support for a riders' strike for more starting money. In a three year period – 1958, 1959 and 1960 – he won 32 out of 39 races and became the first man to win the Senior TT at the Isle of Man TT three years in succession. Showing his versatility, Surtees switched to car racing in 1960, going on to great success here also, and eventually founding his own race team.  He was awarded an MBE and an OBE. For a history of the race, circuit and races, see the Oliver’s Mount website (References).

Speedway at Odsal was introduced by Johnnie Hoskins in 1945-46, before finally finishing there in 1997, after Bradford City Council contentiously refused to renew Bradford Dukes Speedway Club's lease at Odsal. (it raced for a short time at Greenfield in the early 60's).  For more details of these developments see the Bradford Speedway website, who are campaigning for Bradford Council, which owns Odsal Stadium, to change its position – see also the Context for Rugby League Wartime Matches (1939-1944). The website also provides a potted history of the club, which has had several names: from 1945 until 1949, the Bradford Boomerangs; from 1950 to 1957, the Bradford Tudors; in 1960 becoming Bradford Panthers.  The club folded in 1962, when it raced for a short time at Greenfield in the early 60's, before reforming in 1970.  Bradford Speedway have been Champions on eight occasions, can claim a World Champion (Gary Havelock in 1992), and have hosted numerous Grand Prix events and the World Speedway.

Apparently speedway is now the third most televised sport in the UK. Ronnie Moore, the current speedway champion at just 22, finished runner up the following two years. The World Champion for 1955 was Peter Craven, who is in the British team here, and was later to captain the team before being killed in a freak racing accident in 1963, aged just 29.   Unfortunately Geoff Duke doesn’t say who won this race – see also the Context for 1985 World Speedway Final at Odsal.  

Neither does he seem to know the origins of the name ‘Stock car racing’. It refers to the fact that the cars that are raced, although modified, are originally conventional cars, i.e. not specifically designed for racing. The sport originated, apparently, from bootleggers in the US in the 1930s modifying their cars to escape the police! This then got turned into a sport, and with the founding of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) in 1948 by a mechanic Bill France Snr. in Daytona Beach in Florida, it really took off. First in the US, Canada and Mexico, it reached Britain in 1954. Since then it has developed many different categories, although all allow for bumping ones competitors out of the way, as amply demonstrated in the film!

The Banbury Run, specialising in pre-1931 vintage motorcycles, is also still going strong over sixty years since its inauguration in 1948. Not so Baines Bicycles, makers of the trick bicycles.  The Baines brothers of Bradford were famous for their novel ‘Flying Gate’ design (aka ‘Whirlwind’), but went out of business the year before model name – see the Context for Eccleshill Carnival (1922).

Last up is the Allan Jeffries Trophy Trial which was inaugurated by the Yorkshire Centre in 1946 in honour of Bradford born Allan Jeffries, referred to above.  At that time there were three competitions in Yorkshire: the Scott Trials, the Leeds Trial and the Rotherham Club’s Lister Trophy Trial. After the war only the Scott Trials, a national open competition run by the Bradford Motorcycle Club, continued. Allan himself came second in the first competition in 1947, riding a 350 Triumph twin.  Two years later the event moved to Upper Wharfedale, where it remained until 1958. The start was at Long Ashes near Thresfield, with the most difficult hill considered to be Moorend, at Kettlewell. But anyone watching this might think that the adjective ‘difficult’ is something of an understatement, and that the whole enterprise is an exercise in madness!