Bantam Racing Club 1966-69 Production Class

Good afternoon all,
I /have recently joined the forum to try to find out a bit more about a specific bike that was raced in the Bantam Club Production class races at Cadwell Park and Brand Hatch in 1966 to 1969 by a chap named David Tiernan. I don't quite know where to start, hence the post in the forum and see what comes back.
The bike in question was a Matchless G12CSR and it had a prior racing history in the Thruxton 500 and Bemsee 1,000 events in 1962-64, before it became ineligible to race as over 3 years old. It was then sold to the above named gent who raced it in the club events in the period mentioned.
If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful?
Many thanks,
John

Hi John,

I'm afraid I can't help with your search, but just want to offer encouragement. I was a regular competitor in BRC meetings during that period. The name David Tiernan definitely rings bells, and I can remember a Matchless twin thrashing round, but that is the limit of my recall. I took part in Proddie races in a couple of meetings in 1963, but after that it was mostly the Bantam and the British 250 classes for me.

The Matchless twins were not taken too seriously against the Triumphs and Nortons, but it sounds as though the bike you are looking for had been "breathed on" and had an interesting history.

All the best with the quest!

John C.

John, try connecting G12, Brands and the late Derek Minter, I was there in the early 60s when he raced, what was described over the tannoy system as a very special 650 Matchless, in an unlimited race. I took note of this because at the time I owned a G12 matchless. It didn`t last the race but seemed on par with all of the other big twins. Sorry I can`t be more specific, but it was all of perhaps, 54 years ago and I had completely forgotten about it.
I hope you quest is ultimately successful.

Regards, Trevor

Gents,
Many thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my original post.
I have received a response from a chap on the Autosport forum who used to know Dave Tiernan and suggested I contact George Hopwood who would know more about him and his racing exploits. I have e-mailed George on the contact details provided and await a response.
I have come to realise in my research to date that the smallest piece of information can lead to the next clue to unlock the full story and I am always grateful for anything, however, small.
Kind regards,
John

Morning all,
George Hopwood kindly replied to my enquiry and confirmed that he knows David Tiernan and in fact collected the bike with him when he bought it from Tom Kirby in 1966... however he has no knowledge of his racing exploits being heavily involved with his own Thruxton Triumph at the time.
John Bass suggested that the programmes on the main website might assist, however, I cannot see any that are early enough to cover the period I am looking at.... if there is anyone out there who could help with access to BRC programmes from that period, please let me know?
Kind regards,
John

Sorry again John,
My own few copies of the mag also only go back to 1970 ... but one of the old-&-ancient committee members might have kept some -- or know of an earlier committee member having kept some.... Dave Hunter was writing on here about a year ago -- as was Mick Scutt -- as was Mary Styles advertising with her late husband Peter their Lydden anniversary do -- there´s got to be one of them has kept some copies of the more ancient mags....

When the club wound up in the late Ninties Peter Tibbits was there at the death (I believe...?) and maybe Peter knows of where mag copies might be secreted away...

Whoops!

JayBee -- ex... whatever it was ...

john bass wrote:

Sorry again John,
My own few copies of the mag also only go back to 1970 ... but one of the old-&-ancient  committee members might have kept some -- or know of an earlier committee member having kept some.... Dave Hunter was writing on here about a year ago -- as was Mick Scutt -- as was Mary Styles advertising with her late husband Peter their Lydden anniversary do -- there´s got to be one of them has kept some copies of the more ancient mags....

When the club wound up in the late Nineties Peter Tibbitts was there at the death (I believe...?) and maybe Peter knows of where mag copies might be secreted away...

Whoops!

JayBee -- ex... whatever it was ...

If I can recall accurately, I think I have kept all bantam mags from early 1972 to the last knockings - But they ceased well before the Club folded, which was around early 1996, again IIRC. However, I have got nothing earlier than 1972 I'm afraid. But I think this guy is looking for race programmes? Returning to the BRC winding up, it was decided to have a party to mark the occasion, somewhere in Northants. Good do from what I recall, which is a bit sketchy as I was the first to arrive and last to leave . The Scudder brothers were there - quite fitting as it was Kevin that got me into Bantam racing.

When I was racing I kept diaries with details of every meeting in which I took part - late 1963 to early 1970. I also kept the relevant race programmes - dozens of them. I hung on to them for many years, then, about twenty years ago, I was moving house and downsizing to a two bedroom flat. Loads of stuff had to be thrown overboard, so my racing memorabilia all went to the tip - including a cardboard box full of tatty, tarnished trophies.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but often have I regretted that rash decision.

Hello John.
A few years ago I sent a large brown envelope containing a scrap book plus some mag's to Mike Powell. The book was a record of early South East centre memorabilia, it had a lot of MCN results from the early days and just maybe your friend David Tiernan could appear in the production class results. I don't know if Mike still has the book but if it's available have a look see.

Just a thought,
Les 2012.

Commiserations John, we all do things in haste that are that are the cause of much regret later.

When I relocated from Northamptonshire to here in Somerset, I took the opportunity to dispose of a lot of accumulated “junk”, but unlike you I upsized to a much larger house so space wasn`t an excuse! I got hold of a number of sturdy tea-chest sized cardboard boxes and loaded my books and papers into some of these. Problem was the first one I packed was just too heavy to lift, so I took out a third of the contents and stowed them into a different box. Unbeknown to me that box was destined to be disposed of at the local tip! I have no excuses for not seeing written in very large maker pen on both the lid and sides it`s destination, not bedroom 1 or lounge or kitchen but……TIP!
The real tragedy of what I did wasn`t apparent until several years later when after rekindling my lapsed interest in Bantams, I rummaged around in the remaining unopened boxes in the two lofts in our house to try find the original BSA drawings of George`s GT186, and other Bantam related archive papers.
These drawings comprised of three huge sheets of blue prints with all of the manufacturing alterations to convert the crankcases from the standard D14 spec to the racer, along with various smaller detail drawings. Because of my crass stupidity they went into the tip box, so have been lost forever, the sad irony was that it was me that disposed of the “rubbish” at the local tip!

Trevor