Great Britain road numbering scheme

The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain.
Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, of 1 to 4 digits. Introduced to arrange funding allocations, the numbers soon became used on maps and as a method of navigation. Two sub-schemes exist: one for motorways, and another for non-motorway roads. While some major roads form part of the International E-road network, no E-routes are signposted in Great Britain, or the rest of the UK.
The scheme applies only to England, Scotland and Wales; a similar system is used in Northern Ireland, as well as outside the UK in the Isle of Man, Jersey and British overseas territories. These other numbering schemes use similar conventions.
History.
Work on classification began in 1913 by the government's Roads Board, with the aim of denoting the quality and usage of British roads. The work was interrupted by the First World War. It did not resume until the Ministry of Transport was formed in 1919 and given authority to classify highways and to allocate funding for road maintenance, authority for which was granted by section 17 (2) of the Ministry of Transport Act 1919. A classification system was created, under which important routes connecting large population centres, or for through traffic, were designated as Class I, and roads of lesser importance were designated as Class II. The definitive list of those roads was published on 1 April 1923, following consultations with local authorities. Government funding towards the repairs of these roads were set at 60% for the former and 50% for the latter.
Shortly after this, the numbers started to appear in road atlases and on signs on the roads themselves, making them a tool for motorists in addition to their use for determining funding. The numbers of the roads changed quite frequently during the early years of the system, because it was a period of rapid expansion of the network and some numbered routes did not follow the most usual routes taken. The Trunk Roads Act 1936 gave the Ministry direct control of major routes and a new classification system was created to identify these routes. Originally, those numbers beginning in T were to be made public, but that was eventually deemed unnecessary.
With the introduction of motorways in the late 1950s, a new classification of "M" was introduced. In many cases the motorways duplicated existing stretches of A road, which therefore lost much of their significance and were in some cases renumbered. There was no consistent approach to the renumbering – some A roads retained their existing number as non-primary roads (e.g. the A40 running alongside the M40), others were given "less significant" numbers (e.g. the A34 in Warwickshire became the A3400 after the M40 was built), and the remainder were downgraded to B or unclassified roads (e.g. the A38, which was replaced by the M5 between Tiverton and Exeter). Occasionally, the new motorway would take the name of the old A road rather than having its own number. The most notable example of that is the A1(M).
Zoning system.
Non-motorway.
In England and Wales the road numbering system for all-purpose (i.e. non-motorway) roads is based on a radial pattern centred on London. In Scotland the same scheme is centred on Edinburgh. In both cases the main single-digit roads normally define the zone boundaries. The exception is between Zones 1 and 2, where the River Thames defines the boundary so that all of Kent is in Zone 2.
The first digit in the number of any road should be the number of the furthest-anticlockwise zone entered by that road. For example, the A38 road, a trunk road running from Bodmin to Mansfield starts in Zone 3, and is therefore numbered with an A3x number, even though it passes through Zones 4 and 5 to end in Zone 6. Additionally, the A1 in Newcastle upon Tyne has moved twice. Originally along the Great North Road, it then moved to the Tyne Tunnel, causing some of the roads in Zone 1 to lie in Zone 6. The designated A1 later moved to the western bypass around the city, and roads between the two found themselves back in Zone 1. For the most part the roads affected retained their original numbers throughout.
Elsewhere when single-digit roads were bypassed, roads were often re-numbered in keeping with the original zone boundaries.
In a limited number of cases road numbering does not necessarily follow the rules with some anomalously numbered.
Motorways.
Motorways first came to Britain over three decades after the advent of the A-road numbering event, and as a result required a new numbering system. They were given an M prefix, and in England and Wales a numbering system of their own not coterminous with that of the A-road network, though based on the same principle of zones. Running clockwise from the M1 the zones were defined for Zones 1 to 4 based on the proposed M2, M3 and M4 motorways. The M5 and M6 numbers were reserved for the other two planned long distance motorways. The Preston Bypass, the UK's first motorway section, should have been numbered A6(M) under the scheme decided upon, but it was decided to keep the number M6 as had already been applied. The first full-length motorway in the UK was the M1 motorway.
Shorter motorways typically take their numbers from a parent motorway in contravention of the zone system, explaining the apparently anomalous numbers of the M48 and M49 motorways as spurs of the M4, and M271 and M275 motorways as those of the M27.
This numbering system was devised in 1958–59 by the then Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, and applied only in England and Wales. It was decided to reserve the numbers 7, 8 & 9 for Scotland. In Scotland, where roads were the responsibility of the Scottish Office (Scottish Government after 1999), the decision was taken to adopt a scheme whereby motorways took the numbers of the all-purpose routes they replaced. As a result, there is no M7 (as no motorway follows the A7), and when the A90 was re-routed to replace the A85 south of Perth, the short M85 became part of the M90.
A roads.
Single-digit A roads.
In England and Wales, the six single-digit numbers reflect the traditionally most important radial routes coming out of London. Starting with the A1 which heads due north, numbers were allocated sequentially in a clockwise direction, thus:
Similarly, in Scotland, important roads radiating from Edinburgh have single-digit numbers, thus:
While these routes remain the basis for the numbering of the A road network, they are no longer necessarily major roads, having been bypassed by motorways or other changes to the road network.
Other A roads.
These radials are supplemented by two-digit codes which are routes that "may" be slightly less important, but may still be classified as trunk routes, although many of these routes have lost a lot of their significance due to motorway bypasses, or the upgrading of other A-roads. These routes are not all centred on London, but as far as possible follow the general principle that their number locates them radially clockwise from the associated single digit route. For example, the A10 (London to King's Lynn) is the first main route clockwise from the A1, the A11 (London to Norwich) is the next, then the A12 (London to Great Yarmouth) and the A13 (London to Shoeburyness); the next radial is the A2, followed by the A20 (London to Dover), and so on. These roads have been numbered either outwards from or clockwise around their respective hubs, depending on their alignment.
The system continues to three and four digit numbers which further split and criss-cross the radials. Lower numbers originate closer to London than higher numbered ones. As roads have been improved since the scheme commenced, some roads with 3 or 4 digit numbers have increased in significance, for example the A127, A1079 and A414. New routes have also been allocated 3 or 4 digit numbers, for example the Edinburgh City Bypass is the A720.
The Major Road Network is a proposed classification of major local-authority controlled A roads that the government committed to implementing in 2017, with the aim of better targeting road funding.
Trunk roads and primary routes.
Some A roads are designated trunk roads, which implies that central government rather than local government has responsibility for them. A more recent classification is that of primary routes, the category of recommended routes for long-distance traffic. Primary routes include both trunk and non-trunk roads.
Motorway sections.
Some sections of A roads have been improved to the same standard as motorways, but do not completely replace the existing road; they form a higher standard part of the route for those which are not excluded. These sections retain the same number but are suffixed with (M), for example the A1(M) and A404(M). There have been occasions where this designation has been used to indicate motorway bypasses of an existing road, but the original retains the A road designation, for example A3(M), A329(M), A38(M), A48(M) and A627(M).
Other classifications.
B roads are numbered distributor roads, which have lower traffic densities than the main trunk roads, or A roads. This classification has nothing to do with the width or quality of the physical road, and B roads can range from dual carriageways to single track roads with passing places. B roads follow the same numbering scheme as A roads, but almost always have 3- and 4-digit designations. Many 3-digit B roads outside the London area are former A roads which have been downgraded owing to new road construction; others may link smaller settlements to A roads.
E-roads.
Despite numerous large roads in Great Britain being part of the International E-road network, no road that forms part of this network is signposted as such and only the road's national designation is shown. The same is true in Northern Ireland.
Minor roads.
Roads and lanes with yet lower traffic densities are designated as "unclassified" roads commonly using C, D and U prefixes but, while these are numbered, in general this is done for use by the local authorities who are responsible for maintaining them and the non-unique numbering is in a local series which usually does not appear on road signs; use of local numbers on signs in England is "not advised". Exceptions to this are known however both in the form of numbers on signs and past use of prefixes H and V on signs in Milton Keynes where main roads have a regular grid system. These designations are, however, used when planning officers deal with certain planning applications, including the creation of a new vehicular access onto a highway. The letter Q is used for many important unclassified roads in Fife.
In London, Cycleways are using the C prefix and marked using pale green signs. There are also some CS prefixes for Cycle Superhighways, marked using magenta signs, but these are being phased out.


B roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme

B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme for the rationale behind the numbers allocated.


Edinburgh congestion charge

The Edinburgh congestion charge (also known as Edinburgh road tolls) was a proposed scheme of congestion pricing for Scotland's capital city. It planned to reduce congestion by introducing a daily charge to enter a cordon within the inner city, with the money raised directed to fund improvements in public transport. The scheme was the subject of intense public and political debate and ultimately rejected. A referendum was held and nearly three-quarters of respondents rejected the proposals.
Background.
Edinburgh's roads radiate from the city centre, which acts as a hub for other modes of transport and facilitates through-journeys. An outer by-pass circles the east, south and western boundaries of the city, but there is neither a northern by-pass nor a recognised inner ring road to take vehicular traffic.
As of 2001, Edinburgh's public transport relied on buses and taxis; there were two major (and ten minor) city train stations, no light rail system, and the tram network had been decommissioned in the 1950s. The city centre straddles seven hills; there was an off-road cycle network although there were few dedicated routes in the city centre. City commuters could use Park and Ride schemes, or several bus companies, with the largest being Lothian Buses, formed in 2000 with The City of Edinburgh Council as its major shareholder, carrying 108 million passengers in 2006.
Edinburgh's economy had been growing over the last few decades, with 34,800 more jobs predicted to be generated in the city between 2006 and 2015. This has helped to drive the local growth of car use in Edinburgh, with daily commuting trips identified as having increased by 72% between 1981 and 2001. In 2000 more vehicle registrations occurred in Edinburgh than anywhere else in Scotland. Congestion in the city was predicted to rise a further 25% between 2006 and 2026.
Edinburgh's road network was also in need of extensive repair and refurbishment; although maintenance had been increased to £16m per annum, the backlog of outstanding work was estimated at £70m.
Traffic delays and the impacts of road congestion had been estimated to cost the local economy about £20billion a year.
Although its air quality was generally good, parts of Edinburgh suffered from high concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx), mostly emitted from vehicle exhausts. Minor traffic management changes were planned to reduce this by 5% in the worst-affected areas, but an overall 40% reduction was targeted, partly by introducing a low emission zone to restrict heavy goods vehicles, partly through improved vehicle standards, and the rest through Edinburgh's 'Integrated Transport Initiative', with journeys moving to public transport as a result of congestion charging.
To improve public transport, the city also considered opening up existing railway lines, currently used for freight, to carry new passenger trains,
and a new tram line in South East Edinburgh.
In summary, Edinburgh Council was faced with increasing issues with private and public transport, yet it had limited options, and a challenging set of finances, being limited to its annual transportation budget, along with monies collected from parking charges.
Meanwhile, the Westminster Parliament passed legislation expanding the range of possible methods of taxation for roads in the UK, notably allowing for local authorities to introduce local road use pricing schemes. Durham introduced the first British scheme during 2002, followed by the London congestion charge in 2003, introduced under new powers granted to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.
Edinburgh chose to participate in the Department for Transport's Charging Development Partnership of local authorities working considering congestion charging or workplace parking levies, and also part-funded the European Union's PRoGR€SS project ('Pricing Road use for Greater Responsibility, Efficiency and Sustainability') to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness and acceptance of urban road pricing schemes, under the EU's CUPID European Road Pricing initiative.
Proposals.
The Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 made Scottish road pricing schemes possible, and laid down the condition that all proceeds from such schemes must be spent on transport.
In 2002 the City of Edinburgh Council began a consultation on future options for transport in Edinburgh. Three options were presented:
The scheme was seen as a possible blueprint for other areas in Scotland, with Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee awaiting the outcome of the Edinburgh scheme before making their own proposals.
The initial plans envisaged a charging scheme that operated in the city centre between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday, starting in 2006. The intention was to use similar technologies to the London scheme, with automatic number plate recognition systems to record vehicles passing the cordon boundaries, and fines issued to those who had not paid using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database to trace vehicles. Pre payment would be allowed as well as payment at a number of locations. Vehicles would be charged £2 to pass one of the two cordons. One would be at the Edinburgh City Bypass and the other surrounding the city centre. There would be only one charge to enter the city centre, even if both cordons were passed or cordons were passed several times in one day. It was also proposed to block off side roads to stop rat running.
An all-day scheme was initially projected to raise around £900 million for a central cordon only and £1.5 billion for the dual cordon option. Subject to public approval, the charge would have started in 2006, following various transport improvements. A two cordon scheme was expected to reduce congestion by up to 15% overall, with a drop of up to 85,000 journeys per day. It was projected to reduce volumes by 18 per cent in the centre and 15 per cent in the west. A one cordon scheme was projected to remove 59,000 journeys in the city centre, although there would be a small increase in the west. The cost for setting up the congestion charge was estimated at £11million for the two cordon option and £8million for the city centre cordon only proposal.
Later in 2002 the council stated they would look at various options for residents' discounts, potentially discounting the charge to 20p for those eligible. In September 2002, the council confirmed the initial proposals with some variations. The outer cordon was now proposed to operate between 0700-1000 and 1600 to 1830, and the inner cordon from 0700 to 1830, although these modifications would reduce the revenues available to provide the promised transport improvements. In 2003 the concessions were reported to be worth £58million, reducing the funding for transport improvements to £900million. Costs for preparing the scheme at the end of 2003 were estimated to be £5.36million and that the council would not proceed with the scheme as a Public-private partnership. Transport Initiatives Edinburgh announced £435million for public transport schemes outside of the Edinburgh council area.
A consultation was initially sent to over 250,000 people in the city and surrounding areas. Neighbouring West Lothian Council were against the scheme, and sent out 72,000 newsletters to its businesses and residents, criticising the scheme.
Fife Council were also concerned about its fairness on the residents of neighbouring areas who contributed to the Edinburgh economy, but had been priced out of the city by the high cost of living, and planned a study into the impact of Edinburgh's scheme on the rest of the Kingdom.
Some political parties and central city traders were skeptical of the projected economics, claiming that shoppers would drive to other out of town destinations such as McArthur Glen in Livingston, shifting business away from Edinburgh. They noted that the circumstances were different from London's, which is so large that the impact upon retail and business would be less significant. Edinburgh council then sought public feedback and re-evaluated parts of the scheme's operation.
A public enquiry opened on 27 April 2004 and lasted ten weeks. The inquiry report broadly supported the Edinburgh council's proposals, but recommended removing some of the exemptions proposed and allowing payment the day after. It also expressed concern at the implementation timetable along with the likelihood of receiving the required public transport improvements. Costs for preparing the scheme were now estimated at £8.1million. The costs were shared on a 50% basis with the Scottish Executive.
The council also proposed to introduce traffic calming measures including speed humps, road closures, and one way roads to stop rat running by drivers trying to avoid the congestion charge.
The final proposals had the outer cordon operating during the morning rush hour with the inner one from 0700 to 1830, both from Monday to Friday.
At this stage, the council said that the scheme would raise around £50 million a year to fund improvements in public transport, amounting to £760m over 20 years.
It was hoped that this money would fund a range of new transport projects:
Reaction.
When the initial consultation was launched, there was initial opposition and support for a congestion charge scheme. Transform Scotland, a transport pressure group, supported the two cordon scheme. Friends of the Earth Scotland also welcomed the proposals as they believed they would reduce air pollution and improve the city environment. The Princes Street association opposed the scheme, stating that businesses in the city centre would be put at a competitive disadvantage. Two public surveys in March 2002 had shown opposition to a charging scheme from 75% of suburban Edinburgh residents and 64% across the whole city. Scottish Executive support was anticipated, but the Executive stated that it was up to local authorities to propose schemes. The AA Scotland stated its opposition to the scheme. The hospitality industry supported the scheme, subject to improved public transport. Fife Council announced a report into the impact onto their area, whilst West Lothian Council opposed the outer cordon as a penalty on commuters into Edinburgh. Concern was also expressed that the DVLA would not be able to trace 1 in 12 of those not paying.
The proposals became part of the political debate in Scotland. The Scottish Conservatives argued that the scheme was not about congestion but about raising money and the Scottish National Party campaigned against the charge and made it an issue in the 2003 local elections. The Scottish Greens supported the congestion charge. The ruling Scottish Labour Party lost a significant number of votes at a September 2002 council by election (slipping from second to fourth place) with participants claiming that the proposed congestion charge had been a factor. On Edinburgh City Council, the opposition parties of the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party all opposed the plans. The Liberal Democrats had supported road charging in the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Transport Minister, Iain Gray, announced government support in principle for the scheme in December 2002, subject to the residents of Edinburgh supporting the scheme. A referendum was offered by the city council, which unlike the original consultation, would be restricted to the residents of the City of Edinburgh council area.
The councils surrounding Edinburgh - West Lothian, Fife and Midlothian - opposed the scheme. Mid Lothian circulated leaflets encouraging their residents to actively oppose the plans. In February 2005, these three councils were permitted to bring a petition to have the scheme declared unlawful in the Court of Session. They argued that the concessions for residents of the Edinburgh council area who lived further away than some of their residents from the capital, made the scheme unfair. Further they also asked for a declaration that the City of Edinburgh council had acted unlawfully in not taking on board the recommendations of the public enquiry and that there were not legal powers to fund public transport beyond the city boundaries. Scottish Borders Council also opposed the scheme and wanted the referendum extended to their residents.
Following the introduction of the London congestion charge, Professor David Begg, chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport, cited the reported of that success as a reason to go ahead with the Edinburgh scheme. Two groups were set up to campaign for the introduction of the charge and a yes vote in the referendum, Yes to Edinburgh and Get Edinburgh Moving. Opposed to the charge were Edinburgh Communities Against Congestion Charging, retail businesses and the National Alliance Against Tolls.
The John Lewis Partnership, owners of a department store in central Edinburgh, called for reduced charging hours in the city centre to reduce the impact on retail shops and improvements to the public transport system before the charge began. The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce was joined by the Freight Transport Association in requesting that all commercial vehicles be exempted, arguing that businesses would have to pass on their increased costs to consumers or leave the city altogether. An early 2004 survey by the Chamber of Commerce had 90% of respondents rejecting the proposed scheme with two-thirds against road pricing as a matter of principle.
Initial results from the consultation showed that amongst respondents half supported a city centre cordon, but 44% supported the outer cordon. Concern was expressed on rat runs and local air quality in parts of north Edinburgh if only a city centre cordon was introduced. A survey organised by Mid Lothian council showed 98% of residents were opposed to the scheme. In the run up to the referendum, the council proposed an independent monitoring board for the scheme and possible abolition after two years if it did not work.
Referendum.
A referendum was organised by the City of Edinburgh Council and conducted by postal ballot from 7 February 2005 till 21 February 2005. The referendum cost £600,000.
The question asked in the Edinburgh road tolls referendum was:
"The leaflet enclosed with this ballot paper gives information on the Council's transport proposals for Edinburgh. The Council's 'preferred' strategy includes congestion charging and increased transport investment funded by it. Do you support the Council's 'preferred' strategy?"
There was concern that the referendum forms were confusing. A dedicated council help line received 943 calls in one day. There were complaints that the question was biased, referring to the council's "preferred" strategy and there were concerns expressed by some political parties that the information leaflet enclosed with the form would also add to the confusion. Around 30,000 residents who had stated a preference not to receive junk mail on the electoral register form could not be sent a ballot form.
On 22 February 2005 the result was announced, with the majority rejecting the proposals. With a turnout of 61.7% (179,643 votes) from a potential electorate of 300,000, there were 133,678 votes against and 45,965 in favour. The rejections amounted to 74.4% of the votes cast.
Aftermath.
The council accepted the results of the referendum and did not implement their proposals.
A final bill of £9million was put on the development of the proposals.
The House of Commons select committee on transport suggested that the rejection of the scheme would delay plans to introduce other schemes in the United Kingdom.
Although the costs of the public transport schemes are still politically contentious at a local and Scottish level, the council continued to spend money on the Edinburgh tram network, buses, and new park and ride schemes.
In retrospect, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh noted that, although there was agreement that congestion needed to be contained, there had been clear public opposition to the concept of road pricing as a direct traffic restraint measure. The failure to achieve support they attributed to a range of factors:


Quasar-Unipower

The Quasar-Unipower was a box-like car produced in limited numbers between 1967 and 1968 by Universal Power Drives of Perivale, Middlesex, England who also built the Unipower GT sports car.
Designed by , a French-Vietnamese designer and engineer, the car used plastic inflatable seats, a glass roof and sliding glass doors, in a cube-like configuration that was wider than it was long. The Unipower employed a four-cylinder 1100 cc BMC engine with an automatic transmission. Modified Mini subframes carried the suspension components and Mini 10 inch wheels were used. The car had a top speed of .


Clyde Tunnel

The Clyde Tunnel is a crossing beneath the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Two parallel tunnel tubes connect the districts of Whiteinch to the north and Govan to the south in the west of the city.
History.
Efforts to improve the transport infrastructure of Glasgow post-World War II were hit by the problem of crossing the Clyde. Downstream of Jamaica Street in the city centre, it was perceived to be impossible to build a bridge due to the prevalence of shipping in what had been the second city of the British Empire still reliant on the sea. The solution — to build a tunnel beneath the river — was not a new one, with the Harbour Tunnel at Finnieston having been built in the 1890s. However, the Clyde Tunnel project was to be built in the boom of the car era and would be a much larger project. It was given the green light in 1948 but financial difficulties prevented work from beginning until 1957.
Construction.
A tunnelling shield, based on Marc Isambard Brunel's design used for the Thames Tunnel a century earlier, was used to dig the two tunnels. The tunnels were cut perfectly circular with the road deck sitting a third of the way up. Under each road deck is the pedestrian/cycle tunnel and ventilation ducts. 16 miners operated the shield working shifts in a compressed air environment to ensure that the rock and the river above did not collapse into the tunneling area. The digging itself would be done only with great difficulty due to the geology of the area, hard rock sitting under a soft silt layer beneath the river.
The techniques for decompression after a period of working in a high pressure atmosphere had not been perfected at this time and – also owing to the prevalence of workers refusing to go through the decompression sequence given the length of time required (around an hour) – there were a number of cases of decompression sickness diagnosed as a result, resulting in two fatalities. Work on the tunnel was halted for a time after an explosion when compressed air escaped through the tunnel lining into the river, flushing outward in a fountain.
The first completed tunnel tube, for northbound traffic, was eventually opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 July 1963, with the southbound tunnel opening in March 1964. The total cost of the project was £10 million. By this point, the migration of port facilities downstream to the deeper waters of the Firth of Clyde and improvements in engineering technology had allowed the consideration of bridges downstream of the city centre, namely the Kingston Bridge and, much further downstream than the Tunnel, the Erskine Bridge.
The tunnels.
The tunnels are each 762 metres (2,500 feet) long with a gradient approaching 6% or 1:16. The width of the river at this point is . Each road tunnel carries two lanes of traffic as part of the A739 road, and are completely separate except for a very small crossover passage between the road tunnels at the nadir (barely large enough for a single pedestrian). They are monitored and controlled from the two Portal towers, one at each end of the tunnel, where CCTV monitors the entirety of the tunnel. Beneath the tunnel decks run foot and cycle tunnels, and below those the tunnels' services.
Repair work.
The estimate for traffic levels in the tunnel was between 9,000 and 13,000 vehicles per day during construction; on the first day of opening, 22,000 vehicles used the tunnel. Current estimates for traffic levels are around 65,000 vehicles per day. These unanticipated high volumes of traffic have increased the wear rate for the tunnel, causing it to close repeatedly for repair and renovation work, which has disrupted traffic in the area for over a decade, and has arguably led to the increase in traffic causing similar problems on the Kingston Bridge.
The more recent repairs, costing as much as the initial outlay for construction, involved installing a second, modern, fireproof layer, enabling the tunnel to meet European safety standards after St Gotthard and Mont Blanc tunnel fires, along with new air extraction systems and new lighting. Work began in March 2005 and was scheduled to last until at least April 2006, with one of the tunnels closed during off-peak hours (19:00 to 07:00 daily). However, problems that were encountered meant the work was only completed in 2010.
The roadworks coincided with the "Hold Your Breath" project which aimed to add an artistic experience to travel through the tunnel. The pedestrian tunnel also had its years of graffiti removed as part of a beautification project, but it was often redone soon after being removed.
Breath holding.
A popular game amongst local children, and some adults, is attempting to hold one's breath for the duration of the journey through the Clyde Tunnel. This is possible due to the short length of the tunnel – a car travelling at the limit takes 57 seconds to pass through, and at off peak times traffic is often flowing at around , resulting in a transit duration of 42 seconds. Success is hampered by snarlups (particularly at the interchange on the north end) slowing traffic. The breath-holding game was the subject of Scottish artist Roderick Buchanan's video "Gobstopper", for which he won the Beck's Futures art prize in 2000.
Pedestrian and cycle tunnels.
Both tunnels are open to pedestrians in both directions. The eastern tunnel is open to cyclists going southbound, and the western tunnel to cyclists going northbound. In 2008, CCTV secure entry systems were installed at the portals of the pedestrian tunnels in order to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the tunnels.


Dax Cars

Dax Cars is a British sports car manufacturer founded in 1968 and based in North Weald, Essex, England.
Dax started as a fibreglass moulding company, named DJ Sportscars Int. and became first British company to make a kit based replica of the AC 427 Cobra. On 15 August 2017, John Kox acquired the production of the Dax 427 from 427 Motor Company (formerly known as Dax Cars & DJ Sportscars Int.).
Tojeiro / 427.
In 1975 John Tojeiro, the original designer of the AC Ace chassis became a director of the company and the car was renamed the Dax Tojeiro. The Tojeiro has undergone continuous development and now called Dax 427. In 2003 the 427 De Dion became available, beside the 427 IRS, with a choice to accommodate most American V8 and Jaguar engines including the V12. Automatic or manual transmission can be used and power steering is another option. A leather trimmed interior kit.
Kamala.
Launched in 1996 and designed by ex Ford designer Peter Walker, the Kamala was a radical looking original super car utilising the Cosworth 2 litre turbo engine giving a 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds..
Californian.
Launched in 1985, the Californian was a Porsche 356 lookalike with VW Beetle components.
Nevada.
The Nevada was an off-roader type vehicle using a space frame tubular chassis and VW Beetle engine announced in 1985.
Coupe.
The Coupe made an appearance at the Stoneleigh show in 2018. While the Coupe is a new model, it’s based on the old underpinnings of the established Dax 427. The Dax Coupe chassis is lengthened by 5in, that extra length being made from a new spaceframe section. Suspension is carried over and the engine options remain the same as on the 427.


Springfield Road

The Springfield Road () is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican. Parts of the road form an interface area with the neighbouring Ulster loyalist areas of the Greater Shankill and it was the site of much activity during the Troubles. The Springfield Road includes the Ballymurphy and New Barnsley districts and is overlooked by Black Mountain and Divis.
History.
Much of what now forms the housing estates of the Springfield Road was formerly rural land near the base of the mountains. The area around what became New Barnsley was known as Brown's Fields and was formerly used for grazing cattle. The area would later become industrialised with James Mackie & Sons establishing a textile factory on the road in the late nineteenth century. It became a leading employer and produced large quantities of munitions during the Second World War.
The area experienced growth in the 1940s when a series of housing estates were built. The pattern of segregation in Northern Ireland was maintained as the new estates were partitioned along religious lines, with the Highfield and New Barnsley estates on the northern side of the road predominantly Protestant and the Ballymurphy estate earmarked for a mainly Catholic population. The area saw an influx of temporary residents in the 1960s when the inhabitants of the Pound Loney area of the lower Falls were temporarily rehoused in Ballymurphy whilst the new Divis flats complex was built. A young Gerry Adams, who had been involved in agitation against the redevelopment of the Pound Loney, was amongst those to be rehoused in this manner.
The Troubles.
Streets leading off the Springfield Road were at the centre of the 1969 riots which were among the earliest incidents to occur during the Troubles. Kashmir Road, which leads directly off the lower Springfield Road, was the site of a series of arson attacks on homes, along with Cupar Street and Bombay Street, both of which are between the Springfield, Falls and Shankill Roads. Rioting returned the following year with fierce fighting occurring at the interface between Catholic Ballymurphy and the then Protestant New Barnsley areas. The trouble began on 31 March 1970 when junior Orange Order bands heading to Bangor, County Down began to play their tunes on the Springfield Road early in the morning before travelling to the North Down coast. Although the bands left without incident crowds of angry residents gathered in Ballymurphy and a unit of the Scots Guards was deployed in preparation for trouble later that night. When the bands returned sectarian clashes broke out and soon developed into a full-scale riot as the soldiers struggled to maintain order. A heavier, more forceful, army presence was deployed in Ballymurphy the following night and in anger the residents attacked the soldiers. Three nights of rioting followed, with the army make heavy use of CS gas canisters and grenades in a largely unsuccessful attempt to break up the crowds. The Protestant population of New Barnsley moved out of the area soon after this event. Some individuals who would go on to become leading figures within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) lived on the Springfield Road until the outbreak of the Troubles, notably Ballymurphy native John White and Andy Tyrie, who lived in both Ballymurphy and New Barnsley before the Troubles. New Barnsley Protestants mostly settled in houses left vacant by fleeing Catholics in the Greater Shankill and vice versa.
A notorious incident in the road's history was the Ballymurphy Massacre, the deaths of eleven civilians that occurred on the road between 9 and 11 August 1971 during the implementation of Operation Demetrius. The killings were carried out by members of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army who maintained that they were only returning fire after being shot at by republicans. Families of the victims however have been involved in a long campaign to seek acknowledgement from the British government that their relatives were not involved in any attacks on the soldiers. The Springhill Massacre, which followed in 1972 and was also said to be a case of soldiers killing civilians, also occurred on the Springfield Road.
The Springfield Road has long been a stronghold of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and following the 1969 split in the Irish Republican Army the Ballymurphy unit of the Belfast Brigade was one of the first to declare its loyalty to the Provisional IRA. Following a reorganisation of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade the Springfield Road was divided between the First Battalion (the Ballymurphy unit) and the Second Battalion (units around Clonard). Its political arm, Provisional Sinn Féin, emerged on the Springfield Road with the first "cumann" established in Clonard by Proinsias MacAirt closely followed by the Ballymurphy "cumann" under Liam McParland.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station on the road was also used as a barracks by the British Army resulting in the road becoming a significant centre in the conflict between the British military and Irish republican groups. One such event occurred on 25 May 1971 when a bomb was thrown into the base, killing army Sergeant Michael Willetts as he shielded civilians from the blast with his body. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross. Seven RUC officers, two British soldiers and 18 civilians were injured. An IRA rocket attack was launched on the barracks on 1 January 1973 injuring two people whilst on 28 October 1979 a soldier and a policeman were killed in a machine gun attack on the barracks. On 20 September 1982 a British soldier was killed when an IRA unit fired a rocket at his observation post at the barracks whilst on 2 May 1987 an IRA volunteer was killed in a premature bomb explosion during an attack on the base. A mortar attack was launched on 20 September 1987 with no casualties. The base was attacked again on 27 December 1993 when the IRA ended their traditional Christmas truce with a series of attacks on RUC and army bases, including a car bomb outside Springfield Road station. The final attack came on 30 August 1994 when the base was bombed at the same time as a mortar bomb was launched at the nearby Whiterock army base.
Other IRA attacks on the Springfield Road included the killing of a British soldier by a sniper on 8 April 1972, the death of a civilian in a car bomb on 26 March 1974, the killing of an alleged informer on 20 April that same year and a further soldier death on 30 June 1976. On 14 May 1981 an RUC officer was killed when his patrol vehicle was hit by an IRA rocket on Springfield Road and on 14 October 1982 a bomb attack was carried out on an army foot patrol in Ballymurphy. One of the deadliest IRA attacks in the area occurred on 25 March 1982 when three British soldiers were killed and five other people injured in a gun attack on Crocus Street, off the Springfield Road. It is believed an M60 machine gun was used during the attack. An Ulster Defence Regiment soldier was also killed on the road by Irish National Liberation Army on 29 September 1981.
Loyalist paramilitaries frequently targeted people living in the area during the Troubles. Under Charles Harding Smith the UDA, in their initial claimed role of defending Protestant communities were the first to erect temporary barricades on Ainsworth Avenue blocking the route between the Shankill and Springfield roads. These have since become permanent peace lines. On 13 September 1972 the UDA opened fire inside the Catholic-owned Divis Castle Bar on Springfield Road, killing the owner's son. On 5 September 1973 the UDA, under its Ulster Freedom Fighters code name, claimed responsibility for a no warning car bomb that caused extensive damage to property but no loss of life after the area was evacuated. Later that same year they shot and killed a Catholic outside his place of work on the road. This was followed on 22 November 1974 by the killing of a Catholic woman at her Springfield Road workplace. UDA hitman Sam McCrory was given his first assignment and on 9 October 1987, Francisco Notarantonio, a 66-year-old who had been interned in 1971 but had not been active for more than 40 years, was shot dead at his home in Ballymurphy, in a hit said to have been organised the British agent Brian Nelson. The UDA largely abandoned activity in the Springfield Road until the 1990s when they claimed three separate civilian murders on 3 September 1991, 28 April 1992 and 27 April 1994.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) has committed a number of killings on the Springfield Road during the Troubles. On 28 May 1972 they shot and killed a Catholic civilian on the road and another in Whiterock Gardens on 4 February 1974 whilst on 9 April 1976 they exploded a no-warning bomb at Divis Castle Bar killing another Catholic civilian. Another Catholic civilian killed at his home on 12 September 1979 and again in the same circumstances on 25 June 1987. On 10 March 1989 a security guard was killed outside the Orient Bar in an attack claimed by the Protestant Action Force, a UVF cover name. and On 26 June 1993 loyalists rioted when the RUC prevented an Orange Order march near a peace line in the area. On Ainsworth Avenue, a UVF member was wounded when the grenade he was holding exploded prematurely. Eighteen people were wounded. He died three days later.
Areas of the Springfield Road.
The Springfield Road starts on the lower Falls Road, forming a continuation of the Grosvenor Road, which links the Falls to Belfast city centre. The road continues north-west before turning sharply in a more south-westerly direction. It eventually merges into the Monagh by-pass which links the area with Kennedy Way and ultimately the M1 motorway. From the Grosvenor Road to the junction with the West Circular Road it forms part of the B38 whilst from there after it is part of the A55.
Lower Springfield.
The areas at the start of the Springfield Road are made up largely of social housing with some shops on the main road itself. These form part of the Edenderry and Clonard districts that are also part of the Falls Road. As this area is close to neighbouring loyalist estates a number of peace lines are in existence due to continuing low level violence and vandalism. Ainsworth Avenue, which formerly linked the Springfield Road to the Woodvale Road is closed off as are the points at which Kirk Street and Workman Avenue in the Woodvale area touch Springfield and the parts of the Highfield estate that border the Springfield Road Limited access is still possible through Lanark Way with the street linking the Springfield and Shankill roads, albeit with gates that can be locked. The street was favoured by hitmen associated with the UDA West Belfast Brigade to gain access to the republican districts of the west of the city, notably Stephen McKeag who nicknamed the street the Yellow Brick Road.
Other features of the area include Springvale Industrial Estate and Business Park as well as Springfield Park, a small facility maintained by Belfast City Council. The Farset International budget accommodation and conference facility is contained within Springfield Park. Clonard Monastery is also located close to the Springfield Road.
Highfield and New Barnsley.
The loyalist Highfield estate borders onto the Springfield Road around West Circular Road and this area provides access to the Ballygomartin Road, a predominantly Protestant area that links to the Shankill Road. Close to the West Circular Road on the Springfield Road is the Whiterock Orange Hall. Parades to and from this hall, which pass areas of Catholic housing, have resulted in tension and rioting from as early as 1970. In October 2005 the hall was targeted in an arson attack.
The republican housing area adjacent to Highfield is known as New Barnsley. New Barnsley took its name from a clachan near Springfield Park which was burned down during the Troubles. The area is divided from the Highfield estate by a large peace line that runs the length of the Springmartin Road. New Barnsley Police Service of Northern Ireland station is located at the Springfield Road end of the peace line and is the main police presence on the road following the 2002 closure of the old Springfield Road RUC station.
Ballymurphy and Whiterock.
The area between the Springfield Road and the Whiterock Road is commonly known as Ballymurphy after the Ballymurphy Road. Springhill and Glenalina form part of this area. The housing in Ballymurphy was first built in 1947 when the council erected 600 concrete houses on a site acquired to cope with the rising population of the city. The area is bordered by the Whiterock Road, which links the Falls Road with the Ballygomartin Road and intersects the Springfield Road at Ballymurphy. The Whiterock area is older than Ballymurphy, dating back to the 1920s. Previously known as Kill Pipers Hill, the area had belonged William Sinclair, Lord Glenalina, whose title is commemorated in the area.
Springhill Millennium Park, a public facility, is located in this area whilst Belfast City Cemetery is also located in the Whiterock area. Whiterock Leisure Centre, located on the Whiterock Road, was in 1984 the scene of a notorious incident when, following the erection of an Irish tricolour, Democratic Unionist Party politician George Seawright led a group of loyalists, including UVF members John Bingham and William 'Frenchie' Marchant, wielding legally held handguns to physically remove it. Such were the levels of poverty in the area that in 1971 Mother Teresa established a religious mission in Ballymurphy and lived in the area for around a year.
Turf Lodge.
A further housing estate, Turf Lodge, lies beyond the Springfield Road, sandwiched between the Whiterock Road, the Monagh Bypass and the Glen Road. The area was built in the late 1950s to house excess people from the overcrowded districts of the lower Falls. The area had formerly been occupied by the Turf Lodge Farm and so the name was retained for the new estate. Much of the housing was of a low standard, consisting of blocks of flats and maisonettes, although following a campaign by local women in the 1970s some of the lowest quality housing stock was demolished and redeveloped. The estate is encircled by ring roads, a state of affairs which has helped to encourage joyriding amongst local "hoods". This in turn engendered a culture of summary justice, where the local PIRA handed out punishment beatings and knee-cappings to those deemed guilty of "antisocial behaviour", in Turf Lodge. During the Troubles an army base, Fort Monagh, was located on the estate.
Politics.
The Springfield Road is divided between the Court and Black Mountain District Electoral Areas of Belfast City Council. Court, which includes the Clonard ward covering the lower part of the road, is a mainly Unionist/Loyalist area and in the 2014 election returned Brian Kingston and Frank McCoubrey of the Democratic Unionist Party, Mary McConville and Jim McVeigh of Sinn Féin, Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party and Jolene Bunting of the Traditional Unionist Voice as councillors. Black Mountain however is strongly Nationalist/Republican and elected as its seven councillors Janice Austin, Ciarán Beattie, Arder Carson, Steven Corr and Emma Groves of Sinn Féin, Tim Attwood of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit (PBP).
The area is covered by the Belfast West constituency for the Parliament of the United Kingdom with the seat represented by Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey, who was elected at a 2011 by-election following the resignation of Gerry Adams to contest a seat in the Republic of Ireland. The same area is used for the Northern Ireland Assembly with the five seats held by Órlaithí Flynn, Fra McCann, Alex Maskey, Pat Sheehan of Sinn Féin and Gerry Carroll of PBP.
The Workers' Party of Ireland maintains its northern headquarters near the start of the Springfield Road.
Sport.
Gort na Mona GAC, a Gaelic Athletic Association whose origins lie in the Turf Lodge area of west Belfast, have their current headquarters on the Springfield Road. Lámh Dhearg GAC are also based in the area, on Hannahstown Hill.
Football club Iveagh United F.C., who play in the Northern Amateur Football League, were formed in the area in the early 1960s although they have since left the area and are now based in the Twinbrook area of Dunmurry.
Holy Trinity Boxing Club is located in Turf Lodge and it has developed a strong reputation in amateur boxing, with champions at a variety of age groups fighting out of the club. Damaen Kelly, a double bronze medallist at amateur level and a triple weight champion in the professional game, trained at the club.
Education.
St Clare's Primary School on the lower part of the road was built in 2005 as an amalgamation of two earlier schools. Springfield Primary School, further along the road, dates back to 1910. There are no secondary schools on the road, although there are several on the neighbouring Falls Road. Gort Na Móna Secondary School was located on the road from 1971 to 1988 before closing after merging with other Catholic schools in the area to form Corpus Christi College.
A branch of Belfast Metropolitan College is located on the adjacent Whiterock Road whilst St Gerard's Education Resource Centre, a special school, is found on Belfield Heights near where the Springfield Road merges into the Monagh By-pass.
Transport.
The row of cottages that made up the New Barnsley clachan was formerly the "terminus" for public transport, the limit of local bus services. However Springfield Road is no longer one of the twelve main corridors of Translink, which provides the Metro bus service in Belfast, and the road is served only by the irregular 80 and 81 services.
Both the Springfield Road itself and the western parts of Belfast as a whole were noted for their traffic congestion and so in 1978 the Monagh Bypass was opened near Springfield Road to provide an alternative route. The Bypass however is largely unfinished after it was discovered that much of the area around the foothills was impassable and so congestion remains an issue. After the Bypass the Upper Springfield Road marks the beginning of the B38, a minor road that links Belfast with the village of Glenavy.


Toby Markham

Toby Markham is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from the United Kingdom.


Triumph Rocket 3

The Triumph Rocket 3 is a motorcycle by manufacturer Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. Like its predecessor, the Rocket III, it is characterized by an engine that, at , is much larger than its competitors', and consequently has much higher torque. The Rocket 3 is made in three different guises, the sports-oriented R, the touring-oriented GT and the limited-edition TFC.


A420 road

The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route.
Present route.
Since the opening of the M4 motorway, the road has been in two sections. The first section begins on Old Market Street near the centre of Bristol, and passes through Kingswood before leaving the city on the east side. From here it travels eastward over the southern part of the Cotswolds, to the north of Bath, to Chippenham in Wiltshire.
The second section starts at a junction with the A419 east of Swindon. It then travels under the Great Western Main Line at the twin-arch Acorn Bridge and by-passes Shrivenham (the road originally went through Shrivenham, but the by-pass was built in the mid-1980s) and Watchfield, then on towards Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. A further by-pass section, opened in 1979, avoids the centre of Faringdon, passing just south of Folly Hill and crossing the A417.
The A420 then travels the corallian limestone ridge that forms the north-west boundary of the Vale of White Horse, passing Littleworth, Buckland and Longworth. A dual-carriageway section by-passes Southmoor and Kingston Bagpuize on its way to Oxford. Most of the road between Swindon and Oxford, apart from the dual carriageway sections and a short section around Faringdon, is limited to 50 mph (80 km/h).
A further dual-carriageway section bypasses Cumnor Hill, to give a view of the "City of Dreaming Spires" that is Oxford from the west. It then passes the Oxford Ring Road, through the suburb of Botley and down the Botley Road. It crosses the River Thames on Osney Bridge and reaches central Oxford after passing under the Cherwell Valley Line next to Oxford station. Within Oxford, it is routed along Oxpens Road, then Thames Street, parts of St Aldate's then the High Street, which is closed to most motor traffic during the day. The road then crosses Magdalen Bridge to St Clements and East Oxford and ascends the notoriously steep Headington Hill to the suburb of Headington before terminating at the Headington Roundabout (known locally as the Green Road roundabout), where it meets the A40 and the Oxford Ring Road (designated the A4142).
Large vehicles such as lorries are advised by large signs at Oxford and Swindon not to take this route and use the alternative A34 and M4 route to Swindon. This is not enforced and the road is often heavily congested due to slow HGVs taking the shorter A420 route. The road has a poor accident record and this coupled with heavy peak time traffic has caused it to be nicknamed the 'A420 Road to Hell' in the local media. A survey in February 2018 claimed that it is the most dangerous A road in South East England.
History.
What is now the A420 was established in the early 18th century as a direct route between Chippenham and Bristol via Tog Hill, avoiding the older and more established route via Bath (now the A4). It was an important road for Bristol, whose communications with Bath had been disputed and difficult. After the Bath Road was turnpiked in 1707, the Bristol Trust attempted to turnpike the direct road in 1727, but faced opposition from colliers at Kingswood, and the road was not sufficiently improved until the 1740s.
When first classified in 1922, the A420 ran between Chippenham and Botley, near Oxford, while the road between Bristol and Chippenham was the A430. The two roads were later joined and the A430 renumbered A420. The road from Botley through Oxford to Headington was originally part of the A40. When the northern Oxford bypass was built in the 1930s, the A40 was rerouted along the bypass and the road through Oxford was renumbered A420.
As a result of the building of the M4 motorway in the early 1970s and subsequent road modernisation, the A420 between Chippenham and Swindon lost its identity. From Chippenham to Lyneham through Sutton Benger and to the north of RAF Lyneham and its limestone ridge, it became the B4069. From Lyneham to Swindon it became part of the A3102. From Swindon through Stratton St Margaret to the A419 it became the A4312.
Matches between rival football clubs Oxford United and Swindon Town are sometimes referred to as the "A420 derby".
Landmarks.
Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument in the Lansdown suburb of Bath is near the A420.
Site of fastest speeding ticket.
The A420 near Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire was the site of the fastest speeding offence ever caught in a routine speed check in the UK. On 27 January 2007 Timothy Brady, a 33-year-old man from Harrow, London, was clocked driving at in a Porsche 911 Turbo that he had taken without permission from his employer, a luxury car hire firm. Brady was disqualified from driving and sentenced to 10 weeks in prison.


Davrian

Davrian cars were built by Davrian Developments at 65 North Street, Clapham in London, England, from 1965 to 1976, in Tregaron, Dyfed, Wales from 1976 to 1980 and Lampeter, Dyfed, from 1980 to 1983.
Adrian Evans (d. 1992), a structural engineer and the car's designer, built a series of cars called Davrian from 1965, based on components from the Hillman Imp, including the front and rear suspension, the aluminium alloy Hillman Imp engine which was Coventry Climax-based and the Imp transaxle.
Davrian 1965–83.
In 1967, the design had settled to a 2-seat glass fibre monocoque coupé, officially called the Davrian Imp and series production started with a company being formed called Davrian Developments. The cars were sold in kit form. Over time, a variety of power units were offered including the Mini-engined Davrian Demon (mid-mounted), Volkswagen Beetle Type 1 (rear-mounted), Renault (rear-mounted), and Ford Fiesta (mid-mounted). The car weighed in at .
Over the years, a series of improvements led the cars to go through Marks 1 to 8. They proved very popular in amateur hands as rally and circuit racing cars.
In 1980, the Mk8 was offered as a complete car called the Davrian Dragon. This was mid-engined and used Ford Fiesta components and engine. The company was insufficiently capitalised for this operation, and went into receivership in 1983. This car was subsequently relaunched as the Corry and the earlier more basic versions continued being made in the same premises but under new ownership as the Darrian.
Corry 1983–85.
The rights to the Dragon were bought by Will Corry and production transferred to Lisburn, Northern Ireland, to be built by the newly founded Corry Car Company. The body was restyled by Tony Stevens and the name changed to the Corry Cultra. Ford engines and were used and the suspension was based on that of the Mk III Cortina. The cars were mostly sold for competition use, but a few road-going versions were made.
Darrian 1986 onwards.
The Darrian was a revival of the original Davrian in the old factory. The body was considerably modified and the car became mid-engined. Like the Davrian, the Darrian is built using a glass-fibre composite monocoque body construction. The engine was usually from a Ford, but the Rover V8 or Vauxhall 16-valve units were options.
In 1996, Swansea Institute Team Darrian (SITD) took outright honours in the Privilege Insurance British GT Championship.
The company also built a limited number of replicas of the Renault Alpine A110 rally car, known as the Monte Carlo MC220 Berlinette.
Now based in Llangybi, near Lampeter and owned by Tim Duffee, Darrians continue to be built and raced with great success, performing many giant-killing acts. The current model is the Darrian T90GTR, usually fitted with the Millington 2.5 16v 4-cylinder racing engine producing 300BHP, mated to a Hewland transaxle.
References.
Citations
Bibliography


Wilkinson TMC

The Wilkinson TMC is a British luxury touring motorcycle manufactured by the Wilkinson Sword company in Acton, London between 1911 and 1916, when production was stopped by the first World War.
Development.
The first Wilkinsons motorcycle was built by the Wilkinson Sword company, which had diversified from making blades into a number of new products, including bicycles, typewriters and automobiles, as well as luxury motorcycles. The first 'Wilkinsons' were originally designed for military reconnaissance by P G Tacchi, who was granted a patent for the design in 1908. Demonstrated to the British military in the Summer of 1908, the Wilkinson motorcycle failed to impress the authorities, despite optional accessories including a Maxim machine gun mounted on the handlebars. Undaunted, the company continued development and exhibited a new version a year later at the Stanley Cycle & Motorcycle Show at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, London in 1909. This model had a 676 cc four-cylinder engine and was designated the 'TAC' (for 'Touring Auto Cycle'. An upgraded version of the military model was also exhibited, with a revolver holster fitted to the side of the seat.
The unsuccessful military prototype was originally powered by an air-cooled transverse V-twin, but a new engine was developed at their Oakley works in Chiswick for the luxury production Wilkinson in December 1911. This was a water-cooled 848 cc with a large radiator at the front. An in-line four-cylinder side-valve, it had a bore and stroke of 60 x 75 mm. Redesignated the 'TMC' (for "Touring Motor Cycle"), the Wilkinson TMC was one of the top of the range motorcycles built before the First World War. It had no front brake, so relied on twin drum rear brakes which were pedal operated. The brazed lug tubular frame was fully sprung with quarter elliptic rear springs and 'girder' front forks with horizontal springs compressed through bell crank levers.
Wilkinson had also diversified into light car production by this time and designed a substantial enclosed sidecar with leaf spring suspension as an option for the TMC. In 1912 the 'worm drive' rear hub was replaced with more effective bevel gearing and the Wilkinson designed girder forks were upgraded to a 'Saxon' design to improve handling. Only about 250 Wilkinsons were produced before the First World War restrictions brought the line to its end in the Spring of 1916 and the Wilkinson company had to produce thousands of bayonets for the war effort. After the war they decided to continue to develop the in-line four engine - but in a new car called the 'Deemster' and they never returned to motorcycle production.
A 1912 Wilkinson was featured in action on the BBC TV programme Top Gear on 14 April 1988 as part of the Feet First feature written and presented by Paul Blezard. Malcolm Newell and his Quasar and Royce Creasey and his prototype Voyager were also featured.


List of Norton motorcycles

This is a list of Norton branded motorcycles over all periods of the marque from 1908 to the present day.
Model list.
Superbike era (1967 - 1978).
Norton Commando models used "Isolastic" engine mounts (rubber mounted) and had 745 cc ("750") engines up to 1973 when the 828 cc ("850") engine came into use.


Alfred Angas Scott

Alfred Angas Scott (1875–1923) was a British motorcycle designer, inventor and founder of the Scott Motorcycle Company. A prolific inventor, he took out over 50 patents between 1897 and 1920, mostly concerning two-stroke engines and road vehicles. Scott was a keen potholer and the second president of the Gritstone club. In July 1923 Scott travelled back to Bradford in his open Scott Sociable wearing wet potholing clothes and contracted pneumonia from which he died.
Early life.
Born in Manningham, a mill town just north of Bradford in 1875, Alfred Scott's family moved to Scotland and he went to school at Melrose on the Scottish border near Selkirk. They later moved to Uttoxeter in Staffordshire where Alfred studied engineering and design at Abbotsholme School. He was a gifted engineer and inventor and trained in engineering at shipbuilders Douglas & Grant in Kirkcaldy and worked at W. Sisson & Co Ltd in Gloucester, where he learnt to design and develop marine engines. Much of Scott's early experimental work was on the development of two-stroke marine engines which he would test by running them for long periods at full power on a water brake. He formed a syndicate of boating enthusiasts with his brothers Herbert and Norman Scott and two others to finance the development of marine engine for motor boats. This included the invention of a pawl and ratchet starter was used which later became part of a patent application for a kickstarter on almost all motorcycles to follow.
Business.
Alfred Scott's first motorcycle was developed from his own twin-cylinder engine design which he hand built and fitted to the steering head of a bicycle. These engines were used to power equipment such as lathes and light machinery and Scott had been involved in the manufacture of 'Premier' pedal cycles. He developed this prototype into a motorcycle and six were produced under contract by friends with a car company called Jowett in Bradford. Scott patented an early form of caliper brakes in 1897 (Patent GB 1626 of 1897), designed a fully triangulated frame, rotary induction valves, and used unit construction for his motorcycle engine.
Scott started making boat engines in 1900. He patented his first engine in 1904 (Patent GB 3367 of 1904) and started motorcycle production in 1908 with a vertical two-stroke 450 cc twin, with patented triangulated frame, chain drive, neutral-finder, kick starter (Patent GB 27667 of 1908), and two-speed gearbox. His patented two-stroke engine designs are still the basis of modern two-stroke engines and features such as the first kick start, monoshock suspension, efficient radiators, rotary inlet valves, drip-feed lubricators and centrestands continue to this day.
He formed The Scott Motorcycle Company in 1908. The motorcycles produced there were very successful in competitions, winning the fastest laps at the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy race) from 1911 to 1914, with outright wins in 1912 and 1913. Scott's motorcycles were deemed to be 'too efficient' for racing against motorcycles of the same capacity, so their cubic capacity was multiplied by 1.32 for competitive purposes.
Alfred Scott left the company in 1915 and after World War I formed the Scott Autocar Company in nearby Bradford to make a motorcycle/car hybrid called the Sociable. This was half sidecar and half a car 3-wheeler, originally designed for military use as a machine gun carrier, with a single front wheel on the offside in line with the rear wheel, creating a layout similar to a motorcycle and sidecar combination. The wooden bodywork was mounted on a tubular, triangular frame and the engine was Scott's own design, a 578 cc water-cooled, two-cylinder, two-stroke engine. The idea was not a success and production ended in 1925.


List of Grindlay Peerless people

The following are key individuals associated with the 1923–1939 UK motorcycle manufacturer Grindlay Peerless.
Grindlay family.
Alfred Robert Grindlay.
Alfred Robert Grindlay CBE, JP, was born in Coventry in 1876, son of William Vaughan Grindlay (1843-1891). Upon leaving school, Alfred joined a local cycle firm and began learning the skills he would employ to great effect later in his career and by 1901 be was working at Riley Cycle Company, one of the major firms in the Coventry. Grindlay progressed steadily within the company, until 1911, while working as a foreman at Riley Cycle Company, he applied for a patent (24,683) regarding 'improved means for carrying spare wheels' for motorcars. That same year Alfred left Riley Cycle Company and took over the Coventry Motor & Sundries business, establishing Grindlay Sidecars.
During World War I he combined forces with Thomas Edward Musson (b. 1875) founding Musson & Grindlay, specialising in Sidecar production. However, parting ways with Musson in 1923, Alfred established Grindlay Peerless.
By the late 1920s, Alfred's two sons, Reginald Robert Grindlay (b. 1900), and Alfred Stephen Grindlay (b. 1910) had joined the company and begun to take greater responsibilities including assisting their father to develop a two-seater sports car based on the original Morris 8 light car. Multiple versions were available and in several colours. Production lasted around two years, and the company reverted to general motor body building and engineering, lasting through to 1996.
In addition to his contribution to the British motor industry, Grindlay was a prominent Coventry City Council member. In 1943, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work as Chairman of the Coventry Saving Committee.
During the World War II, in 1941, Alfred was appointed Mayor of Coventry. He presided over Coventry during the notorious period of the Coventry Blitz and led work to rebuild the city afterwards, for which he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1946, for his service to the nation and was personally commended for his efforts by King George VI. The formal investiture took place on Tuesday 20 May 1947 at Buckingham Palace.
Having been a Coventry City Councillor for nearly 39 years, Grindlay was award the Freedom of the City on 15 November 1962. His award is described by Coventry City Council as being "In recognition of his eminent and devoted service to the city during a period of unprecedented municipal development and as a token of public esteem".
Alfred died in Coventry in 1965 aged 89 years.
Reginald Robert Grindlay.
Reginald Robert Grindlay was born in 1899 in Foleshill, Warwickshire. Following his service aboard an Allied minesweeper vessel during the Great War, for which he earned the British War Medal and Victory Medal, in the late 1920s he followed his father into the family automotive business helping to develop the Grindlay Peerless racing brand.
A prominent Freemason, Reginald was a co-founder and officer designate of Stivichall Lodge No. 5799 in Coventry. He was also a member of the Grand Lodge of England, the Provincial Lodge of Warwickshire, and was a master of the Victory Lodge No.4009 in Coventry.
Reginald spent much of his life at his primary residence, Holly Lodge in Berkswell, Warwickshire but spent his final years at his country house, Derwent Island House in Cumbria, dying in nearby Cockermouth in 1965, aged 66. He is buried at All Saints Church in Allesley, Coventry.
Racing.
Bill Lacey.
C.W.G. 'Bill' Lacey, along with Francis Beart, Bert le Vack, E.C.E. 'Ted' Barragwanath, Joe Potts, and Steve Lancefield, was a Brooklands racer and world record holder.
Born around the turn of the 20th century, Lacey first started racing at Brooklands in 1922 on a Rudge Multi. In 1924 he won his first race, a 500cc Junior Handicap race, reaching speeds of on a Cotton-JAP. This was the beginning of a long career in motorsport, that saw Lacey become internationally renowned for his achievements in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Meticulous in both his dress and motorcycle preparation, the tough but light Lacey was the ideal racer, weighing in at only . Winning his coveted Brooklands Gold Star (awarded for a rider's first and over lap in a given class) in 1927 on his 498cc Grindlay Peerless, he hit the headlines again in 1928 by becoming the first rider to cover over in a single hour, riding a "" machine on British soil, again at Brooklands. The personally modified 498cc Grindlay Peerless (Lacey fashioned his own pushrods, their tubes, cams, rocker gear and rocker box castings and used an experimental Brampton front-fork which had progressive friction dampening) covered 103.9 miles in the hour for a Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) world record.
In 1929 at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, France, Bert Denly broke Lacey's record on an AJS motorcycle. However Lacey took back the record only a week later covering at Montlhéry. In 1931, Lacey broke the record for a third time covering , again at Montlhéry, but this time on a Norton motorcycle.
After his retirement from racing, Lacey based himself in Slough to focused on managing his precision engineering business where he tuned and modified both cars and motorcycles for customers and friends. Lacey retired from business in the 1950s, but in 1959 was persuaded to tune Norton motorcycle engines for John Hartle and Stan Hailwood's son, Mike Hailwood. The culmination of this partnership was Hailwood's 1961 Senior TT win. Following this, Bill Lacey again retired from motorcycling, to concentrate on race car engine preparation, particularly GP units.
Aged 85, ever enthusiastic for new challenges, Bill learnt to fly a microlight before his death in November 1989 aged 88 years.
Edmond Tubb.
Edmond Joseph 'Boy' Tubb was a 1930s motorcycle enthusiast and racer. Following Bill Lacey's record in 1928, a number of replicas of his machine - the Brooklands 'Hundred Model' were produced, however only a handful, believed to be no more than five or six machines were ever made. Only two of these are known to have survived to this day; one first owned by Brooklands and Manx Grand Prix competitor Joe Potts, the other which belonged to prominent Vintage Motor Cycle Club (VMCC) member, the late Edmond Joseph 'Boy' Tubb, who won his Brooklands 'Gold Star' aboard the Grindlay.
Tubb bought his Grindlay in November 1935 from a fellow Brooklands competitor named McClure. Results were disappointing at first, the best lap speed being around , and so the engine was despatched to E.C.E. 'Ted' Baragwanath, the famous Brooklands rider/tuner and JAP agent, for upgrading. Baragwanath fitted a longer con-rod (raising the cylinder barrel to compensate), swapped the twin-port cylinder head for a single-port version, and installed cams developed by Bert le Vack. He also helped sort out the handling, screwing the Grindlay's steering damper down tight, which cured it of a tendency to 'wobble' at high speed. The result was the coveted 'Gold Star' at over and Tubb went onto achieve numerous successes with the revitalised Grindlay, including his fastest Brooklands lap on 30 June 1937 at over .
With the costs of racing the Grindlay becoming prohibitive, Baragwanath had to rebuild the engine twice, on the second occasion following a major blow-up in 1937, Tubb retired the bike and after World War II its use was confined to sprinting. When the Brooklands Museum opened in the late 1980s, he offered the Grindlay, which had been restored in the 1970s, for display there. Cared for by John Bottomley and the Museum's voluntary motorcycle group, the Tubb Grindlay-Peerless was tested for The Classic MotorCycle by Roy Poynting in 2006, and in recent years has been used by the Brooklands Museum on numerous demonstration runs.
In 2012, the restored 1929 Grindlay Peerless Brooklands Hundred Model sold at auction for UK£67,580.
Pip Harris.
Pip Harris was a British motorcycle racer specialising in the sidecar class. Harris won his first grass-tracking event in 1945 on a modified pre war Grindlay Peerless, the aptly nicknamed Grindlay 'Bitza'.


A32 road (Northern Ireland)

The A32 is a route in Northern Ireland connecting Omagh, County Tyrone and Swanlinbar, County Cavan. The road passes through Dromore in Tyrone and the Fermanagh towns of Irvinestown and Enniskillen.
The A32 passes Enniskillen/St Angelo Airport near Lower Lough Erne. At the border, the A32 becomes the N87 in the Republic of Ireland. The Marble Arch Caves are situated close to the section of the road to the south of Enniskillen town near the village of Florencecourt.
Developments, such as carriageway widening and climbing lanes, are installed to the road between Omagh and Enniskillen to facilitate easier access to the South West Acute Hospital near Enniskillen. This section once followed an alignment that saw the route avoid Irvinestown altogether; taking traffic straight from Dromore to Trillick, Kilskeery, and Ballinamallard, before returning to the current road at Trory (close to Enniskillen Airport).
The A32 road from Enniskillen heading towards Swanlinbar becoming the N87 in the Republic of Ireland and continues as the R202 to Dromod which connects with the N4 between Sligo and Dublin.
In Dromod there is a station on the Dublin-Sligo railway line with a two hourly train service between Dublin Connolly and Sligo.


Croydon Flyover

The Croydon Flyover is an overpass located in Croydon, London, England. It is part of the A232 road which connects Orpington with Ewell. The flyover connects Park Lane and the Croydon Underpass, on the A212 road with Duppas Hill Road. It crosses over the A236, Old Town and Southbridge Road and the A212, Lower Coombe Street. The bypass also goes over Croydon High Street close to the Croydon Clocktower. The flyover was constructed as part of an unfinished ring road scheme conceived in the Croydon Plan of 1951 and was opened in 1969.
Landmarks passed on the flyover include the Fairfield Halls, a theatre and arts centre. The Wandle Road multi-storey car park is entered via the bypass, and the road passes within sight of the Centrale shopping centre. The nearest tube station is at Morden, six miles to the north-west, although there is a direct tram connection from Croydon to the District line terminus at Wimbledon.
The flyover was used as a filming location in Danny Boyle's 2002 horror movie "28 Days Later", although the scene was not used.


Vanden Plas

Vanden Plas is the name of coachbuilders who produced bodies for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. Latterly the name became a top-end luxury model designation for cars from subsidiaries of British Leyland and the Rover Group, last used in 2009 to denote the top-luxury version of the Jaguar XJ (X350).
Belgium and England.
Batched and bespoke coachwork.
The business began in 1870 in Brussels, Belgium, initially making axles later producing horse-drawn carriages. It was founded by Guillaume van den Plas, a blacksmith, and his three sons, Antoine, Henri and Willy, who later set up a branch in Paris. In 1884 they moved from Brussels to Antwerp. With increased business they opened a branch in Brussels again in 1890. By 1900, they worked with De Dion Bouton, Berlier, Germain and Packard. By 1908 Carrosserie Van den Plas had a workforce of 400 men producing 300 special bodies a year, and that soon increased to over 750. The French branch ceased production in 1934 while the Belgian business was active until 1949.
The coachbuilder's name first appeared in the United Kingdom in 1906 when Métallurgique cars were imported with Carrosserie Van den Plas coachwork. The first Vanden Plas company in England was established by Warwick Wright (now Peugeot dealers) in 1913, building bodies under license from Carrosserie Van den Plas Belgium.
During the First World War UK activities were switched to aircraft production, and the UK business was bought by The Aircraft Manufacturing Company which was based at Hendon near London. In 1917, Vanden Plas (1917) Ltd. was incorporated. After the war it seems to have been a struggle to get back into coachbuilding and in 1922 that company was placed in receivership. The exclusive UK naming rights seem to have been lost, because in the early 1920s the Belgian firm was exhibiting at the London Motor Show alongside the British business. In 1923 the rights to the name and the goodwill were purchased by the Fox brothers, who incorporated Vanden Plas (England) 1923 Limited. They moved the business from Hendon to Kingsbury and built on the contacts that had been made with Bentley. Between 1924 and 1931, when Bentley failed, Vanden Plas built the bodies for more than 700 of their chassis.
In the 1930s the company became less dependent on one car maker, and supplied coachwork to such as Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, Bentley, Daimler, Lagonda, Rolls-Royce and Talbot. The company also updated its production methods and took to making small batches of similar bodies. With the outbreak of war in 1939, coachbuilding stopped and the company returned to aircraft work, manufacturing the wooden framework for the de Havilland Mosquito, one of the most successful aircraft of the Second World War. After the war, the company continued its association with de Havilland, and manufactured parts for the Vampire jet fighter.
Production limousines.
Princess.
With peace in 1945, the company looked to restart its old business when a new customer came along. Austin wanted to market a chauffeur-driven version of its in-house-built large 4-litre Rolls-Royce-size A110 Sheerline luxury car and approached Vanden Plas. Vanden Plas became a subsidiary of the Austin Motor Company in 1946 and produced Austin's A120 Princess model on the Austin Sheerline chassis.
From 1958, this began to involve chassis assembly and Austin, now BMC, recognised Vanden Plas as a motor manufacturer in its own right by dropping Austin from the name and so enabled Nuffield dealers to sell the Princess. In 1960, the Princess became the Vanden Plas Princess.
Daimler DS 420.
Austin was joined in BMC by Jaguar with its new subsidiary Daimler. Production of Princess limousines ended in 1968 when they were replaced with Daimler DS420 limousines (Jaguar had acquired Daimler in 1960) built by Vanden Plas on a lengthened Jaguar Mark X platform. The DS420 was produced at the Kingsbury Lane Vanden Plas factory until it closed in November 1979.
The British Leyland overall holding company board decided in 1967 there were insufficient funds in the group advertising budget to cope with marketing in North America the Daimler brand as well as Jaguar. This decision was later changed but Vanden Plas is used in North America instead of Daimler on Jaguar's top luxury models. Ownership of the Vanden Plas name stayed with the Rover Group so when Rover was sold Jaguar was obliged to stop using Vanden Plas in the United Kingdom though it continues to do so in America. Within the UK a Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas became a plain Daimler Double-Six.
Badge engineering.
Also in 1957/8, Vanden Plas were asked by Leonard Lord to add luxury fittings to a batch of Austin A105 Westminster cars, beginning the practice of using the company's skills and name for badge-engineered (and modified) luxury versions of many of the BMC (and later British Leyland (BL)) cars such as the 1100/1300 range and the Allegro (known as the Vanden Plas 1500, 1.5 & 1.7 from 1975 to 1980). The Vanden Plas works in North London closed in 1979 and the marque switched to Abingdon.
From 1982 to 1989, Austin Rover made upmarket Vanden Plas models within its Metro, Maestro, Montego and Rover SD1 and SD3 ranges.
The name is also used in North America on Jaguar cars otherwise branded Daimler in other markets between 1984-2008.
In 1992, a Japanese company recreated the Vanden Plas 1100/1300 look on the Nissan Micra K11. This involved replicating the front and rear of the Vanden Plas, complete with two tone paint scheme as sported by the original model in the 1960s.
The last UK market British car to bear the Vanden Plas name was the Rover 75 at the beginning of the 21st century.
China.
The rights to the design of the Rover 75 cars and the MG Group (which had formerly been MG Rover) were purchased by a Chinese firm, Nanjing Automobile. Ford purchased the Rover name from the Rover Group's previous owner BMW to protect the Land Rover brand from Shanghai Automotive, who wanted the Rover name for their 75-based car (Ford was at this time owner of Land Rover and Jaguar). The Vanden Plas name (for outside North America) and many other Leyland names were purchased by Nanjing Automobile.


Greeves (motorcycles)

Greeves Motorcycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by Bert Greeves which produced a range of road machines, and later competition mounts for observed trials, scrambles and road racing. The original company produced motorcycles from 1952, funded by a contract with the Ministry of Pensions for their Invacar, a three-wheeler for disabled drivers.
After many wins in motorcycle trials competitions and developing a successful US export market, the original company ceased trading following a fire in 1977. Richard Deal bought the rights to the Greeves name in May 1999. The new business continues to develop motorcycles and launched the first new Greeves trials bike for 20 years in January 2009, with an all-new British two-stroke 280 cc engine.
History.
The original company founded by Bert Greeves MBE was the Invacar company. Greeves was mowing the lawns of his home in Worcestershire when he had the idea of fitting the lawnmower engine to his disabled cousin's wheelchair and invented the "Invacar". Invacar Ltd was set up and won a major contract to provide motorised three-wheeled invalid carriage vehicles to the UK Government Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. in 1952 from a small factory in Church Road, Thundersley not far from Southend on Sea in Essex.
Encouraged by this success, Bert Greeves decided to diversify into motorcycle manufacture. A keen trials rider in his spare time, he had started collecting veteran and vintage motorcycles, including a 1912 Triumph with the registration 'OLD 1'. His disabled cousin Derry Preston-Cobb also encouraged him to start the motorcycle business. Derry's own Invacar was used as a promotional vehicle and had been fitted with a more powerful engine, which used to amaze other drivers as he overtook them on the Southend roads. Working together they developed a prototype using a two-stroke single-cylinder engine sourced from Villiers Engineering - and a Greeves badge on the fuel tank. The motorcycles were really a sideline for the main business of producing the three-wheeled invalid cars, so development of the prototypes had to be fitted in when the production schedule allowed. Bert had been an enthusiastic motorcyclist in his youth and always had an ambition to become a motorcycle manufacturer. The first Greeves motorcycle was developed in mid-1951, using rubber-in-torsion springing at both front and rear. This unconventional rubber springing came straight from the patented system used for the invalid car. Rear wheel suspension was by a pivoted fork with rods connecting to torsion rubber mounted units just below the seat. Friction dampers were also fitted which could be manually adjusted. The front forks were also unusual, with short leading links to carry the wheel, pivoting on rubber-in-torsion spring units (later known as the 'Banana Leading Link' front fork. Motorcycle production began in the autumn of 1953 and the new models featured a unique frame with the steering head and a massive front down member combined in a large 'I-section' cast alloy beam, cast in a new light-alloy foundry that had been added to the Greeves factory. The tubular frame member was inserted into a mould and the main frame was cast around it, making for a very strong frame. Made from LM6 silicon-aluminium alloy, it was claimed to be stronger than tubular steel and proved capable of standing up to the rough treatment of international off-road trials competition. Protection was finished off with reinforced engine cradle plates which were also light alloy castings.
Derry Preston-Cobb was made Sales Manager for the motorcycle business and they started with three models, a scrambler, a three speed road bike and a four-speed version. At the 1954 Earls Court Show, they also launched the 'Fleetwing', a two-cylinder two-stroke with a 242 cc British Anzani engine developed from those used for motor boats and featuring a crankshaft with a hollow midsection that acted as a rotary inlet valve. With a top speed of just , the Fleetwing continued in production until 1956 when the stock of British Anzani engines was finally exhausted. The Fleetwing name was brought back in 1957, however, for the Villiers engined model. This was more powerful than the earlier Fleetwing and now had a more respectable top speed of . Gearboxes were supplied by Albion Engineering Co. of Birmingham, later replaced by their own designs from 1964 forward. The lightweight high powered package made them successful in the trials market place against Triumph and BSA models.
By 1962 there were eleven models in the Greeves range. The offroad motorcycles were also developed through an association with Queen's University Belfast producing the later Greeves QUB model. The last of the Challenger models was produced in 1968, replaced by the 250 and 380 cc Griffon motocrossers in 1969. The original leading link fork was no longer fitted, having been replaced by standard telescopic forks as the leading link design could not match the travel of forks. Also abandoned was the original cast alloy front down beam, replaced with a new frame of Reynolds 531 chrome molybdenum with a conventional down tube.
Greeves also built a successful export business and at one time most of the motorcycles produced were going to the United States. Greeves became so successful in the US that they had a significant influence on the growth of the off-road biking sport and with the invention of the trail bike with their road legal off-roader, the Ranger.
Competition success.
It was off-road competition that was to dominate Greeves production, and in 1956 Greeves signed motocross rider Brian Stonebridge and started competing in the European Motocross Championship. Stonebridge became the company Competitions Manager and Development Engineer, as he was a skilled two-stroke tuning specialist and was able to significantly improve the performance of the Villiers engines. In April 1957 Brian Stonebridge managed to beat the 500 cc bikes on the much smaller capacity Greeves round the demanding and hilly Hawkstone Park course, winning the "350 cc" race and coming second in the "500 cc" race, establishing Greeves' reputation as true off-road competition motorcycles. The next Greeves model was called the 'Hawkstone'; to capitalise on this success and the company began to specialise in motocross motorcycles, ridden by champions including Peter Hammond, Jack Simpson and Norman Sloper.
Stonebridge led a three-man Greeves team to the West German International Six Days Trial event in 1958 and had a faultless ride, winning another gold medal. In October 1959, tragedy struck the Greeves team when Brian Stonebridge was killed in a car accident. Bert Greeves was at the wheel and Stonebridge was in the passenger seat when they crashed returning from a visit to a factory in Bradford. In a head-on collision Bert was only slightly injured but in the days before seat belts it proved fatal for Brian, who died at the scene of the accident.
After the death of Stonebridge, Greeves signed Dave Bickers, who won the 1960 and 1961 "250 cc" championship. The company went on to win the Manx Grand Prix, the Scott Trial, the European Trials Championship and the Scottish Six Days Trial, winning gold medals in the ISDT and the ACU 250 cc Road Race. Bert Greeves also managed to sign up Bill Wilkinson, the Yorkshire trials rider who made the headlines when he won the British Experts Trail competition in 1960, the first time it had ever been won on a two-stroke motorcycle and a significant result for the Greeves factory.
In 1963 the Greeves range still included the 25DC Sports Twin and two new models with the latest glass fibre tanks and handlebar fairings, as well as plastic mudguards. These were the 25DD 'Essex' and the 250 DCX 'Sportsman'. The same year the Greeves factory was asked to provide the motorcycles for the British ISDT team. This was significant because the team had previously relied on four-stroke vertical twins. Greeves produced three special machines for the event, which was held in the Czechoslovakian mountains. The engines were highly modified Villiers MK 36A but instead of the standard Villiers crankshaft they had an Alpha assembly and the squared-off cylinder barrels and heads were cast in Bert Greeves' own foundry and painted with matt black heat-dispersing paint. Although one of the riders, Triss Sharp, had starting problems, his brother Brian Sharp and the third rider Peter Stirland both won gold medals. The only woman to compete in the event, Mary Driver, was also riding a Greeves machine and won a bronze medal.
Greeves also made a successful entry into road racing with the "250 cc" Silverstone model. These were a production Clubman's model with a reputation for reliability and were chosen to be the standard motorcycles for the Mortimer-Beart Road Racing School. When winning the 1964 Manx Grand Prix, London-based Rhodesian Gordon Keith also took the Greeves racer to the fastest lap of the race - his last of the four-lap race - at , which proved to be the best speed ever by a British "250 cc" motorcycle, with a race-average of . From the next five places, four were Aermacchis.
Peter Inchley on the Villiers Starmaker Special in 1966 lapped The Island at 93.17 mph, the only Brish 250 to lap at over 90, completing the 250 race at over 90 mph, finishing 3rd. This was a Cotton frame, a highly developed Starmaker engine and Bultaco forks. As well as a boost for the Greeves factory, this was an important win when the sport was beginning to become dominated by foreign motorcycles. This led to a lot of interest in the Greeves road bikes, including from a number of British Police forces for a version of the bigger twin equipped with a radio.
Also in 1964 Greeves launched the 'Challenger', and first time out ridden by Garth Wheldon it won the Terry Cups Trail. In 1967, a version of the successful Challenger was launched, together with a road racer, a "350 cc" version of the Silverstone, called the 'Oulton'. A special export model called the 'Ranger' was also developed but by 1968 Villiers had pulled out of engine production and Greeves decided to leave the trail-motorcycle market to concentrate on the development of a motocross model.
End of an era.
As the Japanese entered the market place, with Suzuki dominating the European Championships from 1970 to 1973, sales began to slow. Greeves received an important order to supply motorcycles for the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team and developed the 'Greeves Griffons', but a change in the law meant that the Invacar, which had been the mainstay of the company (even at the peak of motorcycle production Bert Greeves still answered the telephone as "Invacar Limited") was no longer legal for road use so the Ministry of Pensions decided to replace it with a four-wheeled car. Bert Greeves decided that it was time to retire from the business and was soon followed by his cousin Derry Preston-Cobb. The company floundered in 1976 and after a fire at the factory were unable to resume production, resulting in receivership.
The last civilian Greeves road bikes were produced in 1966 these being the 25DCMk2 'East Coaster' and the 20DC 'Sports' single in black, but in 1968 the company produced a batch of 19 24DF police bikes with 250cc Villiers single cylinder engines, 15 for the Staffordshire County Police and 4 for the City of London police
New Greeves.
The old Greeves motorcycles were ideal for the new "classic" (twinshock) class of trials but parts were scarce and expensive, so trials rider Richard Deal started producing replica parts, and then a replica motorcycle called the Anglian. In May 1999, after gaining control of the trademarks of the Greeves name in the UK, USA and Europe, a new Greeves company was founded in Chelmsford which restarted production of mainly trials models. The new company started building and rebuilding Greeves motorcycles from 2000 and established a replacement parts division. Continuing a tradition started by Bert Greeves, the heads, barrels, crankcases, and aluminium frame beams were manufactured from new castings produced in a specialist alloy foundry.
The new 280 cc.
By 2009, the company had built 22 Greeves Anglian motorcycles, four Greeves Pathfinders, and had completed some restoration projects. In 2007 a decision was made to develop the first completely new Greeves trials motorcycle for over 20 years. Working with the students at DeMontfort University in Leicester, Greeves engineers consulted with participants involved in the Rapid Product Development MSc project to design and develop a completely new displacement lightweight two-stroke engine. To enable existing components to be used in the new engine, parts were scanned using the Centre’s Renishaw Cyclone Reverse Engineering machine. Rapid prototyping models of the new engine were then manufactured on the Centre’s 3D printing machine to check the fit before manufacture of prototype cast metal parts.
GPD Developments, a foundry in Nuneaton, Warwickshire manufactured castings using a new method of printing sand moulds directly from computer-aided design (CAD) data. Prototype sand moulds used this new technique to cast prototype parts. After six thousand hours of design, further development and testing, Greeves launched the 280 cc Trials bike at the Classic Off-Road show at Telford in 2009. The 280 specification included Marzocchi aluminium forks, Dellorto carburettor, the fuel tank located close to the rear wheel to reduce the centre of gravity, and a single shock absorber mounted centrally on the swinging arm. The frame, headstock, swinging arm, footrest hangars and engine components used 6063 aerospace-quality aluminium.