Jensen Motors

Jensen Motors Limited was a British manufacturer of sports cars and commercial vehicles in West Bromwich, England. Brothers Alan and Richard Jensen gave the new name, Jensen Motors Limited, to the commercial body and sports car body making business of W J Smith & Sons Limited in 1934. It ceased trading in 1976. Though trading resumed in 1998 Jensen Motors Limited was dissolved in 2011.
Jensen Motors built specialist car bodies for major manufacturers alongside cars of their own design using engines and mechanicals of major manufacturers Ford, Austin and Chrysler.
The rights to Jensen's trademarks were bought with the company and it briefly operated in Speke, Liverpool, from 1998 to 2002. Under subsequent owners, a new version of the Jensen Interceptor was announced in 2011. It was planned to bring manufacture of that new model back to the former Jaguar motor plant in Browns Lane, Coventry.
Jensen brothers.
In 1926 young Alan Jensen (1906-1994) and his brother Richard Jensen (1909-1977) built a new boat-tailed sporting body on one of the first Chummy baby Austins. It was seen by Alfred Herbert Wilde, (1891-1930) chief engineer of Standard Motor Company. He persuaded Alan Jensen to join New Avon Body Co, a Standard Motor associate and under Wilde’s aegis Alan Jensen designed the first Standard Avon open two-seaters produced from 1929 to 1933. He went on to design two more cars for Avon then moved with his brother Richard to Austin dealers Edgbaston Garage Limited, Bournbrook, in a building still standing next to the University of Birmingham campus. Edgbaston Garage, a car servicing business, had been bought for his son in 1929 by J A M Patrick's father. Young Joe Patrick, involved in all fields of motor sport, was setting up a coachbuilding operation. For his Edgbaston Garage the Jensen brothers made handsome bodies for the new Wolseley Hornet and Hornet Special chassis. To the concern of the brothers their cars were widely advertised as The Patrick Special and so in 1931 the brothers moved again. Edgbaston Garage became Patrick Motors Limited.
The Jensen brothers had gone to work for lorry body maker W J Smith & Sons in Carters Green in West Bromwich again to build bodies for small sports cars including more Wolseley Hornet Specials. This was a quite separate development which Smith named on their account Jensen Motors. Their own name was on the product. In 1934 Smith died and the brothers managed to buy a controlling shareholding in Smith & Sons. They later changed the name of W J Smith & Sons to Jensen Motors Limited.
Smith's announced an open 4-seater and a lowered 2-seater in May 1931 both to be known as Jensen Wolseley Hornets. They later expanded to build exclusive customised bodies for standard cars produced by several manufacturers of the day including Morris, Singer, Standard, as well as Wolseley. In 1934 they were commissioned by American film actor Clark Gable to design and build a car for him based on a Ford V-8 chassis. The resultant car won them much acclaim and stimulated huge interest in their work, including a deal with Ford to produce a run of Jensen-Fords with Jensen bodywork with a Ford chassis and engine. In 1934 they also started to design their first true production car under the name "White Lady". This evolved into the Jensen S-type which went into production in 1935.
Commercial vehicles.
In the late 1930s Jensen diversified into the production of commercial vehicles under the marque "JNSN", including the manufacture of a series of innovative lightweight trucks, built with unrestricted aluminium alloys, for Reynolds Tube and the prototype for the articulated "Jen-Tug" which went into production in the late 1940s.
During the Second World War Jensen concentrated on the war effort and produced components for military vehicles including the turrets for tanks, and on the production of specialised ambulances and fire-engines.
After the war production of the "Jen-Tug" thrived and Jensen also produced a new range of "JNSN" lightweight diesel trucks and chassis which were used for a variety of vehicles including pantechnicons and buses. A handful of Jensen buses and coaches were produced for independent operators into the 1950s, with Perkins diesel engines, David Brown gearboxes, and bodywork by a variety of bodybuilders of the time, which had the distinctive large JNSN marque cut into the sheet metal on the front of the bus, below the windscreen. In the 1950s Jensen were chosen by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to build the bodies for the four-wheel-drive Austin Gipsy. In 1958 they built a small number of Jensen Tempo light commercial vans, pick-ups and minibuses, a German original design, built under licence in the UK, none are known to survive.
Sports cars.
Production of cars ceased during the war years, but by 1946 a new vehicle was offered, the Jensen PW (a luxury saloon). Few were produced since raw materials were carefully limited by the new government's central planning. Also in 1946 body designer Eric Neale joined Jensen Motors from Wolseley and his first project was the more modern coupé which followed in 1950, named the Interceptor, which was built until 1957.
In 1955, Jensen started production of Neale's masterpiece, the 541, which used the then-revolutionary material of fibreglass for its bodywork. The radiator grille was covered by an unusual driver-controlled swivelling flap.
The 541S was replaced by another Neale design, the C-V8 in October 1962, which replaced the Austin-sourced straight-6 of the previous cars with a 6-litre American Chrysler V8. This large engine in such a lightweight car made the Jensen one of the fastest four-seaters of the time.
For its eventual replacement, the Interceptor, Jensen turned to the Italian coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Touring, for the body design, and to steel for the material. First displayed alongside the production C-V8 FF in October 1965 and put into production in the second half of 1966 the bodyshells themselves were built by Vignale of Italy and later by Jensen. The same Chrysler wedge-head powerplant was used in the earlier cars with the later cars moving to the in engine. The Interceptor was offered in fastback, convertible and (rare) coupé versions. The fastback was by far the most popular with its large, curving wrap-around rear window that was hinged for access to the storage area, making the Jensen an early form of liftback.
FF — All wheel drive and ABS.
The Jensen Motors stand at the October 1964 Earls Court Motorshow displayed a Jensen FF car equipped with all wheel drive and ABS as publicised but not displayed in February 1964. At the following Show in October 1965 a production ready CV-8 FF was displayed, priced almost 50 per cent more than the standard car and three inches longer. However, it remained a prototype and instead the Interceptor-based Jensen FF entered production in 1966. The FF is apparently externally identical to the Interceptor, although it was four inches longer in the bonnet (all ahead of the windscreen) and it had a second row of air vents behind the front wheels.
The extra letters stood for "Ferguson Formula", Ferguson Research being the inventor of the full-time all wheel drive system adopted, the first on a production sports car. Also featured was the Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking system in one of the first uses of ABS in a production car.
Just 320 FFs were constructed and production ceased in 1971.
Other projects.
Austin A40 Sports: As one in a series of collaborations between Austin and Jensen, the Austin A40 Sports originated when Austin's chairman Leonard Lord, upon seeing the Interceptor, requested that Jensen, and their designer Eric Neale, develop a body that could use the A40 mechanicals.
The resulting body-on-frame A40 Sports – which debuted at the 1949 London Motor Show – had been designed by Eric Neale, an ex-Wolseley stylist who had joined Jensen in 1946. During production, the A40 Sports' aluminium bodies were built by Jensen and transported to Austin's Longbridge plant for final assembly. The A40 Sports had been intended as more of a sporty touring car and not a sports car per se, and over 4000 examples were manufactured from 1951–1953.
Austin-Healey 100: Although Jensen's design for a new Austin-based sports-car was rejected by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1952 in favour of a design provided by Donald Healey, Jensen did win the BMC contract to build the bodies for the resultant Austin-Healey 100 and the rest of the "big Healey" cars. At the end of 1960 Austin-Healey cars occupied about 350 of the 850 men in Jensen's factory.
Volvo P1800: In 1960 Jensen won a contract from Volvo to assemble and finish the bodies for their P1800 coupé. Pressed Steel manufactured the body-shells at their Linwood plant in Scotland and shipped them to Jensen in West Bromwich to be finished, painted and trimmed and made ready for distribution. The first batch for evaluation came off the production line in May 1961. The engine and gearbox were from Sweden, the back axle from USA and the electrical system from Germany, otherwise the car was all British. By March 1962 1,100 men were busy in Jensen's West Bromwich works making Austin-Healey bodies and Volvo and Jensen cars. By 1963 the contract was ended early due to quality concerns and P1800 production was moved to Gothenburg, Sweden.
Sunbeam Tiger: In the early 1960s Jensen was also involved in the development and production of the Sunbeam Tiger.
Jensen-Healey.
Jensen was bought by Norcros Limited, "an industrial holding company" in June 1959. Alan Jensen retired from the positions of joint managing director and alternate chairman in October 1964 though he remained on the board. Richard Jensen "relinquished" his appointment as joint managing director in November 1965 but remained chairman. Following disagreements Alan and Richard Jensen resigned from the board in 1966. Richard retired to Malta and died back in London in September 1977. Alan died in Brighton in 1994.
In September 1967 Jensen announced they had been hit by the US car safety regulations which were going to come into force the following January. They expected there would have to be many redundancies resulting from the drop in demand for the Austin-Healey 3000 and Sunbeam Tiger though both had been modified to meet the regulations. At the end of the year they advised their shareholders that Austin-Healey and Sunbeam Tiger contracts had now ended. An American management consultant, Carl Duerr, replaced the chief executive. It was decided that from now on Jensen Motors would be a full-time car manufacturer. In mid 1968 following a disastrous 1967 year Norcros decided to sell their automotive subsidiary whose products "cost about the same as small houses". Current production rate was 12 Interceptors and FFs a week. In 1968 it was bought by a merchant bank William Brandts.
The Norwegian-American West Coast car distributor Kjell Qvale became the majority shareholder in 1970 and brought in Donald Healey who was appointed chairman in April 1970 and they brought in a new chief executive in May. They were able to announce the new Jensen-Healey in March 1972. By the end of May the next year 3,356 of the new cars had been manufactured but the factory's performance disappointed the owner and sales volume was mediocre.
In October 1974 Kjell Qvale appointed himself chief executive as well as chairman. Production was cut back from 25 to 12 a week to match sales. A Jensen GT was announced in July 1975, a Jensen-Healey with a coupé/estate body then the business's future came under threat which meant redundancy for 700 workers – two thirds of its workforce.
A receiver was appointed by the Bank of America in September. Kjell Qvale laid great emphasis on the part played by the unions in bringing about the downfall of the business. The financial pundits said that in his attempt to mass-produce a small sports car Qvale installed production capacity far in excess of market demand. The empty premises were auctioned off in mid-August 1976.
Two new companies: Jensen Special Products (JSP) and (JP&S) were created to pick up the pieces of Jensen Motors. JSP was created as a specialist engineering and design business from Jensen's development department. JP&S was created to provide parts and service to the existing Jensen customer base. JP&S then turned into a company called International Motors, who gained the UK franchise for Subaru and Maserati, as well as Hyundai from 1982. Both JSP and JP&S were bought by a holding company, Britcar Holdings. In 1982 JP&S, with the rights to use the Jensen brand names, was sold to Ian Orford who put the Interceptor back into production as the Mk IV.
Jensen Parts and Service was renamed Jensen Cars Limited and an average 11 cars were made every month during the 1980s always in small numbers before the company was sold to Unicorn Holdings of Stockport and a Mk V Interceptor was proposed but never materialised although a few more Mk IVs were built.
Brief revival.
A revival in 2001 was short lived. By the end of 2002 production on their only model – the £40,000 S-V8 – had ceased.
After a £10 million investment, including Liverpool City Council and the Department of Trade and Industry, a two-seater convertible, the Jensen S-V8, had been launched at the 1998 British International Motor Show, with an initial production run of 300 deposit paid vehicles planned at a selling price of £40,000 each, but by October 1999 it was confirmed that 110 orders had been placed.
The new Liverpool factory in Speke commenced production in August 2001 but troubles with manufacture meant production ceased with only 20 ever leaving the factory and another 18 cars left partially completed. The company went into administration in July 2002. The Jensen name and partially completed cars were later sold to SV Automotive of Carterton, Oxfordshire, in 2003 who decided to complete the building of 12 of the cars, retaining the others for spare parts, and finally selling them for £38,070.
Jensen International Automotive.
In April 2010 Jensen International Automotive (JIA) was founded. This new company will buy old Jensen Interceptors, and sell them as new cars after a complete restoration, with new engine and interior trim.
In September 2011 CPP, a specialist sports car manufacturer announced they were planning to make a new Jensen, expected to go on sale to the public sometime in 2014. The new Interceptor was to be based around an all-aluminium chassis and to feature alloy panels, "echoing the four-seat grand tourer layout of the much-loved original", according to the official press release.
The Jensen Group.
On the 25 February 2015, Autocar published a report stating that the Jensen name is officially being revived with two models expected by 2016. The first model, shown in clay on the same article, shows a vehicle called the Jensen GT. This model will be built in bespoke numbers and cost around £350,000 or roughly 408.000 Euros outside the UK. Also in 2016, Jensen is expected to launch the successor to the famous Jensen Interceptor, called the Interceptor 2. These revival announcements are completely different to those announced by CPP in 2011 and are "officially sanctioned" by the company leading the project, "The Jensen Group", who have said they have established complete ownership over the Jensen marque. The interim Jensen GT will be produced under an agreement between the Jensen Group and Jensen International Automotive, a small British company that builds modified Interceptor R models.


A949 road

The A949 is a major road in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland. It has staggered junctions with the A9. From the A949 the A9 runs (1) generally north to Thurso and (2) generally south to Tain, Inverness, Perth, Stirling and Falkirk.
From the A9, just north of Tain and the Dornoch Firth, the A949 runs (1) west to the A836 at Bonar Bridge and (2) east to Dornoch. The junctions are about 1 mile (2 km) apart. The section of the A949 between Bonar Bridge and the first junction on the A9 on the north side of the Dornoch Firth was part of the A9 until the opening of the Dornoch Firth Bridge in 1991.
Bonar Bridge is about 10 miles (16 km) west of the A9, at the neck of the Kyle of Sutherland. Dornoch is about 2 miles (3 km) east, at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth.
Within Dornoch the A949 has a junction with the B9168.
The A949 road goes west of the A9 road at a roundabout, merging into Zone 8 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme. It is one of the few Zone 9 roads to go west of the A9.


Hyde Harrier

The Hyde Harrier is a British sports motorcycle designed by Norman Hyde and unveiled at the British motorcycle show in 1987. It used donor engines from the Meriden Triumph Bonneville twin or Triumph Trident triple and a frame developed by Harris Performance, along with performance brakes by AP Lockheed and Dymag wheels.
Following the closure of the Triumph co-operative at Meriden and introduction of the Triumph Motorcycles Ltd factory at Hinckley, Hyde updated his original design to create the Harrier Jubilee, using the Hinckley Bonneville pre-EFI engine which was launched at Motorcycle Live in 2008.
Hyde Harrier Classic chassis-kits are available for Triumph Trident/BSA Rocket 3 and BSA A65 engines and require many donor and replacement components to complete the builds.
Hyde resurrected the Harrier name, it having been used in the late 1970s by the Clapham, London motorcycle business Mocheck with their "Mocheck Harrier", a high-performance Honda, based on the CB400F with a 460 cc Yoshimura big-bore kit and race-styled accessories.


The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club

The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club is a private members club with branches in London, and Los Angeles. Described as a "social club for motorcycle enthusiasts". Founded by Anthony "Dutch" van Someren, The Bike Shed is best known for hosting an annual exhibition of custom motorcycles in Tobacco Dock, London.
London Club.
Prior to founding the Shoreditch-based Club, founder, Van Someren ran a motorcycle news blog aggregator under the domain name BikeShedMotorcycleClub.com. The Bike Shed shows were founded in response to the perceived poor quality of British motorcycle exhibitions. Van Someren developed the concept of the private member's club after their second show was well received.
The founders envisaged Bike Shed as "Soho House for Bikers", attracting a younger demographic than traditional motorcycle-friendly venues. Proposals to open the facility were initially opposed by the Shoreditch Community Association and the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust. The club in Shoreditch was opened in November 2015 in three railway arches adjacent to Old Street in November 2015.
The Old Street venue was opened with the support of British TV presenter Charley Boorman and is now considered to be one of the UK's best motorcycling venues. Despite objections, Hackney Council granted the club a license to serve alcoholic drinks to members until midnight. In 2019 the club installed The UK's first motorcycle-only recharging points.
Bike Shed community response.
During the 2020 Coronavirus lock-down, Bikeshed organized a volunteer courier-style service in which its members helped deliver food and medical supplies to patients at home
Los Angeles Club.
The Los Angeles facility, originally due to open in Autumn 2020 will be based in the city's Arts District. When finally open, the new facility will include a restaurant, cafe, bar and lounge, a barbershop, tattoo studio, events and retails space.
Exhibitions.
The annual Bike Shed Motorcycle Show takes place at Tobacco Dock. It is considered to be the UK's largest exhibition of custom motorcycles. In 2018 the exhibition featured 230 motorcycles including track-bikes and custom-built machines.
Festival.
The first Bike Shed Festival took place in October 2019, at Lydden Hill Race Circuit, billed as a day to introduce new motorcyclists to track riding


F.E. Baker Ltd

F. E. Baker Ltd was a British motorcycle engine and cyclecar engine manufacturer based in the Precision Works, Moorsom Street, Birmingham, England. Founded in 1906 by Frank Edward Baker, the company produced motorcycle engines under the Precision trademark until 1919. Precision engines were used by a wide range of motorcycle manufacturers in the United Kingdom and in other parts of the Commonwealth and were also used in cyclecars. Many manufacturers used the 'Precision' trademark as part of their model names, and in 1912 there was a 'Precision' motorcycle sold in Australia, but it is unclear if this was manufactured by F.E. Baker or just permitted use of the trademark by a motorcycle manufacturer.
History.
Frank Baker's engine production business grew at a fast rate, and in 1911 they added an 'excellently equipped fitting shop at the works of Messrs Webley and Scott' and by the 1911 Olympia Motorcycle Show in London there were 96 motorcycles with Baker's Precision engines.
Tom Biggs was appointed as chief designer in 1913. Frank Baker stopped motorcycle & engine production during the First World War. After the war they announced their own motorcycle with 350cc Precision 2-stroke engine designed by Tom Biggs. This had front and rear suspension, unit construction, and a pressed steel petrol tank that formed part of the frame. To inject capital into the company in 1919 the company came to a financial arrangement with William Beardmore and Company, a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding company based in Glasgow, and became Beardmore Precision Motorcycles.
Motorcycle engines.
F.E. Baker sold engines to motorcycle manufacturers and to dealers under the Precision name, and for some of the larger customers they had their own name cast into the timing cover and the word Precision absent from the crankcase casting. An article in 1914 says that the Peerless Precision V-twin made solely for export was now to be made available in the home market 'under certain circumstances'. Differences from the UK engines included round cylinder fins instead of square and an external flywheel. There was a thriving export market for Precision engines, especially in Australia, where companies like Lewis of Adelaide used the Precision engines. Engines were distributed through sole agents as follows :
A.G. Healing of Melbourne for Australia
Victor S. Welsford of Durban for South Africa, Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa
J.B. Clarkson Ltd of Wellington for New Zealand is added to adverts from c1913
Whether F.E. Baker manufactured a complete motorcycle before WW1 is unclear, even though a 1912 Precision motorcycle is featured on an Australian postage stamp issued in 2018. It seems more likely the motorcycle was built by another manufacturer using a Precision engine and allowed to use the Precision name. Many Precision engined motorcycles used 'Precision' as part of the model name, hence Ivy-Precision, Grandex-Precision, etc. The 350cc 2-stroke announced in 1919, though, was a complete Precision motorcycle.
A remarkably wide range of engines was developed over just a few years - this list is mainly taken from the home market motorcycle engine catalogue circa 1913 (except where otherwise indicated) so does not include variants specific to the overseas market, or the engines adapted for cyclecar use which had modifications like alternative magneto locations.
The "Green" engine was unusual in that it was water cooled but with heat exchangers mounted directly on either side of the cylinder. It was used by Ernest Smith and Woodhouse, who were motorcycle manufacturers (1912-1915), in their Regal-Green motorcycle in 1914. They had used other Baker 'Precision' engines in their previous motorcycles which they marketed as Regal-Precision.
Another unusual engine project was the development during 1912 of the engine invented by Dr Archibald Low in 1911. The engine was titled the "Forced Induction Engine", but it used normal atmospheric induction but high pressure fuel admitted directly into the cylinder at peak compression, so in modern parlance would be a gasoline direct injection engine. The engine was 104mm bore by 78mm stroke producing 15 bhp at 3,300rpm. It appears this engine did not make it into production, but it embodied some principles that have parallels in diesel engine and gasoline direct injection engines of the future. Details of the engine can be found in US Patent 1124157 of 1913.
The 170cc engine had the unusual characteristic of horizontal overhead valves located at the rear of the cylinder, as well as unit-construction (see images). The valves were changed the next year to normal side-valves but remained across the rear of the engine, so this was an unusual engine. Engine capacity was increased to 199cc at the same time.
The 225cc Precision 2-stroke engine that appears against 3 different manufacturers in the November 1914 buyers guide (see info below) also appears in the 1915 Buyers Guide in the model by Grandex and in a short article on 1916 Torpedo motorcycles in November 1915, suggesting this engine did enter into production, though production may have been restricted due to the war effort. Even before war orders instructed companies to turn to making parts solely for the war effort, there were serious problems with loss of staff who volunteered for war service.
Motorcycles that used Precision engines.
Before WW1 there was a booming business with mainly cycle makers adding motorcycles to their production. This was facilitated by companies that provided engines, forks, seats, gearboxes, magnetos, lights and belt drives, allowing the frame maker to assemble his motorcycle. One of the main engine suppliers was JA Prestwich Industries (known as JAP), and to some extent F.E. Baker were targeting their market. The Precision V-twin introduced at the Olympia show in November 1911, followed the same 50 degree V angle as the existing JAP V-twin. While some motorcycle and cyclecar manufacturers stuck to a single supplier, others swapped between engine suppliers, and some allowed customers to decide which engine they wanted fitting. In November each year the Motor Cycle show was held at Olympia, and a Buyers Guide published which in most cases revealed the engine supplier used by the companies, enabling an idea of the large number of motorcycles using Precision engines in the UK.
Other makes of motorcycle to use Precision engines before WW1, include Zenith, Cleveland, New Imperial, Coventry-Eagle, Armis, Chater-Lea, S.G. Neal (Neal Precision) and in Australia A.G. Healing had distribution rights for the engines, making their own motorcycles under the tradename 'Peerless', but also supplying others such as Vivian Lewis Ltd, and Bullock.
Cyclecars that used Precision engines.
The following cyclecars used 'Precision' engines.
The Premier cyclecar used a 7-9 hp Precision air-cooled engine.
The Morgan three-wheeler from 1912 to 1914 had a Precision V-twin engine option.
The Bradwell 4-wheeled cyclecar.
The Depford from Depford Co., Evelyn Street, Deptford, London used either the Blumfield, J.A.P., or Precision water-cooled engines.
The Dewcar, a British four-wheeled cyclecar made from 1913 to 1914 by D.E.W. Engineering Co Ltd of Eynsford, Kent using the single cylinder 597cc air-cooled engine.
The J.A.R. cyclecar by J.A. Ryley of Martinean Street, Birmingham used the 964cc air-cooled Precision engine (J.A. Riley produced complete kits of parts to be built by manufacturers or private individuals).
The Ranger made by the Ranger Cycle Co, West Orchard, Coventry used the water-cooled version of the 964cc V-twin.
The V.A.L. monocar made by V.A.L. Motors, 314 Bradford Street, Birmingham made monocars, and at the 1913 show offered either a model using water cooled Precision V-twin (model KW), or the single cylinder 499cc water-cooled Green motor.
The Walker 1912-1914 cyclecar made by R. Walker and Sons of Tyseley, Birmingham, used Precision engines.
The Wall Tricarriage of 1913-1915 made by A.W. Wall of Hay Mills, Birmingham used 4 1/4 hp (for goods carrying) or 6 hp (for the two-seater) Precision engines.
The Warne cyclecar, was launched in 1912 with a JAP air-cooled engine, but by 1913 had swapped to air-cooled or water-cooled Precision engines (models K and KW).
The Woodrow cyclecar changed from using JAP engines to Precision engines in 1914 or 1915.
At the end of WW1 the Grahame-White buckboard used the 350cc Precision 2-stroke engine.


Hammersmith flyover

The Hammersmith flyover is an elevated roadway in West London which carries the A4 arterial road over and to one side of the central Hammersmith gyratory system, and it links together the Cromwell Road extension (Talgarth Road) with the start of the Great West Road. It is one of the first examples of an elevated road using reinforced concrete.
Design.
An elevated road employing reinforced concrete balanced cantilever beam supports with a single central column. The deck spine and wings are of hollow prestressed concrete design, with each span being tensioned by longitudinal tendons (four clusters, each of sixteen steel cables). The flyover was designed by G. Maunsell & Partners, Consulting Engineers, led by Peter Wroth and is long. When built the flyover included heating cables to "eliminate ice formation". The system was initially successful, though a £4800 bill for the 1962–63 winter () "so shocked Hammersmith Borough Council that, as a protest, it cut off the electricity". London County Council paid the bill after this.
The heating became defective at some point a "long time" before 2000.
History.
Completed in 1961, it was one of the first examples of its design. Marples, Ridgway and Partners, a Westminster-based civil engineering contractor, built the flyover at a cost of £1.2 million. The then Conservative Transport Minister Ernest Marples had been a Marples, Ridgway shareholder. To avoid a conflict of interest Marples undertook to sell his controlling shareholder interest in the company as soon as he became Minister of Transport in October 1959, although there was a purchaser's requirement that he buy back the shares after he ceased to hold office, at the price paid, should the purchaser so require.
Much of the churchyard of St Paul's Church, the oldest parish church of Hammersmith, had to be cleared for the project, including an old wall and many grave markers.
Repair work.
In December 2011 Transport for London (TfL) issued a statement that "damage to the ageing 1960s structure has been caused by water ingress, including salt water due to grit laid during the winter months, which has corroded and weakened the cables which help support the flyover". TfL stated there was "a very remote possibility that Hammersmith Flyover [would] collapse".
The Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle claim that they were contacted on 14 December 2011 by a whistleblower who revealed that problems with the structure were far more severe than was being made public. The flyover was closed to all traffic from 23 December 2011 to 12 January 2012 after structural defects were discovered. From 13 January to 27 May the bridge was only open to a single lane of light traffic in each direction for repair work. TfL planned to strengthen six of the sixteen arches before the London 2012 Olympic Games and the remaining ten arches after the games. New post-tensioned steel cables "are being installed in concrete blocks above and below the deck’s central reservation". The repairs are now complete and extended the life of the bridge by 15 years. The cost of repairs was estimated to be around £10 million.
In June 2013 it was announced further repairs were required, a project estimated to cost £60m.
Transport for London has announced that "The 18-month project will see the flyover strengthened, the bearings underneath the structure replaced, a new carriageway drainage system [fitted] and the entire flyover waterproofed and resurfaced." TfL has said verbally that the flyover is otherwise sound, and that its life after repair is expected to be another 60 years. TfL announced on 10 August 2015 that repair work to the bridge is now complete.
Replacement tunnel.
The construction sector has proposed that the flyover be replaced with a tunnel. A group of architects, including Assael Architecture and Simone de Gale, ran an event as part of London Festival of Architecture in 2012 to introduce the idea and gauge public interest. Following a mixed but mostly positive response, the West London Link was set up to explore the options in more detail. Three options were presented to the public in February 2014. A template is the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel in Seattle. The then mayor of London, Boris Johnson, added publicity to the concept.


Heathrow Cargo Tunnel

The Heathrow Cargo Tunnel is a road tunnel in the London Borough of Hillingdon, London, UK that serves London Heathrow Airport.
History.
In December 1968, the tunnel first opened, to connect Terminals 1, 2 and 3 to the newly opened cargo terminal at Heathrow, and it cost £2 million to build. The tunnel is not open to the public; it is used only by vehicles with security clearance to drive airside. It is used for cargo movements, and transfer of passengers to and from Terminal 4 (In 1986, Terminal 4 was built next to the cargo terminal). From 1972, a London Transport bus service (route 82) operated through the tunnel. In 1986, when Terminal 4 opened, a number of other bus routes then also passed through the tunnel. This was an unusual situation, because anyone could board the bus, and travel "airside" without going through any security checks. In 1989, in the interests of security, all public bus services were withdrawn from the tunnel. All public buses now enter the central area through the main tunnel.
Design and construction.
The cargo tunnel is bi-directional; it has one bore, carrying one lane in each direction. Each lane is wide, with a clear height of . The tunnel consists of approximately of circular bored tunnel plus of rectangular cut-and-cover tunnel at each end. Its total length is .
The bored tunnel segments are precast concrete, with a internal diameter and thick. The segments are expanded directly against the ground, which is London Clay. The bored section of the cargo tunnel is notable among tunnelling engineers, for having been constructed with a remarkably thin cover of solid clay above it (minimum cover clay beneath the Terrace gravels).
There is one sump in the tunnel, at a low point about north of the south portal.
The tunnel is one of the few in the United Kingdom that is ventilated by a fully transverse system - it has an air supply duct in the invert of the tunnel, and an air extract duct in the crown of the tunnel. Extraction and supply fans are sited in underground chambers at the north end and the south end of the tunnel, at the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) launch and retrieval chambers.
Consulting Engineer for the works was Sir William Halcrow and Partners, with Hoare Lea & Partners advising on electrical and mechanical services. The tunnel was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction, with E&M fitout by Halliday Hall and Aerex.
The cargo tunnel was the only privately operated road tunnel in the United Kingdom until March 2005, when the Heathrow Airside Road Tunnel was opened to airside traffic next to it.


A26 road (Northern Ireland)

The A26 is a road in Northern Ireland. It travels in a north–south direction from Coleraine, County Londonderry to Banbridge, County Down.
The road is a primary route between Coleraine and its junction with the M1, and a secondary route between Lurgan and Banbridge. Some sections of the road are dual carriageway, notably between Ballymena and the route's junction with the M2 and M22.
Route.
The A26 begins at the Lodge Road Roundabout on the outskirts of Coleraine, one of the junctions on the Coleraine ring road. A 1 km stretch of dual-carriageway, passing the Causeway Hospital, yields to single-carriageway after the Wattstown Roundabout towards Ballymoney. A further stretch of dual-carriageway is provided on the border of County Londonderry and County Antrim near Macfin, including the first of many crossings of the Belfast-Derry railway.
On reaching Ballymoney, the A26 route skirts past the town, and meets the B62 Ballybogy Road towards Portrush at a roundabout. Further junctions along the Ballymoney by-pass meet with the B66 to Dervock, the B147 to Stranocum, and the B16 to Armoy. The A26 continues, as the Frosses Road, in a south-east direction towards Ballymena, meeting the A44 from Ballycastle at a roundabout.
From here, a new high quality dual-carriageway begins crossing the River Main near Glarryford. A section of the original route of the A26 progressed through a series of trees originally built on bogland. The "Frosses Trees" are a collection of Scots pines planted by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1839 as a means of preventing the road from subsiding. 50 of the trees were removed in 1999, and a further 26 of the trees were felled in July 2007, for safety reasons. This section is now bypassed on the new dual-carriageway with access to the original road maintained as rest areas.
The A26 continues towards Ballymena before drivers are offered to turn-off-to-stay-on the route, to continue into Ballymena town centre, or to by-pass the town via the M2. Traffic on the M2 then rejoins the A26 on its last roundabout junction, and the route continues to Antrim as dual-carriageway towards its junction with the M2 and M22. Original plans for Northern Ireland's motorway network had the M2 route running from its diverge with the M22 near Antrim and continuing past Ballymena towards Coleraine, but on the suspension of the Northern Ireland government in 1975, the M2 link between Antrim and Ballymena remained unbuilt. The A26 was re-routed under the unused bridges of the roundabout at Junction 10 at Ballymena, leading directly onto the M2 by-pass. The road works were completed in 2010.
Beyond its junction with the M2 and M22, the A26 continues as single carriageway into Antrim, passing The Junction, the first outlet centre opened in Northern Ireland and runs along the edge of Antrim town centre and onwards to a roundabout junction with the A57 route close to Belfast International Airport. Originally the A26 route continued directly ahead to the Aldergrove site, with a section passing the perimeter of the airport grounds, but the road was closed for security reasons. Until the early 1990s, all traffic was diverted through the small village of Killead, but a by-pass relieved the village from traffic heading north to the Airport in the 1990s.
The A26 then reaches another aviation-related landmark at a roundabout, the site of the former RAF Nutts Corner base. Traffic following the A26 takes a turn to the right, and continues, by-passing the villages of Crumlin, County Antrim, Glenavy and Upper Ballinderry, crossing the currently disused Lisburn–Antrim railway near the latter. The A26 then goes under the Belfast-Newry railway and then meets the M1 at its junction with the A3 road, and multiplexes with the A3 through the villages of Moira and Magheralin.
The A26 branches off from the A3 again on entering Lurgan, and follows a south-eastern route to Banbridge. The route passes through the villages of Waringstown before meeting the A50 from Gilford and Portadown at a roundabout. The A26 then multiplexes with the A50 through the village of Seapatrick on its way into Banbridge town centre. The route splits into two spurs in Banbridge, both ending at the A1, with one carrying traffic north out of the town centre towards Belfast, Lisburn and Dromore, and the other carrying traffic south towards Newry and Dublin. The A50 leaves the A26 in the town centre and travels southeast towards Castlewellan and Newcastle.
Planned developments.
At present, the Department for Regional Development plan a series of future road schemes for the A26:


Triumph Trophy

The 'latest' Triumph Trophy is a touring motorcycle launched by Triumph in 2012 but discontinued in 2017. There have, however, been other Triumph models bearing the Trophy name over a long period.
For example - Triumph Trophy models with 3-cylinder 900cc engines and 4-cylinder 1200cc engines were manufactured at Hinckley starting in 1991.In the late 1950s and early 1960s the TR6 Trophy was an off road version of the firm’s 650cc twin. It won success in the International 6 days trophy. The most obvious difference between the Trophy and its siblings was that the Trophy had high level exhausts.
The new version features a liquid-cooled, 12-valve, straight-three engine,
which is mated to a six-speed gearbox and shaft drive. The engine is also used on its dual-sport sibling, the Tiger Explorer,
although on the Trophy it produces slightly less power and has a taller sixth gear, more suitable for the touring proposal of this motorcycle.
The base model will be complemented by the SE, which features extra equipment such as electronically adjustable suspension, a Bluetooth audio system, and a tyre-pressure monitoring system. The SE will be the only model sold in the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil.


BSA Empire Star

The Empire Star was a standard motorcycle made by BSA at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. Named to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V of the United Kingdom and advertised as "The Masterpiece of the Industry", the Empire Star range was produced between 1936 and 1939, when it was developed into the BSA Gold Star and World War II stopped production.
Development.
Developed from the popular BSA Blue Star and designed by Val Page, the Empire Star range had the benefit several ideas Page had been developing at his previous employers, Ariel and Triumph motorcycles. With a heavy frame and iron barrelled pushrod valves the Empire Star still had the legacy of the earlier BSAs however, and Page continued to lighten it and introduce engine tuning ideas throughout production.
The overhead valve Empire Star was available as the ' 'B22', the ' 'R5' and the 'Q8' models. Based on the standard Blue Star the 'Empire' featured an alloy primary chaincase with a special high compression piston and a hardened cylinder bore. It also had some modern features, including a new foot-change gearbox and dry sump lubrication.
BSA launched the range of Empire Star models in 1936 with an effective demonstration of their reliability - a "" model was subjected to an endurance test of at Brooklands, averaging speeds of over round the oval track. This was followed by a endurance ride around the UK, visiting the West Country, Wales and the Lake District. The whole trip was completed successfully without the need for any spare parts - an important selling point for BSA in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
The outbreak of World War II ended production of the Empire Star in 1939 as the BSA factory switched to making munitions and producing the BSA M20 for the British Army.
Racing success.
It was the top of the range Empire Star, which saw most success in competition. In 1937 at Brooklands race track, Isle of Man TT winner Wal Handley won a race with a fastest lap at on a specially modified "500 cc" Empire Star.
The motorcycle used by Handley had a special racing carburettor, a new design of magneto and close ratio gearing. Handley had been persuaded out of 'retirement' especially for the three-lap race, which meant at top speed on the uneven and deteriorating banked oval track.
It took skill and experience to win, and Handley was awarded one of the traditional Gold Star badges. This inspired BSA to develop the BSA Gold Star.
Also in 1937 BSA competition team rider Bert Perrigo won both the Colmore Cup and Victory Cup trials on a B25 Empire Star.


Bedford Dunstable plant

The Bedford Dunstable plant was a truck and bus vehicle assembly plant, located in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. Developed and opened by Vauxhall Motors in 1942 under instruction from the Ministry of Production as a shadow factory, it was transferred to the Bedford Vehicles unit in the 1950s. Closed after receivership in 1992, it was subsequently demolished and redeveloped as a retail park and associated industrial estate.
Background.
In 1931, the now General Motors owned Vauxhall launched a bus and truck division called Bedford Vehicles. Produced at the companies existing Luton site, the first Bedford's were reworked Chevrolet vehicles. Bedford introduced their first own original design, the Q series lorries and buses, turning itself into a distinctive marque.
By the start of World War II, Bedford had become a major supplier to the British Army, with the Q series being used in every possible configuration. Those destined for D-Day were waterproof tested at Wardown Park lake. In preparation for the main assault, the Ministry of Production asked Vauxhall to produce the Churchill Tank, which would require the company to access additional production. hence with Government money, the company agreed to open a new site in Dunstable.
History.
The plant opened on a site in Boscombe Road, Dunstable in 1942. As much of the output was destined for the war effort, the factory was served by the Dunstable Branch Lines, which both brought raw materials and sub-assemblies in, and took finished products out.
In the 1950s, the decision was made to move all truck and bus production from Luton to Dunstable, although Luton retained van production until the demise of the Bedford brand at the end of the 1980s. GM invested in two new double story factories, built between 1955 and 1957, which covered an area of . The resultant production line was long, and the entire site employed 5,500 people, on an average wage of £10 per week.
The later developed Commer lorry factory was located on the far side of Boscombe Road.
1980s.
By the 1980s, Bedford's main markets were in military vehicle production (TL and TM series) and producing bus chassis for the cheaper end of the coach market. But already the factory was downsizing, and shedding jobs.
The major blow came when Bedford failed to win the UK Ministry of Defence contract to produce the standard 4 ton 4x4 GS (general service) truck for the British forces. This was despite the fact that the Bedford candidate had performed equally in extensive test to the Leyland (later Leyland DAF) candidate, and the British Army expressed a preference to continue the trusted relationship with Bedford trucks. The reasons for this decision were seen by many as political, as the Army 4 tonner contract was seen by the Thatcher government as essential for the long-term survival of Leyland and the formation of Leyland-DAF. The implications of the decision were also noted by GM in Detroit, who had already been refused permission to buy the Land Rover division of British Leyland, which they had intended to operate in tandem with the Bedford Truck division as major force a military and civilian 4x4 market.
With cheaper far-Eastern sourced and more technically advanced vehicles now available on the commercial market, GM took the decision to concentrate the Bedford brand on light vans, which would be re-badged Isuzu models assembled at Luton. The decision was taken to sell the Bedford brand and Dunstable site.
David John Bowes Brown and AWD.
The Dunstable site and associated and business was sold in 1987 to AWD Ltd, a company owned by David John Bowes Brown. The AWD name was used as GM would only allow the use of the Bedford name for military trucks. David John Bowes Brown was the designer in 1973 of the then DJB D250 Articulated Dump Truck, built in Peterlee, England, by DJB Engineering Ltd. DJB was renamed Artix in 1985 when the trucks were rebadged as Caterpillar. Artix itself was sold to Caterpillar in 1996.
AWD continued with the TL and TM range. The AWD Bedford TK (a rebadged and modernised version of the Bedford TK/MK range) was also produced and supplied to the British military. Due to cheaper competition and the virtual collapse of the UK market in which AWD competed in 1989/90, the company went into receivership in 1992. The AWD brand was bought by dealer network Marshall of Cambridge, while the Dunstable site was to be redeveloped by the receiver.
Redevelopment.
Conrad Ritblat had been instructed to carry out a redevelopment and planning appraisal in 1987. The team was led by partner, John Riding and they successfully obtained retail consent for part of the site. The former warehouse of 8,000m2 attached to the main factory was let. The Receivers (KPMG) began demolishing the oldest buildings in 1993.
The area towards Dunstable Road was the first to be redeveloped, with a Sainsbury's supermarket (already pre-let by Conrad Ritblat) the initial core of a retail development that included units occupied by McDonald's and Kwik-Fit. In 1997 more single-storey buildings were demolished and a new retail park was built north of Sainsbury's, which presently includes a Staples, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Currys and a DFS furniture outlet.
The two 1950s factories were rented out as distribution space, to companies that included IKEA. These were eventually demolished in 2005, together with the works iconic water tower. The replacement modern distribution units are now occupied by companies that include Cinram UK Ltd, Superdrug Ltd and Christian Salvesen, who operate a parts distribution contract for IBC Vehicles, one of the successors to Bedford and Commer, and Renault Trucks.


Ftrmetro Swansea

ftrmetro Swansea was a bus rapid transit route in Swansea, Wales. The route was served by FTR articulated buses in an attempt to relieve traffic congestion and provide alternative transport to cars, before they were withdrawn in 2015 in favour of smaller-capacity buses.
Overview.
The Welsh Assembly Government provided £2.2m in funding to help launch the scheme, and the local bus operator First Cymru paid for the fleet at a cost of £300,000 per vehicle. The buses, built by Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus, each have 37 seats. Stops are placed approximately every 500m and passengers pay for tickets on-board from a conductor rather than from the driver.
The bus runs along a route from Morriston Hospital to Singleton Hospital, via Morriston, Swansea railway station, Kingsway, Swansea bus station, Civic Centre and Swansea University. The off-peak journey time between Morriston Hospital and Swansea University is timetabled to take 50 minutes.
Alterations were made to a number of roads to provide a dedicated bus lane. Orchard Street and The Kingsway were converted to a one-way streets for cars with a separate two-way bus lane. West Way has been altered to accommodate a two-way bus lane and new access roads have been developed near the Civic Centre. Further road developments include a bus lane along parts of Oystermouth Road and a bus bypass road past the Hafod area.
Phase 1 of the road development scheme, for Orchard Street and Kingsway, is complete. The service between Morriston Hospital and Singleton started on bus route 4, using a single ftr vehicle, on 1 June 2009 with official launch of service in September 2009.
Critics of the scheme attacked the disruption caused by roadworks to accommodate the vehicles and the impact of changes to the road network.
On 24 June 2015, First Cymru announced that it was to remove all FTR articulated buses from service on 28 August 2015, replacing them with standard single deck buses. Later in 2015, the dedicated two-way FTR bus lane on the Kingsway was removed and replaced by a standard one-way system, in response to high-profile accidents.
Subsequently, three 'bendy buses' were brought back into use, transferring students from the main Swansea University campus on Oystermouth Road to the new Bay Campus.


BSA B25

The BSA B25 was a series of unit construction single-cylinder OHV four-stroke motorcycles made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company. Developed from the BSA C15, the machines were produced between 1967 and 1971. The B25 was the fastest British production 250.
Technical details.
The 247 cc engine was a higher performance development of that used the existing C15. Bore and stroke of 67 x 70 mm was retained, but a new alloy barrel and cylinder head were introduced featuring square fins. The pushrod tunnel was cast into the barrel rather than being a separate item as on earlier models. Tappet adjustment was by eccentric rocker shaft.
To improve performance the inlet tract was opened up and bigger valves fitted along with the newly introduced Amal Concentric carburettor. Compression ratio was increased to 10:1 and a sports camshaft used. Power output was 26 bhp (19 kW) at 7250 rpm, (later reduced to 22.5 bhp (17 kW) on the P34 models) The engine was free-revving and would rev to over 8,000 rpm.
Unlike the later C15s, which used a roller bearing big end, the B25 reverted to a plain big end and split conrod. The model gained a reputation for unreliability due to big end and conrod failures. BSA attempted to address this in the P34 models by fitting a conrod with a larger shoulder. The oil pump was also changed to a cast iron body design, the earlier zinc alloy bodies tending to distort and reduce oil pressure. An inline paper oil filter was also added to improve oil quality.
A duplex chain took power to a wet, multi-plate clutch. The gearbox had 4 speeds and final drive was by chain.
Developed from the competition C15s, the all-welded frame had a single downtube that split into two to form a cradle under the engine. The later P34 used a frame where the oil was stored in the top spine, this frame was shared with the B50 models.
Electrics were upgraded to 12v (the C15 used a 6v system). The output from the alternator was regulated by a zener diode with a large heat sink mounted between the front forks.
B25 Starfire/C25 Barracuda.
The first model of the series was introduced in 1967 as the C25 Barracuda in the UK and the B25 Starfire in the USA (although the US models had frame and engine numbers prefixed C25). The model was a more sporty replacement for the C15 and, in the UK, aimed at learner riders.
Sharing many cycle parts with the 441 cc B44 Victor Roadster, the model had a fibre glass tank and a seat with a rear hump. Front forks were two-way damped and rubber gaiters fitted instead of the metal covers of the C15 and at the rear the springs of the shock absorbers were now exposed. Chrome mudguards and a chrome headlight shell was fitted. Single-sided drum brakes were fitted front and rear.
The B25 Starfire designation was adopted for all markets (Frame and engine numbers being prefixed B25B). The machine gained a full-width 7" front brake, and larger petrol tanks fitted; on the US version and a steel on the UK version.
In common with other machines in the BSA/Triumph range, a new 7" twin leading shoe front brake was fitted. Minor cosmetic changes included rubber knee pads on the tank and a chrome passenger grab-rail. The US model was given a high-level exhaust and the cylinder and cylinder head finished in black. Engine and frame numbers were prefixed B25S.
B25FS Fleetstar.
A less sporty version, the B25FS Fleetstar, was introduced in 1969 to appeal to fleet customers such as the police. The compression ratio was reduced to 8.5:1, which dropped power output down to 21 bhp (16 kW). The machine had painted, valance mudguards and a more conventional steel tank. Various accessories such as fairings, leg-guards and panniers could be fitted dependent on the purchaser's requirements.
The machine was updated with the oil bearing frame in 1971, but unlike the other B25 models retained its roadster styling. Around 449 Fleetstars were manufactured, about 250 these being sold to the police.
B25 Woodsman.
The B25 Woodsman variant with a high-level exhaust was produced alongside the standard model for non-US markets (the US model having a high level exhaust). The model was soon withdrawn and only about 10 machines were made.
P34 (oil-in-frame) models.
Since the late 1960s, BSA engineers had been working on a revamp of the existing range and development of new models. In October 1970, the new range, collectively known as "The Power Set", was released. The revamp was divided into individual projects. The singles project, which consisted of the 250 cc B25 and a new 500 cc B50, was code-named P34.
The engine received some upgrades. Failures of the conrod was addressed by redesigning the conrod with a larger shoulder section. This required the crankshaft to be machined to clear the thicker conrod. Being a plain bearing, the big end requires a good flow of oil. A new cast iron bodied oil pump was fitted, the previous zinc alloy bodied pump was prone to warping leading to reduction in oil pressure. A new full-flow paper oil filter was also fitted. These modifications were intended to reduce the tendency for the big end to fail. Power output was reduced to 22.5 bhp (17 kW).
The mating surfaces between the barrel and cylinder head were made larger and a new head gasket designed. Rocker box mounting studs were increased in size. A thrust washer was placed between the clutch chain-wheel and its mounting to reduce wear problems. A redesigned clutch hub allowed an extra plate to be fitted. The rear engine mounting lug was increased to 75 mm for consistency with the 500 engine.
The all-new cycle parts were shared with the B50, and many of the components were common to the complete BSA/Triumph range. The frame, which held the oil in the top tube, was developed from the competition machines. A new high-level lozenge shaped box silencer was fitted, which was designed to meet possible future more stringent noise laws. Common to the rest of the BSA/Triumph range were the Ceriani type forks and conical wheel hubs. The hubs were 7" rear and either 6" sls or 8" tls front.
These models were only in production for a year. The financial situation of the BSA Group forced a great reduction in the model range for 1972 and the 250s were discontinued.
B25SS Gold Star 250.
The B25SS Gold Star 250 was marketed as an on or off-road machine. The UK versions had the 8" tls front brake and a longer front mudguard to accommodate a front number plate, which was required by UK at this time. The US version had the 6" sls front brake and a 6" shorter front mudguard. Both variants had a steel petrol tank with a twist-off filler cap. The machine was fitted with 18" wheels.
B25T Victor Trail 250.
Marketed as an off-road machine, the B25T Victor Trail 250 used most of the components of the 250 Gold Star. The most significant changes were an alloy petrol tank, front mudguard mounted on the bottom fork yoke, a 20" front wheel and off-road tyres, the rear being a larger 400 section. The 6" sls front brake was used on both the UK and US variants.
Triumph variants.
TR25W Trophy.
Triumph Engineering had been bought by BSA in 1951 but had retained its own identity and had a separate model range. As a replacement for the ageing Triumph Tiger Cub, the TR25W Trophy was introduced in 1968. (The "W" in the model designation stood for "woodsman") The machine was essentially a Starfire with a fibreglass Triumph tank and side panels, high bars and a high level exhaust on the right hand side. The TR25W was built at BSA's Small Heath factory.
A steel tank was introduced in 1969 and the machine also received the 7" tls brake. The exhaust was moved to the left side for 1970.
T25T Trail Blazer.
The T25T Trail Blazer was virtually identical to the BSA "Victor Trail 250" apart from paint finishes and badges.
T25SS Trail Blazer SS.
The T25SS Trail Blazer SS was also known as the Blazer SS. It had a slightly different tank to the BSA "Gold Star 250", but otherwise was the same except for paint finishes and badge. A tank was available, which because of its extra length required a shorter dualseat to be fitted.


James Cycle Co

The James Cycle Co Ltd., Greet, Birmingham, England, was one of many British cycle and motorcycle makers based in the English Midlands, particularly Birmingham. Most of their light motorcycles, often with the characteristic maroon finish, used Villiers and, later, AMC two-stroke engines.
James were prolific bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers from 1897 to 1966. The company was taken over by Associated Motor Cycles in 1951 and combined with Francis-Barnett in 1957. In 1966 the company became one of the many British motorcycle companies forced out of business by Japanese competition.
Models.
James produced the 98 cc Autocycle, 125 cc Comet, Commodore, also 1954/55 Colonel 225cc Villiers single cylinder, several Captains as well as trials and scrambles bikes. In 1956 they produced the Captain 200 K7, Cotswold 200 K7C, and Commando 200 K7T, all 197 cc.
See also.
List of James motorcycles


Cooper Car Company

The Cooper Car Company is a British car manufacturer founded in December 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles's small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England, in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s they reached motor racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars competed in both Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their dominated rally racing. The Cooper name lives on in the Cooper versions of the Mini production cars that are built in England, but is now owned and marketed by BMW.
Origins.
The first cars built by the Coopers were single-seat 500-cc Formula Three racing cars driven by John Cooper and Eric Brandon, and powered by a JAP motorcycle engine. Since materials were in short supply immediately after World War II, the prototypes were constructed by joining two old Fiat Topolino front-ends together. According to John Cooper, the stroke of genius that would make the Coopers an automotive legend—the location of the engine behind the driver—was merely a practical matter at the time. As the car was powered by a motorcycle engine, they believed it was more convenient to have the engine in the back, driving a chain. In fact there was nothing new about 'mid' engined racing cars but there is no doubt Coopers led the way in popularising what was to become the dominant arrangement for racing cars.
Called the Cooper 500, this car's success in hillclimbs and on track, including Eric winning the 500 race at one of the first postwar meetings at Gransden Lodge Airfield, quickly created demand from other drivers (including, over the years, Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, Jim Russell, Ivor Bueb, Ken Tyrrell, and Bernie Ecclestone) and led to the establishment of the Cooper Car Company to build more. The business grew by providing an inexpensive entry to motorsport for seemingly every aspiring young British driver, and the company became the world's first and largest postwar, specialist manufacturer of racing cars for sale to privateers.
Cooper built up to 300 single-and twin-cylinder cars during the 1940s and 1950s, and dominated the F3 category, winning 64 of 78 major races between 1951 and 1954. This volume of construction was unique and enabled the company to grow into the senior categories; With a modified Cooper 500 chassis, a T12 model, Cooper had its first taste of top-tier racing when Harry Schell qualified for the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. Though Schell retired in the first lap, this marked the first appearance of a rear-engined racer at a Grand Prix event since the end of WWII.
The front-engined Formula Two Cooper Bristol model was introduced in 1952. Various iterations of this design were driven by a number of legendary drivers – among them Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn – and furthered the company's growing reputation by appearing in Grand Prix races, which at the time were run to F2 regulations. Until the company began building rear-engined sports cars in 1955, they really had not become aware of the benefits of having the engine behind the driver. Based on the 500-cc cars and powered by a modified Coventry Climax fire-pump engine, these cars were called "Bobtails". With the centre of gravity closer to the middle of the car, they found it was less liable to spins and much more effective at putting the power down to the road, so they decided to build a single-seater version and began entering it in Formula 2 races.
Rear-engined revolution.
Jack Brabham raised some eyebrows when he took sixth place at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix in a rear-engined Formula 1 Cooper. When Stirling Moss won the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix in Rob Walker's privately entered Cooper and Maurice Trintignant duplicated the feat in the next race at Monaco, the racing world was stunned and a rear-engined revolution had begun. The next year, , Brabham and the Cooper works team became the first to win the Formula One World Championship in a rear-engined car. Both team and driver repeated the feat in , and every World Champion since has been sitting in front of the engine.
The little-known designer behind the car was Owen Maddock, who was employed by Cooper Car Company. Maddock was known as 'The Beard' by his workmates, and 'Whiskers' to Charles Cooper. Maddock was a familiar figure in the drivers' paddock of the 1950s in open-neck shirt and woolly jumper and a prime force behind the rise of British racing cars to their dominant position in the 1960s.
Describing how the revolutionary rear-engined Cooper chassis came to be, Maddock explained, "I'd done various schemes for the new car which I'd shown to Charlie Cooper. He kept saying 'Nah, Whiskers, that's not it, try again.' Finally, I got so fed up I sketched a frame in which every tube was bent, meant just as a joke. I showed it to Charlie and to my astonishment he grabbed it and said: 'That's it!' "
Maddock later pioneered one of the first designs for a honeycomb monocoque stressed skin composite chassis, and helped develop Cooper's C5S racing gearbox.
Brabham took one of the championship-winning Cooper T53 "Lowlines" to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a test in 1960, then entered the famous 500-mile race in a larger, longer, and offset car based on the 1960 F1 design, the unique Type T54. Arriving at the Speedway 5 May 1961, the "funny" little car from Europe was mocked by the other teams, but it ran as high as third and finished ninth. It took a few years, but the Indianapolis establishment gradually realized the writing was on the wall and the days of their front-engined roadsters were numbered. Beginning with Jim Clark, who drove a rear-engined Lotus in 1965, every winner of the Indianapolis 500 since has had the engine in the back. The revolution begun by the little chain-driven Cooper 500 was complete.
Once every Formula car manufacturer began building rear-engined racers, the practicality and intelligent construction of Cooper's single-seaters was overtaken by more sophisticated technology from Lola, Lotus, BRM, and Ferrari. The Cooper team's decline was accelerated when John Cooper was seriously injured in a road accident in 1963 driving a twin-engined Mini, and Charles Cooper died in 1964.
Final years.
After the death of his father, John Cooper sold the Cooper Formula One team to the Chipstead Motor Group in April 1965. The same year, the Formula One team moved from Surbiton to a modern factory unit at Canada Road, Oyster Lane in Byfleet, just along the road from Brabham in New Haw and close to Alan Mann Racing. Cooper's 1965 season petered out and at the end of the year, number one driver Bruce McLaren left to build his own F1 car for the new for 1966 3-litre formula. Cooper's new owners held the Maserati concession for the UK and arrangements were made for Cooper to build a new 3-litre Cooper-Maserati car which would be available for sale as well being raced by the works team. The Maserati engine was an updated and enlarged version of the 2.5-litre V-12 which had made sporadic appearances in the works 250Fs in 1957. It was an old design, heavy and thirsty and the new Cooper T81 chassis built to take it was necessarily on the large side, in spite of which the bulky V-12 always looked as though it was spilling out of the back. Three cars were sold to private owners, one each to Rob Walker for Jo Siffert to drive, Jo Bonnier's Anglo Swiss Racing Team, and French privateer Guy Ligier. None of these cars achieved much success.
Jochen Rindt was entering the second year of his three-year contract, but with the departure of McLaren, Cooper had a seat to fill in the second car and with the team's recent lack of success, understandably, a large queue of potential drivers was not forming at Canada Road. In the circumstances, Cooper were fortunate to acquire the services of Honda's Richie Ginther, who was temporarily unemployed due to the Japanese company's late development of their new 3-litre car. After a couple of races, Ginther was recalled by Honda to commence testing of their new car and the American was no doubt more than somewhat chagrined to discover that it was even bigger and heavier than the Cooper. After making a one-off arrangement with Chris Amon (unemployed due to the McLaren team's engine problems) to drive in the French Grand Prix, Cooper had an enormous stroke of luck when John Surtees became available after falling out with Ferrari. Once conflicting fuel contract issues were resolved (Surtees was with Shell, Cooper with BP), Surtees joined the team. Cooper honoured its commitment to Amon, so three cars were run in the French GP. Subsequently, the team reverted to two entries for Surtees and Rindt and with the former Ferrari driver's development skills and a switch to Firestone tyres, the car was improved to the point that Surtees was able to win the final race of the year in Mexico.
Surtees left to join Honda for 1967 and Pedro Rodríguez joined Rindt in the team and immediately won the opening race of 1967 in South Africa in an unlikely Cooper one-two. This was a fortuitous win for Rodríguez, as he was being outpaced by Rhodesian John Love in his three-year-old ex McLaren Tasman Cooper powered by a 2.7-litre Coventry Climax FPF. Unfortunately, Love had to make a late pit stop for fuel and could only finish second. This was to be Cooper's last Grand Prix victory. The rest of the 1967 season had the team's fortunes steadily decline and the midseason appearance of the lighter and slimmer T86 chassis failed to improve things. Rindt, impatiently seeing out his Cooper contract, deliberately blew up his increasingly antiquated Maserati engine in the US Grand Prix and was fired before the season finale in Mexico.
For 1968, Cooper would have liked to have joined the queue for the Cosworth-Ford DFV, but felt that its connections to British Leyland with the Mini-Coopers made this inadvisable. Instead, a deal was done with BRM for the use of its 3-litre V-12, originally conceived as a sports car unit, but which BRM themselves would be using in 1968. A slightly modified version of the T86 was built for the new engine, dubbed T86B and Italian ex-Ferrari driver Ludovico Scarfiotti and young Englishman Brian Redman were employed to drive it. The cars managed three-four finishes in the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix, largely thanks to the unreliability of the competition, but then Scarfiotti was killed driving a Porsche in the Rossfeld hill climb and Redman had a big accident in the Belgian Grand Prix which put him out of action for several months. Cooper continued the season with a motley collection of drivers, none of whom could make anything of the outclassed T86B. During the season, Cooper built a modified chassis, the T86C, intended to take an Alfa Romeo 3-litre V-8 but the project was stillborn.
The beginning of the end for the Cooper Car Company was in 1969, as it tried, and failed, to find sponsorship for a new Cosworth DFV-powered car and there were many redundancies. Frank Boyles was the last to leave, since he was in charge of building customer cars and it had been hoped that some more F2 cars would be sold. Frank went on to design and build a Formula Ford car called the Oscar and also a series of Oval Circuit cars known as Fireballs. Driving the rear-engine version of this car, Frank won more than 200 races during a period up until 1975 in a car he had designed and raced himself. This record is believed to have never been beaten.
In all, Coopers participated in 129 Formula One World Championship events in nine years, winning 16 races.
Besides Formula One cars, Cooper offered a series of Formula Junior cars. These were the T52, T56, T59, and T67 models. Ken Tyrrell ran a very successful team with John Love and Tony Maggs as his drivers. Following the demise of Formula Junior, Ken Tyrrell tested Jackie Stewart in a Formula Three car, a Cooper T72. This test at the Goodwood Circuit marked the start of partnership which dominated motorsport later on.
John Cooper retired to the Sussex coast, where in 1971, he founded the garage business at Ferring, near Worthing. The garage sold Mini Cooper engine-tuning kits and performance parts.
The garage was sold to Honda in 1986 and the business was moved to East Preston to convert Mini Coopers into race cars.
In October 2009, Mike Cooper, the son of John Cooper, launched Cooper Bikes, the bicycle division of the Cooper Car Company.
Mini legacy.
As the company's fortunes in Formula One declined, however, the John Cooper-conceived Mini – introduced in 1961 as a development of the Alec Issigonis-designed British Motor Corporation Mini with a more powerful engine, new brakes, and a distinctive livery – continued to dominate in saloon car and rally races throughout the 1960s, winning many championships and the 1964, 1965, and 1967 Monte Carlo rallies.
Several different Cooper-marked versions of the Mini and various Cooper conversion kits have been, and continue to be, marketed by various companies. The current BMW MINI, in production since 2001, has Cooper and Cooper S models and a number of John Cooper Works tuner packages.
Cooper garage.
On 1 April 1968, John Cooper leased the building, 243 Ewell Road, to the Metropolitan Police and the local Traffic Division (V Victor) moved in. They would stay there for the next 25 years and 'TDV' would become one of the busier police garages. In August 1968, they were supplied with two Mini Coopers, index numbers PYT767F and PYT768F. The centre boss of the steering wheel was replaced by a speaker and microphone and a PTT transmitter switch, was added to the steering column. The vehicles were trialled for a number of months, but no orders were placed for other garages. The police subsequently moved out, and the building became a Porsche dealership.


John Goodman (Velocette)

Johannes Gütgemann (1857–1929), also known as John Taylor and John Goodman, was the founder of the Velocette motorcycle company.
Gütgemann was born in , a town on the banks of the Rhine in Germany around 1857. His father was a successful merchant but died when Johannes was young, so when he was nineteen he moved to England to start a new life. He married Elizabeth Ore in 1884, settling near her home in Birmingham. They had five children together.
Business.
Shortly after his marriage, Gütgemann went into business with a partner named Barrett, who had inherited a company called "Isaac Taylor & Co." Gütgemann then adopted John Taylor as his English name, and began making bicycles and fittings. He opened a small shop in Great Hampton street in Birmingham.
He met another bicycle maker named William Gue and they started building bicycles together in 1896 under the name "Taylor Gue Ltd". In 1904 they took over the Belgian firm Kelekom Motors and began experimenting with motorized bicycles. They created their first motorcycle, the 2 horsepower Veloce, in 1905. It struggled on the marketplace and Taylor Gue was wound up in 1905. Taylor went straight on to found a new company, Veloce Limited in late 1905 to market motorcycles and related products. His son Percy had left to seek his fortune in India and another son Eugene was working as an apprentice making motorcycles at New Hudson. Inspired by their father, the brothers set up New Veloce Motors Limited at Spring Hill in Birmingham and began making motor cars in 1908.
Taylor was experimenting with a new motorcycle engine design and commissioned the engines from his sons' company, while he went on to develop the frames and cycle parts at his new premises in Fleet Street Birmingham. In 1909 he had a working prototype 276cc four stroke which had many innovative design features. The motorcycle market was very much in its infancy however, and sales were poor, so he decided to produce a 499cc belt drive model to bring in some much needed cash.
In 1911, Taylor became a naturalized British citizen, and in 1917 formally anglicized his German name to John Goodman. Veloce Motors Limited, the car company founded by his sons Percy and Eugene Goodman, had failed in 1916; in 1917 they became involved with Veloce Limited and several related companies.
In 1913, the company first used the trade name Velocette for a small two stroke motorcycle invented by Percy, and the name was then used for many later cycles as well. Production was halted by the outbreak of the First World War and the factory was turned over to the production of munitions for the war effort.
After the war the company name was changed to "Velocette" as this had become a recognised brand. In 1925 Goodman had a breakthrough when his 348cc overhead cam prototype was entered in the Isle of Man TT which was one of the most famous road races of the time and a great 'proving ground' for motorcycle manufacturers. In 1926 Alec Bennet won the TT on a Velocette KTT. For the next forty five years a series of very successful motorcycles followed.
In 1971 rising development costs and the owners' racing expenses took their toll on the company's bottom line and Velocette went into voluntary liquidation.


A2030 road

The A2030 is a road in Hampshire. The road starts off at junction 5 of the A3(M), near the village of Bedhampton. The road then runs west along the base of Portsdown Hill, following the old route of the A27 into Portsmouth until it reaches the Drayton area. This section of road is called Havant Road.
It then turns sharply south directly between Drayton and Farlington, and begins to run down towards the main areas of Portsmouth on Portsea Island. Just before crossing onto Portsea Island is a busy junction with the current A27. The road then continues along the east coast of the island before bearing right coming to a junction with Milton Road. This section of the road is known as Eastern Road, apart from the southernmost 100 m which is called Velder Avenue.
From here it winds its way across Portsmouth, changing names a number of times, before terminating at a junction with the A3 in Portsmouth City centre.
Being one of only three roads between Portsea Island and the mainland, it is always busy and often becomes congested during rush hours.


Brooklands Museum

Brooklands Museum is a motoring and aviation museum occupying part of the former Brooklands motor-racing track in Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Formally opened in 1991, the museum is operated by the independent Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd, a private limited company (No.02109945) and a registered UK charity (No.296661); its aim is to conserve, protect and interpret the unique heritage of the Brooklands site.
History of Brooklands.
Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century. The racing circuit was constructed by local landowner Hugh F. Locke King in 1907 and was the first purpose-built racing circuit in the world. Many records were set there. Many aviation firsts are also associated with Brooklands, which soon became one of Britain's first aerodromes. It attracted many aviation pioneers prior to World War I, and was also a leading aircraft design and manufacturing centre in the 20th century, producing a remarkable total of some 18,600 new aircraft of nearly 260 types between 1908 and 1987 (see McSwein, D R).
Brooklands-based aircraft companies such as Bleriot, Hawker, Sopwith, Martinsyde, and Vickers were key players in the early years of aviation and were crucial to its early development. The 'Daily Mail Round Britain Air Race' of 1911 started and finished at Brooklands, and both the event and the location later influenced the theme of the classic 1965 Twentieth Century Fox British film comedy 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines' (based at the fictitious but remarkably similar 'Brookley'). Flying training was an important function of the aerodrome both before World War I and between the wars. Visitors can see many displays and exhibits portraying the contribution made by Brooklands to the British aircraft industry in both world wars, and also in the post-war years with Vickers and later the British Aircraft Corporation and British Aerospace.
Vickers purchased the site in 1946 for £330,000, which allowed them to produce civilian aircraft. The most notable of these was the Vickers Viscount, of which 444 were built between Brooklands and Bournemouth. In 1959 the Vanguard was test flown from Brooklands. In 1962 the test flight for the prototype VC10 also took place at Brooklands, and subsequently all 53 production VC10s were flown out as well before being completed and test flown at Wisley.
Museum history.
Events leading to the establishment of the Museum.
Outbreak of World War II.
The last race meeting ever held at Brooklands took place on 7 August 1939. On 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and the remaining scheduled motor racing and motorcycling meetings were cancelled. Brooklands, under the control of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, was turned over exclusively to aircraft production for the duration of the War, Vickers continuing to produce Wellington bombers and Hawker assembling its Hurricane fighters at their respective facilities, with some of the smaller engineering companies located at Brooklands also taking on war contracts.
Aftermath of War.
Six years of war, including several air raids, and the expansion of aircraft production across the site, had caused a great deal of damage to the Brooklands track. The British Government was also in favour of extending the use of the site for aircraft production and early in 1946 implied that the choice for the owner of the property, Brooklands (Weybridge) Limited, was either to sell the land or wait for it to be compulsorily purchased. A sale to Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd for £330,000 was duly completed on 1 July 1946.
Jubilee events and foundation of the Brooklands Society.
On 6 July 1957 the Brooklands Memorial was unveiled by Lord Brabazon of Tara, at an event organised by Vickers-Armstrongs to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of Brooklands motor course. June 1967 saw a rally take place on the site, organised by Godalming & District Round Table, marking the track's diamond jubilee.
The latter event was a catalyst for the formation of the Brooklands Society, whose objects were to promote interest in Brooklands (for both its motoring and aviation influences) and to preserve what remained of the track and infrastructure. In 1977, Weybridge Museum held a temporary exhibition on the site, 'Wings over Brooklands', curated by Morag Barton and supported by (among others) British Aerospace Weybridge and the Brooklands Society. The same year, the Brooklands Society obtained outline planning consent for a museum on a 40-acre portion of the site, but lacked the funds to acquire the land and pursue its plans. Nevertheless, Society members worked hard throughout this time to clear the track of the trees, vegetation and debris that had been allowed to build up since the track closed in 1939.
Acquisition of the site and opening of the Museum.
In 1982, the 40-acre site was bought by a tobacco company, Gallaher Ltd, which retained 10 acres for an office building but, in 1984, leased the remaining 30 acres to Elmbridge Borough Council for the purpose of founding a museum.  Restoration of the Clubhouse and part of the track on the site began and Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd was incorporated on 12 March 1987, with Sir Peter Masefield as chairman and Morag Barton as the first Museum Director. In April 1989 Prince Michael of Kent became Royal Patron. The Museum was formally opened in 1991.
In the 2002 New Year's Honours List, Morag Barton was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her services to the Brooklands Museum Trust.
Museum site.
The museum is located on of the original 1907 motor-racing circuit. It includes four Listed buildings: the 1907 Brooklands Automobile Racing Club Clubhouse and Members' Hill Restaurant buildings, the 1911 Flight Ticket Office, and a 1940 Bellman aircraft hangar.
Surviving sections of the 1937 Campbell Circuit, the 1907 Finishing Straight and Members' Banking (the steepest section of the former racing circuit), the 1909 Test Hill, and a WW2 'Bofors' gun tower are all important parts of the Brooklands Scheduled Monument which was extended in 2002. The entire Brooklands site was designated a Conservation Area by Surrey County Council in 1989.
Collection.
The museum is open daily and displays a wide range of Brooklands-related motoring and aviation exhibits ranging from giant racing cars such as the 24-litre Napier-Railton, motorcycles, and bicycles to a unique collection of Hawker and Vickers/British Aircraft Corporation-built aircraft including Concorde (G-BBDG).
Other museum exhibits include flyable Bleriot XI and Sopwith Camel replicas built by Mike Beach and Viv Bellamy, respectively. The Camel is maintained in 'live' condition and performs regular engine running demonstrations at museum events during the year. A Grand Prix motor racing exhibition which features a Formula One simulator can also be seen. A major new visitor attraction, 'The Concorde Experience', opened in August 2006, centenary celebrations occurred in 2007 and a full-size modern working replica of Alliott Verdon Roe's 1908 'Avroplane' was completed and unveiled on 7 June 2008.
The museum also owns and, until late 2009, operated an airworthy Vickers Vimy replica which was built in America in 1994 to re-enact the design's three record-breaking long distance flights of 1919–20. Having helped commemorate the 90th anniversaries of the world's first Transatlantic flight and the first flight from England to Australia, the aeroplane was finally retired and flown into Brooklands on 15 November 2009. Less than a week later it was on display with a supporting exhibition in the museum's main hangar and in 2016 it was relocated to a purpose-built Vimy Pavilion where it is now kept maintained 'live' condition and performs occasional engine running demonstrations on the nearby Race Track. In early 2011 the museum received (on loan from its owners) the historic fuselage of the Supermarine Swift F.4 prototype, WK198, which held the World Absolute Air Speed Record when flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow in Libya on 26 September 1953.
The museum celebrated the centenary of the opening of the Brooklands Circuit in 2007, 100 years of aviation at Brooklands in 2008 and the Test Hill's centenary in 2009. Centred on a restored Hawker Hurricane, a temporary exhibition about Brooklands in the Battle of Britain was unveiled on 15 September 2010 and explained how the aircraft factories here made the site a prime target for the Luftwaffe in 1940 and listed the names of almost 90 people killed when Vickers was badly bombed on 4 September and also the names of Luftwaffe aircrew casualties that day. Another new temporary exhibition about the Vickers Wellington was centred on the Loch Ness Wellington and was opened by Robin Holmes, Penelope Keith, Norman Parker and Ken Wallis on 15 June 2011 – the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the type's forerunner, prototype Vickers B.9/32.
In 2012, a significant Brooklands aviation anniversary – 50 years of the Vickers VC10 airliner – was marked by the staging of a VC10 Symposium and the official opening of a new VC10 exhibition by the late Sir George Edwards' daughter Angela Newton on 29 June – half a century after this remarkable aeroplane was first flown here by 'Jock' Bryce, Brian Trubshaw and Bill Cairns.
On the evening of 29 September 2012, with help from museum volunteers, contractors moved the ex-British Airways/Heathrow Airport 40% scale Concorde model G-CONC to a new location at the south end of Brooklands Drive, where it now marks the main entrance to Brooklands Museum.
The Brooklands contribution to the Royal Air Force's legendary 617 Squadron 'Dambusters' attack on Germany's Ruhr Valley reservoirs on 16–17 May 1943 was commemorated on 12 May 2013 by three impressive flypasts of Brooklands Museum given by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Avro Lancaster – as a special 70th anniversary tribute to Barnes Wallis and the Vickers-Armstrongs design and experimental department engineers who made the 'Upkeep' mine such a successful weapon.
The museum's aviation exhibits include a 1914 Sopwith Schneider floatplane replica, built by volunteers at Brooklands and funded by the Kingston Aviation Heritage Trust who donated it to the museum on 27 November 2013 and a 1961 BAC/Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.3A which arrived on loan from nearby Brooklands College on 22 May 2014. Prototype Beagle 206X G-ARRM recently returned to Brooklands for the first time since 1994 having been loaned to Farnborough Aviation Museum from 2011 to 2017.
In February 2015, the museum secured a £4.681 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards a £7 million Brooklands Aircraft Factory and Race-Track Revival Project. This major scheme involved dismantling, fully restoring and relocating the 1940 Bellman Hangar away from the Race Track, building an adjacent two-storey Flight Shed with stores and workshop on the ground floor and restoring the north end of Finishing Straight. The latter was completed in time for the 110th anniversary of the Track opening in June 2017 and the rest of the project was finished and officially opened as the Brooklands Aircraft Factory by Prince Michael of Kent on 13 November 2017.
Supporters' organisation.
The Brooklands Trust Members, formed in 2008 after the Friends of Brooklands Museum and the Brooklands Club amalgamated, is the official supporters' organisation for the museum.
London Bus Museum.
In August 2011, the new London Bus Museum opened in new premises on land at Brooklands Museum. Formerly the private Cobham Bus Museum from 1972 to 2011, LBM is itself an Accredited Museum (provisional), displaying some 35 historic London buses dating back to the 1870s, together with associated artefacts, and is run by the London Bus Preservation Trust, a Registered Charity. Entry to London Bus Museum is on a joint ticket with Brooklands Museum with one admission charge covering both museums.


Bill Smith (motorcyclist)

Bill Smith (born 8 February 1935) was a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
Smith's specialty was on street circuits such as the Isle of Man TT, the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix. His best season was in 1963 when he finished the year in 12th place in the 500cc world championship. Smith won the 350 class at the 1968 North West 200. In 1978, he won the Formula III Class in the Formula TT world championship.


Traffic Radio

Traffic Radio was a digital radio station based in England.
It was a 24-hour rolling traffic and travel service for motorways and major roads in England, run for the Highways Agency by Global Traffic Network.
Traffic Radio could be heard on DAB digital radio, 1386AM (National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham only) and via the internet. It was available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and was updated every 10 minutes at busy times and every 20 minutes at other times. It offered regional traffic news, depending on which part of the country people are listening, as well as national headlines. The information came from the National Traffic Control Centre, which has access to over 1,000 CCTV cameras and 3,750 road sensors, as well as information from the Highways Agency's seven regional control centres.
Traffic Radio was not designed as a competitor to local radio stations in the UK, many of whom provide travel information. It was a continuous spoken information service meaning people can quickly switch on for the latest traffic information before switching back to whichever station they were listening to.
Traffic Radio was broadcast in six regional variants: This was a list of those variants and the DAB multiplexes on which they broadcast:
The station closed at 3pm on 31 August 2011 after the project was axed following the government spending review. Barry Lewis was the last Southeast and London reporter, Simon Temby was the last North West reporter and Andrew Bassett the last North East reporter.
The Highways Agency advertised an opportunity to license the Traffic Radio brand and operate a similar service at no cost to the taxpayer. Expressions of interest were received, but no company was prepared to take this forward. The opportunity was advertised in July 2011 and has now been closed.


Royal Enfield Continental GT

The Royal Enfield Continental GT is a series of motorcycles produced by Royal Enfield (India). The first model to use the name, the Continental GT 250, was produced by the original Royal Enfield in the 1960s UK. The name was revived in the 2010s with the Continental GT 535 and Continental GT 650.
Continental GT 250.
Royal Enfield developed a new machine for the 1965 market, the 250 cc "Continental GT" based on existing mechanicals. Prior to the 1964 Earls Court UK national motorcycle exhibition in November, the factory arranged a long-distance run to demonstrate the reliability of the machine from John o' Groats in the north of Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall. With five road riders, pre-arranged fuel stops and factory mechanical back up, the route was covered in 22 hours 20 minutes. A sixth rider was John Cooper, a road-racer who completed 8 laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix layout at race speeds.
Continental GT 535.
The "Continental GT" was the sportiest machine from Royal Enfield when it was launched in 2014 and is reminiscent of the café racers of the 1960s, including the Enfield model from 1966. However, it is equipped with a 535 cm³ single-cylinder engine that develops almost 21 kW (30 hp) at 5100 rpm. The John o ’Groats to Land’s End route was also used with this model, and the construction again proved its reliability.
The Continental engine is a block engine - the crankshaft and gearbox are combined in one housing - and has intake manifold injection; The alternator is on the right of the crankshaft, the primary drive is on the left. The emission limits EURO 3 and 4 can be complied with. It has a 90 mm stroke and 84 mm bore and achieves a maximum torque of 44.0 Nm at a speed of 4000 rpm.
Continental GT 650.
The Continental GT 650 alongside the Interceptor 650 was introduced in November 2017. The café racer has either a standard dual-seat or an optional solo seat with a seat hump. The fuel tank is more angular than the roadster's. Clip-on handlebars and rear-set pegs allow a sportier riding position.