1976
In 1976 East Midlands Scooter Association (EMSA) started using what I believe was a test track(?) at Donnington Park for Scooter Race meetings. The track was just two straights with a 180 o bend each end, a simple loop. This first image is the start of a group 6 race in August 1976. In this shot we have 36 Steve Warner, 134 Dave Harrison, 71 Mick Hayman, 72 Mick Jones, 106 Bob Dalley, 56 Dave Hayward, 73 Bob West, 75 Geoff Stephens, 138 Joe Proctor.
RACING 70’S & 80’S - 1976 to 1977
Not sure what circuit this next shot was taken at but it is of Pete Mullinder on his group
6 Special, a very quick machine.
In 1976 LASCA promoted an endurance race at Cadwell Park held in two parts, for solo
machines, during the break the sidecars had their chance, here they are lined up on the
grid. 5 is Jenny Stevens and Allan Hillman, 1 is Don Browning and Steve Collett (back to
the camera).
1977
Moving on to 1977 here's more shots from Donnington; the first is of Dave Webster on
his 150 Standard, the second is of Geoff Stephens also on his 150 Standard.
For some, racing in just one class was not enough, one such competitor was Mick
Hayman who competed in Group 4 and 6, with much success I might add. Here's a
couple of shots of Mick. Checkout the cars in the background!
This next shot is the bottom bend at Donnington and as you can see it's pretty much a
hairpin bend, the turn at the top was wider but still treated as one bend. In this shot, 4
Dave Hayward, 40 Steve Paine, 31 Ralph Saxelby, 6 Bob West, 122 Dave Briggs, 328
Steve Moore.
Finally at Donnington a shot in the Paddock; this is the Hampshire Union 'camp' for the
day; from the left, Geoff with favourite hat, Kenny Stratton, Dave Hayward and Chris
Harley. Chris didn't race much and would probably agree his talents lay more in
engineering and tuning than in riding and in fact was responsible for the tuning of my
scooter for most of my time in racing. This included designing and building a disc valve
which we fitted to a 150 special. Chris's scooter sported a barrel from a Lambro and was
also one of the few machines around at the time with an expansion chamber exhaust
and I remember it had very 'gustsy', pull a house down kind of power.
One of the great events of the racing calendar was the Festival of Speed held at Lydden
Hill; the combination of Bikes, Scooters, Karts, and Grasstrack plus the accompanying
crowds made it a special day. This next shot is of Dave Webster (3) leading Geoff
Stephens (15) and Graham Oliver out of the hairpin bend at the FOS May 1977.
Another great event were meetings held at Darley Moor, as again this was in conjunction
with a motorcycle club. So the first image is of Steve Collett (49) and Dave Webster (3),
I believe at the hairpin.
The second is the start of the Group 5 and 6 Specials race, you can see just about
everyone has got the clutch out apart from 56 Geoff Lowen............come on Geoff, it's a
race! Also in the shot 76 George Pearce, 68 Graham Best, 80 Dave Harrison, 4 Dave
Hayward.
Still at Darley Moor a good shot of the sidecars that have just made their way through
the chicane, now approaching the left kink before the hairpin. 6 Jenny Stevens and
Allan Hillman, 84 Eamond Keher and passenger John Wilson, of Manchester Lyons, 34
Ian Woodward and Ted Carter, 7 Craig Fergusson and Graham Woodfinden, 2 Alan
Crickmore and Pete Hinsley, 59 Iggy Prackauskas and Rick Simpson.
