H.O Matthews

 

-JdK- Adam in the UK contacted us with the following request: "I'm researching H.O Matthews, a Norton racer from the 1920s and would really appreciate any information anyone may have. I'd love any images of Brooklands programs from the mid-late 20s or early 30s. Matthews was regularly racing here during this period both solo and sidecar. H.O Mathews was from Manchester and was also both a TT Senior and Amateur TT racer on Nortons. Any help would be greatly appreciated and of course my findings will be documented on this website."  Please contact us when you can help.

The power of advertising

-SG- ... was more than apparent in the thirties - see attached Castrol Oil scan of Freddy Frith and Jimmie Guthrie from about 1936. Thanks to Adam for the image!

Letter from James L Norton October 1904

 

-SG- Martin has just sent me an excerpt from The Motor Cycle (letters to the Editor) - October 1904. Thanks! James Norton's letter extolling the virtues of well-designed lightweight machines makes interesting reading 120 years later. The Clement-engined two speed Energette was presumably the culmination of his studies.

Norman Gledhill

 

-SG- Back in December 2012 we had a posting about Norman Gledhill - amongst other things, winner of the 1932 Senior Manx. He looks understandably cheerful although somewhat bedraggled after a wet ride!

Many thanks to Paul. who in the last few days  has sent us half a dozen further photos taken at Norman's home farm after returning from the IoM. The other chaps are local friends of his - the Livingstone brothers. The  MGP Winner's Trophy looks pretty impressive!

Hector Dobbs

-SG- Back in May '22 we had a brief posting about Hector Dobbs and his 1925 win in the Amateur.  Included were a few words about his 1926 Amateur TT Norton - which seems to have been quite special - and I have recently managed to obtain a copy of a photo of it in action, before Dobbs came to grief in the poor weather.  This is attached - pity it was not taken from the other side - it would have been nice to know if it was a dry-sump machine!

Grass track bonus or what!

-SG- It was 1960 and I had already owned my 1930 Model 18 for all of four years. I took part in various Vintage Club competitions and decided to try my hand at grass track - the VMCC having organised such an event at Cassiobury Park, Watford.  Preparation consisted of fitting a used 'knobbly' rear tyre and riding over carefully as I had no fourwheeled transport at the time.

As far as I recall the track was a dusty bumpy oval - bumpy to such an extent that the forks clashed onto the front mudguard several times per lap during practise and the handlebar clamps moved and clouted the tank top.  Having tightened everything up as much as possible, the machine was a bit more controllable during the heat and final, in which I think we finished fourth and fifth!  If nothing else this dabble with grass tracking convinced me that road racing was more in my line!

However the Watford event resulted in two unexpected 'boni' - certainly outweighing the event itself.

Bonus number one came in the form of an introduction by J W Anstice Brown - very much into Vintage racing Douglases - to a young acquaintance who dealt in scrap metal. And right then he was in the process of dismantling a Norton engine and gearbox like mine. His method of dis-assembly involved use of a large sledge hammer and he told me proudly he had already shattered the gearbox. However, given a small financial incentive of £2, he agreed to desist from further assaults on the Norton remnants until I had had a chance of collecting them from his garden at nearby St Albans!

Bonus number two was better still! It came from a small Welshman, to whom I was chatting while re-adjusting the handlebars. " I've got a Norton much like that," he said. "it's pretty well complete and you can have it if you want - for nothing.  Only problem is - it's down in Wales."

Anyway, it transpired that he worked as guard for Britsh Rail Western region, and he kindly arranged to move the Norton as his personal luggage to the 'left-luggage' office at Swindon station. A week or so later, he gave me a ring to say it was there and awaiting my collection. So I borrowed my mother's Morris 1000 van and drove down to Swindon.  With the front passenger seat already removed the 'new' Norton was squeezed in without too much of a problem.

Apparently, when my new Welsh friend finished his shift at the London end of the run, he used to stay in digs at Ashford, Middx.  I dropped him a line to tell him I had collected the bike and to repeat my thanks. I was surprised to get my letter back in a few days marked 'GONE AWAY.'  Unfortunately I did not have his address in Wales and thus lost contact with him almost as soon as I had met him.

And the Norton?  What a find! It was a 1929 Model 19 frame, forks, wheels etc. to which had been fitted a nice mid twenties LS Sturmey Archer gearbox, and better still, a dry-sump engine - never did check if it was Model 21 or Model 25 - dating from 1927.  In those distant days I did not have access to the Norton despatch books which were probably still held by the Police ...

S A Sorensen: The post war pics

-SG- Once the war was over, it did not take long for motor and motorcycle sport to start up again. S A Sorensen was soon out riding one of his pre-war Excelsiors with considerable success in dirt track events. By 1947 road racing was almost back to pre-war levels and SAS started a run of 17 TTs (see scan of post-war TT entries) as well as numerous European events.   His IOM efforts, both Excelsior and Norton mounted, resulted in some good placings - his best being fifth in the 1949 Lightweight.

He appears to have discarded his pre-war Nortons and initially moved on to a 350cc garden-gate Manx which he bought new in 1949, and then, in the early fifties, he acquired a 500 Featherbed Manx as well.  He fitted one of his Excelsior engines into this from time to time. 

In 1949 he had the misfortune to have a serious crash in Holland which put him out of action for a while but not that long!  He had to wear plaster from his waist up to his ears! However, he was soon back in the saddle, and did not actually stop racing until 1954. 

 He died in 1980 and will long be remembered for his outstanding and lengthy career.

A 1949 shot of Sorensen with his Manx, and a younger friend on Sorensen's 1939 Excelsior Manxman.

 

The start of a dirt race at Charlottenlund in 1948. Charlottenlund was the best known trotting course north of Copenhagen.

 

S.A.S with his Excelsior receives the winner's wreath - another trotting course event, this being at Armaget.

 

The 350cc Garden-gate Manx bought by S.A.S in 1949 survives - now owned by a collector in Scotland. Here's a shot of it dismantled prior to a full re-build.

 

And here's a further shot of the Manx after the rebuild was completed.

A couple of mystery holes in the lower frame rail of the re-built Manx - apparently they stemmed from 1952 when SAS fitted a new Featherbed Manx engine into the earlier frame for an event at Hedemora, Sweden.

 

A 1947 shot of Sorensen crashing at Hem Odde's dirt-track course. Miraculously he was unhurt. A couple of years later he crashed at the Groote Prijs van Nederlande event and broke his neck - necessitating a plaster cast from waist to ears for several weeks.

 

SAS on his then new Garden-gate 350 in the 1949 Junior TT.  He finished 24th.

 

SAS and Allan - then aged seven - pictured at Hedemora, Sweden in 1950.

Another shot at Hedemora in 1950 on his 500 Manx.  He won!

Another Hedemora shot of SAS on his 500.  The race numbers were the same for 350 and 500 classes but a different colour.

 

SAS at the 1952 Lightweight TT - with an Excelsior engine in his Manx frame.

 

A close-up of the Excelsior/Manx readied for the TT.

 

SAS in action in the 1952 Junior TT.  He finished 27th.

 

Back at Hedemora in 1952 - in practise he hit a fist-sized stone and bumped his nose painfully on the tank!

A 1925 Amateur TT 'also-ran!'

 

-SG- I was recently sent this photo of one of the more lowly finishers - J. Robinson. But all credit to him - he persevered and did actually finish! Thanks to David who has checked then current editions of Motor Cycle and Motor Cycling for me and his comments follow: 

"J. Robinson of Preston and Dist MCC certainly had an eventful race. He finished 14th after 3hrs 55mins and 36 seconds averaging 48mph. Troubles began between the depot and the start, then he stopped for ”lengthy adjustments” at Quarter Bridge on the first lap. He fell at Quarter Bridge on lap 2 landing on his head with his feet over the parapet and  needing medical treatment but managed to convince the marshal he was fit to continue. Finally he carried Parkinson (AJS) on his pillion from at least Ramsey to the finish on the final lap. He received the well deserved York Trophy for the most meritorious performance. The photo appears in Motor Cycling of 16th September ’25 captioned  “A nasty skid at Governor's Bridge .J Robinson  (Norton) just saves himself”

Svend Aage Sorensen - Road racing photos

-SG- I think it would be no exaggeration to say that Denmark and its sporting riders are better known for Speedway prowess than for road racing activities. But there is an exception to this generalization: Svend Aage Sorensen.

S. A. Sorensen was born in 1903, the youngest of six children, and died in 1980.  He lived his entire life in the same street - perhaps a bit unusual now but less so then!  I am greatly indebted to his son Allan for these biographical details and photographs from his father's albums. Allan is lucky to have the albums as three of them were given away in the minor domestic upheaval following Sorensen's death and fortunately one of the later owners of them contacted Allan nearly thirty years later and offered them back!

S. A. Sorensen is better known for his connection with Excelsiors - for whom he was an unofficial and very successful works rider - than Nortons but none the less, he rode Nortons extensively in Europe before and after the war.  That he was held in high esteeem by the Norton management is shown by the fact that on his retirement from racing in 1954 he was presented with a gold medal.

His career started in 1924 on Armager trotting course against a horse!  The bike had to cover two laps and the horse one!  History does not relate what he rode but by 1929 he had a flat tank OHV Norton which he used in all branches of the sport.  His next Norton mount seems to have been a 1931 CJ of which three were shipped to the Danish distributor  early in the year - still fitted with the ES Druid forks according to the records. His successes with this machine were numerous, to say the least, as shown by his 1933 Trophy Collection photograph.

In 1934 he visited the IOM for the first time - not actually to compete.  None the less he was allowed to do four practise laps - Norton mounted. From 1935 to 1939 he rode in the Lightweight and Junior TTs on works Excelsiors, his best placing being 8th in the 1936 Lightweight. He was Nordic Champion on his Mechanical Marvel Excesior in 1935 and also won the Saxtorp GP in Sweden. Excelsiors were a pretty generous company - later in the thirties, Sorensen was given a new Manxman every year and was allowed to do what he liked with the previous year's 'free issue' - sell it or keep it!

In Denmark, however, it appears that his allegiance to Nortons was firm and although it is not entirely clear to me when he updated to later OHC models, he undoubtedly did so as the decade progressed.

Allan has sent a large number of scans from his father's albums and we have done our best to select those of best clarity and interest from the thirties. We will create a further posting covering his post-war activities in the near future.

Sorensen at Korketrekkeren near Oslo in 1933.  Looks like a flat tanker!

This young man working on the bike is not Sorensen but the son of his next door neighbour

This was taken at Saxtorp in 1932 and appears to show Sorensen and his CJ

Another Saxtorp photo from 1932

This was also taken at Saxtorp in 1932 -  appears to be an early Inter - has three stay frame

A year later, same place!  Sorensen on right of group wearing tennis shoes

The Danish team on Bror Persson's farm, Saxtorp in 1933. Sorensen sitting on number 57

Svend Aage Sorensen - Dirt Track shots

 -SG- There are quite a lot of Dirt Track shots - it would seem that Sorensen was just as active in this branch of the sport as road racing.

This was taken at Odense in 1932 - probably on his CJ

Probably also at Odense in the early thirties

No details  as to 'when and where!' The machine looks like a Model 25 with a special small tank and a right  hand exhaust pipe - not difficult to arrange with a straight ahead exhaust port head

Sorensen with his CJ in 1934. His elder brother Kaj is with him - by  then a Norton dealer in Copenhagen

Nice bike but no clue about who it is or where

This was taken in 1933 at Korsoer - Sorensen in the centre of the group

Sorensen in the lead at Langese in 1932

A 1932 shot of the start at Ganlose. Sorensen is second from left - again on his CJ - extreme left - surprisingly - is Freddie Dixon, Douglas mounted

Early thirties duel with Morian Hansen in an event at Odense. Sorensen on the outside and - just - in front

Harold Daniell's foot rests

 

-SG- Thanks to Alan for this photo from a recent visit to the Manx Museum. While Harold Daniell may have been a bit on the portly side - even by my standards - I find it hard to believe he needed special footrests! Perhaps one of our Manx specialists knows more!

1930 DT Norton in Denmark

 

-SG- Allan Sorensen sent me this photo a while back. It dates from the early thirties and shows what seems to be the only DT Norton shipped direct to Denmark - the dealer being a company called Petersen. 

The rider is Svend Aage Engstrom and the man standing behind the bike is Kaj Sorensen - eldest brother of the well known S A Sorensen and himself a Norton agent in Copenhagen.  Thanks to Allan for the photo!