The 1963 Racing 50 Motorcycle Club 'Enduro'
250 miles of 42 Screaming, 50cc 'Red-Hot' Engines
The Enduro, this year began in the office of the Secretary of the club which we all read about in the magazine issue of the 1st September 1963.
Dear Club Member, We have had to apologise lately for spasmodic output of the Club magazine, but we make no apology for this EXTRA issue. This is produced to tell you all about the Enduro, which, it seems; many members thought had died the death. Well, it certainly has been pretty sick, but with your help and encouragement it can still survive! The new date is Saturday, October 12th, and the new entry form and regulations are with this magazine.
It really looked, this year, as if the original Enduro (to have been held in May) would be over subscribed. However, because of an error in booking the circuit, the thing had to be called off, and so we are now asking you to either enter, or re-affirm your original entry.
If you are one of those who entered in March or April, please SEND IN A NEW ENTRY ON THE NEW FORM. Indicate that you have already "paid up" and we will check this against the records, so that if you do this, you can consider your entry definitely 100% O.K.
"New" entries - please, please, send in without delay, and help us to get the thing tidied up, so we are not sending out final instructions (as usual!) a day or two before the event!
NOTE that there is a Class for SPORTS machines, so that if you want to enter this class, you are NOT competing directly with Tohatsus, Hondas, and other such exotic models. Those of you who have competed at Church Lawford this season seem to have had a good time to judge by both comments and the number who have "come back for more." We are quite confident that if you have liked Lawford, you will find the Enduro even more enjoyable! Hope to see you there.
Well, there was always plenty of chatter in the club coming up to the annual 250 mile Enduro. This prompted some members to write small articles in the magazine as a build up to the excitement for the race.
Jack Leary, a riding member of the club penned the following article in the October issue: When the Chequered flag does fall in the afternoon on October 12th to mark the end of the 1963 “Enduro” it will indeed be a memorable milestone in the History of the Racing 50 M.C.C. for it will mark the successful running of the fourth “Enduro”, a 1,000 Racing Miles having been completed and will have established beyond all possible doubt the reliability of our 50cc. Racing Machines. This is looking forward but I am certain that the race will run.
PIT WORK For the Enduro: In a race of 250 miles, 92 laps, approximately four hours duration there will be for each team at least four (probably more) voluntary stops at the pits. This being the only race catering for 50cc where pit work is of any significance (or indeed exists at all), some thought may well be given to how time can be saved, and efficient pit work can contribute to a good result.
First requirement of all is a good funnel and a quick pouring fuel can – and don’t forget the FUEL ITSELF. Depending on stage of tune, the motor will consume as little as 2½ gallons, or as much as 8 gallons in the 250 miles. If the former have 3½ gallons (to cover practice) READY MIXED, and work out the most “economical” (from a weight carrying point of view) re-fuelling times. Obviously - if you can put in 1½ gallons, do 50 laps end put in another 1½ gallons, it ir better than starting off with the handicap of a full tank - take my word! For gobbling monsters the best notion, perhaps, is to refuel at each change of drivers. Picture: Eddie Swain Fuelling Beryl's Itom at the Enduro 1962. Note the spout allowing the pouring to be away from the machine.
There are certain tools, such as plug spanners, 10 mm. ring and open ended spanners, special grips, etc., etc., That you may well need several times, whereas others will only be needed in dire emergency. So, keep the “needed” items in one tool box, on the pit counter, and keep the others inside the pit, along with spares (tidily wrapped), and fuel (with tops on cans!). Don’t jam every tool you possess into the tool box , on the other hand, don’t leave that vital f1ywheel puller, set of points spanners and what-have-you behind either.
Ideally, pit staff for the Enduro consists of 4 or 5. Two females, who can brew tea, cook, and KEEP ACCURATE LAP CHARTS. This is really vital, and to lend weight to any dispute, a lap by lap chart, with stopwatch times, should be maintained. Three watches arranged on clips on the top of the board, with a common trip lever, will enable one person to cope. The lever starts one watch, re-sets another to zero, and stops the third one when the lap is complete and the lever depressed.
Some elementary signals can be made - your own ideas on this are best, but may I say from experience that the idea of telling the rider “WHERE he is” cannot be over¬ emphasized. It is so comforting, when cramp and aches are besetting you, to know you are NOT last and even to see that you have, perhaps, climbed a couple of places on your stint!
Presumably, one member of the party will be a reasonably experienced mechanic and he should be given a free hand. The number four man should help him, passing spanners, having fuel ready, and if merely a routine call in the pits, casting an eye at the various things likely to need attention of any sort. One or another should be the MANAGER, and once tactics are settled, his decisions should be stuck to.
Tactics! These must be thoroughly thrashed out in advance! Don’t make up your plan of campaign as you go along, and change drivers as soon as either Jack gets bored, or Bill decides that he wants another ride. Keep driver changes down to a minimum and combine fuel stops with them. Call the driver in ONLY if he has definitely slowed, and you think you can speed him up with a new plug, or by cleaning the fuel filter, setting the points or some other SIMPLE manoeuvre! Give him AMPLE warning to come in, and be ready for him when he does. MOTORS MUST BE STOPPED AT THE PITS AT ALL TIMES. Pit work, and supervising your team can be pretty agonising, but it can be a most rewarding experience, too. A rider needs good pit staff and a good plan of campaign almost as much as a good bike! If your team can keep all of this in their head whilst being concerned with you winning the race, you have a great chance. Best of Luck. Brian Woolley.
Itom Wins the 1963 250 Mile Enduro at Snetterton.
Well, it was certainly well supported as there were 42 racing pairs with their mounts lined up for the mass start of the race.
The moral of the fourth 250 mile 50cc Enduro was that the consistent reliability which was exhibited by the great majority of the bikes is more likely to be successful than sheer speed. The winners of the race who ran in perfect weather under blue skies and a warm sun at the Snetterton, Norfolk race circuit on Saturday, were Itom outsiders Paul Latham and Brian Brader. The 1963 Snetterton Enduro Competitor Listing
It was a bad day for the favourites. The Simmonds brothers Tohatsu twin broke a contact breaker after 25 miles and ten minutes from the end of the race. The Tohatsu single shared by Mike Leary and Charlie Mates went well, but had two long pit stops for adjustments. The Brian Woolley Kreidler, ridden by Reg Everett and Dave Bedlington seized with a broken piston after leading for half the race and threw Dave off. A hasty rebuild allowed it to finish. Picture: The Brian Woolley 50cc Kreidler
Second placemen, Rod Scivyer and Alan Hutchings were unlucky to have a puncture in their Itom ten miles from the end which dropped them to seventh place, while forth placemen Minto and Kennell’s four stroke Honda finished using a pint of oil every 25 miles. Picture: Rod Scivyer No. 11 on his Simmonds Bros. Itom.
At the end, after 250 hard fought miles only a couple of hundred yards separated the winners from the George Ashton/ Eric Maddison team on their water-cooled Itom which, I believe could have been Des Bone's first water-cooled machine.
John Pitt, riding Itom No.7 and as to how this Enduro got me into 50cc racing. "My first 50cc was a NSU Quickly, as my Father would not let me have a motorcycle, I managed to tune this to get 50mph from it. (See picture) This was used as transport for my apprenticeship at Duple Coachworks where I meet Harris Mann in the drawing office (He ended up chief designer for Austin-Morris and also did work for Suzuki, Honda, Norton, & BMW) I also met with Howard German while working there. Harris asked me to be co rider on an Itom in the 1963 Enduro at Snetterton.(See picture) He also introduced me to Beryl Swain and her husband Eddie". This got me started so I bought a 50cc Maserati.
Brian Cotterill NSU Quick 50: During my searching for information on the 1963 Enduro I met Brian Cotterill, a member of the old Chiltern 50 Racing club at one of the Stafford Motorcycle shows. During general chatting he said that he had ridden in the 1963 Enduro and started to tell me the story about it. I asked him to jot down some notes and later asked him some questions and said that I would the answers down and use the information in the History page. Here is the story:
The NSU Quick 50 - Enduro 1963: My friend Nick visited me and told me that he had regulations for a race meeting at Snetterton on Saturday at which he could not ride his 250 Royal Enfield as it was only for 50cc machines and there needed to be two riders. It was Wednesday night then so as the engine and gearbox were already stripped down we had to re-assemble it and build the bike up complete with an aluminium tank I had made which was possibly large enough for a Manx Norton. We fitted the NSU with a blue fairing, which again was too large, as it was later used on Nick's 250 Enfield. The picture to the right is of the NSU Quick 50 and the picture to the left is a conversion to a racer similar to Brian's. the race was in Holland and the two riders are Ferry Swaep NSU in the front and Cees van Koeveringe, on his Itom behind.
So with Nick’s mother’s Mini towing a trailer with the NSU tied firmly on, Nick, my brother and I set of for this place called Snetterton in Norfolk. At about 03.00 on Saturday morning, as we got close to the circuit, other competitors started to pass us in their loaded Thames and Bedford vans. The Simmonds brothers seemed very quick in their Ford Thames van.
So, we all got ready for the race, it was a lovely hot sunny day. The NSU looked a bit large in its original frame with leading link forks and 19-inch Continental tyres compared with the ITOM's, Tohatsu, Garelli and Demm machines. Practice went well except that the float chamber kept coming loose at the banjo bolt, spraying petrol all over Nicks boot. We attended the riders briefing and were told that there was no ambulance if anyone was hurt they would to take them to hospital in their transport, they did have a Mk 10 Jaguar instead.
How did our race go? I rode the first hour, no problems, going well down the straight and no hassle to slow down before the climb past the pits. Into the pits for a fuelling session and a change of rider. So, Nick rode hour two and during his hour the aluminium tank split spilling petrol on his leathers. Another pit stop only this time, as we were unable to repair the tank, we had to change over to the original Quick 50 tank. We worked as fast as we could and then felt ready for the next session.
Hour three and I rode with no problems and then Nick took hour four. Not having experience of Enduro racing we did not know how many laps the leader had done or even who the leader was. I think he had completed 93 laps when I brought Nick in and changed over, I only rode for about 1 lap before the flags were put out to finish the race. However we still finished in 13th place behind No. 19, the Garelli of Brian White. Picture: Brian speaking with Tommy Robb at a late 1990s Stafford Show.
After the race Nick and Brian studied the bike and realised that being restricted to a 2 speed gearbox in the NSU and no matter how much tuning they did to the engine, it would never be a competitive machine. As a result, over time Brian looked for a replacement. He found one that fitted the bill an bought it. This was a Heldon Hawk. There is a page given over to the Heldon and it's variety of bikes.
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