Twin Cam) of the Type Raced to a World ABOVE Home and Transport; the Tinker's Van in 1957
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA 102 They had caught Count Agusta at the right TOP LEFT Len with his Gold Star BSA at Harewood, oment. They duly placed an order for a 125 . Canada circa 1956. albero (twin cam) of the type raced to a world ABOVE Home and transport; the Tinker's van in 1957. iampionship in 1952 by Cecil Sandford and from LEFT Neil at the Brno road circuit in 1957. )55 onward by Carlo Ubbiali, plus a special 203cc BELOW Len leads a group of 125s at the Schleizer Dreieck road circuit in the then East Germany in 1958. rsion that was within the limit to be eligible for 250cc class. The 125 was available in limited imbers to the public but the 203 was a works-only in 1954 with a sweep of the first five places on the Ubbiali was 250 world champion for MV beach with a mixture of Gold Star singles and A7 gusta in 1956, Tarquinio Provini in 1958 with twins. At the Isle of Man in 1953 he hooked up with )biali winner again in 1959 and '60. Created in- the two Keiths from Australia, Keith Campbell and )use by engineer Piero Remor and first raced in Keith Bryen, and became their helper and fixer on )50, it was a highly successful design. Neil Tinker the hard road across Europe during the summer iys that theirs was the only 203 supplied to racing season. Races were long and gruelling, and iyone outside of the factory team. if it wasn't the motorcycles in need of maintenance In due course the brothers received word that was a coronation on and they cancelled all the and repair it was the well-used transport van. Away ieir bikes were ready. After the obligatory wine- bookings. You could rebook your ticket but they'd from Hitler's autobahns, road travel was slow and bricated two-hour lunch at the factory, they doubled the fare, so I didn't get to go that year. primitive, and racing crews lived a threadbare ailered their treasures to Germany behind a I had to wait until '54." existence. In the book Circus Life, Neil Tinker told iend's VW coupe. As fate would have it, they Len Tinker wasted no time when he reached British author Don Cox, "Meals on the road consisted of rye ijoyed two challenging seasons of international soil. He was hired by BSA in 1952 to work at the bread, cheese and meatwurst sausage, and mugs of id grand prix racing as its golden era was factory in Birmingham on development of the A10 instant coffee. We would stock up with cans of instant -hiding. A weathered pair of tiny MVs remain in twins under engineer Cyril Halliburn. Len was coffee in England because it could be traded for cash eil Tinker's possession to this day. Neil Tinker, the involved in BSA's Daytona project that culminated or goods, especially in the Communist countries." ›- trviving brother and still sprightly at age 87, takes p the tale. "Len was three years older than me and ,e had lots of work in the late '40s. Len wasn't a :holar and he quit school at 14 to become a lasterer. I earned a diploma at tech school and ecame a carpenter, and we worked for the same rm. Len was always involved in racing and I tagged long. He and his pal Neil Henderson bought a 50cc BSA B30 from about 1934-35 to race and we'd ike it to a scrambles track about 12 miles away in collapsed volcano called Tower Hill. Someone had bulldozer and made a track about a mile long. Len ought a copy of Phil Irving's book Tuning for Speed Td read it cover to cover. He modified the old BSA nd we used it for both scrambles and road racing. allarat and Fishermans Bend were the two main )ad races in Victoria. Harry Hinton (Senior) usually fon the 500 class. We knew we wanted to go to igland. There was a whole cadre of Aussies who rent. Len and Neil Henderson booked passage in 952. I was booked to go in 1953 but then there .