Ted Frend

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Edward Frend (3 November 1916 – 6 September 2006), born in South London, was a British motorcycle sports competitor from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, road racing with the AJS works team from 1948 to 1954.

Contents

Early years

In 1932, employed as an apprentice sheet-metal worker at Hawker Aircraft, he bought his first motorcycle, a 250 cc Dunelt. On completion of his apprenticeship in 1936, he found employment with General Aircraft in Feltham, and bought a 350 cc Ariel Red Hunter motorcycle for competition. Soon after attending the 1936 Olympia motorcycle show he part exchanged his Ariel Square Four for the just released new Vincent 1000 cc V Twin Rapide for £138 to use on the roads. In 1937 he joined the Streatham & District MCC, and competed in trials. (He later became the Club President.)

In 1938 he competed in the South Eastern Centre Championship meeting Unlimited class, and might have won if his exhaust had not fallen off. [1]

In 1939 he lapped Brooklands' outer circuit at 110 mph on his 1937 Vincent HRD Rapide winning the three lap race and earning the acclaimed Brooklands GoldStar for lapping over the ton. He also joined the British Motorcycle Racing Club.

World War II

During World War II he was in a reserved occupation, an engineer manufacturing aircraft parts. [2]

Post War competition

In 1947 Frend came fourth in the 1947 Isle of Man TT, and AMC offered Frend a place in the 1948 AJS works team. He proved an all-rounder, not just competing in road racing, but also in grass track, hill climbs, trials, and scrambles. His business, Paramount Sheet Metal, [3] in Kingston providing aircraft and motor cycle parts was more important to him than racing, and when it grew, demanding more of his time, he cut back on racing.

Frend came eighth in the Junior on an AJS 350 at the 1949 Isle of Man TT, and came fifth in the Junior, and fifteenth in the Senior at the 1950 Isle of Man TT. In the 1953 Isle of Man TT he rode a Norton to seventh.

In 1954 he rode his last TT. He continued to ride motorcycles after, in the end riding a Honda 550 until he no longer could. [1]

Ted was a member of the Brooklands Society, president of the Streatham & District Motor-Cycle Club, and a member of West Byfleet Golf Club.

Sources

  1. 1 2 [ dead link ] TimesOnline Edward Frend Obituary (Retrieved 6 November 2006)
  2. "Ted Frend Legend of Motorcycle Racing (From Surrey Comet)". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2006. SurreyComet Ted Frend: Legend of motorcycle racing (Retrieved 6 November 2006)
  3. Title: Classic Racer, Issue: 122, Publisher: Gerard Kane, Printer: William Gibbons & Son, Wolverhampton November–December 2006, pp 10. ISSN   1470-4463

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AJS</span> British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer from 1909 to 1931

A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd was a British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in operation from 1909 to 1931. The company was founded by Joe Stevens in Wolverhampton, England. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles until 1969, and since the name's resale in 1974, on lightweight, two-stroke scramblers and today on small-capacity roadsters and cruisers. The company held 117 motorcycle world records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Hailwood</span> British racing driver and motorcycle road racer (1940–1981)

Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1958 to 1967, and Formula One between 1963 and 1974. Nicknamed "The Bike", Hailwood was a nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, with four titles in the premier 500cc class with MV Agusta, and won 76 motorcycle Grands Prix across 10 seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1949 Isle of Man TT</span> Annual motorcycle racing event

The 1949 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy was the first round of the Grand Prix World Championship that was held in the Isle of Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Graham</span> British motorcycle racer

Robert Leslie Graham was a British motorcycle road racer who competed in the 1930s and 1940s. He won the inaugural Grand Prix motorcycle racing 500 cc World Championship in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Daniell</span> British motorcycle racer

Harold Daniell was a British professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and auto racing driver. He competed in the 1940s and 1950s. On retiring from racing he owned a Norton motorcycle dealership in Forest Hill, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reg Armstrong</span> Irish motorcycle racer

Harold Reginald ("Reg") Armstrong was an Irish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was born in Dublin to Frederick and Margery Armstrong, grew up in Rathfarnham and raced for the AJS, Velocette, Norton, NSU, and Gilera factory racing teams. He then became team manager for Honda's racing team in 1962 and 1963, and they won five world championships in that time. He was also in his lifetime a sales agent for NSU, Honda, and Opel. He competed in Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championships and at the Isle of Man TT, usually placing highly. He died in a road accident in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Tyrell-Smith</span> Irish motorcycle racer

Henry George Tyrell-Smith (1907–1982) was an Irish motorcycle road racer. He was born in Co Dublin and studied at Trinity College, Dublin for a B.A. And B.A.I.degree. He raced at the Isle of Man TT from 1927 to 1939, and between 1929 and 1936 competed in the German Grand Prix. He also raced in The Swedish Grand Prix in Saxtorp 1933–36.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob McIntyre (motorcyclist)</span> British motorcycle racer

Robert MacGregor McIntyre was a Scottish motorcycle racer. The first rider to achieve an average speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) for one lap of the Snaefell Mountain Course in 1957, McIntyre is also remembered for his five motorcycle Grand Prix wins which included three wins at the Isle of Man TT races, and four victories in the North West 200. He died nine days after injuries sustained racing at Oulton Park, Cheshire, England in August 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard R. Davies</span> English motorcycle racing champion and motorcycle designer

Howard R. Davies, was an English motorcycle racing champion, motorcycle designer and originator of the 'HRD' marque which later became Vincent-HRD motorcycles. He died in January 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1954 Isle of Man TT</span> Annual motorcycle racing event

The 1954 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy was the second race in the 1954 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season and proved highly controversial for TT Course and race changes. The 1954 Junior TT was the first race where the official race distance was reduced from 7 laps to 5 laps. The 1954 Senior TT Race was stopped at half distance due to the weather conditions on the Mountain Section of the course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wal Handley</span> British motorcycle racer

Walter Leslie Handley born in Aston, Birmingham, known as Wal Handley, was a champion British inter-war motorcycle racer with four wins at the Isle of Man TT Races in his career. Later he also raced cars in the 1930s and died in a World War II aircraft accident while serving as pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fergus Anderson</span> British motorcycle racer

Fergus Kenrick Anderson was a British professional motorcycle racer who competed in world championship road racing competitions from 1932 to 1956. He was one of the first British competitors to make his living racing motorcycles on the European continent, most prominently as a member of the Moto Guzzi factory racing team where he was a two-time Grand Prix World Champion.

William Raymond Amm was a Rhodesian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1951 to 1954. Amm was a six-time Grand Prix race winner including three victories at the Isle of Man TT when, he died in 1955 after an accident during a race in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Williams (motorcyclist)</span> British motorcycle racer (1939–2020)

Peter Williams was a British former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle road racing from 1966 to 1973. He also competed at many levels on home short-circuit races. He raced many times on the Isle of Man TT course from 1966 to 1973. His father was Jack Williams who ran the Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) race department. Williams trained in mechanical engineering and introduced via racing alloy wheels, an innovation which is commonplace on today's road bikes, and was also an early pioneer of solo-motorcycle disc brakes.

Harry Charles Lamacraft was an English motorcycle racer, most noted for successful exploits at the Brooklands racetrack and at the Isle of Man TT in the 1930s. He took tenth place in the 1934 Isle of Man Junior TT and tenth place in the 1935 Isle of Man Senior TT. In all, he rode in the TT 11 times, finishing above 19th place every time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jock West</span> British motorcycle racer

John Milns West, was a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Seeley</span> British motorcycle racer (1936–2020)

Colin Jordan Seeley was a British motorcycle retailer who later became a motorcycle sidecar racer, motorcycle designer, constructor and retailer of accessories. In 1992 he was involved in running the Norton Rotary race team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Simpson (motorcyclist)</span> British motorcycle racer

Jimmy H. Simpson (1898–1981) was a British motorcycle racer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Whitworth</span> British motorcycle racer

Malcolm David Whitworth was a British motorcycle racer who died in a crash at the 1950 350 cc Belgian Grand Prix.

George Brown was a motorcycle racer, known as " the father of British sprinting". Brown raced a variety of bikes but is most closely associated with the Vincent brand. For a time he worked at Vincent, where he headed up their Experimental department and raced the factory-backed single and V-twin bikes. Brown left Vincent to establish his own motorcycle shop and as a sideline built high-performance sprint bikes that he rode to several national and international records.