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| Founded | 1946 |
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| Founder | Charles Edmund 'Titch' Allen (1915–2010) OBE, BEM [1] |
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
The Vintage Motor Cycle Club (VMCC) is a UK-based vintage motorcycle club with over 10,000 members, which aims to promote and preserve all makes of motorcycles over 25 years old. [2]
The Vintage Motor Cycle Club was founded on 28 April 1946, by 38 enthusiasts at the Lounge Cafe, Hog's Back, near Guildford in Surrey, for owners of motorcycles manufactured before December 1930.
Many of the founders rode to the first meeting on vintage motorcycles and had travelled from around the country in poor weather conditions. [2] The first meeting had been organised by former journalist and wartime despatch rider, [1] the late 'Titch' Allen, [3] [4] with the aim of promoting the use and preservation of vintage motorcycles manufactured prior to 31 December 1930. The club's activities have expanded over the years to include rallies, hill climbs, [[Motorcycle trials|trials] . [2]
All makes are catered for regardless of the country of origin. [5] The VMCC has also broadened the 1930 rule to include all motorcycles over 25 years old and has also set up a Post-1960 Section for motorcycle manufactured between 1961 and 1981. Most significantly, it is no longer necessary to own a motorcycle to join the club, which has developed into an organisation for anyone interested in older two-wheelers. [6]
The club's head office is at Allen House in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. [7] Current membership is over 10,000. [2] The club has been organised into regional sections, most of which have at least one club night each month. [7]
The VMCC library holds original British motorcycle factory records for Triumph, BSA, Norton, Ariel, Scott, Levis and Royal Enfield being the largest collection of motorcycle-related paperwork in the world. [2]
It is also a DVLA recognised body for age related motorcycle registration numbers. The collection includes catalogues, handbooks, spare parts lists, runs of The Motor Cycle and Motor Cycling magazines, as well as other motorcycle magazines and books from the 1880s to the present day. The library also has a comprehensive collection of photographs of motorcycles, riders and events. [2]
Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.
The 59 Club, also written as The Fifty Nine Club and known as 'the 9', is a British motorcycle club with members distributed internationally.
The term Classic Racing in the United Kingdom is generally accepted as motorcycle racing as defined under the rules and or auspices of the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club (CRMC). This was established in 1981 and mostly caters for solos and sidecars manufactured in the period 1945–1972.
The Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races are held on the Isle of Man TT Course every year for a two-week period, usually spanning the end of August and early September. New for 2022 is a period reduction from 14 to 9 days. 2023 saw the 100th Anniversary of the event where the Manx Motorcycle club did very little in the way of a celebratory program.
Stanley Woods was an Irish motorcycle racer famous for 29 motorcycle Grand Prix wins in the 1920s and 1930s, winning the Isle of Man TT races ten times in his career, plus wins at Assen and elsewhere. He was also a skilled trials rider, competing in the 1940s.
Motorcycle trials, also known as observed trials, often called simply trial or trials, is a non-speed event on specialized motorcycles. The sport is most popular in the United Kingdom and Spain, though there are participants around the globe.
Ariel Motorcycles was a British maker of bicycles and then motorcycles in Bournbrook, Birmingham. It was an innovator in British motorcycling, part of the Ariel marque. The company was sold to BSA in 1951 but the brand survived until 1967. Influential Ariel designers included Val Page and Edward Turner. The last motorcycle-type vehicle to carry the Ariel name was a short-lived three-wheel tilting moped in 1970.
The Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) is the governing body of motorcycle sport in the British Isles, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, excluding Northern Ireland.
The motorcycle land-speed record is the fastest speed achieved by a motorcycle on land achieved by Martynas Kišonas. It is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions. AMA National Land Speed Records requires 2 passes the same calendar day in opposite directions over a timed mile/kilo while FIM Land Speed World Records require two passes in opposite directions to be over a timed mile/kilo completed within 2 hours. These are special or modified motorcycles, distinct from the fastest production motorcycles. The first official Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) record was set in 1920, when Gene Walker rode an Indian on Daytona Beach at 104.12 mph (167.56 km/h). Since late 2010, the Ack Attack team has held the motorcycle land speed record at 376.36 mph (605.69 km/h).
The motorcycle sport of racing includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and land speed record trials.
Blackburne was a trade name of Burney and Blackburne Limited a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1913 to 1922 at Tongham near Farnham, Surrey. They were also a major supplier of engines to other motor cycle and light car makers and continued to make these until 1937. Burney and Blackburne also made small aircraft engines.
The Triumph TR65 Thunderbird is a motorcycle made by the Triumph worker's co-operative at the Meriden factory from 1981 to 1983. The TR65 was a reintroduction of the Triumph Thunderbird model name first used on the original 6T Thunderbird of 1949. A short stroke model, the Daytona 600 was designed in 1983 but not produced.
The Scottish Six Days Trial is an internationally recognised Motorcycle trials competition, which has been running since 1909 making it the oldest motorcycle trials event in the world. Motorcycle riders from all over the world compete in this extreme sport, covering as much as 100 miles a day on road and off-road routes around Lochaber on each of the six days. The event is a trial of the skill, consistency and endurance of the riders, as well as a test of the specialised motorcycles used.
The Brough Superior Austin Four was a limited-production motorcycle designed and manufactured by Brough Superior of Nottingham, UK in 1932. It was listed in the 1932 Brough Superior catalogue as the 'Straight Four' but it was commonly known as the Brough Superior Austin Four, or BS4, or '3-wheeled Brough'. The machine is unique in its design, being powered by a modified Austin 7 automobile engine and gearbox unit, from which a driveshaft emerges on the centre-line of the motor. Rather than design a new gearbox, George Brough had the inspiration to keep the central driveshaft, and use a pair of close-couple rear wheels driven by a central final drive box. This 3-wheeled design was legally considered a motorcycle as the wheel centres were within 24". The Brough Superior-Austin Four created a sensation when revealed at the 1931 Olympia Motorcycle Show.
The Scott Trial is a British motorcycle trials competition dating from 1914 run over an off-road course of approximately 70 miles. One of the most challenging trials events in the UK, its appeal is to clubman riders as well as international professional riders. The Scott raises money for the "Scott charities", a range of local non-profit making organisations.
The following outline is provided as an overview of motorcycles and motorcycling:
Marjorie Cottle was an English works supported motorcycle trials rider. She was one of Britain's best-known motorcyclists in the 1920s and 1930s. She competed regularly in reliability trials and was considered to be one of the best riders in the country – male or female. Her greatest success was the International Six Days Trial of 1927, in which the British Ladies' Team won the International Silver Vase. That year the trial was held in the Lake District, and attracted a large number of competitors. She was described as the "most famous girl rider in the world".
The Curtiss V-8 motorcycle was a 269 cu in (4,410 cc) V8 engine-powered motorcycle designed and built by aviation and motorcycling pioneer Glenn Curtiss that set an unofficial land speed record of 136.36 miles per hour (219.45 km/h) on January 24, 1907. The air-cooled F-head engine was developed for use in dirigibles.
Lewis Leathers is a brand name of the oldest British motorcycle clothing company. D. Lewis Ltd, manufacturer of leather jackets which was established in the late 19th century.
Robert Frank Currie was an English motorcycling writer and road tester, who later became a magazine editor and book author. Mainly known for his UK journalism work with Motor Cycle, a UK weekly motorcycle magazine-turned-newspaper, then from 1981 as Editor of a new monthly magazine The Classic Motor Cycle, he retired in early 1988 suffering from an ongoing illness, after a full-time writing career starting in 1955, and later died of heart failure.
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