Friday 24 July 1914

F.W Barnes was now fully recovered from his accident following an unfortunate misunderstanding with a Police Officer whilst Barnes was leading the Royal Party on their way to Brooklands Red Cross Field Day in June.

Saturday 18 July 1914

Quite a large crowd was gathered together at Brooklands, to witness the races organised by the Motor Cycling Club. Prizes were awarded  Charles Jarrott. 

In the first race W. A. Jacobs (Singer), who was the first man to start, led for the whole of the three laps, and finished an easy winner. The A.J.S., which was in wonderful tune, was driven from scratch into second position by B. Haddock. Another Singer machine, ridden by J. P. Le Grand, had tyre
trouble, but managed to start, although in the second lap the belt came off.

P. Shaw  led in the first lap. followed closely by H. le Vack (Motosacnche), who subsequently proved to be the winner, L. Mogridge ( Rudge), H.Charlesworth (Motosacoche), and D. H. Noble (Rover). Le Vack took the lead in the second lap and maintained this position to. the end. 

S. F. Garrett. won the Third race on an Indian. Whilst A. H. Hewitt was on his second lap it was noticed that his exhaust pipe had come adrift and was trailing on the ground. Plug trouble was also responsible for the retirement of S. R. Axford (Zenith). 

The Fourth Race was a two lap race for machines with engines not exceeding 350 C.C. It was won in
fine style by B. Haddock (A.J.S.). G. Fletcher (Douglas) dropped out without completing a lap. 

C. R. Collier (Matchless) won the Fifth race, which attracted a large number of riders. All the competitors started together and used machines with engines not exceeding 550 c.c.). O'Donovan (Norton) would have won easily if his belt had not stretched.

Friday 17 July 1914

Austria-Hungary: Report that Serbia has called up 70,000 reservists and is preparing for war.

President Poincare leaves Paris on a visit to the Tsar.

D.R. O'Donovan of Norton was at Brooklands setting some records. If you know more about this or any other motorcycling news that hapend on 17 July 1914 let us know at warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk

Monday 13 July 1914

The start of another new week and only five days until there was more Motorcycle racing at Brooklands.

If you know about something significant that happened on 13 July 1914 please contact us at warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk

Tuesday 30 June 1914

30 June 1914

Freddie Barnes at Brooklands RaceTrack

 

A Mr F.W. Barnes was recovering in Hospital after a crash in Weybridge. Investigating further we discover that this was no ordinary accident. F.W. “Freddie” Barnes was the chief designer of Zenith Motorcycles located in Hampton Court and inventor of the Gradua gearing system. He was acting as pilot for the Royal Party heading to Brooklands Race Track on 20 June to Review members of the Red Cross, when he was thrown from his motorcycle whilst trying to avoid a policeman. It is thought that the Policeman stepped into the road and signalled either to stop for to take a different direction.

Read more about F.W. Barnes and Zenith Here. You can also see two examples of Zenith Motorcycles at Brooklands Museum