Martin Squires Automotive Illustration: Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic, Newark 2016

Well as soon as the new year hit I was off to Newark Showground for the first motorcycle show of the year. Newark is always cold but does throw up some interesting machines, I managed to get 4 in the sketchbook over the weekend.

1951 Lambretta Model D Racer

(ink sketch)

This Lambretta caught my eye as I'd never seen this tank and spare wheel combination before, which made for some fun sketching. Turns out this is a pretty rare scooter as it has a low engine number which fits with the 20 racing Model D machines that were produce by the factory in the early 1950's. A lot of the parts and modifications on this machine indicate that it is set for racing but as the owner openly admitted without real provenance it cannot be proved to be the real thing. Despite this it was great to see such an interesting Lambretta, with some beautiful modifications.

1949 BSA DB32 350 Trials

(ink sketch)

My sec on sketch of the Saturday was this Trials BSA, I was asked why I had chosen this and my reply was that it seemed fairly honest without any visible trick parts installed. This DB32 was put together by a Goldstar man who bought a rolling chassis that had the frame modified for trials riding. The clearance was increased and the head angle is set at around 64 - 65 degrees to enable tight turns. The bike is regularly ridden in The Poachers Trials and has won a few Clubman trophies.

1929 Velocette 350 ohc

(ink sketch)

This Velocette was bought as a pile of bits from different years, the Velocette has gradually been uprated and evolved into what it is now, to full Mk.I KTT specification. It has been used extensively at home and abroad, including at Dijon and Montlhery in

France

, as well as multiple trips to events run by the Historische Motorsport Vereniging (which is the Dutch historic racing club) at Nijmegen, Tubbergen, Barneveld, Anjum and the ZZ-Races. The Velocette has been raced at more European meetings as it is sometimes cheaper to travel and pay a lower entry fee than to pay the high entry fees of some UK historic race meetings. Appearances on ‘home soil’ include the Festival of 1000 Bikes and various track days, mainly at Cadwell Park."

2000 Polaris Skidoo Drag Bike

(ink sketch)

I finished off the weekend sketching this very interesting drag bike. It was imported from the U.S.A. around 7 years ago. These machines are sprinted within their own N.S.A class in the States and it's called Pro Stock Asphalt Snowmobile Drag Racing. When is arrived it had small skis with roller wheels mounted on the front end and some wheelie bars. It was ran as was but wasn't very successful and so it was put away. The Polaris was resurrected by it's present owner who changed the front end to have larger tyres and the engine was tuned. It was used for the first time last year in the 3 wheeler category in the Straightliners events. The aim for this machine this year is to get it to speeds around 150mph, it's already run up to 100mph.

Straightliners are running a Speed Week in May 2016 at various venues starting at Elvington and ending up at two beach courses at Pendine and Penbury. This sounds to be a great series of events and I hope to go to at least one of the beach events. Go to the Straightliners website for more information:
Straightliners