It was the first weekend in August when my new wife of a week, my cousin and his wife and some mates went to Newark to watch t

It was the first Sunday in August when a group of us went to Newark to watch the grass tracking, the Newark and District Grass Track Club meetings were about the only way to enjoy cheap racing. The only thing wrong was that the racing was all too infrequent with huge gaps between meetings, but this meeting was some what more special than usual with one of our friends competing.

At the end of the racing, although he had tried his hardest, he had won nothing, his main frustration though was he would have to wait weeks before he could try again. The lad driving the car on that day, 1st August 1971 was Malc Dobson, he and his mechanic Bert Greenfield told us they had decided to acquire their own track to enable racing more often, and in that instant, Brampton Bombers were born a couple of weeks later it became a reality.

The first track was on the same side of the road as the one which is used now but a few hundred yards down the straight mile, it was a smaller narrower track and also had less of a spectator area and difficult access but it was the first home of the Brampton Bombers.

The meetings for the new club were held at the St Leger Arms in Laughton, with the involvement of John who was, I believe, the landlord’s son, I am sorry I cannot recall his second name although Feltrup springs to mind.

When we signed up to drive we were given a “ licence” with our numbers on with the name The Dinnington St Leger Motor Club, although “Brampton Bombers” was the name used by most people.... Large image

If I remember rightly we voted for certain people to run the track, their names sadly elude me but John provided the tannoy system and was the commentator for the meetings.

The drivers included Malc Dobson and Bert Greenfield who created the track, Berts’ son Dave, along with Freddy Evans, Martin Walshes crew from up at Braithwell, my uncle Len Webster (who was one of the original stock car drivers from Sheffield in the late 50s), my cousin Kevin Rainey, myself (Ged Thurman) and others who I can only apologise to for not remembering their names.

From small acorns mighty oak trees grow and that would certainly apply to Brampton Bombers.

The St Leger connection was ended, for what reason I cannot remember and it was announced that a better, faster track had been acquired which would be able to accommodate the larger crowds and the number of cars which were now competing, we moved to the track you all know in the 1972 season. ( The St Leger Club began meetings at Carr and eventually Ravenfield ).

The thing just exploded, everyone had bomber cars and some races they were three and four abreast and a dozen deep stretching back round the last corner, in those days we raced anti-clockwise, 16 laps in the heats and 20 in the final.

Also at this time, lots of people had trouble with the local council who had a huge problem with the parking of the cars and Large image although i never heard of it being followed up, I believe they did threaten to take action against people who had bomber cars parked on council house property. The advert on the right is from 1971.

Even though the track was a huge success it wasn’t all plain sailing, even in those days we had trouble with the landlord. After the phenomenal success of the track in those couple of years I think the question of rent came up, after some dispute we had to stop racing on there and moved back to the original track to race. This only lasted for a short time as the landowner of the original track dug a ditch across the entry to stop us getting on to the field, so for one day only we raced at a third different location, a field further down the straight mile close to what is now the fishing lakes, although to be fair there was very few cars turned up.

Eventually the dispute at the big track was sorted out and we moved back and the rest, as they say, is history.

Also during the evolving of the track, and because some people were having trouble building bomber cars and their un-armoured cars were no match for the heavier bombers, two categories were used with the bangers being introduced, which had little or no reinforcement on them.

Many people were involved, at different times, in the running of the track. I was part of a driver’s consortium that raced for nothing just to keep it going, some benefited the drivers, most; “if I remember correctly” benefited themselves.

When Lol Mills a transport owner became involved it was a great place to race, I remember it as very organised and for me personally the best two years at Brampton, although it never touched the volume of cars and spectators of that first couple of years.

At the outset of Brampton Bombers and bearing in mind the year, you can imagine the makes of cars being used, the first car I raced was a Ford Anglia 105e, the one with the sloping back window, I think I lasted 7 laps when it was finally destroyed.
I shared this car with my cousin Kevin Rainey and the picture ( below left ) shows one of us racing at the second meeting of the Brampton Bombers, I would imagine that this is the oldest picture connected with the track.

In those early meetings I always remember the Riley 1.5 driven by Martin Walshes’ crew being a consistent winner, Freddy Evans drove a Jag with the arse end sawn off.

Morris Oxfords with large agricultural tyres on the back, at one meeting there was a Humber Super Snipe diesel with an automatic gearbox; it took it an hour to get up to speed. Around 1975 one car turned up from our rival track at Eckington with two engines in it running in tandem big beast but totally useless.
Many of you reading this will not even recognise the names of some of the cars.
Large image

There were classic cars racing which would now be collector’s items, one in particular I remember was the original Ford Classic Capri.

After the demise of the Ford Anglia I moved on to a Ford Zephyr 6. 1962 straight 6 engine, column gear change,
bench seats and passenger door removed for quick in and out.
(The picture to the right was taken at the first track in 1973 when we returned for a short time).
My cousin also raced an identical one, it was at this time I named the car “Randy Mandy” a name which stuck with me through my years at Brampton, even now people still refer to it. Large image

One of the Zephyrs I raced actually split in half while racing at Ravenfield with the front end and the roof going one way and everything behind the drivers seat, including the boot going another. ( See photo left ).

I raced the Zephyrs for a couple of years, but there was one car which I always remember as being a favourite with drivers and this was the Austin Westminster.

Big engines; strong body and usually a 45 gallon oil drum, full of water and strapped into the passenger seat to eliminate using a radiator, it was also to assist going round the corners as we raced anti-clockwise in those days.

I remember Alan Phelps driving one with a lot of success and also a lad from Johnny Myers Scrap yard at Magilla, he was called Colin Bacon or Baker and was also very successful, he tragically died some years later while on the Isle Of Man watching the TT.

As the track became better known it started to attract better cars and drivers. While the banger cars remained very popular some drivers were no longer just content to use standard cars in the bombers and they were modifying them to pretty high levels.

One particular day an articulated tipper lorry pulled onto the track and unloaded two Westminsters that looked awesome, the engines had been dropped back into the body and modified and they were uncatchable. The drivers were the Thorpe Brothers from Thorpe Hesley and one of them, John Thorpe, later moved into F1 stock cars and achieved super star status.

As I recall, a lad called John Avill purchased one of the Thorpe cars and became Ravenfield's version of the “All England Champion” a huge claim seeing as it was mainly only drivers from Ravenfield that took part, but a good driver never the less, he was the driver that clipped “Randy Mandy” just before it split in two. Large image

A couple of years later in 1974 Brampton held their own version of the race which was won by Gordon "Rob Roy"
Lewis in his Mini.

Large image
Robbie Craig from Chesterfield came with a monstrosity based on Ford Transit axles, it scared the proverbial out of you just to look at it but he could drive it and he too moved into the stock car scene and became very successful.
The picture is a poor one ( left ) but you can see the basic shape of it.

Local lad Wilf Warnes was another who built good bombers and moved into Stock cars.

One man who started to race at our track had been involved with the original stock car scene in the late 50s at Manchester and although he was a good bit older than me he became a very good friend of mine, his name was Ron Cottrell.

He came to race his Westminster, a spotted thing with a radiator in this case and he was one of the best who raced there.

A couple of years later he moved back to F1 stockers and in 1983 died of a heart attack while racing at Sheffield.

As for myself I plodded on with various “monsters” always Zephyrs until in 1974 I started racing minis and for two years I had enormous success.

(The picture on the right shows one with double wheels front and back.) Large image

At this time there was a small band of drivers that used the minis, most were well modified and very fast and although contact was allowed most of the time it was pure racing.

For the 1975 season I built a mini special from the ground up not very pretty but with a highly tuned cooper engine and gearbox, coupled with the weight of a feather, it flew. One of my wins is celebrated in the picture with fellow drivers Gordon Lewis on the left and G up George Milner on the right. Large image

In tandem to Brampton there were other local tracks that had started, many Brampton lads took their cars to the other tracks on the weekends we were not racing at our home track.

Carr was the first followed by Ravenfield and Grassmoor and then the Eckington track the latter was to feature quite a lot against Brampton as, in 1975; the Sheffield Star sponsored a season long competition against each other.

The top four at Brampton were I believe Paul Bellamy, Mike Smith, Gordon Lewis and George Milner.

On a personal note I had missed several weeks with a serious neck injury but managed to finish reasonably high.

At the end of 1975 I last raced at Brampton, seduced by the lure of FI stockers, but I am proud to be able to look back and know the part I played in something that I can assure you; none of us ever imagined would continue so long. Large image

I can only apologise again for not remembering the names of the many drivers who contributed to the early years of Brampton Bombers.

Memories, let them not be forgotten because we all benifit from the how it was / how it is. If you have read this and wish to add your memories then please contact me @ bramptonraceway@tiscali.co.uk and between us we can explain to all just what Brampton was and is all about.

Does any one remember Roger Troth with the blue r r engined vanden plas, another that ran the track in the 70s.
Lol Mills took a team to a track near Huddersfield after they came to Brampton a few month before and demolished most of the Brampton cars, Lol and Mick took the cars on their wagons and what a day that was, they returned the favour as not one of their cars were left running. Many times teams from Eckington would come and do battle and a variety of cars from Mini's to jag's a frightening thing when one wheel was bigger than the car you were sitting in.
In the beginning it was up to 1500 and over 1500 but with not enough cars we all turned out together, no Mini liked to set off in front of the 490 car of Paul Bellomy the white jag, with the raw of the engine blowing though the bonnet our only chance was on the corners especially when wet, a lot of people lived for their Sundays at Brampton with many a tail to tell.

Derek Wilson (14) submitted 22 / 08 / 09