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The First BSA Gold Star
Chances are that you have not seen this historic picture before. It
shows Wal Handley astride a very special 500cc BSA at Brooklands in June
1937, the day that he captured the coveted 'Brooklands Gold Star' in the
500cc class by completing a race lap at over 100mph. It looks as though
the picture was taken when he was relaxing after the race was over.
The tale of Wal and the BSA 'Gold Star' race at Brooklands has been told
many times. Jack Amott, Len Crisp and others prepared a very special
500cc Empire Star at Small Heath and Wal was persuaded to ride it at a
race meeting on 30th June in the high summer of 1937.
'The Motor Cycle' reported that Brooklands was buzzing with
conversation. "The cause of it all was a very standard looking 497cc BSA
with Wal Handley up. To all intents and purposes the model was standard,
except for a 'racy' riding position and a big fishtail on the end of the
standard silencer. But somebody must have known that it was hardly a
showroom model, for Wal was handicapped at nine seconds with a set of
fast riders.
"The race was a three-lap outer circuit event. On the first lap Handley
weaved his way through most of the field and was most spectacular as he
came through a bunch of competitors coming off the Byfleet banking.
Second time round and he had caught everybody and he went on to increase
his lead on the last lap, so that he finished several hundred yards
ahead of the second man, R C Appleby (500 Excelsior). He had covered the
three laps at an average speed of 102.27 mph with a fastest lap of
107.57 mph. This gave Handley a Gold Star in the 500cc class".
The race was a low-key event on a Wednesday, and I doubt if any of the
regular Brooklands professional photographers were there. So I believe -
until someone else finds one - that this could be the only decent
photograph of Wal and the BSA on the day in question.
The original print came from Jack Amott's son Richard. He and his wife
Joan have recently moved to France and while they were sorting
everything out, they found this photograph and Richard recognised what
it was.
He sent me the print which measured just 2½ by 1½ inches and I have
enhanced it on the computer. So there you are, the original BSA Gold
Star venture more than seventy years ago, and a memory to be proud of.
By Bob Light.
Acknowledgements: The Vintage Motorcycle Club (UK) and Richard Amott.
WAL HANDLEY - THE MAN WHO EARNED BSA THE GOLD STAR
"None Ever Passed This Way More Bravely".
That's the inscription on the seat erected to Wal Handley's memory in
1948 at Quarter Bridge on the TT circuit in the Isle of Man. Some of his
greatest races were in the island, and most of the rest of his battles
were on circuits far distant from his native Birmingham.
That was inevitable really, for the TT was all important in the 1920s,
and there was racing abroad, and Brooklands of course. At different
times Wal would excel in all three areas, but there was nowhere within
striking distance of his home city where he could be seen in action.
His father worked in Birmingham's industrial heartland and died suddenly
in 1912, leaving a widow and three young children of which Wal was the
eldest. He left school in 1915, before his thirteenth birthday, starting
work in the Verus factory and moving on to junior tester at the Hall
Green works of Humphries & Dawes who made OK motor cycles (as they were
known before the 'Supreme' tag was added). He rode an OK in the 1920
Victory trial and in the ACU Six Days where he was noticed by none other
than H R Davies.
Then when OK boss Ernie Humphries was looking for a rider for the 1922
Lightweight TT, the story is that HRD remembered the lad he had seen
riding in trials. Handley got the ride, broke the 250cc lap record by
nigh-on 5 mph on his first circuit from a standing start, but retired
soon afterwards and Geoff Davison won on a Levis.
In the next ten years Wal won four TTs - the 1925 Ultra-Lightweight and
Junior, the 1927 Lightweight (all on Rex-Acmes), and the 1930 Senior on
Jim Whalley's privately entered Rudge when he chopped forty seconds off
the lap record from a standing start. However two of his most memorable
races were ones that he did not win.
In the 1926 Senior Wal rode the Rex-Acme with v-twin Blackburne engine,
and suffered serious handling problems in practice. Come the race and he
was in the top three with Jimmy Simpson and Stanley Woods when the Rex
Acme went on one cylinder on the second lap. Changing the rear plug cost
him some seven minutes and at the end of the lap he was in 22nd place.
The ride that followed was the stuff of Handley legend as he fought his
way up to second place at the finish, 4 minutes 21.5 seconds behind
Stanley Woods.
In the Senior three years later it was a very different story. On the
first lap he dropped his AJS at Greeba, and within moments Doug Lamb
(Norton), Jim Simpson (Norton) and Jack Amott (Rudge) also came to
grief. Wal could have re-started, but this was a serious incident and he
helped the other riders as much as he could and did not continue.
Acknowledging his actions, the ACU sent him a letter of appreciation.
Wal gave particular help to his great friend Jack Amott on the long road
to recovery from the serious injuries to his right arm that Jack had
sustained in the accident.
There's a Handley story from Brooklands too. About to start the 1926 200
mile race on the 350 Blackburne-engined Rex Acme, Sammy Jones found a
cut in the front tyre some three inches long. It took about fourteen
minutes to change the tyre and Wal joined the race as it started its
eight lap. At the finish he was just 2 minutes 2 seconds behind winner
Bill Lacey who had averaged 81.20 mph, while Wal 's average was more
than 88 mph. During that race he broke seven world records.
As he eased up his motor cycle racing in the mid thirties, he competed
more on four wheels. He had opened his motor cycle business in Suffolk
Street in Birmingham in 1929 and took up flying in the same year, taught
by the vastly experienced Tommy Rose.
The tale of Wal and the BSA 'Gold Star' race at Brooklands has been told
many times. Jack Amott, Len Crisp and others prepared a very special
500cc Empire Star and Wal was persuaded to ride it at a Wednesday race
meeting on 30th June in the high summer of 1937.
'The Motor Cycle' reported that Brooklands was buzzing with
conversation. "The cause of it all was a very standard looking 497cc BSA
with Wal Handley up. To all intents and purposes the model was standard,
except for a 'racy' riding position and a big fishtail on the end of the
standard silencer. But somebody must have known that it was hardly a
showroom model, for Walter was handicapped at nine seconds with a set of
fast riders.
"The race was a three-lap outer circuit event. On the first lap Handley
weaved his way through most of the field and was most spectacular as he
came through a bunch of competitors coming off the Byfleet banking. On
the second lap he had caught everybody and he went on to increase his
lead on the last lap, so that he finished several hundred yards ahead of
the second man, R C Appleby (500 Excelsior), having covered the three
laps at an average speed of 102.27 mph with a fastest lap of 107.57 mph.
This gave Handley a Gold Star in the 500cc class".
Geoff Davison knew him well and in his book 'Racing Reminiscences'
recalled 'He certainly saved my life once in the air. We were flying a
twin-engined monoplane I had just acquired, and when doing a left-hand
circuit of the airfield before landing, with the left wing properly
down, the left engine stopped. In a flash we were in a power spin, at
about 300ft only. He snapped the throttles back and said, quite
casually, "All right Geoff, I've got her," and fetched her out of the
spin with about 20 feet to spare'.
Wal was in the Air Transport Auxiliary and in charge of the base at
Hawarden in Cheshire, and on 15th November 1941 he was piloting an
Allison-engined Airacobra out of Kirkbride near Carlisle. Shortly after
take-off he crashed into a ploughed field and lost his life.
Acknowledgements: The Vintage Motorcycle Club (UK), Bob Light and
Richard Amott.
Submission: Ashley Blair. 10/09
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