For bike fans, motorcycling is a culture not a necessity (From Worcester News)

For bike fans, motorcycling is a culture not a necessity

11:42am Monday 18th May 2009 in

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IT’S been described as the most fun you can have with your clothes on,” said Frank Platts.

Being as he was sitting there in his black armoured leather racing suit, carbon fibre gloves in his lap and full visored helmet resting on his knee, Frank was obviously anticipating a high old time.

Slinging a leg either side of his Triumph 500, he was off motorbiking, the aforesaid activity labelled “the most... etc etc etc..”

Worcester Auto Club for Motorcycling celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2009, so you can guess a lot of fun has been had over the years. And not just roaring down Malvern’s long, straight Guarlford Road before the 70mph speed limit was introduced in 1965.

Half a century later, motorcycling is a culture, not a necessity. There are now many more comfortable, if not quicker, ways of getting from A to B than astride a motorbike. But it wasn’t always like that. As Bob Doughty, club secretary for many years, pointed out in the decades immediately before and after the Second World War, a Triumph, BSA, Norton or any of the other famous British makes was the standard conveyance for the average young man.

“He couldn’t afford a car in those days and when he got married he added a sidecar for the wife and family,” said Bob.

Paradoxically, the motorcycle club began life back in the early part of the 20th century as Worcester Co-operative Light Car Club. But this faded away and from its ashes Worcester Auto Club rose in 1934 with the accent on motorcycling – and competitive motorcycling at that.

Competitive motorcycling was very popular at the time, partly due to the number of bikes about.

Riders would take their road-going machines and with little or sometimes no adaption, go grass track racing or trialing at the weekends.

Such meetings were massively popular well into the late 1950s with crowds of thousands gathering for grass tracking at Cotheridge or Perdiswell, scrambles at Martley or trials at Leigh Sinton or Storridge Woods.

It wasn’t only local competition either. Members from WAC began to compete at major national road racing events with riders entered in the Clubmans TT Races on the Isle of Man, the Manx Grand Prix and International TT Races.

In those days the club’s headquarters were a pair of cottages in Church Road, St John’s, a venue so snug and popular you needed to open a window to use a cue on the snooker table.

In 1952, the club moved to its current HQ in Tower Building at Perdiswell, the site of an old airfield, where it took occupancy of a former shower block.

In many ways, the 1950s were a golden era for motorcycling. “In those days the roads were a lot more open and there was less traffic about,” said club member Frank Platts. “Also bikes were generally quicker than cars, which isn’t always the case today. You could overtake quite easily and, of course, there was no general speed limit.”

That didn’t authorise riders to roar about with impunity, because there were still several laws they could break and the catch-all offence was “riding at a speed that was dangerous to the public”. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do a ton (100mph) down the Guarlford Straight and overtake a police patrol in the process. Depending on the officer’s views of bikers was whether he booked you for cutting him up or not. Even if you hadn’t.

Some of the Worcester club’s scrambles were televised under the re-branded name of MotoCross, when it was a popular TV sport along with wrestling, speedway and showjumping, but possibly less well known is that for some years WAC fielded a full motorcycle football team, so successful it toured the continent as well as England. In 1984, the club’s anniversary year, it took over the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire for a road race meeting wholly organised and manned by club members. It was so successful they repeated it 12 months later.

“Over the years the road racing enthusiasts have given their services to many other clubs as organisers, marshals or scrutineers, or any other capacity in which they were needed,” said Bob Doughty.

“Not to be outdone, the competing members have carried the club’s colours to most of the racing circuits in this country and abroad at national and international level, with several members being in works teams.

“In recent years Worcester Auto Club, with Jim Strefford in the forefront, has adapted itself to a more modern image as the face of motorcycling has changed. The name is now WAC Motorcycling Club and the accent is less on competition and more on the social side, which is very strong, especially the ladies’ section. Our headquarters at Perdiswell are still regarded as a Mecca from far and wide.”

Where you’ll find lots of people having lots of fun and all, presumably, full clothed.

● If you want to know more about WAC, ring the clubhouse 01905 451213 on Tuesday evenings.