Sport Poster Brands Hatch Racing Fred Mockford Trophy Meeting

Original vintage Brands Hatch Motorcycle Racing poster for the Fred Mockford Trophy Meeting held on Brands Hatch circuit on Sunday, September 28, 1958, with star entries from Derek Minter, Bob Anderson, world champion John Surtees and many more. John Surtees, CBE (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was an English Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. He was a four-time 500cc motorcycle World Champion – winning that title in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 – the Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation. In 1926 motorcycle enthusiasts led by Fred Mockford and Cecil Smith, formed a group called London Motor Sports Ltd, and having identified Crystal Palace Park as a racing venue, were eventually allowed to run a meeting on May 21st 1927 over a 1 mile course of the parks paths. Over 10,000 people turned up to the meeting each paying 1 shilling plus 2d tax (approx. 6p). Following an incident during the meeting, several spectators were injured by a sidecar and questions were asked in Parliament about the incident. By the second meeting £500 had been invested in crash barriers, widening and general improvement of the circuit. Some 16,000 attended this meeting and the scene was set for racing to rival cricket, football, and greyhound racing at the venue. Towards the end of 1927, Lionel Wills (of WD&HO Wills Tobacco) approached Mockford and Smith with a suggestion to try the new Australian sport of speedway at Crystal Palace to supplement the path racing. The football stadium, home of Corinthians football club, was refurbished to provide an oval track at a cost of £5000, and some 30,000 people turned up for the first meeting and within a year some 70 tracks had sprung up throughout the country. In 1929 a league was formed and The Glaziers finished 4th, with Stamford Bridge being champions. By 1934, crowds were falling and having been refused floodlights for evening meetings, Mockford and Smith moved the team to New Cross, and the track fell into disrepair. Speedway was revived in 1937 for the new second division, but they could not recapture the glory days of the Glaziers, or match the 71,311 attendance of the 1930 Easter Monday meeting, and as the war loomed in 1939, speedway came to an end. Rumours in 1935 told of a Donnington for London, but it wasn't until December 1936 that work actually began on a new 2 mile circuit, laid with the new "Panamac" non-skid surface, only 3 days after the disaster which saw the Crystal Palace burn down overnight. The circuit was duly completed in only 5 months, despite being constructed in one of the wettest winters on record this century. The circuit was duly described as "resembling a miniature Nurburgring" by The Motorcycle magazine. The first meeting held at the circuit was on April 24th 1937 and 20 cars were entered in the Coronation Trophy, including the ERA of Raymond Mays plus MGs, Maseratis, Rileys, and Fraser Nash. 3 weeks later motorcycles converged on the Palace, with the first race won by the Norton of Maurice Cann. Cycle racing also arrived in June 1937 with a 100 kilometre International Cup race for professional cyclists including top riders from the continent. On July 17th the London Grand Prix was held and Prince Birabongse appeared in his Romulus ERA R2B eventually winning with a lap record in his heat of 56.47 mph. During the meeting of October 9th, the BBC televised the first ever live motorsport at the International Imperial Trophy meeting which Bira duly won along with a prize fund of £150. At the same meeting Richard Seaman demonstrated the awesome 645 bhp Grand Prix Mercedes Benz W125. Motor racing had arrived and flourished, but with the onset of the war in 1939, the final race was run on 26th August 1939 and was won by Bert Hadley in an Austin. The outright record for the circuit was finally held by Raymond Mays ERA at 60.97 mph. Good condition, folded as issued, minor tears and creases in margins. Country: UK, year of printing: 1958, designer: Unknown, size (cm): 75.5x51