New books tells of Barry Sheene and Lewis Hamilton's North East race days

From scrambling to stock cars to sand racing to sidecars, there was almost an infinite way in which an internal combustion engine could be pressed, often growling with displeasure, into making two, three or four wheels go round and round with increasing speed.

Now the story of those glory days from the late 1960s to early 1980s has roared out of the pages of this newspaper and into a book, written by Larry Carter, of Northallerton, who, inspired by his hero Barry Sheene, was himself a rider of some repute in the 1980s.

On retiring, he set up a motor sport promotional company and now from a small office in Northallerton produces all the programmes for Super Bike and Touring Car meetings across the country, and is the voice of the pit lane on British Super Bike Radio.

But all of that stopped abruptly when Covid struck. No races, no work. “I was in the shed, painting it, and I came across a box of old magazines and photographs,” he says, “and I thought sorting them out would give me something to keep the brain matter going.”

It led to a series of articles in the D&S Times – “the response was phenomenal, people loved looking back to yesteryear”, he says – and it has now grown further into a book, North Eastern Motorsport: A Century of Memories.

North Eastern Motorsport: A Century of Memories is published by Amberley for £14.99

It begins with sand racing on the beaches at Saltburn and Redcar in the 1920s, but really picks up pace after the Second World War, when there were old airfields at Croft, Thornaby and Catterick for cars to chase round, there were stock car and speedway circuits, there were hill climbs out of many villages as part of the annual sports day, and there were grass tracks for the speedway riders.

“Places like Carlton Bank in the Cleveland foothills, Woodhouse Farm at Great Ayton, Hutton Conyers near Ripon and Hunters Hill Farm at Nether Silton all regularly hosted events,” he writes, “not to mention the forgotten tracks at Hailstone Moor and Target Wood in the Bullamoor region of Northallerton.

“Not only that but the star names of the times, many of them local, and quite often the television cameras too rocked up to expose North Yorkshire and the surrounding areas in all their natural glory.”

One of the famous "BBC Show" races at Croft in 1972: Andy Barton (999cc Mini Cooper S) leads Sedric Bell (MAE Ford-engined Mini) and Alex Clacher's Hillman Imp through the chicane

World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon on ITV, fronted by Dickie Davies with a streak of white in his hair, often seemed to feature a noisy scramble or scoot from somewhere – particularly if rain had forced a horseracing meeting to be cancelled.

The old Bomber Command airfield at Croft held an annual Battle of Britain Meeting, attended by 20,000 spectators. In 1966, the Red Arrows opened the event with an aerial display; in 1970, Niki Lauda, Wilson Fittipaldi and James Hunt – who returned regularly – raced one another; and in 1978, French Formula One star Patrick Tambay did a lap in a borrowed car.

The book contains several pictures of Barry Sheene at Croft, either as a young racer or returning as a guest of honour, and there’s even an image of Lewis Hamilton taking a corner in a Formula Renault race at the track in 2003.

Barry Sheene at the Battle of Britain Meeting at Croft in 1980

In the golden age, there were many local heroes, as well. People like Darlington’s Jimmy Blumer, who in 1950 at the age of 18 became the youngest driver in the oldest car (a 1938 Morris Ten) in the Monte Carlo Rally and became the town’s only Formula One driver.

Lewis Hamilton at Croft in a Formula Renault race in 2003

Or like the saloon car drivers whose regular encounters became known as “the BBC Show” – Sedric Bell from Carlisle, Andy Barton from Newcastle, who has written the foreword to Larry’s book and was renowned for taking corners on three wheels, and Alex Clacher, the Darlington plumber whose name still graces a local heating firm.

The podium at the 1986 Isle of Man TT race, says Larry with astonishment, had legendary rider Joey Dunlop in first place, Geoff Johnson from Richmond in second, and in third Andy McGladdery who made his own “Growler” bikes in his garage in Middleton St George.

“Steve Webster is a ten times world sidecar world champion and he lives 15 miles down the road from me,” he says, of the Easingwold rider who held the title almost continuously between 1987 and 2004.

Beach racing by the pier at Saltburn in 1932

Times have changed. People no longer want their walk in the forest or on the beach disrupted by tearing motorbikes or cars; health and safety no longer likes drivers on a skiddy grass track to be separated from the crowds by a flimsy length of rope. While motor sport still attracts huge crowds at big venues, the days of a local star flying round a local track have gone – but Larry brings them back to life in his Century of Memories.

• The book can be ordered at local bookshops or obtained via Amazon or the publisher’s website, www.amberley-books.com