Roy B

continued from above: The car park we use is on the site of the Britannia Brickworks opened in 1862 by James Price. Access to the works was via the same road we use now. However, back then the road was purely for the brickworks and did not continue any further as it does today. The bricks were taken from here to a storage yard two miles away in Chester Street. This was adjacent to the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal which was used for distribution. After a couple of ownership changes the Midland Brick Co (as at the Garrison Farm works) became the last owners. The site closed just after WW1 in 1918. James Price was the first owner Finally we come to Adderley Park Brickworks which is where the track now stands. Opened in around 1870 the site was a summer yard, working in the open. In most of the Birmingham yards the clay was dug out in the autumn, then ‘weathered’ and turned in the winter. In the following spring and summer it was hand moulded, after being trodden by foot or ground in a horse mill. Life in the brick yards was hard with extremely miserable conditions. Some of the brickmakers became maltsers and brewers during the winter to offset the lack of income. Manufactured on site Eventually the Adderley Park works were modernised with the erection of a steam grinding mill, and coal-fired drying sheds. This vastly improved the quality of the facing bricks turned out by this works. The clay was dug on site, and with the addition of sand and other materials was manufactured into bricks, tiles, and pipes. The lease on the land had strict clauses: “It must be well fenced, not make less than three million articles per year, the clay must be dug in a regular and workmanlike manner, erect no buildings within 30 yards of the public highway, and at the end of the lease return the land to as good a condition as a brickfield will allow”. A further stipulation at this particular site was the construction of a tunnel and tramway to transport clay and sand from another site nearby. By 1902 this additional site had been taken over by the Wolseley Car Company to test their vehicles on the rough terrain. In 1920 Wolseley filled in and levelled the site and built their East works. As to the main works this remained in operation up until 1946. Scrap metal merchants then took over part of the site. Next time you go to Wheels have a look at the brick structure on the left just at the start of the uphill pit road. This is made of old bricks recycled from the remnants of the works. This whole area of Birmingham has a fascinating history and the brickworks are just a small part of it. Gas works, engine sheds, railway carriage and wagon works, paper mills, rolling mills, wire mills, rope and hemp works, varnish works, screw works etc. Within a ten minute walk from the track was the Universe Rope Works. They patented the cable for the Atlantic & Undersea Communications in 1866 which was laid between Ireland and Newfoundland. In the process of running the factory they would at odd times carry out some unknown operation that resulted in all of the local residents getting bitten by fleas! This works in later years was used as a Land Rover plant and produced all the welded chassis frames. It was a perfect set up as the long lines previously used to draw the wire ropes were ideal for the layout of the welding lines. How times have changed. A few of the original buildings still survive, but sadly the area is now not even a shadow of its former self. continues below:

continued from above: The track is built on land once occupied by Garrison Farm. It took its name after the Civil War when Prince Rupert’s Royalist troops set up camp here in 1643. The name of the farm is recalled in nearby Garrison Lane, a ten minute walk from the track. On this lane is the Garrison pub. Do any of you watch the tv series Peaky Blinders? If so, you will be familiar with this. Although the show used a stage set this real Garrison pub was frequented by the Peaky Blinders at the turn of the 20th century. Pic credit to the BBC and the Birmingham Mail Sadly the Garrison no longer plays host to anything as interesting. It was sold for £183,000 in 2014 and a plan submitted to turn it into flats. The Digby family became the owners of the former arable farm land in the mid 1800’s. They leased many small plots to individual brickmakers who used clay which was dug on site. These small yards were eventually combined into the larger Garrison Farm Brickworks. The go-kart track now stands on this site. The brickworks had various owners over the years who all made good use of the nearby Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal for distribution. The finished bricks were moved by barrow from the kilns to the waiting barges. This works was also served by the railway with a siding connecting it to the London & North Western Railway. Only authorised personnel could go over the level crossing which was known locally as “Brickworks Crossing”. The Midland Brick Co. were the last owners when the works closed in 1936. By 1938 only the clay pits remained. Courtesy of the Chris Thornburn colection Riddell was one of many owners at the Garrison Farm works continues below:

Hi there folks, Well the mini season was so close to making it to the last meeting. We did very well to get that far against all odds. Many, many thanks to all involved. Fingers crossed for 2021. Now it’s about time to start our winter season journeys off that beaten track once again. Our industrial and historical heritage is fast disappearing under a sea of housing and regeneration. It is literally a race against time to capture a brief look into the past. Let’s start for now though with a look at another race track in the ‘What was there before?’ series. To celebrate its saving we start off this week with the early days of the Birmingham Wheels site. This side by side image shows the site in 1888 & 2020 Image credit to NLOS continues below:

Within days folks. The ghosts of the past are waiting for us along the disused railway line, at the end of the tunnel, and within the walls of the derelict building. They will walk with us again off that beaten track.

Pics now in the gallery

Thank you Jane and Darrelle. It was a wet'un by the sound of it. JJ's second Final win in adverse conditions following on from that extremely wet Belle Vue in April 2018.

Gates open at 10 tomorrow DJB

No pit access today folks

Yes, thank you Ben and Nic for last week 👍

Hope this cheers you up Jane. He behaved himself tonight. Hope you feel better soon.

Many thanks to Ben for volunteering and doing a sterling job at the track, & to Nic for being Jane.

Thank you Jane, but you have to work equally as hard giving up your free time to post them. Also folks thanks for the kind words regarding the mini race reports. Hopefully these can go some way to fill the gap owing to the obvious loss of the pit news. Pics now in the gallery. If anyone can post a few, plus results from Skeggy next Saturday it would be a great help as i'm at Taunton for the two-dayer. You'll have no problem hearing them as Speaky has got the the p.a system spot on.

I've sent you a pm Jane

Yes that's fine Neil. Just let me know as and when 👍

Great pics, and a very tidy workshop. What compost are you using to grow those two wings in the back garden? 😃

I have some results from 1993 Neil if you still require them. Also i have 1992 stuff but it's mainly Heat and Final winners only, and not from every meeting, if that's of any use to you.

Pics now in gallery

Pit news using night vision goggles: 401 - Left half shaft sheared inside diff. Loading up. 147 - Straightening the front axle. 127 - Adjusting the brake balance bar.

Pit news using binoculars: 217 - Adjusting outside rear spring 43 - Changing front hub. Stub axle bent.

Pics now in the gallery. Only a few unfortunately owing to the restriction on pit access.

The cream has risen to the top folks. In the new gradings Jon is up to Superstar, and Harley goes straight from white to red! Subject to confirmation V8's are on the bill too, so we'll be halfway to seeing an F1 around there.

( continued from above) Before heading up to Taunton for day two a repeat visit to the disused tailings dam close to the United Downs stadium. It resembles another planet with all sorts of weird colours and eroded gulleys. Smeatharpe – Monday 17th August 2020. Torrential rain proceeded the meeting up to start time leaving the track very wet. 36 cars containing travellers from all corners of the UK filled the pits. One of which was Luke Wrench (560) who had got his dummy back in, and realised that maybe he had been a bit hasty in his views. Heat one: Thanks to Luke’s attendance a feature of this race was a tremendous duel between the 560 car and Sunday’s Final winner Jon Palmer (24). For lap after lap the WRC built cars raced side by side with Jon on the outside gaining the extra traction coming out of the bends. Luke would draw alongside at the end of the straight and Jon would edge ahead again. It was resolved in the 24’s favour as 560 backed off near the end. In the meantime, up front, Ben Goddard (895) had worked his way into the top position and claimed his second win of the season. Result: 895, 24, 560, 126, 736, 538, 539, 488, 251 and 992. Heat two: Dale Moon (302) and Matt Linfield (464) battled for the lead in this one with wet track specialist Linfield not willing to risk a last bender on the 302 car. Result: 302, 464, 572, 542, 184, 783, 320, 183,890 and 828. Consolation: Wayne Wadge (920) led from flag to flag to win by a quarter of a lap from Paul Moss (979), who had the attentions of Justin Fisher (315) and Ben Borthwick (418) to contend with. Result: 920, 979, 315, 418, 210, 325, 387, 411, 731 and 835. Final: A couple of caution periods in the early laps of this one. Scottish visitor Jason McDonald (387) was left stranded across turn three. Within short order Sam Jacklin (731) needed the waved yellows after being cannoned into the plating by Jon Palmer to slow himself down after a hit from Steven Gilbert (542). At the restart Harley Burns (992) led the field away in confident style. Nothing seems to faze young Harley and he is a joy to watch. Eventually the 24 and 542 cars overhauled Burnsy, but Gilbert was unable to relax as 992 tracked his every move. He even rode out a last bend hit from Jamie Avery (126). Great stuff! Wrench, the track points leader saw his hopes ended after he had a spat with Guinchy (183). It ended with Luke making sure Charlie would go no further. Payback will be very interesting! “Really dry yesterday, really wet today,” a jubilant Palmer said. “Gilbert had a go early in the race but I offloaded his hit into Jacklin” Result: 24, 542, 992, 126, 539, 418, 464, 736, 302 and 783. GN: This race was for the Ash Sampson Memorial Trophy. Sampson’s grandfathers, Roy Goodman and Mick Whittle led the first of two rolling laps in Ash’s old cars. Roy who is in his nineties jumped in and out of the car like a young’un. Incredible! Another victory chalked up to Harley in this with Wadge following him home to claim the August Accumulator title. JP’s charge through the field from the lap handicap was spectacular with the front bumper seeing prodigious use. Result: 992, 920, 184, 539, 736, 890, 210, 126, 560 and 783. Hard luck story of the meeting goes to Bolton’s Phil Mann (53). He was unable to race owing to a hose blowing on the van which mean’t the first half of the meeting was spent trying to sort it. Saloon numbers were a bit thin on the ground. Billy Smith (161) has attended every meeting in the country since the start of the year. He was by far the entertainer tonight. Junior Buster (902) was on the receiving end of some very big hits every race as Billy went on the rampage. “He’s going up the wall all night,” were Billy’s words. Final top three: 980, 476 and 28. So ended yet another superb couple of meetings. Many thanks once again to all. A few pics in the gallery from St.Day.

MR “BOX OFFICE” BAGS BACK TO BACK FINAL WINS Jon Palmer (24) at the United Downs Raceway with the first of his two weekend Final wins In the latest F2 racing action in the south-west Plymouth’s Jon Palmer (24) makes a clean sweep of the meeting Final’s at United Downs, & Smeatharpe in the third Sunday-Monday double. United Downs Raceway – Sunday 16th August 2020. With the non-appearance of the predicted thunder storms a very entertaining afternoon’s racing took place on a dry track. 35 cars were on hand to do battle around this tricky five cornered Cornish pasty shaped track. Furthest traveller this week was red roofed Jason McDonald (387) from Turriff in Aberdeenshire. A mammoth 1400 mile round trip, with 12 hours driving each way. That is total commitment. From northern England Phil Mann (53), Aaron Vaight (184) and Sam Jacklin (731) also put the miles in to support Autospeed’s endeavour to get the racing scene back to some normality. No, you haven’t misread Sam Jacklin in an F2. He’s sold the F.1’s and is making life a bit easier running the smaller cars. A neat reversal of his racing number and job sorted. Heat one: Teenage sensation Harley Burns (992), on his track debut, led from early on to record the victory. 184 ended piled up with Dale Moon (302) and Matt Westaway (835) on the inside of turn four. Result: 992, 920, 572, 24, 736, 542, 663, and 828. First 8 to the Final. Heat two: Steve Hartnett (539) took another win for the lower grades in this one. A tremendous no-holds barred battle was raging in the mid pack culminating with Charlie Guinchard firing Joe Marquand (789) into the plating with a last bend hit for 5th place. Result: 539, 315, 895, 126, 183, 689, 979 and 325. Consolation: A fair few blue and red graded drivers had to try for a second chance to qualify in this race. 302 got the victory, whilst a battle between Paul Rice (890), Matt Hatch (320) and McDonald ended with the Scotsman claiming the last qualifying place. Result: 302, 127, 184, 418, 538, 251, 464, 196, 820 and 387 Final: Twenty-six cars gridded to try and win the Nostalgia Trophy. The race was punctuated with caution flags such was the fierce action. Justin Fisher (315) ended up side on to the traffic by the start line, Julian Coombes (828) climbed up Phil Chapman’s car (196) with both jammed up against the turn four plating, and then Ben Goddard (895,) and Craig Driscoll (251) repeated the trick. Whilst all this had been going on young Burnsy had been maintaining the lead. Another caution flew when Josh Weare (736) hit the stranded cars of James Lindsay (572) and Chris Hatch (820) who were stuck in turn four. Just prior to the yellows Guinchy launched British Champ Steven Gilbert (542) into the pile. This led to much gnashing of teeth and finger waving at Charlie from Steve’s dad Peter. The star men had worked their way closer to the front by this stage and at the drop of the green Harley had but a couple of laps before Jon Palmer (24) appeared in his mirrors. Having bashed his way through the field Jon passed the 992 car cleanly. As much as he tried he was unable to shake the youngster off, but owing to his unfamiliarity with the circuit, and not wanting to throw away a secure 2nd place Harley decided against a last bender. JP commented after his victory that the 992 car was the quicker of the two. Despite his incident with 183 Gilbert finished in 3rd place. He wasn’t too complementary about Charlie in the post-race interview either. He needn’t have been worried about more of the same in the GN though as the engine blew up in the 183 car before race end. The Guinchard team are going through some rotten luck at the moment. Result: 24, 992, 542, 302, 689, 538, 387, 126, 325 and 539. GN: Burns took his second victory of the day with Gilbert following him home. Result: 992, 542, 302, 184, 418, 538, 920, 24, 320 and 251. Last week Luke Wrench (560) stressed his desire to claim all three track championships in the south-west. This week he spat his dummy out and cancelled his bookings for both meetings. He wasn’t happy about the lower graders earning more points than him in the August Accumulator series owing to the multiplication factor. He knew the point scoring system of the series at the start so to criticise it when it’s over halfway through doesn’t make much sense to me. Fifteen Saloons were in attendance. Notable incidents were the continuing entertainment between 161 v 902 which saw Billy spin Buster out in heat one, and then the rear end destruction of the Phil Powell (199) car at the front of a four car train entering turn four in the Final. This required the attention of the Autospeed fence repair team to fix the plating. Final top three: 902, 161, and 00. (continues below)

Thanks lads!

Cheers Hary. It's good to have you back.