The success of CAMS has meant a considerable number of young enthusiasts have joined the classic racing scene and they would not have been around when we were involved with the Auckland based NZ Classic Racing Register.
Just to recount, “The Register” came into being in 1978 by a group of Auckland and Hamilton enthusiasts forming a club under the sheltering wing of the Hamilton Motorcycle Club, ‘to encourage the preservation, restoration, and use of Pre 1963 racing motorcycles’. What a tremendous force of pent up enthusiasm they unleashed with the inaugural meeting at the Pukekohe circuit in 1979. Much hard work went into formulating a set of rules which would carry out the aforementioned aims, and that they were successful would be to make an understatement.
As with all good things in life, the movement into classic racing spread, aided by several South Islanders travelling up to that first Pukekohe meeting. Hugh Anderson and Tim Parker came south at Easter that year to a Vincent Owners Rally and met with local enthusiasts. From this, a small club was formed, initially to meet, talk old motorcycles, and enjoy one another’s company. Anambitious first race meeting was held at Timaru, November 1979, organised by a small but willing band, and no one was more surprised than them when some 40 machines turned up!
Some of them were from the North Island. More meetings were held at Ruapuna and Levels, one of the most notable being when John Surtees, former World Champion, came to Ruapuna in 1981. Great day’s, great bikes, great camaraderie, great enthusiasts! About this time “The Register” applied to the ACU and were granted the right to be New Zealand’s only national club to be recognised by them.
Things went along very well, with the North Island members organising the tremendously successful Pukekohe meeting every February, adding classic trials events to their calendar. They were also invited to, and participated in, event’s organised by others, such as Whenuapai, Taupo and Manfield. Here in the South Island, meetings were extended to the old Cust circuit, scene of many a Grand Prix battle from 1936 to 1963. We were invited to use the circuit and were aided by the Cust Community Centre, to whom all the profits were to go.
The 1983 Cust Reunion was a boomer! Over 140 stalwarts from as far away as Auckland attended. Talk about racers of yester-year getting together to relive their yesterdays. A wonderful occasion and worth every minute of the long hours to put it together. But by the late 1980’s the scene in the South Island was changing. All was well with the Pukekohe Classic Meeting, in fact it seemed more and more genuine. classic racers were appearing and they saw no need to change anything. In 1988 a quartet came south from Auckland in an attempt to get a coordinated solution to our numbers problem, and were inflexible and stood fast on their original eligibility rules. By late 1988 support was getting pretty low in the South, we were getting about 25 entries at Timaru, about half of the early 80’s meetings. A vociferous group, all of whom had never organised anything in their lives, was doing their best to undermine the efforts of the committee by claiming non-eligible bikes were racing. The people running the show were nonot keeping up with the rules and doing their jobs etc etc. Also a total breakdown in communication between North and South, with correspondence being ignored or not answered, so the future did not look good from our perspective.
Easter 1989 saw Cust once again on the calendar and, as before, it was a great Success! Register Chairperson, Jean Southern, came down and we were delighted and honoured to have her with us. Our impression was this was a private visit to view the racing, so most of us respected this and avoided hassling her over the problems the Register were having. A great pity, as we later learned that not only did she want to see Cust, but also to talk about our differences. A pity, as this was a lost opportunity for dialogue. Jean is a charming person, with the Register and its well-being at heart, and she is held in the highest regard for her contribution to the classic movement from us here in the south.
Mid 1989 and with the AGM of the South’s sub branch of the Register approaching, it was apparent that none of the committee was prepared to preside over the demise of classic racing as it had been. At this meeting, when all said they were ‘unavailable for re-election’; it left a gap, to say the least. A move was then made and the vociferous group who had always wanted to have a go and show the world how it should be done, were installed. They were fortunate to take over ample funds built up by the hard work of their predecessors, plus equipment and everything in good shape. What a fiasco! They didn’t last a season.
Those dedicated classic racers who had been the driving force for some 10 year’s reckoned if they were going to have a chance at any racing, they had better start again, as there was no way the ‘Register’ would accept any form of breakaway group. A set of rules to start with were the first priority, and whilst kicking ideas around, Terry Timms, George Begg, and Ian McGregor thought “why not just draw up a list of those makes and models which could be eligible, including Japanese machines, of the late sixties and early seventies as the cut off”. We reckoned, and our experience has shown, that most of the argy-bargy came from defining just what is the make and model from just that one year, whichever year you choose. That our formula works is proven, as there has been near a total lack of eligibility arguments. It is either eligible or it isn’t.
These three basic thinkers then took their ideas to a larger group, and these folk could see the merit. It was then sent to enthusiasts in Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill, and back came the answer……..’it was just what was Wanted’. Next step was to form a small club, select a name, and get under the shelter of a larger ACU affiliated club. The name?? There was some agonising over that. We wanted something like the B.E.A.R.S. having something the initials spelt out an object that identified with motorcycles. And so ‘C.A.M.S.’ it became, dreamed up by Maurie Wear. With Terry Timms as Chairman, George Begg as Secretary, Sandra Hurrell as Treasurer, and a good eager committee, no money in the bank, but confident high hopes, we set out organising our first meeting in Timaru, November 1989.
The rest is history really. Timaru was great with entries back up around 40, the old spirit back, and a ‘happy, happy’ scene. The ACU has wanted a set of Classic Racing Rules, as many good remits for other avenues of racing were being prejudiced by the effect on classics. If they had their own rules, that would not be the case. We said “why not use CAMS rules, they are simple, and they work?”. A remit was put into conference through our parent club, Canterbury Auto Cycle Club. Terry, Ian, and George went to this conference to give it support, but being some-what innocent types, they did not foresee the animosity and energetic opposition our former Northern mates would generate. It was passed alright and so the ACU had what it wanted. The “Register” (and we could not understand this, as the rules did not affect them) fired all their big guns, with an article written by their Chairman, amply supported by photos and cartoons, to rubbish the ACU, and by inference the club which put them forward, CAMS.
We think the piece in the aforementioned article where it said that a “TRIUMPH Sprung Hub was a ‘circular’ suspension” just about says it all. Well, they managed to change them to what they wanted at the last conference, and best of luck to them. CAMS will continue to run CAMS rules as this is the formula which suits them best. Perhaps we will get together again one day with our erstwhile colleagues in the North. We can’t see any hurry about it though as the scene is now one where friendly camaraderie abounds and the non-believers in our cause have been banished. The future looks rosy, where under Ian McGregor and his team we have what must be just about the best classic racing scene in the world. We have a magazine under the editorship of Maurie Wear any club anywhere would be proud of, to keep us all in touch, race on any track or street circuit, at a minimal cost, can scramble it, trial it, or road race it to your heart’s and physical content. And all in the company of some of life’s finest sport’s people.
Long live the good ship CAMS, and all who sail in her.
Copied, 16 May 2019, by Roger O’Regan.
So much has changed, so much restoration taken place, but George quite bluntly has his say in this first Red Line.
We are now affiliated to MNZ (the former ACU) and stand alone as an enthusiastic and inclusive club.
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