Press Day

If the atmosphere at the official team launch of the UK’s 1966 ISDT bid was anything to go by then yes, our teams could possibly win this prestigious event. Hopes were high for a successful trip to Sweden where the ISDT was to be held that year, and the not-so-surprising news for those assembled at the Casa Blanca Motel, Fenny Drayton, Warwickshire in early August 1966 was the machinery supplied to the teams. AJS had provided its men with traditional machines, superbly prepared; Greeves the same, though Jim Sandiford’s bike nipped up on the speed test when closing the throttle at the end of the MIRA straight starved the engine of lubrication for a few seconds but in reality all eyes were on the Triumph and BSA machines.

Mindful of the issues from the previous year, steps had been taken to address the problems suffered and the press was presented with Triumph-engined BSAs. Triumph’s unit engine had a proven reliability record, thanks to Jeff Smith, BSA’s Victor MXer was on top of the world so, why not marry the two and go for gold?

While the press day was a chance for everyone to see the machines prepped and ready along with their riders, the story had really begun in February when a large piece in Peter Fraser’s column, On The Rough, in the MotorCycle laid out the aims of the BSA group’s deputy