Disfiguring the countryside
YOU WERE ASKING IS SPONSORED BY CASTROL CLASSIC OILS
The accompanying photograph was passed to me at this year’s VMCC Taverners’ Section Founders’ Day Rally by a reader who didn’t want his details publishing.
This start line scene was captured by a staff photographer employed by the Topical Press, 10-11 Red Lion Court, London, at the Herts County AC Aston Hill Climb on Saturday, June 11, 1910.
Initially scheduled for Saturday May 7, the event was cancelled due to the death of King Edward VII a day earlier. This meeting attracted 111 motorcycle entries competing in six classes. The rescheduled event saw 61 riders signing on, as the new date clashed with other local events including the Herts County AC car section gymkhana taking place near Watford.
Officials weighed machines and checked they conformed to club requirements at temporary headquarters set up at Rose and Crown Hotel, Tring, before entrants moved to a collecting point near the base of Aston Hill. The 1320-yard course, which climbed 440 feet over the distance, was on the Tring to Wendover road.
Fuel company agents had fixed their banners to railings near the start, much to the annoyance of the press, including the motorcycling weeklies. But entrants, riders and officials weren’t bothered and, instead, just wanted to get on with the competition. First, officials had to clear a few private
