This month’s sketchbook entries come from The Classic Dirt Bike Show held at the Telford International Centre, on February 11/12, 2023. Off-roaders of all types always fascinate me, as they are truly build-for-purpose machines, which often have various ingenious alterations and modifications. I managed to get three subjects in the sketchbook in the day I had at the show, but wished I had longer, especially with the amazing display of competition BSA machines. This included Jeff Smith’s ‘Woodpecker,’ featured alongside Gordon Blakeway’s ‘Clipper’ Gold Star, Brian Martin’s development C15 ‘BSA 250’ and the radical ‘Big Beam’ Bantam, which was designed and built by BSA competition shop employee Norman Hanks. This line-up was stellar; it was great to see them all.
