Wheels Day 2012 Report

Easter Friday means Wheels Day!

The day started off pretty cold around 1 or 2 degrees so when the sunshine started to warm up the arena the day just got better and better. Hosted by the Surrey Street Rodders, Wheels Day is one of the first runs of the season and people certainly turned out in their droves. Rushmore arena, just down the road from Farnborough soon filled with an incredible range of cars, bikes, trucks and anything in between. If you didn't make it this year I would highly recommend that if you have something with wheels get it down to wheels day 2013 you won't be disappointed.

Just a third of the main arena and the surrounding banks and woodland were also packed with all sorts of wonderful vehicles.

1939 Ford 4 door convertible

(digitally painted ink sketch)

Mike Payne's (Surrey Street Rodders) latest creation. Only MOT'd the day before the event this wonderful saloon, contains a 350 small block Chevy with a 9" Ford rear. It certainly was catching the eyes of a lot of people whilst I was sketching it and who can blame them.

1935 Standard 12 Delux

(digitally painted ink sketch)

This Standard is a rare car indeed only 5 of these still exist and this one has been lovingly restored and run as a wedding car by Peter of GP Occasional Cars. There are 3 cars in their fleet the other two are a 1932 Ford Model ‘B' and a fantastic 1936 Austin 16 ‘Shootingbrake’woody. To see more of these cars please visit the GP Occasional Cars website and click on the 'cars' section.

www.gpoccasionalcars.co.uk

Subaru 360

(digitally painted ink sketch)

This fantastic little Subaru cought my eye next. It is one of only three known in this country and is the only on up and running. Victor Sayer does own another of the three but the engine has blown on that one. Half a million were made between 1958-72. This fine example has been restored as 0ne of the three 1964 Japanese Grand Prix Support Cars, hence the black and ahite headlights. The three cars had different configurations of headlights, both black, both white, and one black one white (incase you'r wondering).

1964 Chevrolet Greenbrier

(digitally painted ink sketch)

A Quick sketch before hometime. This is another of the Surrey Street Rodders club cars. Unfortunately I did not meet the owner to find out more about it.

There was such a huge range of cars at this event the selection below does not cover everything but will give you a good idea of what turned up to enjoy the sun.

Chrysler

Hudson Pick Up

International Pick Up

Bedford Truck with Indian on board

BMC "Jobs Better Milk" (enough said)

1934 Nash

Advanced Eight Coupe (model 1282-R)

1964 Panhard PL17

Well if this is the sort of thing that get's you excited then I would strongly advise making the trip next year.

For more photos of the event please visit the Surrey Street Rodders facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/surreystreetrodders

Back to the Drawing Board Part 1

The new year is always an exciting time as it's a good opportunity to develop some new work and explore some new techniques. Here are a couple of sketches based around board track racer Albert "Shrimp" Burns.

Albert "Shrimp" Burns

(sketchbook page)

""Shrimp" Burns was one of the top dirt and board track racers of the 1910s and early '20s. The diminutive Burns rode for both the Harley-Davidson and Indian factory teams during his career. He was the youngest champion of his era, winning his first titles at the tender age of 15. "

AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame

"Shrimp on the home straight"

(sketchbook page)

"Shrimp on the home straight"

(Mono print, etching ink on Bristol Board)

Mono print is a technique I've been wanting to get to grips with for a while. It consists of painting directly onto a sheet of glass with an oil based etching ink. A piece of paper is then laid on top of the sheet and rubbed to press the ink onto the paper. The advantage of using glass as a printing plate is that you can place a sketch underneath it as reference as seen by the mirrored image above.

Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show Report

Well the season has definitely kicked off early this year, after sleeping off the mince pies I had the urge to get back out there and get scribbling. So much so I made a 3 hour journey to get to Newark for the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show. Was it worth it? Well there certainly was a lot to see from the auto jumble to the club stands I was spoilt for choice of what to sketch.

Velocette 1922 Model E (220cc)

(digitally painted ink sketch)

First sketch of the day was this Model E Velocette. A lovely restoration, simplicity itself.

After getting the fingers warmed up I moved on to the New Imperial Stand.

The Owners club had a great turn out with a great array of bikes from a Model 7 with sidecar to a winter project Model 7. My choice for a sketch was this Model 37.

New Imperial 1935 Model 37 (250cc)

(digitally painted ink sketch)

Winner of "Best Unrestored"

Very few of these model 37s still exist. This is a true barn fine having been left alone on the Isle of Man since the outbreak of WWII. According to the owner Dave Baddeley he had to scrape off a load of mud and straw from the underside of the mudguards which had been under there all that time. The only non original part is the Magneto as the bike would have had a Maglita with a dynamo. Dave took this off and will eventually get it restored, but I'm glad he decided to go with the magneto and have fun with it rather than leave it sitting about.

New Imperial 1923 Model 7 (980cc)

A barn-find from Northern Island and last run in 1927. Apparently "still a work in progress".

The side car is a close approximation to the single seater variant.

New Imperial also did a tandem which must have been a sight to behold.

New Imperial 1930 Model 2 (350cc)

A very tidy example of the cheapest 350cc on the market at the time. Produced between 1926 - 1933 with very little change to the design. 1,260 were produced in 1930 alone.

New Imperial 1936 Model 23 (150cc)

Paul Doughty's winter project. He describes it as a "hedge-bottom job", but I'm inclined to agree with the NIOA members that say "Surely not - a rub over with an oily cloth and she'll be as good as new!"

If your interested in finding out more about the New Imperial mark why not visit the

New Imperial Owners Association website:

CLICK HERE

Ian Whitehead's New Imperial Grand Prix racer was at Montlhery in 2011 and will be there again in 2013, along with this Douglas Sprint bike.

Douglas 1929 SW6 (600cc)

(digitally painted ink sketch)

After the New Imperial Stand I was off to the London Douglas M.C.C. Stand, as there were some great examples of the mark on display. I was particularly taken with this sprint bike, it was used by Colin Clifford in the 60s / 70s for sprinting. Whilst chatting with the owner a Mr D Lawrence I found out that the SW model was favoured by racers but the standard Douglas gearbox was not. Racers in the 30s preferred to change the box to a Triumph gearbox which is exactly what is on this SW6. The twin cylinders are horizontal, and the big metal box in the middle is an air box which takes in air from underneath to regulate it between the two carburetors. A window is provided to check whether the oil is dripping in ok but at 90mph I don't think I'd want to be looking down.

Douglas 1921 WD 2 3/4 (348cc)

Back to basics with this oily rag condition WD. No Clutch, 2 gears and gas lighting, those were the days, well at least that's what I'm told.

The London Douglas M.C.C.

have a smart website with a history section and gallery:

CLICK HERE

On top of all the great club stands the Autojumble also had a couple of lovely bikes on offer:

Matchless 1936 250 G2 Sports

All Original with old Log Books

BSA 1930 600 Twin Port Sloper.

I've always liked these slopers, unfortunately I didn't have the spare £6700 to spend. Oh well I'll just have to satisfy myself with a home made cheese sandwich on the way home, and feel satisfied with a nice day out skribbling and chatting bikes.