The ex-Tommy Meeten, c.1928 Francis-Barnett 172cc Brooklands Sports Racing Motorcycle

• Kept by Tommy Meeten for many years
• Displayed in the Meeten dealership (Meeten was the previous owner's godfather)
• Rebuilt circa 1973/1974
• Present ownership since 2010

In the mid-1920s, T G 'Tommy' Meeten's name was invariably linked with that of Francis-Barnett, for whom he set a number of speed records at Brooklands riding one of their 172cc Villiers-engined two-strokes. Tommy Meeten's association with Francis-Barnett had begun in 1924 when he rode a Blackburne-engined model to 6th place in that year's Ultra-Lightweight TT in the Isle of Man. The Blackburne was, of course, a four-stroke but from then onwards Tommy Meeten's involvement with the Coventry firm would be restricted to its two-stroke models, which he rode successfully in trials as well as at Brooklands.

For Meeten's Brooklands campaign, Francis-Barnett constructed a racer using Villiers' recently announced 172cc Sports engine, later versions of which featured special expansion chamber exhausts, presaging post-war developments in this area. Villiers was much more actively involved with the production of sports and racing engines in the between-the-wars years than they would be after WW2, and the Sports was the first of a family of 172cc high-performance engines. Riding the special Francis-Barnetts, Meeten set several speed records for the '175' class and won numerous races at Brooklands. Capitalising on his successes, Villiers introduced further evolutions of the Sports engine in the form of the Brooklands and Super Sports TT units.

Away from the Surrey track, Tommy Meeten won Silver Medals at the Scottish Six Days Trial in consecutive years between 1925 and 1927 riding 172cc Francis-Barnetts; bagged a Gold in the 1928 event on a Pullman sidecar outfit; and added an International Six Days Trial Gold Medal to his tally at the 1927 event, held that year in Buxton. In the mid-1930s he took over the manufacture of Len Vale-Onslow's SOS ('Super Onslow Special') motorcycles, which he continued to produce up to the outbreak of WW2, advertising them as 'So Obviously Superior'. In 1929 Tommy Meeten had helped found the British Two-Stroke Club (BTSC), which was based initially at his motorcycle shop in Dorking, Surrey and subsequently at his Meeten's Motor Mecca dealership at Shannon Corner on the Kingston bypass in New Malden. He was the Club's president from 1956 to 1974. Like the BTSC, offshoots of the company he founded still exist today although in different fields.

The machine on offer dates from circa 1928 and has the Villiers Brooklands engine fitted with Meeten's special expansion chamber exhausts, special foot gear change, and double-sided rear brake pedals. This machine and its sister - the 1927 Brooklands Track Special now in the Brooklands Museum collection - were displayed side-by-side for many years at the Meeten dealership. When Tommy Meeten died, his business partner, Miss Margaret Child OBE (president of the British Two-Stroke Club from 1974 to 1995), contacted the previous owner's father and asked if his son would like it (Meeten was the previous owner's godfather). The father (a Velocette man) was from Dorking and had ridden with Meeten in many trials and scrambles events. The machine was in a sorry state when acquired and was rebuilt by the previous owner's father over the course of a year (circa 1973/74), after which it remained in the previous owner's private collection and was displayed at Brooklands in 2007 during the Centenary celebrations and again in 2009 at a revival meeting.

Following its acquisition at Bonham's Oxford auction in June 2010 (Lot 186), the machine has remained a special machine in the current vendor's private collection. It has had the engine turned over regularly and was started recently. This machine would no doubt be very welcome at the proposed BTSC Centenary celebrations planned for 2029 as well as various Brooklands events. There are no documents with this Lot. Key not required.
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