Hottest Day of the Year

Yes we DID have ONE, the 27th July, I know because me and my mate had a great day out at Aberdare Park for the Annual National Road Races.

Its a 0.9 mile park circuit, and by park, I don’t mean like Mallory or Oulton, I mean a TOWN Park, with flower beds, trees, railings, pond, paddling pool, fountain etc etc
Circuit Layout

The place has history, and great names have graced its tarmac.

Extract from the official site

Aberdare Park is unique in that it is the only race circuit in Britain that is situated less than 1/2 mile from the Town centre. This picturesque and quite demanding 0.9 mile circuit winds its way through trees in the local town park and lies 30 miles north west of Cardiff.
The first ever meeting held here was way back on the 30th September 1950 attracting among others local riders M L Thomas from aberdare and Eric Phillips from Aberaman. Despite being run in very poor weather condtions it still attracted a crowd of around 15,000 spectators.

Birmingham’s Dave Bennett won the main race of the day and also the fastest lap of the day on his 500cc Norton at a race average speed of 49 mph.

May 12th 1951 saw the 2nd meeting held at the park and also the first appearance of Aberaman MCC current club president Herbie Davies riding his 350cc Royal Enfield. Herbie continued racing at the park until the end of the 1954 season and riding his 350cc BSA in the later years. Up until 2004 Herbie was the starter at the park.

July 1951 saw the second meeting of the year.

In 1952 it all changed, the May meeting went ahead as normal but the August meeting was upgraded to National status, the feature race of the day being won by a young 18 year old called John Surtees.

Racing continued at Aberdare Park until 1964 with two meetings a year attracting some of the country’s leading riders like Mike Hailwood, John Surtees, Bob McIntyre, Phil Read, John Cooper, Syd Barnett, Dan Shorey, Malcom Uphill, Ray Cowles, Ivor Lloyd and Selwyn Griffiths to name but a few. Then the Local authority carried out major alterations that heavily restricted the number of safe spectator areas avaialable so racing was stopped.

It was during those early years at Aberdare Park that another record was set June 18th 1955 saw the first ever live television coverage of Motorcycling racing anywhere in the country.

In June 1978 racing resumed once again at Aberdare Park with spectators only allowed on the inside of the circuit. Still only a club event it attracted a very good class of riders, 1980 saw Aberdare once again being granted National status, 1982 saw the outright lap record of 45.2 sec held by John Cooper since 1964 goto Andy hawkins in a time of 45 seconds.

In the final of the 1988 Welsh Open Carl Fogarty smashed the outright lap record to 42.5 seconds.

In 1992 the meeting turned in to a two day event, a feature we still enjoy today. The current outright lap record is 39.4 seconds set in july 2000 by Barrie Middleton on his 600cc Yamaha FZR. Some of the biggest names in motorcycle racing have graced our unique circuit, Bob Heath, Neil Tuxworth, Gavin Lee, Neil Hodgeson, Carl Fogarty, Jason Griffiths and Ian Lougher, and from across the water Robert Dunlop, Gary Jess, Alan Patterson and Ryan Farqhar.

In 2005 Ian Lougher acheived his goal of winning the Tower Colliery Welsh Open 4 years in succession, something not even the great Carl Fogarty could acheive.
https://www.aberdarepark.co.uk/amcc_home_page.asp

As I said it WAS the hottest day of the year, we were told the best place to park was THE OLD SCHOOL which is just that, for just a few quid and a couple more to leave ALL of your bike gear in a secure classroom, then it was shorts and tee-shirts and trainers for the rest of the day, just a quarter of a mile from the circuit (past several pubs if your partial). Entrance was just £9 with a £1 off voucher from the official site.
This place is away from the razamataz of modern circuits, no big crowds, your close to the action and can get to a viewing point at the FRONT of ANY barrier. I saw one burger van, one beer/cider stall and queues no longer than half a dozen folks! This place is like a time warp!!!!

As for the racing Ian Lougher seemed to have things pretty sewn up.

Classes were :-

50cc
80cc
125GP
250GP
Super Moto
Formula 400
Formula 600
MZ Racing Machines
King of the Singles
Golden Era
Classics

If you want see a bit of racing action with all noise and smells I recommend a trip to Aberdare next year, I’ll be going for both days next year. Thats 24 races Saturday and 21 races Sunday.