Fwd: [CR]Falcon Racing Teams - Help Wanted

(Example: Component Manufacturers)

Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 09:48:42 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: Brook Watts <brook.watts@comcast.net>
Subject: Fwd: [CR]Falcon Racing Teams - Help Wanted


Sporting Cyclist magazine covered one of the training camps in an issue. I think JB Wadley attended and wrote the article. I recall because there was an image of a dirt velodrome on the island where some races were conducted with training camp attendees and local racers.

I'll dig around in my collection and see what I can come up with.

Brook Watts Longmont Colo USA


>
>A plea for help!
>The Elswick-Hopper book I am writing will include as much Falcon material as
>I can gather. One of the most interesting aspects of the Falcon years is the
>significant part that Ernie Clements played in sponsoring the Falcon racing
>teams from the early 1960s (or earlier). I believe Falcon (then part of
>Coventry Eagle) was the first company to sponsor a Majorca training camp in
>1965 - attended by Tom Simpson, though he was not riding, due to a skiing
>accident. The US champion, Tim Kelly, was also there and trainers included
>Tommy Godwin, Billy Holmes and Brian Robinson. All I have on the Falcon
>teams is that John Perks rode for them in 1960 and Albert Hitchen in 1964
>and that in 1990 it had become Falcon-Banana. Google has proved of little
>help and the company is not terribly interested in its history, so, is there
>anyone with a time-line on Falcon racing teams or with any leads on
>information? (I have a lot of 1950s Cycling mags, but nothing from the 60s,
>perhaps gives you a clue as to how my interest wavered when I hit 1960 with
>my BSA B31? Teleforks, rigid backend, single cylinder and lousy electrics.)
>In anticipation and with a promise of acknowledgement,
>Nigel Land
>North Lincolnshire
>UK