Vintage Motorcycle Club (VMCC)

Cadwell Park

23 - 24 September 2023

You can just start to feel the air is a little colder and the rain is coming with greater frequency which means that as the summer fades and we head towards winter the motorcycling racing season is coming to an end. The Vintage Motorcycle Club returned to Cadwell Park last weekend for their 2023 season finale and one last celebration of vintage racing machinery before these old racing work horses are packed away for the winter. 

The PistonClick team were out to capture the action and review this event so you can decide if you want to go and experience it next year. We had a second motive for attending. One of the team, David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography, sponsors one of the riders for the Cadwell round - more on that later. 

I have been going to the VMCC Cadwell round for several years and know what I can expect to see, and have not been disappointed when spectating at these meetings.

The VMCC is an umbrella organisation that looks after a lot of different vintage motorcycle racing. Last weekend’s event was organised by British Historic Racing - a branch of the VMCC.

The words Historic and Vintage don’t really cover all of the motorcycles that were racing at this event. There are plenty of modern classics taking on the sweeping hills of Cadwell as well. 

British Historic Racing (BHR) runs 29 different classes in its championship. A few examples are Production Based Sports & Superbikes to Dec'89, Pre-63 Solos 351-500cc, and Ducati singles to 500cc up to 1976. Each of these classes are then divided further down. For example, the Superbikes class has seven sub classes ranging from 350cc air cooled to 1300cc liquid cooled machines.

So there is plenty to see on track and BHR are continually evolving the classes, so there will probably be changes next year to keep the racing fresh, relevant and interesting.

One notable class is the British European American Race Series (BEARS ) sidecar which look great going through Hall Bends. Racing along with the BEARS were the three wheelers running in the Morgan Three Wheeler Championship. Two different forms of motorsports you don’t see every weekend.

Something else a little different making a guest appearance at this meeting and filling the air with a blue haze were the Scooters. They don’t go to all of the British Historic Racing rounds, so were were lucky to see them at Cadwell.

Most of the races were quite short - around the five laps was the norm. I think this was due to the amount of races they needed to run during the meeting, and not as my shooting buddy joked, the reliability of these vintage machines. However, a few did leave a trail of oil on occasion resulting in a few delays as the marshals got to work cleaning the track.

The only fly in the ointment for this meeting was the racing schedule. On-line it states practice from 09:00 with racing thereafter! I like to know what is going on, so the only option is buying a programme at the gate for £4. It’s not much of a problem but I do like to plan my day before arriving at the track.

As I hadn’t parted with my cash for a programme (I wasn’t offered one at the gate), I had to do a brisk walk to Halls when the BEARS race was announced. I don’t run, it’s undignified, unless there is fire, or danger, then I run.

The paddock, as always, is open to the public at Cadwell and is worth a walk around. This year there was something different to look at, static engines. These machines were all pumping and rotating doing what static engines do. I’ve seen the large traction engines that are used as static engines before, but these small static machines were new to me.

To be honest, I don’t know my Lister D from my Wolseley WD8 as it’s not my area of expertise but it made a pleasant distraction and fitted in well with the whole historic mechanical theme. 

Mick Pennell

At this meeting we had Pistonclick’s adopted “grassroots” rider Mick Pennell in action for the last time in 2023. Riding at his home circuit, Mick ended on a real “high”, retaining his British Historic Racing Club’s Over 50’s title with the final race of the series. He also became a “double double” champion, retaining his Class 26b Production title for the second successive season.

The second half of the 2023 season has been a real struggle for Mick with tyre shortages for the 16 inch wheels he runs. Since the closure of the Avon tyre factory, which was the last remaining motorcycle tyre production facility in the UK, he has had to move up to a more common 17 inch wheel size.

Of more significance, he has had major problems with his normally trusty Transit van that provides a garage, workshop, bed and kitchen but has proved very unreliable. The problems have resulted in Mick having to hire a van to go to some of the circuits that are further afield, and to cut back on his CRMC season to concentrate all his efforts into his British Historic campaign.

But despite this, Mick’s “on-track” performances have not suffered and his consistency throughout the season have brought about just rewards.



He was joined following his final race by his family and friends in celebrating his hard-earned championship success, who he was quick to thank for their support, along with his sponsors, without whom his continued involvement in what has been a challenging season, would not have been possible.

British Historic Racing obviously promotes racing but has one other trick up its sleeve - parading. The parade laps were run throughout the day, with the riders were doing exactly what it said on the tin, parading. For a fee and with the correct license you can take your qualifying bike out on non-competitive laps of the track with like minded enthusiasts. 

So that’s our review of the Vintage Motorcycle Club/British Historic Racing final meeting at Cadwell for 2023. A packed race card with a huge range of Vintage, Historic and Classic motorcycles combined with a large open paddock - there was plenty of machinery to experience, we will be back next year.