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http://www.sidcupmotorcycleclub.co.uk/old/photo_gallery/archive/photo_archive_max_poultney.htm

Max Poultney

Max Poultney sent me this in an email:

Further to my email yesterday, as promised I'm attaching the two photographs of a young Steve McQueen racing a vintage Douglas motorcycle at the Knatts Valley hill climb back in the 1950's

Why I came to be racing against Steve McQueen arose because back in May 1950 I started my apprenticeship as an engineer in a Thames shipyard and soon acquired my first motorcycle, a Frances Barnet 197cc Villiers engined trials model and joined the Kenton & Kingsbury Motor cycle club so I could take part in trials. After I'd completed my apprenticeship I joined Cunard's RMS 'Queen Elizabeth' as an engineer and could then afford a bigger bike so part exchanged the F/B for a 500cc Triumph Trophy which I stripped down to a LYTA tank and guards and trialed in the winter with wide ratio gears and low compression pistons. In the summer I fitted high comp pistons and close ratio gears and knobbly tires and used it for scrambles, grass tracks and hill climbs usually within the South Midland Centre. In those days the venues for motorcycle sport were many and varied from scrambling at Bagshot Heath to to grass tracking at Brands Hatch long before the present Grand Prix circuit was built. It was at a Brands Hatch grass track meeting that I first met Steve McQueen, we all knew him as an American film actor who was mad on motorcycle racing. This of course was in the 1950's and before Steve made his name as a major star with the 'Magnificent Seven' in 1960 and 'The Great Escape' in 1963 (when he tried to escape on a Triumph T110 stolen from a German Dispatch Rider). In fact his quote on the last picture I've attached to this e-mail says it all, "Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting"

I next met Steve at a hill climb at Knatts Valley in Kent sometime in the mid-1950's, which was then and still is, I believe, organised by the Sidcup Motor Cycle Club. My brother-in-law Peter Steele and I had entered with Peter running his much modified DOT on methanol and I riding my TRIUMPH Trophy. To my amazement I was pared with Steve McQueen for one run up the hill. Steve turned up with an old rigid framed, girder forked, fore & aft engined Douglas. As we were waiting for the start I asked Steve what he was riding he said, "I think it's a Douglas factory racer that won a Tourist Trophy race in the Isle of Man before WW2 and we're running it on dope", by which I think he meant methanol. At the start Steve revved the Douglas's engine flat out and then as the flag went down he dropped the clutch so all I saw was the dust from his rear wheel as he flew up the hill. When I eventually got to the top I said to Steve, "Blimey Steve you flew up the hill". "Yes", he said, "I had to because as I dropped the clutch I came out of the saddle and then landed back on my bollocks so that to get to the top to relieve the pain!"

This is a full shot of Steve preparing to return down the hill after our run, the number 5 is the rear end of my bike

This is of Steve racing up the hill against, I think, Alfy Hagen in his JAP engined special. If I remember right Alf won the 500cc class beating Steve into second place

Credit for both photos must be given to Len Thorpe. Len attended most important meetings and took photographs of the competitors, he then developed the films in his van and posted the contact prints outside so you could order them and they'd be posted on later. Thanks to Len it's the only way I've got photos of my efforts of that period

I'd be very interested if one of your expert members could identify and let me know the history of the Douglas that Steve rode. I'd also be intrested if anyone can confirm the date and result

To conclude I hope my ramblings and the photographs will be of interest to your members. My favourite bikes were my Triumph Trophy and my Norton 500T, although I did ride Norton Inters and Vincent Rapides before marriage intervened in 1960 and I had to revert to a BSA M21 and sidecar.

Best wishes,

Max Poultney

Any Comments and further info (dates, results, more photos, etc) will be greatly appreciated - email me