Dennis Loveday

In my previous post on David Vincent, I couldn't recall the name of the 'other' Gold Star winner at the Brooklands Velocette Centenary in 2005. Dai asked Michael Sands, who filled us in on Dennis Loveday's background. Here is Michael:

"The Gold Star holder to whom you refer is Dennis Loveday who won his Gold Star on a Velocette, although most of his Brooklands racing was on Ariels. Denis told me that one of his techniques was 'grass cutting'. He said, 'If I could keep as near the bottom of the track as possible, I would be going round a smaller route than those riding way up on the banking, so I might save a bit of time and that meant that some of the time I had my elbow in the weeks. I fitted a pair of bicycle drop-handlebars to get lower [note -see top photo of 'getting lower'!] and one time Noel Pope said to me, 'That looks a bit agricultural' (meaning the Ariel) but I beat him in one race and he never forgave me!'
"Dennis is now a very keen carp angler and although he cannot see the float on his line, he has an electronic bite detector so he can fish day or night. He is still driving short journeys on very familiar local roads because his sight is too poor for general driving....so just beware if you are on the road in south-east Devon!!"




I found some great photographs in 'A Clubman at Brooklands' (AC Perryman, Haynes, 1979), where Dennis is mentioned ten times.
Top two pix show Dennis on his mkI KTT Velo, during the Brooklands Clubman Junior GP, August 31st 1935 - which he won. Bottom photo shows, l to r, Dennis, John Bottomley, Paul d'Orleans, David Vincent.