Motorcycling stars of a bygone era have been remembered in a poignant ceremony at a Fife park memorial.
The Jock Taylor monument was erected in memory of the Kirkcaldy and District Motor Club figure who rose to fame as the world sidecar champion.
The Beveridge Park monument also bears the names of stars of the sport and the unsung heroes who ran events which made the club one of the country’s most renowned in its heyday.
As the club approaches its centenary, the weekend commemoration saw the unveiling of a new memorial plaque bearing the names of those who died at the track while competing in the sport they loved.
For 40 years, the country’s greatest talents pitted their skills against each other around the park, with racing there continuing into the late 1980s.
K&DMC had already forged an impressive reputation in the 1930s for it successes with Scottish championship sand racing events.
They drew crowds of more than 10,000 to the town promenade and stars of the day such as Hawick’s Jimmie Guthrie, a regular competitor there before going on to world renown for his grand prix wins in Europe.
On the sands he diced with Kirkcaldy’s own JK Swanston, Jack Blyth and Tommy McEwan – the trio who brought the Manx Grand Prix team prize back to Fife on more than one occasion in the 30s.
Grand Prix
Club archivist Jake Drummond said: “Scotland’s first road race for motorcycles was held in Beveridge Park in 1948, titled the Kirkcaldy Grand Prix.
“Hard work and much lobbying by club officials, many of them prominent Kirkcaldy businessmen, encouraged the town council to sanction the event as a one-off.
“But realising the benefits the races brought to the town in the immediate post war years, the club was granted permission to keep the races going as an annual event.
“Competitors from far afield raced around the park’s 1.375 mile circuit.”
“Without the ‘back-room boys and girls’ whose skills were put to use in organising events, racing would not have flourished.
“Their efforts should not be forgotten, and we feel that the younger generations who pass by the memorial stone should have an inkling of why the names are set in the marble panels.
“Each – whether rider, official or working club member – contributed to the success the club has achieved in the sport.”
Legendary Formula One commentator Murray Walker, himself an accomplished motorcycle racer, was a regular at the Fife track early in his career at the mic.
Jake added: “The memorial itself was erected in 1984 at the Railway Dip in the park, in memory of Jock Taylor, a club member who rose to fame as World Sidecar Champion in 1980 with Benga Johannson as his passenger.”
Tribute
Sadly, racing’s risk brought with it tragedy and Sunday’s memorial service saw the unveiling of the plaque bearing the names of the five riders who lost their lives there while competing in the sport they loved.
It is placed on a wooden sculpture of a racing motorcyclist and includes that of Angus rider Jimmy Blair, from Monikie, the first rider to lose his life at Beveridge Park in an incident in 1953.
The names of Matt Redmond, Angus Callum, Davy Drummond and Brian McAnelly are also included on the new memorial plaque and family members of the racers were among those who joined the weekend commemoration.
Jake said: “In forty years of racing that number is not high given the miles raced and the speeds they rode at, but five was for us five too many.
“This has been something we have discussed for a while, and we had intended to wait until our centenary year in 2022 to do it.
“But given the passing of a few of our older members recently we though that now that the Covid lockdown has eased a little it might be the right time to do it.”