Edenbridge, Kent came to a standstill yesterday, as thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on motor sport legend, John Surtees OBE, McLaren test driver Oliver Turvey and ex Formula 3 Champion Robbie Kerr in Surtees Edenbridge built Formula 1 and 2 cars. 

The racing drivers were joined by noted motoring journalist Steve Cropley driving a McLaren Supercar, and John’s daughter Edwina driving a Gullwing 300 SL Mercedes-Benz, plus two Grand Prix motorcycles from John’s past. 

Leading the way was an Aston Martin Course Car driven by David Barzilay. The vehicles roared through Edenbridge High Street on Monday 27th May 2013 for 2 laps. The event in Surtees' home town was organized by the Eden Valley Chamber of Commerce as an attraction to the town to showcase what it has to offer. 

The two motor cavalcades formed part of the Edenbridge Fun Day, which also had an objective of raising awareness of the activities of the Henry Surtees Foundation. Speaking at the event John Surtees said: “It’s not often people get to see Formula 1 cars up close and it was amazing to have the High Street closed on a busy Bank Holiday weekend so we could give them a blast. It was a great turn out, and everybody looked like they thoroughly enjoyed it, I certainly did. I hope that it helps to put Edenbridge on the map.”

Peter Kingham, Chairman of The Eden Valley Chamber of Commerce said: “The whole event was a huge success and it has always been our intention to make this an annual event centring on the town's racing construction heritage. The day surpassed all our expectations and we were thrilled to see the town packed out with so many happy smiling faces. This event will help us to put Edenbridge on the map to attract inward investment into the town. Personally, I would like to thank John for all the help and effort he, his staff and friends put into making it such a great day. I hope that this will further promote the work of The Henry Surtees Foundation.”

The Team Surtees and John Surtees related vehicles that took part in the parade included:

·       A TS7 Formula 1 car which John Surtees raced at the British Grand Prix in Brands Hatch in 1970 driven by John Surtees.

·       The TS15 2-litre Formula 2 car which won the prestigious Interlagos race in Brazil in 1973. Driven by past Formula 3 British Champion and A1 Grand Prix runner-up Robbie Kerr.

·       The TS14 Formula 1 car which Mike Hailwood drove to second place in the 1972 Italian Grand Prix was displayed statically.

Engineers associated with John Surtees’ career on two wheels rode the motorcycles including:

·       A 1960 MV Agusta four-cylinder GP motorcycle – John Surtees won seven motorcycle championships riding for MV Agusta.

·       A 1954 BMW Rennsport twin-cylinder motorcycle – John Surtees raced for the factory team at the Nurburgring in 1955.

The vehicles were displayed throughout the day outside the Bradford shop, Station Road, where they were built and designed by predominantly local residents.

The special event featured static displays and a parade of rarely seen race cars and bikes as well as veteran and classic vehicles. Road cars and motorcycles in the parade ranged from two TVR sports cars to several Lambretta and Vespa scooters. There was also a 1968 Jaguar S Type Police car in its original black livery and complete with radio, bell, klaxons and two 'uniformed officers' (mannequins) in the back! The 1932 Alvis Firefly was one of the first to be built and displayed on the company's stand at the Motor Show of that year – where it was sold for £495 (more than four times the price of a new Austin 7). A 1995 Reliant Scimitar Sabre Mk2 is one of just 30 still in use – only about 60 of them were made. Even rarer was the 1938 Scott Prototype Clubman Special, of which only four were built.

Whilst motorbikes provide one of the most cost effective and exciting means of transport on our roads today, they are not without draw backs.

Their compact size mean they are less noticeable and their lack of protection is evident to all, especially to those who have been involved in an accident and sustained motorbike injuries. Wearing bright and protective clothing can help to modify these motorbike injury factors in order to make riding as safe as possible. 

However, it is fact that accidents do and will unfortunately continue to occur. Motorbikes make up around 1% of UK traffic but motorbike injuries consist of 9% of all road casualties. They comprise 19% of those killed or seriously injured on the UKs roads and over 7% of those slightly injured, making bikers the most vunerable UK road user. Sadly as biking becomes more popular, this motorcycle injury percentage is slowly increasing. The most common motorcycle accident is when the driver of another vehicle fails to look properly.

In 47% of motorbike accidents with a car, the driver of the car was at fault for not looking properly. This statistic increases to over 68% at junctions. Motorcyclists themselves as a group of road users are least likely not to look properly, being at fault for this in only 16% of accidents.  

Insurance injury claims on the part of bikers count for less that 1% of claims and their claim freqency is almost two thirds less that that of car drivers. However, when loss of earnings, motorbike injuries and medical costs are factored in, the personal cost of an accident may be much more than just the bike and clothing that needs replacing.  

Common motorbike injuries include whiplash, ‘road rash’ and upper and lower limb fractures. These motorbike injuries are seldom minor and often require hospital treatment and operations.  Most commonly, hospitals operate on bikers who have sustained lower limb, upper limb and neck injuries.   

Dr Rob Patterson   M.B. Ch.B.  D.R.C.O.G.

Cycle Law Scotland has started a petition to encourage the Scottish Government to:  "Pass a bill for strict liability in collisions between motorists and cyclists and cyclists and pedestrians" and needs your help to get it off the ground.  

Here's the link:

Here's why it's important:

The bill is designed to protect the most vulnerable road users and to reflect a hierarchy of road users. It would be applied in Civil Law cases for road traffic collisions between motorists and cyclists and similarly between cyclists and pedestrians. To that end, the campaign also sets out to highlight the dangers cyclists face from motorists and help facilitate a change in attitude amongst road users to one based on mutual respect and understanding.  

We are only one of a very small number of countries (Romania, Cyprus, Malta and Ireland) across Europe, who do not operate such a system of strict liability for vulnerable road users and yet it is not unprecedented in UK law.

You can now follow all the action from the Isle of Man TT Races via your mobile devices - as it happens - with the new free to download Isle of Man TT Races app, available from i-tunes and google play.

With races now decided by fractions of seconds, you can follow the action as it unfolds wherever you are without missing the developments. The easy to use app has been designed both for visitors to the Isle of Man as well as race fans worldwide following the action from homes, offices or while out and about.

There are in-depth rider profiles featuring all the leading solo and sidecar riders at your fingertips including fastest lap, podiums and race wins as well as a short career biography. The app features an interactive map with detailed descriptions of all the key sectors around the 37 3/4 mile course while an 'on board' video voiced by TT rider liaison officer, and former race winner, Richard 'Milky' Quayle gives you the inside track on tackling the famous TT Mountain Course.

The rolling news feed will keep you informed of all the developments on the track as well as track conditions, weather and all the latest news from the world's leading road race as well feeds to the TT's youtube page while you can debate all the latest stories via the official twitter and facebook page and or get up to the minute developments with the RSS feeds. There is also a live audio link to Manx Radio's TT broadcast with live qualifying and race commentary as well as the full fortnight of station broadcasts, Chris Kinley's chat show, competitions and interviews with the stars.

Visitors to the Island will appreciate the campsite listing while users will be able to purchase licensed goods including the latest Isle of Man TT Races merchandise as well as Grandstand and hospitality tickets.

Fans can buy an annual pass to access the comprehensive live timing service for £1.49 (or equivalent euro or dollar price) that allows you to track the field as they negotiate the mountain course. You can follow the race leaders as they reach each of the six sector points or select your favourite riders to follow. The annual subscription includes all qualifying and races from this year's TT Races as well as the Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix that run later in the year.

For £1.49 race fans can also purchase an annual subscription to the 'Video Pass' section, which will contain exclusive content including behind the scenes interviews and press conferences as well as archive and current TT race footage.

BMF Show organisers The Mulberry Group have said that there was an increase in attendance at this years’ BMF Show compared to 2012.

The weekend’s attendance was given as 42,432 which shows an increase of just over 3,000 from last year. “The weekend gave us a small increase on last year” said Mulberry’s MD Martin Chick, “although our target figure was 45,000, however given the fact that the country is still in a difficult way economically and some other shows won’t actually be staged in 2013, we have to take the positives from this and continue to build on them”

The show featured new areas including a fledgling Vintage and Classic area featuring Bonhams and a fine display by the Vincent Owners Club and an Adventure and Overland Touring area which also included a presentation stage hosted by Graham Hoskins (Motorbike Diaries Mad in the Med) and featuring among others: Sam Manicom, Norman and Maggie Magowan, Ed March, Tom Woodrowe, Pat Garrod and Gary Taylor and Patsy Quick from Riders for Health.

The weather certainly helped proceedings and the Bike park on Sunday started to look like it did from a few years ago with marshals having to work hard to park them all up.

Other additions to the show included a big screen which allowed visitors to watch the Moto GP qualifying sessions and the race live on Sunday and Ken Fox’s Wall of Death.

The cavalcade of Clubs in the main arena was the biggest for a number of years and pretty much everyone left with a smile on their face and bags of motorcycle gear in their hands! The BMF Shows are still not back to the ‘Glory’ years of the mid/late 70’s but things are moving in the right direction.

www.thebmfshow.co.uk