In 1905, at the Brighton Speed Trials, French sportsman Henri Cissac, by now into his fifth year of motorcycle competition after retiring from an impressive cycling career, broke the world speed record for motorcycles. Covering the flying kilometre in just 26 seconds, Cissac achieved a speed of 86mph on his 1489cc Peugeot twin, which weighed 50kg, with just over half that weight in the engine. This news was all over the national papers and was sure to have caught the attention of Arthur Graham Forster, who had become proprietor and manager of North London Garage (NLG) in the same year. This speed record and the one Cissac set at Blackpool a week later, on July 27, 1905, of 87.38mph, were incredible feats for the time ñ and would bring worldwide fame to those that could beat them.
Arthur and Joseph Forster were the sons of dental surgeon George Graham Forster. After gaining a technical education at the City and Guilds technical college, Finsbury, London, in 1878 Arthur went on to gain shop experience at N and CH Nicolas. Located on Corsica Street, St Pauls Road, Highbury, London, NLG was an automotive shop; I havenít found out what they were doing between 1905 and 1908, but it is assumed that they may well have been investing time and effort into supplying motorised transport to their paying customers, and possibly making inroads into the motorcycle industry.
With the building of the Brooklands being formulated in 1906, there is no doubt that NLG would have seen that having a £150,000 test and race track practically on their doorstep, would be a chance to not just test their creations, but also promote their garage. They duly prepared a special racing motorcycle to enter into the first official race at Brooklands on Easter Monday, April 20, 1908. The machine was a lightweight affair, with a competitive choice of engine, the Peugeot V-twin, its bore of 80 and stroke of 98 giving a capacity of 984 cubic centimetres. French engines were, at the time, the most developed and reliable, due to the fact French roads were long and straight, allowing for higher speeds, while road racing had been legal since 1896. Britain was still limited to 20mph since 1903 and road racing was not permitted, meaning any motorcycle racing was taking part on cycle tracks, most notably Canning Town.
N.L.G. Peugeot twin as built for the first official race at Brooklands, April 20, 1908.
On the new NLG offering, various components had been drilled and the overall design of their lightweight racer had been well informed by their contemporaries, especially the likes of the Collier brothers and Harry Martin. The five and a half mile race at Brooklands offered the winner the option of 20 sovereigns or a cup as their prize. With 24 entrants, this was going to be a hotly contested affair, not just for the money but the bragging rights of being the first to win a race at the new track. Just imagine, two dozen men on a variety of single, twin and even four cylinder machines, frantically pushing their mounts across the start in an effort to get away first. The rider for NLG was Will Cook, an employee at the garage. It took him a couple of tries to get his machine going, but the 7-9hp Peugeot pulled away ‘finely’ from the starting straight. From the report in The Motor Cycle (April 22, 1908) Cook had no real contest, coming in by ‘about five-eighths of a mile’. Legendary rider Charlie Collier was third. The NLG machine achieved 63mph, which apparently wasnít as fast as the Peugeot achieved in testing on the previous Tuesday, when, over 30 miles, Cook averaged 68mph, with no wind. It was a crosswind that hindered top speeds of the riders on that Easter Monday.
This first win at Brooklands was a great boost for the previously unknown marque. The garage obviously knew what they were doing in terms of part selection and motorcycle building and tuning for speed, along with having a very competent rider in Cook. In the following weeks, people were asking the Press: ‘Who is NLG?’ The answer was given in a snippet that appeared in the April 29, 1908, edition of The Motor Cycle...
The Messrs. Forster have for years taken an interest in motorcycling, but the winning machine at Brooklands is the first and only one yet made by them. Mr Cookís success on this experimental machine should give sufficient encouragement to Messrs. Forster to exploit NLG still further.
Exploit they certainly did and the NLG Peugeot would go on to appear in the top three, often in first place, over the next year, with 1909 being a great season at Brooklands for NLG. The Peugeot was clearly constantly improved, as its performances were fairly consistent and the top speeds were getting significantly faster. At the third BMCRC Members race meeting, June 16, record time trials were held after tea where Cook achieved the fastest time of the day at 75.921 for the flying start km.
N.L.G. 16-20hp J.A.P. record attempt machine.
NLG didn’t only run the 7-9hp Peugeot at Brooklands and for the first time on June 6, 1909, NLG tried their 16-20hp JAP-engined special in an attempt to break Cissacís record, which had stood for four years. This monster of an engine, with its 120x120mm bore and stroke, was reputed to be one of three big V-twins produced by JAP ultimately meant for aeroplane applications, but in the name of speed JAP provided these engines to a few different parties to see what it was capable of. The engine made its first appearance in The Motor Cycle in November 1907, alongside the quote: ‘A 16hp JAP air-cooled engine, cylinders 120x120 mm, not intended for touring machines!’ Later that month, at the Stanley show, BAT (Best After Test) and Matchless displayed specials with this engine cradled in the frame. Period articles show the Collier-made machine which looked, letís say lightweight, with its single loop frame cradling this huge lump of an engine. The Colliersí attempt never made any official record assaults; it seems that Charlie Collier did test it at Brooklands (probably in 1909) but it was deemed ‘unmanageable.’ BAT never built a record attempt machine, but a motorcycle with the engine that they were given is in The Motor Cycle, July 1, 1908, as WH (Harry) Bashall is shown with his road going ‘20hp JAP-engined BAT bicycle.’ This is clearly a personal endeavour, as there is no other mention of the big JAP anywhere else.
By the time Cook wheeled the 16-20hp NLG onto the Brooklands track, the engine was two years old ñ despite this, rumours of this machineís ability to break 90mph were rife. The frame was much more substantial than the Collier prototype, with twin down tubes and a generally more substantial frame. One would assume that those at NLG had witnessed the ‘unmanageable’ nature of the Collier prototype and made theirs more stable. Fed by a Longuemare carburettor, and with final belt drive and rigid forks, Cook took to the banks of Brooklands. On this first attempt over the flying kilometre, Cook managed 84.247mph and not enough to better Cissac’s legendary Blackpool run, but it did set an unlimited track record at Brooklands.
The 16-20hp NLG made another attempt at the end of the season, on November 11, 1909. Unofficial hand-timing clocked Cook at 90mph, but the electrical timing equipment failed, resulting in no official time. He tried again with official hand-timing, but unfortunately the time was not satisfactory; that and a mechanical issue ended the attempts. This did not stop Motor Cycling putting Cook on the cover in a dynamic illustration of the beast on the banks of Brooklands, with the title ‘Ninety Miles an Hour!’ The beast had certainly caught the eye of the Press and made for a great article, despite no official record. Cook explained that he was ‘hardly ever in the saddle’ at anything over 70mph.
The 16-20hp NLG didnít make any more record attempts after this, but with the publicity behind the 16-20hp and the success of the 7-9 Peugeot, NLG had capitalised on the opening of Brooklands and the potential to showcase the motorcycles that NLG could build. After this, more NLGs would appear at Brooklands and in 1910, HE Parker is listed as riding a 995cc NLG-Peugeot; however, W Cook is also listed as riding a 995cc NLG, so it is hard to tell whether this is the same machine or a privateer. One thing that is clear is that NLG were actively promoting and selling race machines off the back of their success at Brooklands. At the Stanley Show of 1910, NLG were one of the few motorcycle exhibitors. An article in The Motor Cycle (November 17, 1910) gives us an insight to what NLG were trying to achieve as a motorcycle marque. With a 4hp JAP touring model listed, sporting a low saddle position and ìA new NLG front wheel stand... bolted onto the crank case boltsî (see illustration) which allowed the user to change either the front or rear wheels with ease. There is also mention of an exhaust whistle, which is operated by a foot peddle. These innovations show that NLG were trying to pave their own way, while catering to the touring market. As well as these practical additions, a photograph of an NLG racer with a 7hp Anzani twin is shown, complete with accumulator ignition, rigid forks and a lightweight torpedo tank. This sort of lightweight racer was now in demand from the privateer that wanted to race at Brooklands and, from this photograph, it is clear that NLG were offering race ready machines with various engines to their customers. The Anzani-engined NLG is never recorded as competing at Brooklands but after 1910, NLGs with JAP single cylinder engines were listed in increasing numbers, indicating sales of these bespoke machines were taking place.
One rider of note who appears to have bought into the NLG marque is Victor Wilberforce. Outside of Brooklands, Victor preferred to ride a 5hp Indian for trials work but on the track and for speed trials, a 2 hp NLG-JAP was his chosen machine. A the Easter meeting, Wilberforce won the 65mph handicap on his 297cc NLG-J.A.P, beating Harry Collier by 16 seconds, showing that the combination of rider and machine were competitive. Wilberforce even entered the Junior TT in 1911 with the NLG. The Motor Cycle report on The Motor Cycle Tourist Trophy Races (June 29, 1911) points out some innovative parts on Wilberforce’s machine:
The extra air port is led to a belled trumpet mouth, which is pointed forward in such a way that in theory the air pressure induces a rapidly moving column of air across the jet, to a certain extent forcing mixture into the cylinder.
Whether this was Wilberforce’s innovation or an NLG experiment is not clear, but there is also an illustration of the modified jet, that allows for better vaporisation. With this in mind, it is documented that NLG did advertise their own jets and so it does lead one to think that these innovations may well have come from the firm.
In 1912, the NLG name does not come up in any Brooklands listings, as far as I’ve found, and NLG’s focus seems to shift more towards proving their machines in long distance events. Their rider seems to be AV Deacock, who is listed throughout 1912 competing in various long distance events, including winning a silver medal in the NW London MCC Open Trial to Gloucester. Deacock is programmed for this event riding an NSU, but it is probably safe to assume this was a ëtypo,í as he rode an NLG for all the other events that year. The big achievement of the year for Deacock and NLG was the MCC London to Edinburgh, where, on the 6hp, three speed machine, he rode to Edinburgh and back and ‘800 miles was covered without the use of a tool!’ claimed an NLG advert. The advert also exclaimed: ìThe Easiest Way from London to Edinburgh and back is the NLG way. ONE entered. ONE finished.î This was quite a bold claim and possibly over-exaggerated, as there was quite a list of double journey medals for that yearís contest. Nevertheless, this was a great bit of publicity and Deacock entered many other long distance events, spreading the NLG word.
Beyond this, the NLG story seems to fizzle out as far as the press is concerned. Graceís Guide says that by 1915 NLG were only offering a JAP single in their range of machines, and then production stopped. As far as entries in The Motor Cycle, there is only one, lone NLG rider, L Cushman, who entered in some of the 1913 Brooklands races on his 482cc NLG-JAP. Then there is a few classifieds for second hand machines, but then the NLG faded into history, after making a big splash into the new world of motorcycle racing at the birth of Brooklands just a few years previously.
(Special thanks to Simon Miles, Pavel Malanik, Paul at go-faster.com, Martin Gegg and Perry Barwick without whom this article wouldnít be as well informed.)