We are currently searching for further content for this section. If you know of a source or can obtain text or images to add kindly get in touch with us. Thank you for your interest!  Jack Daniels on a Junior Velocette KTT took a Senior Mainland TT win at Eppynt in 1948, well documented in http://www.silverdragons.co.uk

Mumbles photographer M A Clare has clearly marked date & Venue in his well known way & this IS LLANMADOC 1937 & 'Jack ' Daniels readying for the race. (With thanks for pictures to Richard Clare) 

Same day as above at Llanmadoc Sands, Jack's seated well back style is plain, another  M A Clare of Mumbles pics.

Les Griffiths shown here on that ex Jack Daniels Norton at Pendine, he was  to whom the machine above was sold pre 1946.     However is that really Dylan Thomas whom locals fervently claim actually was there from his Laugharne Boathouse?.       DT was not at that stage really well known although locals remain insistant that he even said a few words over that Tannoy system which seemed of far more interest to him than the races.   Jack Daniels had moved to 6 Cwmdonkin Drive & at No 5 Where Dylan Thomas lived we currently find a shrine to Dylan Thomas, when you listen to Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' you may hear "Mr Daniels had a Spaniel which could neither sit nor stand.....Well, Jack's Black & white Spaniel 'Nipper' was returned to his earlier home at Murton to the care of Roy Pritchard & his now late dad Ernie at Murton because of it's love of country life rather than town centres!, was there really a connection? I'm not convinced.   a lot of 'fringe' connection possibilities though.

Always with a Red Dragon on his helmet, shown here in the Isle of Man earlier lining up on the Triumph he took his son Gordon Daniels (then 6 yrs old) to help plan Eppynt TT Races Circuit in Wales, Gordon years later was to race to  win the Senior Manx Grand Prix after even after a tumble en route.

Jack Daniels plus his rivals did not appear in this TT Programme here, read on about the Junior. MANX GRAND PRIX with a who's who of riders in the Junior Programme below, this is misleading but big thanks to Dennis Quinlan for helping put it straight.

Here is Jack at the Isle of Man on the Mk VIII KTT he was riding in the Junior, before his tumble at  Ramsey Hairpin, he spent several painful minutes straightening a handlebar & footrest before continuing with a shattered megaphone, Jack finished 5th & when you note that the first 6 were all covered by a single minute it does not take more than my own primitive calculations to see that he was leading by well over 'a mile' & would easily have won!. (Many thanks to JD's son Brian for the data), dapper & 'tidy' perhaps after spending some time as a hairdresser at David Evans's store in Swansea Jack was now partner of Bragg & Daniels Motorcycle Establishment of St Helens Lane here he is at Isle of Man before he took that Vincent 1000 machine B & D had purchased 'over the counter' at Handel Davies's Emporium of Oxford Street somehow beating both Vincent Works Riders in 1948 to win the Unlimited Clubmans TT, a completely unexpected race pattern emerged in which Swansea's Jack Daniels had ridden unexpectedly well, Jack had ridden to surprise them both & that George Brown's machine running out of petrol when all other Clubmans Vincents competing had plenty left in their tanks seemed very strange, none of Vincent's competent pit crew believed or admitted they had underfilled George's machine.  Some competitors suggested Black Shadow components had been used & thus the consumption was greater, who shall ever know, Daniels won fair and square, justice seemed to be have been done.  

Daniels's style shows again at Speed on his way to Win that 1948 Isle of Man Unlimited Clubmans TT.  Clubmans should be a machine available to Clubmen, not works tuned, using development parts (which by this time Vincent actually had ready for their developing Black Shadow machinery etc.,) Jack's way of riding seemed far different to the other Brit Circuit Racers, it worked superbly though, fashion changes & sometimes fades, STYLE lasts forever.  Lap timers however calculated & realized privateer Jack Daniels was actually leading from midway through the last lap after George Brown had somehow & unexpectedly run out of petrol with quite a way to go.  ALL other vincent Clubmans machine had enough fuel to finish whilst George Brown's machine had suddenly when both George Brown & Phil Heath were called upon to speed up, immediately put in a lap speed of 3 mph faster than the other Works Vincent.  Mistake filling petrol tank! was a Vincent spokesman's statement, Jack Daniels in his first real road Race after racing on Grass, Scrambles & sand was well ahead of the second Vincent Work rider F P Heath.  Motor development man 'sprinter & tuner to be' George Brown's machine has been accused of using readily available Black Shadow components for his extra straight line speed, & those ever unanswered & unproven suggestions of quietly used Black Shadow components had raised petrol consumption does have some credibility when other Vincents raced that day all had plenty of petrol left. The Eppynt TT Races also had a Senior confrontation between the works Vincent, this time Vincent was allowed to use tuned components or whatever they wished & Jack Daniels on a Velocette 350 won it whilst George Brown had that terrible crash resulting in facial injuries, after this, Girdraulics were brought in to replace what had been  seen as inadequate girder forks for such a machine, & George next appeared on the Grey Flash 500 Vincent made so famous by John Surtees.

A stage setting List of Contestants?, is this APPEARS the early not THE ONE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SEPT MGP EVENT

Where better to show a picture of the 1948 massed start event down Bray Hill, is this the TTor Manx Grand Prix, help, can someone tell us please?.  A superb memory jerking view, however we cannot tell which of the events this 1948 picture is.  Is there anyone out there who can help Dave Martin's pic further along please?

Vincent works team & an island full of spectators plus the always focused world outside this tussle were about to see a determined private entrant winning aginst a works team & all were about to witness history being made!.

The Late George Brown who all this time later has 3 World records & some Nationals still to his name on Vincents, the works claimed the Vincent ran out of Petrol, & this was after their team had received 'go faster' signs from Pits & around the Circuit, but JD was increasing his lead & several theories arose about the actual retiring, including that the Works Rapides were already using Black Shadow racers mechanical parts which made them thirstier for petrol & they ran out of 'juice'. (we will never know for sure)

This pic. brought some erroneous tales from 'pundits' one claiming there was a sprig of lucky heather beneath the front number plate & that the luck had been sold with it!....Harold Bragg still an active nonogenarian & who is standing here with JD advises the 'Sprig' is actually a weed in the background near the doorway when they decided to use another pic!. 

Let us not omit the other Programmed Events on the 1948 TT

With big thanks to Dave Martin, from his collection here is One of the travelling Marshals for IoM 1948 Events, these lads cover the disappointments & suffering of a great many, horrifying to think my first Grass Track racing outfit was a kneeler powered by one of this earlier big pipes Sq4 motors, bought fm an ad in the Exchange & Mart!, stuck into a BSA plunger frame built at a Seaside Llanelli shed with 16" wheels fuelled by Methanol, (it got left behind by decent twins & 'soon saw me driving a Triumph with a featherbed frame..  I take time to learn!!)

Time here to view Jack's son Gordon, winning the Manx Grand Prix Senior even after he too fell & picked up to restart & continue, he wanted to win it & the helmet logo says it all, this and many others provided by Isle of Man photographic TT expert Bill Snelling who has helped myself plus others immensely, thanks Bill.

And sure enough, this is the retake. showing there was no 'lucky heather' under the front number plate.  This is where Mick Rowe was a mechanic and Harold would drive to work in his Lanchester semi-automatic, singing opera loudly & here is to where Mick Rowe rode his Rudge & Harold's son Colin rode his Cafe racer style Royal Enfield.  Mick Rowe is in our Guest book and would be delighted to contact Colin Bragg again to yarn about past days. 

Just below a Jack Surtees ad. (John Surtees 's dad!) you may just read it was for sale from 6 Cwmdonkin Drive the very next door to Dylan T's shrine at No 5 to sell Jack Daniels's TT winning Vincent. 

Pier Hotel, Mumbles Sir A. Jenkins Lord Mayor of Swansea & seated Lady Jenkins. Mabel, Jack's wife is to his left in the pic & to his right stands Mr Ragione, B.P.'s representation at the event with his daughter at far right on the front row.    Mr. Treseder stands to left of the Lord Mayor & to his right is Bill James, BSA dealer then of Oxford St. Swansea.  (more to be added as it emerges) F W Haines? not in the pic!, he was taking the picture.

British MAINLAND'S 5.2 Miles per lap, LARGEST TT CIRCUIT still exists at Eppynt in a Mountain Range high above above Sennybridge, & where Edelweiss actually can be seen Epynt comes from the name Epona, Pagan Goddess of (wild?) Horses & where the word 'Pony' comes from.  Epynt is claimed to be the origin/source of Welsh Cobs, In English the area is termed  'Haunt of the horse'. you can click on http://www.silverdragons.co.uk to see that entire Archive online. (Eppynt in English is with two 'p's & Welsh, one 'p'.)

A Race Committee was formed & reviewed Eppynt as a TT Circuit following the snows of 1947.

Cometh the day a Brynamman (Upper!) man Wilmott Evans (upper pic in his younger days!) rode & won against the feared Italian Moto Guzzi machine named Gambalungino by the factory.  It was ridden by Maurice Cann & behind him on the staggered starting grid after picking marked golf balls out of a bag to ballot for grid positions was placed Wilmott.   When the flag fell on the first ever race at Eppynt and all roared away the Guzzi faltered and stopped, newspapers reported a sparking plug was changed and a hare & tortoise race ensued with Wilmott forcing his 250 Triumph to an unexpected win just ahead of a furiously chasing Moto Guzzi.    A tale which I would never confirm is that Wilmott had noticed the Moto Guzzi petrol tap was in the off position!, it is I feel something best to no more than conjure with, Wilmott's nephew, my old friend Carwyn still lives in Heol y Gelynen.   Wilmott had used that machine for vintage runs etc & was the doyen of the vintage enthusiasts.  That bike pictured a few years ago was owned by Chris Thomas who for some reason sold it.

Maurice Cann on that speedy & expected to win easily Moto Guzzi Gambalungino getting his goggles in place for a hard chase after the 'spark plug' change ...'or was it the other rumour? which Moto Guzzi would have been horrified to learn of. Wilmott got there first & the next year in 1949 the Moto Guzzi came home streets ahead.

 Wilmott Evans on the little Triumph 250 shown above wins first ever TT Race at Eppynt on his & Jack Daniels's day, here the flag waves him home.

Another machine expected to challenge in this first Race was the Triumph Twin LEF shown here with Journalist Jock Wilson seated & then Lewis then John Harrowell then Bob Foster who still has the original machine, a loose exhaust pipe slowed it at Eppynt that 1948 day. Lewis, Ellis & Foster special, Ellis never appeared with the others.

That initial 1948 Eppynt TT 250 Race had Jack Sparrow of Wem competing on an Excelsior, this is the same unit, by now smartly developed to compete in the 1954 IoM Lightweight event, it looks like Triumph front forks but that frame? is it AJS 7R type or what?, does anyone care to offer a guess please. 

Another Hare & Tortoise race! but different contestants with completely different story.   Start of 1948 Senior race! Carmarthen's Emrys Walters on the far left, George Brown No 87, No 64 is Les Archer Jnr. & behind No 88 Jack Daniels's helmet emblem shows his position. 

George Brown now shown at Eppynt 1948 TT on the Vincent Works Black Shadow to deal with Jack Daniels who was on a private machine roughly a third of its capacity George streaked away along the downhill straight from the start to be slowly gained on until he had a horrific crash at Dixie's Corner, Les Graham ran over from the nearby Paddock & pulled Kenniwell Dixon away saying it was far too serious an injury to even look at George.   George Brown recovered to become a World beater on Vincents in Sprint events.

Les Archer Jnr, took over the Lead after George Brown's crash at Dixie's Corner & Jack Daniels stuck to his task & caught the 500 cc machine on his 350 and take a look at his clear lead crossing the finish line.

Jack Daniels closing on a later World Champion Les Archer Jnr. on ex Stanley Woods's 500 Velocette again 150cc larger than Jack's 350 Velo,  Les became World Champion at Moto Cross for Nortons.

Jack Daniels crosses the line a clear winner to take the Epynt TT Silver Dragon Trophy.

Here is Jack Daniels at Eppynt #32 in the 350 event, behind him is on 55 D M Spencer-Smith on his 348 Douglas & 54 is W R Fletcher on his OK Supreme, both the latter are of the BMCRC, Eddie Stephens has his back to us behind #54. that apprears to be a Swansea beret worn possibly by Bill Rowe?

A Silver Dragon Eppynt TT Trophy won By Jack Daniels of Swansea.

WINNER OF THE SENIOR TT AT EPPYNT £130 prize money too, & is the well wrapped chap with the hat in the foreground Handel Davies?, that 'wee chap' in the Pixie hat is Peter Daniels the 2 1/2 yrs old youngest son of Jack & Mabel Daniels, Peter now lives at Houston USA & his son Simon too saw his Grandfather & father together in this pic. after all these years. 

Jack was killed in a freak accident at Cartersford on 31st October 1948 when tuning the Velocette seen earlier, tragically his son Brian who was only 9 years old was standing at opposite side of the road & first on the actual scene.   At Oystermouth Cemetery his headstone portrays tribute to his talent & achievements his loss to his wife Mabel & family plus the World of Motorcycle Racing & to have been a sad one in all respects. 

My old friend & fine racer the late Dave James gave me this to add, it was to him from a Merry Eppynt Dinner attended by himself & signed here by Wilmott Evans & Jack Simister.

In 'Our Host' you see J A Goble? well here was the man attending on race day with another involved Will Davies, you can note their Eppynt Race Officials lapel ID.

Eddie Stephens, here with his shooting stick quickly became jocularly known as 'Lord Eppynt' to friends & here he is with Stan Hugget of the ACU.

Jack Daniels wearing his black beret with his mechanic Bill Rowe to his left, Handel Davies wearing his customary bow tie is at the far right& between these is JD's friend F W Haines standing apparently casually there & who had for once arranged to get himself into one of his memorable pictures.  This was taken outside the Swansea Oxford Street located Emporium, >behind them Posters decorate the window for 2 TT Races JD won, note JD's beret, popular with Swansea Club members Post WW2. The POSTER between JD & FWH proudly displays that 80.5 MPH Average speed Daniels recorded on a Private untuned 1948 Rapide, which with tyres of that period is far more than just remarkable' plus with the girder forks Vincents wore prior to Girdraulics forks this can be better described as incredible!, 'poster high in the window to the left of the group announces EPPYNT TT 1948, 'Jack won that Unlimited event too, J D Haines now of Orange County USA & aged 63 ('ouch, same as me) recalls his trip with Handel Davies as a young lad to gaze, sniff Castrol R plus hear 'unbaffled' megaphones at Pendine Sand Races. The Following 10 pic unique section has been submitted kindly from the HAINES COLLECTION by John D Haines & Julie Riera.

Sadly, at Jack Daniels funeral after a freak road accident which took from us a great racer who sadly seems hardly recalled by the people of Swansea, the headwear was to be worn with respect by the Swansea Club motorcyclists which were to be part of the cortege to his Mumbles resting place, the world lost a great man, 'shall continue, a World War had robbed the world of so many people & removed a section of life patterns, Mick D Rowe now of Oregon started his first job at Bragg & Daniels premises in St Helens Lane & both he and John D Haines attended the funeral.  

Frank W Haines, had been involved in flying & photography & opened probably the most noted Photographic premises in the area, in 1949 at the age of 40! & still a well skilled motorcyclist FW (seen here with Bill Rowe (father of Mick D Rowe both now of Oregon USA) his 'mechanic' & who was a skilled Camera Repair technician). Frank W Haines decided he would race in the Isle of Man TT, he even obtained the Racing number 40 for his 348cc Norton, what was to follow provided him with a recorded sequence portraying skill, determination plus bravery?, we shall enlarge upon each pic as time allows. These pics courtesy of Julie Riera & John D Haines mark some Pics reaching FW's Swansea Shop for developing, another absolute chance which can not really be explained.

F W Haines always took great pics plus seemed to record occasions & on this we see a fellow competitor of his in the 1949 Junior, Geoff Duke weighing in his Junior Norton, he was to come second to Cromie McCandless of the family which brought us improvements in frame suspensions resulting in the famous Norton Featherbed frame (I used them too!, in a different type of comp. 'see the foot of Home Page) 

Not really the Speed assembly associated with Geoff Duke whom you see above, but hey to get around & have a place to sleep as well, I would have dreamt of this set-up.  Thanks to ECCLES for providing an unmistakable location ID. Many thanks to Dave Martin for sending in.

Number 40 highly placed in a gaggle of riders on the mountain, at Keppel Gate where the regulars know not to get wide!

FW & machine at high speed clout the right side verge together!, over the brow is the run down to Creg ny Bar, so few realise the Cryg y Bar  on the road from Llandeilo past Talley Abbey to Lampeter means just the same. 

They spin along the verge in a high speed crash until the machine alone careers across the road

Helpers race to the machine & concern for the rider well back & across the course is not shown here

Helped to his feet FW's helmet indicates the abrasive severity of the crash, some restraint too seems indicated.

F W Haines in leathers & helpers recover to straighten the machine as best they can in the 1949 350 TT

'Dauntless' is the sort of term which springs to mind at getting restarted at this point! 

 Hardly credible F W Haines gets back aboard to speed on & obtain a coveted finishers award

Saundersfoot Club Dinner, Centre is BSA works rider Fred Rist & to his left Elwyn Rees & Far left with the bow tie is Dave James who flew Blenheims & Later Beaufighters in WW2.

West Walian Enthusiasts from Sandersfoot & the entire area ready to board Morrison of Tenby buses go to Eppynt (unsure which yr., can someone assist?

Believed to be the 1953 Trip from West in Morrison of Tenby Buses to see J Adams of Lamphey riding at Eppynt, once again, assistance identifying called for. 

The Final races on Eppynt in 1953

As Above

Carmarthen's Silverware included a Gallery of Dragons.

Here is old friend Ron Jones of Shrewsbury at Banbury Run in 2001, 49 years earlier Ron won that same Silver Dragon he holds here which Wilmott Evans & Maurice Cann, Roland Pike & Cecil Sandford who became 3 times a World champion on 3 different Italian machines, MV Agusta, moto Guzzi & in 59 a Mondial.  Ron still restores & prepares superbly, rides like the wind.

This is the Douglas works development Racing machine which was ridden at Eppynt TT of 1950 by Franz Pados who is now in Canada, This machine has been lovingly cared for by David Coles of Bristol & a short while ago It was at Ponthir Show winning an award.  David has done a superb job on a unique machine. The machine & Franz Pados can be seen in the 1950 Picture Gallery in www.silverdragons.co.uk  the Archive of Eppynt TT