Now back to 1928 and Sunbeam, who of course were also experiencing difficulties. The same range of cars, little changed from the previous year were offered, and when road tested they still received praise from journalists.

On the competition side the Wolverhampton cars gained numerous successes in record breaking runs with Kaye Don being a star performer. Local man E.L. Bouts also had a number of successes at Brooklands. The name Bouts is of course well known to this day in the Wolverhampton motor trade for the family still operate a thriving motor agency and garage. If we are to report great international successes we must once again turn to the Wolverhampton motorcycle concerns. Despite the fact that they were suffering trading difficulties, both A.J.S. and Sunbeam continued to support a full competition programme.

On lap 4 Tim Hunt found his form, pulled out all the stops and took a 2 second lead over Birch. Hunt’s final lap was covered in 31minutes 10seconds, an average speed of 71.0lm.p.h. This was a record and the fastest the Isle of Man mountain circuit had been covered to date. The winner’s race time of 3 hours l9 minutes 58seconds also constituted a record at 67.94m.p.h. 2nd place fell to Dick Birch who finished 3 minutes l0 seconds behind Hunt.

Around this time a new motor sport came to England, called speedway or dirt track racing. This type of racing had been popular in the United States and in Australia for some years. A number of British enthusiasts had seen it down under and thought it could become a popular sport at home, and so indeed it would. After the war speedway became Britain's second most popular sport after soccer. None the less let it be noted that the BBC refused to broadcast speedway results. At first dirt track racing was indulged in by almost anyone, and many types of machines were used. After a few years things began to get more specialised, and many manufacturers listed a ‘dirt’ model amongst their ranges. The specifications for such machines were varied and included flat twins, ‘V’ twins, ohv and camshaft models. A.J.S. were fairly early in the field and produced a very fast overhead camshaft machine and they enjoyed some success in the hands of riders like Billy Lamont, Frank Arthur and Cecil Brown. Sunbeam were a bit late in entering this market, not listing a 'dirt' model until 1930. It was exhibited at that year’s motorcycle show.

As would be expected of a Marston product the Sunbeam speedway machine was beautifully made and finished. In effect it was a Model 90 with single port head, and apart from a lowered frame and small fuel tank it was in fact a standard road racing model. Forks of T.T. pattern did not make for a good 'dirt' bike and there were few buyers at the asking price of £90. Well known local rider Tommy Deadman rode one of the Sunbeam prototypes in a few races and had a very hectic time of it. Leg trailing was at that time universal and Tommy found the machine near unmanageable, so he tried leg forward, but with 1ittle better result. It could well be that Tommy Deadman was the first speedway rider to try the leg forward style of riding.

After protests from the few riders who had them, the Sunbeam was modified to have speedway type forks, but it was all to late for by now the JAP motor had come on the scene and speedway machines would become very specialised and all would look alike. Just before leaving the 'dirt' we can note that this sport started quite early at Monmore Green and despite ups and downs continues to the present day.

Dodson and his Sunbeam.

There was little change in the Sunbeam Motor Company's range of cars for 1929, however some interesting projects were under development. Experiments were being made with diesel engines for aeroplane use, a commercial vehicle chassis and a new contender for the world land speed record was under development.

Way back around 1910 Hugh Rose had started work at Sunbeam and when Sidney Guy left in 1914 to form his own company, Rose left with him and moved to Fallings Park. He returned to Sunbeam in the late 1920s to design commercial vehicles and to be in charge of the new record attempt car.

During 1929 two Sunbeam commercial vehicles were announced, both intended for passenger work. They were the two axle “Pathan” and the three axle “Sikh”. Both shared the same eight litre six cylinder ohv petrol engine which developed l42b.h.p. They were fast vehicles and it is said the prototypes were tested by collecting fish at Grimsby. Only a handful were built and all were fitted with single deck coach or bus bodywork. Sunbeam commercial vehicle production soon ceased, but as we shall see the name would become well known for trolley buses later on.

Whilst Sunbeam were trying to break into the commercial field A.J.S. were also developing similar vehicles at their Lower Walsall Street factory. They were launched in 1929 and “Commercial Motor” magazine gave a quite comprehensive write up of the new A.J.S. chassis. Two models were produced, the “Pilot” and the “Commodore”.

Production of Stars for 1929 would be around 294 cars of which all but 45 were 18/50s. This popular model had a 69 x 100mm ohv six cylinder engine and with saloon bodywork cost £575, whilst the five seater tourer sold for £495.

Commercial vehicle production would total 157 including a low loading coach chassis with 80 x l20mm ohv six cylinder engine, listed at £645. It conformed to Scotland Yard’s regulations to carry 26 passenger bodywork.