FIM Rally

Murnau 8-10 July 1955

Delegation of British Riders to Bavaria

Exactly 70 years ago this year, the tenth meeting in the history of the FIM Rally took place early July in Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany.

Souvenir badges commemorating the event

The small town, located in Upper Bavaria, in the picturesque foothills of the Alps, forms the heart of the Blue Country.

It is close to three lakes: Staffelsee, Riegsee, and Froschhauser, as well as the royal castles of Upper Bavaria. It is 70 km from Munich, 25 km from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and 50 km from Neuschwanstein Castle.

Panoramas of the period showing Murnau and its surroundings

No information on this rally 70 years later

There is currently no accurate information or testimony about this gathering on the internet. We must remedy this. Let's do it today, and once again, thanks to the LPMCC website.

For my part, although I don't have any texts or press clippings about the event in my archives, fortunately I have a small compilation of rare photographic documents taken by British participants present at this gathering in early July 1955.

The caption on the back of this photo indicates that the five British rallyists pictured here are about to leave to visit the BMW factory, then located in Munich-Milbertshofen, 70 km from Murnau.

Since I doubt that any of them, even the youngest of them, will still be alive in 2025 to be able to provide us with information or comments on this website about this meeting, the reader will have to be content with the photos from my archives inserted here on this page.

They will only have to use their own imagination, through them, to form a personal idea of the atmosphere and the mood of the event, at that time in the mid-fifties.

A view of the British entrants' machines at Murnau, at a time when the glorious British motorcycle industry was still rightly abundantly represented on roads around the world.

Who will recognize his own?

I personally love these group photos showing, with sufficient clarity, the faces of rallyists from a generation older than ours, who came before us in the same love and passion for motorcycle touring.

I dare to dream that by discovering on this page the faces of these British participants in the 1955 FIM Rally, a reader of this site will recognize a relative, who knows, possibly their father or grandfather.

They're not all in full force posing for a souvenir photo, but here's a large portion of the group of British riders making up the UK delegation to this rally. The caption on the back of the photo reveals that they're waiting for the bus doors to open to set off on their tour

While we cannot accurately put a first and last name on these faces, we nevertheless have the names of some of these British participants written in pen on the back of certain photos. Some are illegible due to crooked handwriting; only four are identifiable, revealing the following names: Carr; Cowell; Conoley; Murrell.

Among the other photographs of British participants, those seen below are also clear enough to allow faces to be identified.

(l.): A touch of English femininity is always pleasing to the eye. (r.): Two motorcyclists from the British delegation apparently caught on camera in the machine park

A 'Noddy's Bike' among the iron steeds of the time

On the motorcycle side, one of the shots shows a couple posing in the background of a Velocette LE Mark 1 circa 1950. A machine that we remember was used at the time by more than fifty British police forces. Incidentally, the motorcyclists who rode them inherited the name "Noddies" because they were required to salute senior officers; this model was therefore in turn nicknamed "the Noddy bike."

(l.): The ‘Noddy bike’ in the foreground. (r.): British rallyists deep in conversation

Chic riders in mid-50s summer

Below are more photos of participants in the British delegation. Note once again the summer attire of the mid-fifties motorcyclist.

Wearing a beret isn't exclusively reserved for the French; this British man, sporting one, is proof of this.

The photo below has the advantage of not having to wonder what nationality these two participants might be. The famous flag they're parading leaves no doubt as to their country of origin.

"It has the crosses of Saints George, Patrick, and Andrew.
This rectangle cloth displays a triple hue.
She represents the United Kingdom with red, white, and blue.
It symbolizes the courage of a people tried and true."

MSC Heidelberg-Wieblingen

The very last photo in this compilation shows British rallyists posing alongside two uniformed members representing the German Motor Sport Club Heidelberg-Wieblingen, participating in the event.

Note the beautifully embroidered club flag brandished above their helmets.

For the record, this club affiliated with the ADAC was still very young at the time this photo was taken since it was founded only two years earlier, in 1953, with 29 founding members in its ranks.

As you can see from the various photos above, the British delegation at the 1955 FIM Rally was relatively well represented. However, not sufficiently, since that year it was the Netherlands who won first place in the event.

- Jean-Francois Helias