OPERATION MATADOR Revisited
Refuelling on the go. Note the pipe that Mark Grimwade is smoking
Fifty years ago, five students drove a small petrol mower non-stop from Edinburgh to Hyde Park, London in just four days. Now in their early 70s, they recently got back together to celebrate their epic journey and Kevin Marks was there to witness the event.
F
ive former students, who cut a swathe 50 years ago when they rode a Ransomes Matador mower non-
stop from Edinburgh to London’s Hyde Park in just four days, got back together recently to commemorate their epic journey. Ransomes Jacobsen hosted a two-day event to help them celebrate their remarkable achievement. Back in 1959, Tom Hudson, Mike Smith, Mike Savage, Hugh Tansley and John Wilson, who were students at Hatfield Technical College, and employees of the De Havilland Aircraft Company, decided to test the reliability of small petrol engines, so they hatched a plot to see if they could drive a small motor mower from Edinburgh to London. Initially, they had to obtain a suitable
Cold and wet close to the Scottish border A High Street somewhere in the UK!
A Bedford Dormobile was the student’s mobile home for three nights
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mower, so they contacted Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries, the forerunner of today’s Ransomes Jacobsen company, who readily agreed to help them out. Mark Grimwade was an engineer with the company back then and was tasked with assisting the students in their research. The only modification to the mower was the addition of a deeper sump to the 288cc Villiers engine to provide enough lubrication for the 400 mile trip. Mark and a team of four apprentices tested a couple of prototypes, running them non-stop around Ipswich for 90 hours, which was the estimated time it would take to travel at 3mph down the A68 and A1. Ransomes new Nacton Road works, now the site of Ransomes Europark, was being built at the time and bunk beds were set up for the test team in an old army hut being used as a security lodge. With the trials successfully completed, the date for Operation Matador was set for Easter 1959. The five students arrived at Edinburgh Castle in a Bedford Dormobile, which was to be their mobile home for the following four days and nights. The gift of a haggis was placed in the grass box of the mower to be presented to the Keeper of the Royal Parks in London - a Scotsman - at the end of the journey. Following as straight a line as possible, the team travelled down the A68 and crossed the border on a cold
Easter night heading for Scotch Corner and down the A1 to London. This was long before the advent of dual carriageways, and the convoy of a Matador mower, Dormobile and an Austin A40 pick up truck driven by Mark Grimwade with a spare mower on board travelling at 3mph, caused considerable congestion, particularly as the route ran through the centre of most towns. Four days and three nights after they left Edinburgh, the students rode into Hyde Park to be greeted by a high- powered reception committee of Royal Park’s staff, Ransomes top management and dealer representatives, television crews and the press. The haggis, by then soaked in petrol due to refuelling on the go, was handed over to the Keeper of the Royal Parks and a ceremonial strip of Hyde Park grass was mown to Ransomes perfection. The Ransomes Film Unit, which accompanied the team throughout the entire journey, was on hand to record the end of the momentous voyage. Ransomes Jacobsen agreed to support
the reunion following an initial enquiry by Mike Smith; he approached the company via their website to see if any archive material existed of their event. Ransomes Marketing Department replied and a plan was hatched to help the team members celebrate their remarkable achievement of 50 years ago.
On a sunny morning in early May, the Operation Matador team, now in their early 70s, arrived at the College Lane Campus of the University of Hertfordshire, formerly Hatfield Technical College, with a replica of the Ransomes Matador mower complete with the number plate and signage of 50 years past. There they were met by old friends and former students before presenting Vice Chancellor Professor Tim Wilson with a memento of their journey.
They then travelled to Hyde Park,
where they re-enacted the completion of their journey by mowing a ceremonial strip of grass and presenting a haggis and personal memento the Assistant Parks Manager, David Jordan. Later that
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