The annual 200-mile race at Daytona Beach was the single most important race in the USA in the 1950s and attracted factories from abroad to challenge Harley-Davidson and Indian for top spots. The publicity for a win at Daytona was considered worth a considerable investment, and BSA decided to make a run for a win at the 1954 race. After building four twin-cylinder A7 racers with “special order” rigid frames and twin megaphone exhausts, and several Gold Star singles, they hired the most promising riders they could, including USA national champion Bobby Hill and 3-time Daytona winner Dick Klamforth. BSA’s competition manager Roland Pike oversaw the preparations and joined the team in Florida for the race, bringing race shop mechanic Cyril Halliberne to look after the bikes. These were no ordinary A7 Shooting Star models, they had been extensively modified and “blueprinted” at the factory, and tuned for maximum performance. On testing, they found the 495cc pushrod parallel-twin would do about 105 MPH into the daily headwind on the sand in 4th gear, and about 130 MPH on the asphalt return section with the wind behind them on the oval combined beach/road course. More important, though, was that the bikes held together and riders were given a strict 6,400 RPM limit, which these professionals adhered to. The BSAs ran under the AMA Class C formula, which forbade anything but a factory cataloged motorcycle from racing the National Championship series, with the rules written in 1932 when only Harley-Davidson and Indian were duking it out on the track. By the 1950s, there was only one American factory left, but British, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese factories were competing for American buyers. All the competitors sponsored by factories were barely within the rules, as for example, the rigid frame used by the 1954 BSA twins was used only for Daytona, although it was theoretically available for half-mile racing in the USA. In the end, the BSA team dominated the 1954 Daytona races with Bobby Hill winning, Dick Klamforth coming in second and BSA twin rider Tommy McDermot third. This machine, with frame #101, was ridden by Kenny Eggers to fifth place in 1954. Eggers went on to win the very first race at the Willow Springs Raceway later that year on this bike. The frame was found at an LA swap meet, and its history was recognized. Thus, a process of restoration of this historic machine using a mix of the original and other BSA parts was begun to complete the bike in Australia. It’s a testament to a remarkable period of American racing, and a very rare motorcycle indeed. F133 1954 BSA A7 Shooting Star Daytona Race Bike
