The name Bemsee is a contraction of the letters BMCRC, and is the name by which the British Motorcycle Racing Club known amongst all its riders and supporters.

The club was formed in March 1909, at Carlton House, Regent Street; headquarters at that time of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) who operated the Brooklands Racing Track at Weybridge in Surrey. The founders were Major F. Lindsay Lloyd, R.O. Clark, W.H. Wells, A. V. Ebblewhite, A. G. Reynolds, F. Straight, O. L. Summers and E.C.W. Fitzherbert.

The first race meeting was held on a Thursday, April 18th 1909, and was highly successful, despite rain in the closing stages of the afternoon's sport. The gate was reported as being sixty to seventy. There were two main races, both handicaps, and preliminary races to decide the handicap allowance. The first was a two-lap affair with prize money of one pound, and the second a Hill Climb (up the short and steep Test Hill), with competitors running in pairs.

From then onwards, Bemsee continued to organise racing at Brooklands until the Second World War, when the track became a major wartime facility with the Vickers factory located inside its banked tracks.

The classic races of the 1920-30 decade were the 200 mile solo and sidecar races, and the Hutchinson Hundred handicap race, first held in 1925. But the mainstay of the programmes throughout the years that Bemsee raced at Brooklands were the short-distance and Lightning handicaps, held over three, five or ten laps of the outer circuit. With the advent of the thirties and the influx of the road-race bred machine, the character of the racing began to change.

Bemsee was widening its scope and interests, and laying sure foundations for the future. This was fortunate, since the situation changed drastically when the club reformed in 1947 at the end of the war. Brooklands was not restored as a racing circuit, but was sold and allowed to fall into ruins. To all those who race there before the war, this was a bitter disappointment, and it left the Club without a home. Rightly or wrongly, the famous old track was long mourned by those who spent their Saturday afternoons amongst its bumps. It is sad that in Britain today there is no place where a motorcycle can be held at full throttle for hours on end, where the limit of endurance is not bounded by the rider's skill but the by the reliability of his engine.

After the war, Bemsee was for a long time without a permanent home. It's headquarters were at times at Haddenham, Dunholme Airfield in Lincolnshire, Silverstone, Croydon (for Crystal Palace circuit), then Brands Hatch in Kent.

In the early '90s, after extended megotiations with new circuit owner McLaren - the F1 car team - Bemsee moved to its current home at Lydden Race Circuit in East Kent. The popular circuit is managed by Bemsee (or in fact by its sister company, Lydden Circuit Ltd), on behalf of McLaren, and car and auto-cross races are held in addition to several motorcycle meetings throughout the year.

Today, Bemsee runs a number of series, the Nationwide and the King of Clubs, MRO and supermoto championships with each championship having different circuits and dates but the same classes (apart from the supermoto championship) ranging from GP 125 and 250s through to Rookie and Supersport 400s and ending up with the Powerbikes and Super side cars.

The club has a fantastic atmosphere where people will bend over backwards for a fellow racer, it's not a rare occurence to hear joint organizer Bernadette call over the PA system asking if anyone has a spare ZXR400 engine they'd mind lending to a fellow rider!!

Bemsee employ their own marshals and scruitineers, the safety of people in and around the track is paramount and never compromised

Deb started out in the rookie 400 series, a series specifically designed for people new to racing. The competition is ferocious on the track and the camaraderie in the paddock is second to none. Everyone is learning in their rookie year and racing incidents are quickly forgotten when followed up with an apology. After 2003 Deb will move to the Supersport 400 series.

For more information go to www.bemsee.co.uk