Another sad day for Motorcycling with the passing of Keith Bryen...International racing motorcyclist, "Continenal Circus" member 1953-57, A great ambassador for our sport and "an all round good egg...!"

Readers of my blog will have come across the many posts I had done on Keith Bryen with a vast number of his and wife Gwen's personal photographs from the time the were members of that unique group of traveling racing motorcyclists with wives, partners and friends in their case from 1953-1957, loosely known as the "Continental Circus"...alas now long gone as the modern era of motorcycle racing embracing the MotoGPs with its highly commercialised band of gladiators is a far cry from the era I speak of...
With great sadness I tell of the passing, suddenly, on Tuesday 22nd October, of Keith Bryen, aged 86.

                              A great photo of a devoted couple, Gwen and Keith.
I realise we don't live forever, but Keith appeared in good health for his age and had just returned from visiting another former "Circus" member...Jack Ahearn....
His memorial service was held on the 28th October with poignant eulogies from his daughter Stephanie and son Mark....
Come share some of his motorcycle racing life again in Keith and Gwen's personal photos....
Many of these can be found in previous posts and a look to the index to the RHS of this webblog will lead you to more...

1946 Speed Twin one of the first bikes Keith used for racing....

 Many circuits were dirt...a good way to hone racing skills...

Keith on a 1939 500cc. Gold Star B.S.A. at Bungaribbee.

 Bathurst races, Easter 1949 with a 1939 BSA Gold Star...

Bathurst 1950, this time with an AJS 7R production racer. 
Pictured with Tommy Han.

 Bathurst 1952 now with the ex Frank Mussett 500 SOHC former factory racer of Ted Mellors.

Keiths first IOM TT...weighing in for the 1953 350cc TT with his Manx Norton.

A bunch of "Commonwealth Riders", Keith among them on the promenade, Douglas, IOM.

Keith's first foray to Europe in 1953, pictured in the pit following the running of the 1953 Dutch TT at Assen.
Returning to Australia by ship he  met Gwen on the boat home...a shipboard romance.....
One that lasted, though sadly Gwen is in nursing care following a gradual slide into dementia some years back.
 Keith returned to Europe in 1954 full of hope but a heavy crash in the Ulster GP saw a badly broken collarbone and shoulder...no plating of such injuries in those days, just a long 4 or 5 month recovery, so he returned to Australia.
He married Gwen in 1955 and they "settled down" in a house they bought, but the racing bug  persisted and he raced in local events during the year, co-riding to a class win on a Triumph Thunderbird in the 1955 24 hour motorcycle production race at Mt. Druitt circuit on the outskirts of Sydney.
Selling their house, Gwen and Keith returned to Europe for the 1956 season...

Floreffe, Belgium, May 1956....

 Awaiting the start of evening practice, 1956 IOM TT races.

On the grid...1956 Belgium GP

After winning the 1957 350cc race at Norisring ( Nuremberg), with Sweden's Valle Lundberg on the left and Australian Eric Hinton on the right.
A Works Ride........ 

1957, the Moto Guzzi depot...

Keith tests the 350cc Moto Guzzi at Monza for the Italian GP.

Keith and Gwen with Keith Campbell and his fiancee Jerry Reid.

Retiring in 1957 following the shattering news that now a factory Moto Guzzi rider for 1958, Moto Guzzi with Mondial and Gilera had retired from International GP racing, Keith settled down to family life.
But the bug bites hard and he rode an AJS 7R for John Surtees at Brands Hatch in 1981 and in some of the newly introduced classic races locally from 1978-1994...

Ferry Brouwer, arch Classic Enthusiast and former Arai MD set up the Centenary of Assen meeting in May 1998 and invited many of the older former riders, supplying bikes to ride and most expenses...
Another "works" ride? 
Well Keith spent the weekend having a great time and is pictured on a 350 Ducati...
Then Tuesday 22nd October 2013..... with son Mark at a railway station preparing to visit a friend,  a sudden fatal heart attack and Keith was gone and motorcycling lost another great ambassador for the sport....
Keith Maxwell Bryen.... RIP.

Keith Bryen, Aussie privateer and finally works Moto Guzzi rider in 1957.....these are likely the last of the photos I have on him...

I've done quite a few posts on Keith Bryen, Aussie privateer in Europe from 1953, culminating in a works Moto Guzzi ride later in 1957......
Use the search facility on the RHS of my blog, typing in "Keith Bryen"...... drift back into what many consider was a golden era of motorcycle racing.
Keith and Gwen kindly loaned me many of their photographs of their time in Europe following the "Continental Circus".....
I've scratched through my folder and come up with a few more, but suggest these may be the last without re-using photos.
This happens occasionally and for it I apologise....
Left click on the images to enlarge them....

Len and Neil Tinker, Belgium GP, 1953.

Gilera works team, Belgium GP, 1953.

Moto Guzzi works team, Belgium GP, 1953.

Pit area, Noris Ring, Nurnberg, 1953

Main straight, Noris Ring, Nurnberg, 1953.

Pit area, Noris Ring, Nurnberg, 1953.

Riders and wives, Noris Ring, Nurnberg, 1953.

Leo Simpson,Geoff Walker, Laurie Boulter,George Scott and Ken Kavenagh...unsure where...and likely during 1953.

The 500cc race starts at Solitude, 22.07.1956...

Solitude, 22.07.1956, the 500cc race has just started...

Alan Trow, Peter Murphy (NZ) and Keith Bryen...Bourge en Bresse, 1957.

Gwen Bryen looks on from their van, unknown, centre, Alan Trow, to right Peter Murphy at Bourge en Bresse, 1956....

Peter Murphy, (unknown), Alan Trow and Keith tuck into lunch at Borge en Bresse, 1956.

Geoff Duke, Gilera; Keith Campbell, Moto Guzzi, Keith Bryen, Norton. Swedish GP, Hedemora, 14.07.1957.

Works Moto Guzzi ride, 1956 Ulster GP, on the grid for the 350cc race.10.08.1957

350cc race of 1956 UGP. Finished 2nd place, works Moto Guzzi, 10.08.1957.

Lets look at more archival photos from Keith Bryen, Aussie privateer in the 1950's who eventually "bagged" a works Moto Guzzi ride in 1957

As mentioned in the previous post I appeared to have overlooked some more photos I'd received from Keith Bryen some time back.
You can view all the posts of Keith's special photo archive by typing his name into the search facility on the RHS of this blog....
These are popular and I feel important, as they allow you to travel with a privateer on the GP motorcycle circuit in an era many considered some of the most exciting in the history of motorcycle racing....
Now that's a serious statement and I won't be drawn into the argument...as a motorcycle enthusiast I enjoy reading and viewing all items from our sport....
So, left click on the following images to enlarge them and savour the times.....

IOM TT 8.06.1956, Keith readies for the start in the Senior TT...he retired during the race.

After the Senior TT in 1956, Aussie Barry Hodgkinson who came 22nd on a Norton and Canadian Gerry Robarts who finished 15th on a Norton....

23.06.1956...Thruxton 9 hour race in which Percy Tait and Keith, pictured, won the 750cc class....

30.06.1956, on the grid for the 350cc class of the Dutch TT, Keith finished 14th.

Ready for the start of the 350cc Dutch TT, 30.06.1956.

Start of the 350cc Dutch TT, 30.06.1956, Barry Hodgkinson and Fred Cook...

Keith is flagged into 14th place in the 35occ Dutch TT, 30.06.1956.

Start of the 500cc Dutch TT, .30.06.1956.

Assen for the Dutch TT, June 1956, Bob Mitchell and Eric Bliss.

A typical overnight stop during the 1956 "Continental Circus", somewhere in Belgium.

Ready for the start of the 350cc Belgium GP, 08.07.1956, Keith finished 13th.

Start of the 350cc Belgium GP,08.07.1956.

On the grid for the 500cc Belgium GP, Keith finished 10th.

In the paddock for the German GP at Solitude, 1956.

Gwen with Bill Hall, closest to camera and Barry Hodgkinson having a "cuppa"...

Awaiting the start of the 350cc German GP, Solitude circuit,22.07.1956.

On the grid for the 350 German GP at Solitude..Keith #98, with Ken Kavenagh on the works Moto Guzzi.

Start of the 350cc German GP,30.07.1956.

18.08.1956, practising  at Sachsenring on the Hohenstein-Enstthal circuit...those cobblestones...aghhhh

August 1956 at Sachsenring with Bob Brown.

02.09.1956, bound for Tampere in Finland.Keith finished 7th in the 350cc race.