Roger Dennistoun "Dennis" Poore (19 August 1916,
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
– 12 February 1987,
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
) was a British
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
,
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
and sometime
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
. He became chairman of
NVT during the dying days of the old British motorcycle industry.
Family
His father, Roger Poore, DSO, was killed in action in World War I on 26 September 1917. On 24 March 1949, Dennis Poore married Peta Coast. They had one daughter,
Victoria Borwick
Victoria Lorne Peta Borwick, Baroness Borwick (''née'' Poore, 26 April 1956) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as the Member of Parliament for Kensington from 2015 to 2017, losing her seat and becoming the ...
MP.
Motorsport career
Poore was a keen motor sport participant, and competed in two World Championship Grands Prix in 1952. He made his debut in the British Grand Prix on 19 July 1952, where he finished fourth. He scored 3 championship points. Poore won the
British Hill Climb Championship
The British Hill Climb Championship (BHCC) is the most prestigious Hillclimbing championship in Great Britain. Hillclimbing in the British Isles has a rich history, for example, the hillclimb held at Shelsley Walsh, in Worcestershire, England is th ...
in 1950 driving a 3.8-litre twin-Wade-blown
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
. He finished second at
Shelsley Walsh
Shelsley Walsh is a small village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, on the western side of the River Teme. For administrative purposes it is presently located in the Teme Valley ward of the county’s Malvern Hills district. In the 2011 ...
, first at
Prescott, second at
Bo'ness
Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falki ...
, taking the win at
Rest and Be Thankful, then second at
Bouley Bay and first at
Val des Terres, rounding off the season with another win at Prescott. After his World Championship Grands Prix, Poore raced
sportscars for
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
, winning the
Goodwood International Nine Hour race with a
DB3S in 1955, co-driven by
Peter Walker.
Poore used his personal wealth to bankroll the founding, in 1950, of the
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
journal ''
Autosport
''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship.
Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...
.''
NVT career
Poore became chairman of
Manganese Bronze Holdings
Manganese Bronze Holdings plc (MBH) was the holding company of LTI Limited. The firm's sole business in its final years as a company was London black taxicab manufacturing through the LTI subsidiary.
The Manganese Bronze and Brass Co was fou ...
PLC, an
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
company primarily concerned with making marine propellers. Poore later sold off the propeller business and used the funds to buy up a motley collection failing British motorcycle companies,
Associated Motor Cycles
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by the Collier brothers as a parent company for the Matchless and AJS motorcycle companies. It later absorbed Francis-Barnett, James, and Norton before incorporation i ...
,
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
,
AJS,
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
,
Francis-Barnett
Francis & Barnett Limited was an English motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1919 by Gordon Inglesby Francis and Arthur Barnett and based in Lower Ford Street, Coventry, England. Early motor cycles were affectionately known as ' Franny B'. Motorcy ...
,
Matchless
Matchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles, manufactured in Plumstead, London, between 1899 and 1966. A wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name, ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc Four-stroke cy ...
, and engine manufacturers
Villiers.
Following the collapse of
BSA in 1972, the motorcycle interests of Manganese Bronze and BSA/
Triumph
The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...
were merged into
Norton Villiers Triumph
Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT) was a British motorcycle manufacturer, formed by the British government to continue the UK motorcycling industry, until the company's ultimate demise.
Formation
Triumph had been owned by the BSA Group since 1951, ...
Ltd. Poore was made chairman of NVT and he quickly sold off BSA's substantial non-motorcycle interests. NVT was assisted by substantial aid from the Government, who were anxious to stave off the collapse of the British
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
industry. Poore's restructuring became rather draconian, making 3,000 of the 4,500 workforce redundant. This led to the creation of the
Meriden Cooperative which operated for ten years until it became bankrupt. Production of BSA bikes (the A65 twin and the A75 triple) ceased, and with Triumph lost to the Cooperative, the sole NVT model was the
Norton Commando
The Norton Commando is a British Norton-Villiers motorcycle with an OHV pre-unit parallel-twin engine, produced by the Norton Motorcycle company from 1967 until 1977. Initially having a nominal ''750 cc'' displacement, actually , in 197 ...
. Although this machine won the ''
Motor Cycle News
''MCN'' or ''Motor Cycle News'' is a UK weekly Motorcycle, motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspape ...
'' "Bike of the Year" award for several years running, nothing could hide the fact that the Commando was an old design, being a pre-unit pushrod
parallel-twin
A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder Reciprocating engine, piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
Straight-twin engines are primarily u ...
. Eventually Commando production ended and NVT ended up assembling an Asian 125cc trail bike. However, Norton went on to produce a twin-rotor
Wankel
Wankel may refer to:
* Wankel engine, a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design instead of reciprocating pistons
* Wankel AG, a German company that produces Wankel engines for ultralight aircraft and racing cars
People ...
-engined
bike
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
based on
David Garside
David W. Garside is an inventor and former project engineer at BSA's Umberslade Hall research facility. He is notable for having developed an air-cooled twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle engine which powered the Norton Classic road bike. Although th ...
's work at BSA.
Compared with BSA's hopeless management team who had led their once-mighty company to ruin through incompetence, dire business decisions and a failure even to appreciate bikes, Poore at first seemed a breath of fresh air who could be the hoped-for saviour of the British motorcycle industry. His sporting past showed he was in tune with motorsport and engineering. However, his reconstruction and redundancy plans were heavy-handed and some regarded him a little more than an
asset-stripper. What is clear is that his actions led to the fragmentation of the industry when consolidation was essential to save the day.
["BSA – Decline & Fall" – Bill Murray – 1985 monograph]
London cabs
With the purchase of BSA came its subsidiary
Carbodies
The London Taxi Company was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. It formerly traded as London Taxis International and Carbodies.
It operated a coachbuilding business on Holyhead Road, Coventry. After half a c ...
, builder of the
FX4 London taxi
A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common s ...
; the classic "''black cab''". After disposing of the motorcycle manufacturing arms, Poore continued to head Manganese Bronze as a taxi and component manufacturer until his death in 1987.
Complete World Drivers' Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
References
External links
Dennis Poore's Alfa Romeo 8C 35Photographs and information about the 8C-35 (chassis 50013) that Poore owned for many years.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poore, Dennis
1916 births
1987 deaths
English racing drivers
Brighton Speed Trials people
British hillclimb drivers
English Formula One drivers
Connaught Formula One drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
British World War II pilots
World Sportscar Championship drivers
20th-century English businesspeople