T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, aka T. E. Shaw races a Bristol Fighter on his Brough Superior

“One of England’s straightest and fastest roads“ I follow the route of one of the most famous motorcycle rides in history. T. E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia aka T. E. Shaw left RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire to ride to his lodgings in Lincoln. In the chapter entitled ’The Road’ from his book The Mint, (published posthumously in 1955), Lawrence wrote of how one evening, on the A15 between Cranwell and Lincoln, he encountered a Bristol Fighter biplane whose pilot was up for a race. In the video, despite being hampered by a host of speed restictions, I follow the exact route that was taken by Lawrence when he pitted the power of his Brough Superior against the latest in aircract technology at the time. I read selected passages from Lawrence’s book to give a flavour of how he captured the thrill of a short ride and turned it into a stirringly monumental and lasting epic. © John Dunn.