Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more. Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
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German Board-Track Racing
After mentioning my dismay earlier this week about the lack of modern board-track racing in the article about the Revatu Pea Shooter one of our readers shot me over an email with a link to this fantastic film about a crew of modern day board-tracker racers based in Germany.
The Slugger by Mikael Lugnegård
I love great industrial design. It actually puts me in a good mood to discover hitherto undiscovered designers whose work deserves much wider exposure. This motorcycle concept, dubbed “The Slugger” is the work of Swedish designer Mikael Lugnegård, a talented 31 year old with a penchant for automotive and motorcycle design based in Umeå.
1951 Aston Martin DB3
Aston Martin built the DB3 almost exclusively for racing between 1951 and 1953, only 10 of them were ever made with the chassis numbers 1-5 going to the factory works team and chassis’ 6-10 going to privateer teams in the UK.
John Wayne On A Motorcycle
This great photograph of John Wayne was taken in 1970 on the set of Big Jake, a western set in 1909. Wayne is said to have used the Honda to get around the set and there are rumours that he wrote the bike off one evening after having had a few too many drinks and attempting to ride back to his trailer.
1947 Franay-Bentley Mark VI
This one-off 1947 Franay-Bentley Mark VI is widely considered to be the best (and most expensive) post-war Bentley ever made, that stunning and almost Bugatti-esque body was all hand made by French coach builder Franay. The car was first shown at the 1947 Paris Auto Show to world-wide acclaim.
The Velocette KTT
The Velocette KTT is a milestone in the history of the motorcycle, it was the first production motorcycle to use a foot-shifter (the bikes of the time used hand-shifters) and is credited with setting the trend that all modern production bikes now adhere to.
Ducati 900ss Cutaway
The Ducati 900ss was originally released in 1975 and was paired with a sister 750cc model, interestingly the 1975 bikes used a right-foot gear shift despite recent US regulations which stipulated that all motorcycles use left-foot shifters.
Remade in Switzerland
Christopher Raeburn is a British designer who’s been making a name for himself taking military surplus gear and repurposing it into new and ethically aware men’s and women’s wear collections.
Undertow Upcycled Motorcycle Sculpture
Josh Welton over at Brown Dog Welding has been producing a series of vehicular sculptures at a rate of one per week for the…
70’s Arlen Ness
I’m not usually a chopper fan however there’s just something about the original choppers from the 60’s and 70’s that appeals to me.
Onboard the 6-Wheeled Tyrrell P34
This breathtaking video shows the 6-Wheeled Tyrrell P34 belting around the Monaco Grand Prix circuit during a practice session in 1977.
Champagne Rehydration with Stirling Moss
After finishing the piece on the 1955 Mercedes Benz 300SLR I’ve decided that today I’m going to write about Stirling Moss. This brilliant picture of Moss shows him at an unspecified Formula 1 race in the late 1950’s rehydrating with what appears to be champagne.