Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 77 i Old Bike Australasia

Slowly does it There is an old saying about London buses, “You wait ages for one and then two come along at the same time”. To my knowledge, we have never had a report of one of the least-known branches of historic motorcycling, Observed Trials. A few weeks back I received a report of the ‘Pre-65s’ section of the Australian Trials Championships in Victoria from Bob McGlinchy. Then a week later, along comes a report from Colin Sheehan of the Twin-Shock Trial at Conondale, Queensland. You’ll find both of these in this issue. But it reminded me of just what a major part of the sport this form of recreational riding once was, usually known back then as Sporting Trials, mainly to distinguish it from Reliability Trials. In New South…

The favoured HRD/Vincent and JAP engines were quickly snaffled for other projects, while the chassis, usually a collection of parts purloined from wherever they were available, found various homes, or were simply scrapped. So it is unusual for a machine such as the big JAP raced by the Trounson brothers, Allen and Keith, to survive completely as it was last raced in anger in 1960. And it’s still tearing around the tracks. Arch speedway enthusiast Rob Steep, alerted us to the existence of this old warrior, which was ridden at Kurri Kurri Speedway in 2017 by his son Chris, with Chris Walker in the chair. The event was a memorial meeting for Gary Treloar with the JAP ranged against three Vincents in a series of demonstrations. The outfit is now…

The Wollongong Sporting Car Club has been conducting hill climb events for cars of various classes at Huntley Hill since 1953, and the Wollongong Motorcycle Club began negotiations with the car club in the late 1950s to determine if it was feasible to run such an event for motorcycles. Huntley Hill is situated at the western extremity of Avondale Road, at the southern perimeter of Dapto, which is around 20 kilometres south of Wollongong. The hill is part of the road formerly used by coal trucks to access the old Huntley mine, an area now destined to be a Greg Norman-designed golf course, plus town houses and other facilities. The part of the road used for hill climbs is approximately 4/10 mile in length. At that time, there were few…

Apart from my day job, I had started to write and sometimes photograph freelance for Australia’s Revs Motorcycle News and the Australian, and New Zealand contingent at the Silverstone British GP that year was one of my targets. I interviewed and photographed Gregg Hansford, Jack Findlay, Mike Hailwood, and Dennis Ireland. It was the year of Mike Hailwood’s return to the Isle of Man and he, for a while then an antipodean, was also in the frame. It’s mainly distant memories now. However, I have no trouble remembering the day that Alexander, Lord Hesketh, (properly Alexander Fernor-Hesketh, Baron Hesketh) who lived even closer to Silverstone, turned up at my front door to try and shut me up about the new motorcycle he was planning to make. I had heard on…

They gathered at Brighton Baths on the Beach Road before heading south to Antique Motorcycles in Cheltenham. The line-up included over 80 bikes and 20 scooters. While Harleys were the most popular modern brand, new Triumphs were well represented alongside the range of classics. Sadly, only the one Triton café racer was spotted – presumably the result of ageing backs and low ace bars forcing riders to leave such bikes in the garage. An interesting aspect of the scooter force is the way the newly available Asian repros of famous old brands like Lambretta are now accepted among such real classics. Interestingly, those reborn oldies retain clutch lever operated gear shifting. Arriving at Antique Motorcycles, the huge group was made welcome with a massive effort from that popular dealer and…

Western Districts Trials Club Twin Shock Master’s Trial • 4 November, 2018 – Conondale Qld. 92 bikes turned out for this annual event, arriving on Saturday to enter and settle in and have a Show & Shine. Sunday dawned bright, sunny and with the threat of heat, but luckily almost all of the 8 sections were marked out in the rocky creek bed that runs beside the motocross track. The great appeal of trials is that all are welcome and a warm friendly atmosphere pervades. The range of machines can include anything from the usual Yamaha TY series and Honda TLR range to the classic Spanish and British marques and many more. The oldest bike competing on the day was a 1956 James Captain ridden by Terry Telfer. Robert Gough’s…

International BSA Rally • 9-15 November, 2018 – Hall’s Gap, Victoria “BSA: the most popular motorcycle in the world”. This slogan from the 1950s certainly rang true in Hall’s Gap for nearly 10 days. One of the standout bikes which was initially thought to be the new BSA from the Classic Legends/Mahindra concern in fact turned out to be another in the Empire Twin range from Emu engineering. This plus another 220+ motorcycles and some 320 entrants experienced a truly great week of everything BSA in a wonderful part of Western Victoria. With six days of riding, a large and varied area was experienced: the wheat belt of the Wimera to the north and the rich volcanic plains to the south plus many great hilly and twisty roads in between-something…

HMCCQ Mostly Ariel Rally • 23 September 2018 – Pine Rivers. Qld One of the pleasures of holding regular annual rallies is that you get to catch up with regular participants from other areas of the HMCCQ. So while I’m sure that, as a farmer, Rob Ritter from Toowoomba would much rather have been watching a good rain falling, yet another sunny day at least enabled us to welcome him and son Gavin back for another year of the Mostly Ariel Rally. We were also blessed with the presence of one of the original driving forces behind the event (and serious Ariel collector), Barry Deeth. We unfortunately haven’t been able to enjoy Barry’s company too much over the last couple of years as he battled with health issues, so it…

The parallel twins offered by BSA, Triumph, Matchless/AJS, Norton and Royal Enfield were themselves aimed not so much at the home market, but the USA, where they cut serious inroads into Harley-Davidson’s territory. Honda wanted a chunk of that, but initially at least the CB450 failed miserably in USA, due more to the styling that the specification. Ironically it was a big hit in the UK. The poms loved it so much they even nick-named it the Black Bomber, despite the fact that it was also available in red. There’s no doubt the new 450 was a spirited performer, and when it was released in February 1966, it enjoyed a sizeable price advantage over the British 650s, selling for just £350 in UK. Early road tests showed the 450 could…

In the mid ‘twenties, the mecca of motorised sport for both motorcycles and cars was Brooklands, the huge concrete circuit south of London. The circuit had been in existence since 1907, but after the interruption of WW1, it really took off thereafter. Back then, the few off-the-shelf racing machines that were available were prohibitively expensive to all but a select few, so the most common method was to build your own. One such creation was the Jappic Cycle Car – a combination of car and motorcycle components and thinking, which was initially fitted with a 344cc twin-port J.A.P. engine, chain-driven via a three-speed gearbox to the rear wheels, which like the front wheels, had motorcycle origins. Only the rear wheels had brakes which were hand operated by a lever. The…

My first success was a ticket to the Polish round of the Speedway World Championship where I was joined by 54,000 rowdy Poles who absolutely love the sport. I also discovered the Muzeum Techniki where there was a display of Polish motorcycles. I had no real knowledge of any Polish motorcycle brands before my visit so it was an interesting experience. A glossy catalogue (albeit in Polish) listed all the motorcycles on display in chronological order. Historic Influences In overview, Polish motorcycle history was pretty much dictated by the country’s history. Poland gained independence in 1918 after 150 years of German-Austrian and Russian rule. During that time everything was imported. Independence gave both government and private businesses the incentive to design and manufacture locally. The government began proceedings by deciding…

Unlike some previous years, Melbourne turned on a magnificent spring day, reflected in the number of bikes and spectators who attended. There were the regulars, those who were returning after a short absence, and a number of bikes making their first appearance. Amongst these were three classic MV Agustas. A well restored 150 GT from the fifties, a 50cc Liberty sport and the 83kg, 83cc Ottantatre which is 83 in Italian. The gold & burgundy colour scheme of the Ottantatre was a factory option. Another classic MV on display was the relatively rare scrambler. Another bike making its first appearance was the 5-speed Motobi Imperiale Sport with its ‘egg shell’ shaped engine. The MVs and Motobi weren’t the only small capacity Italians on show. A couple of Gileras and a…

Shannon’s Australian Historic Road Racing Championship • 9-11 November, 2018 – Broadford, Victoria Preston Motorcycle Club was the promoter for the annual national titles, held in Victoria for the first time since 2011. Entries were well down on previous years, which created a situation where several classes had insufficient entries to constitute a Championship under MA rules. Thanks to Colin Rosewarne for providing his usual excellent shots featuring some of the class winners. For full results go to www.computime.com.au…

Pre ’65 Trials • 6-7 October, 2018 – Sedgwick, Victoria The Australian trials fraternity invaded Victoria on the 6th and 7th October to celebrate the 2018 “Delecca’s” Australian Trial Championship. The event was held on the large granite outcrops in the farming region of Sedgwick just 15 km south of Bendigo and was well promoted by the Trials Club of Victoria. The “Springs” venue features an almost endless array of amazing trials terrain with past promotions including the 2005 International Super Trial and the 2008 and 2013 Australian Trial Championships. The promoters were blessed with almost perfect Trials weather over the weekend which was well appreciated by the riders and also helped attract a bumper crowd of spectators, many witnessing this branch of the sport for the first time. The…

Albany Poker Run and Hill Climb • 3-4 November, 2018 – Albany WA We had a different lead up to this year’s event because of the art installation in Memorial Drive. A new location was required and likely paces were discussed at club meetings. An application was lodged in March with the City of Albany for Marine Drive to be the venue. The club knew this to be the best option but a few alternatives were suggested and rejected during the first meeting. However, after a few false starts the events approval officer, Anna Kiddle came on board, and she was extremely helpful and enthusiastic so it was all go. The paper trail started with the businesses on Stirling Terrace all signed up, stakeholders at Middleton Beach were approached and…

So what’s not to like? Not much, but the suspension is a bit basic and the rear shock in particular cops some flack. So not surprisingly, seeing that they have sold 30,000 Tracer 900s in just over three years, Yamaha has addressed that shortcoming in the new Tracer 900GT. The standard model is still available, and $1500 cheaper, but the GT brings quite a bit more to the table. The swinging arm is 60mm longer, which is designed to make the bike more stable, especially when loaded with gear and maybe a pillion. A pair of 22-litre panniers is standard on the GT, and now an option on the base model. There’s a larger screen with more (50mm) of adjustment which is done manually, and the fairing itself is subtly…

Kevin McDonald Stalwart of the Bathurst motorcycling scene, KEVIN MCDONALD OAM, passed away on 17th October, aged 86. In his decades in the game, Kevin received countless awards including the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and in 2016, the Order of Australia Medal for services to motorcycling. As well as running his own dealership in Bathurst for many years, Kevin sponsored a large number of riders including Laurie Barnett, Len Norris, Chris Watson and his son Glenn. A staunch supporter of speedway, Kevin prepared engines for World Champions Hans Nielsen and Bruce Penhall when they raced in Australia. He was a foundation member of Panorama Motor Cycle Club in 1969 and was made a Life member in 1979. The list of positions he held with Motorcycling NSW and Motorcycling Australia…

Australian Terry Dennehy, was according to his brother in law Ross Hannan, “a sensational rider”, and after some success at home, he lit out for Europe with Ross’ brother Ralph. On self-built Hondas derived from CB72 and CB77 roadsters, Terry had occasionally shocked the established stars, but more often than not, the over-taxed engines gave out. Terry and Ralph spent the winter of 1967/68 in England but detested the weather, so they headed for Milan, where they met Swiss engineer Marly Drixl, who was making a name for himself as a chassis designer in conjunction with British importer Syd Lawton. Over numerous coffees in a local café, Terry, Ralph and Marly drew up plans for a 500cc Grand Prix racer to be powered by a new Honda CB450 engine, which…

There were a couple of parts missing but amazingly from the day it was first registered in Ayrshire in 1959 it had covered a mere 1,950 miles from new and although extremely rough after lying unloved in a shed for many years it was ripe for restoration. Its purchase triggered the start of twelve months of hard work for Andy who with restoration now completed invited me along to take his gleaming bike for a ride through the North Somerset lanes. There’s no doubt he’s done a superb job restoring the Tigress back to her original glory but perhaps we should reflect on the day in late 1958 when the model was first launched. There was a great flurry of publicity from the BSA/Triumph group when the Tigress and its…

When the Danish army had to make the decision as to what the ‘standard’ motorcycle had to be, the Army Technical Corps were mainly leaning towards buying motorcycles from outside of Denmark. However after tests with many different brands of motorcycles, it was the Danish Nimbus that was chosen. The Danish army bought its first Nimbus in 1920, a “Stovepipe”, and another one the year after. It was not due to local patriotism that the Nimbus was selected. In fact, there were many who had pushed to buy the big American motorcycles such as Indian and Harley-Davidson or the British single-cylindered machines. Many thought that the Nimbus, with its four cylinders, was fragile and not strong enough to pull a sidecar. When the Nimbus, A and B models went out…

HMRAV Southern Classic • 3-4 November, 2018 – Broadford, Victoria 2018 was the 37th running of the Southern Classic, an event run by the HMRAV for period 1 to period 5 race bikes spanning 1920 to 1980. Also included were sidecars, including Formula 2 outfits which resulted in 240 competitors over the 2-day race meet conducted at the Broadford road race circuit. The Southern Classic was first held at the Winton Raceway in 1982 before shifting to Broadford a few years later, where it has been ever since. The only time it visited Phillip Island was in 1986. Friday was an MA practice day but inclement weather restricted track time. Saturdaymorningwaspractice and qualifying followed by two legs of racing. Consideringthenumberof events and the possibility of down time due to an…

2018 WA Historic Championships • 22-24 September, 2018 – Collie Motorplex, WA Over the WA Queens Birthday Long Weekend the HCMCWA held their State Road Racing Championships in conjunction with the sixth round of the Club Championships. With 52 races over two days following the Saturday tuning day it was always going to be a full on couple of days. With so many races, it was virtually impossible to cover the entire event, so I choose to cover two classes and two particular riders. The first was the Period 6 – 250GP; this class featured 14-times State Champion Steve McDermott, who had come out of retirement in 2018 to compete with the HCMC and ran well in the earlier rounds of the Club Championships. The second class was the Thunderbikes…

Classic Riders’ Club Goulburn 27th Annual Ride • 27-28 October 2018 – Goulburn, NSW What a fabulous weekend – perfect weather, the combination of Goulburn hospitality and the generosity of Classic Riders’ Club, plus enthusiasm only possible by motorcycle lovers heading off en masse along picturesque country roads for the CRCG Annual Club Ride. Over one hundred motorcycles gathered at the Workers Club Arena for what was to be another well-supported, successful event. Customary also for CRCG, the Annual Ride gathered local and regional charities, business and schools to share in this success. Breakfast each day was provided by Can Assist, lunch each day was provided by Goulburn Rotary and the morning tea catering was split between Binda and Tarago Public Schools – all provided with the opportunity to raise…

Take the long way home The new TomTom Rider 550 allows you to not only plan the route to your destination, but pick the most interesting way to get there. You can select from three separate levels of bends and hills, and the Rider 550 will work out the rest. You can even set a round trip with a different return route. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi equipped, the 550 syncs with your smart phone so you can connect to Siri and Google. The Traffic feature alerts you to delays and whether a faster route is available, and you enjoy lifetime World Maps to download for free. Importantly, your Rider 550 lets you know when you’re approaching a speed camera, and reminds you of the speed limit. This function can also be…

Send your event details to Em: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com – SECRETARIES PLEASE NOTE – Because of our lead time for printing, please ensure your listing is received at least four months prior to the event. JANUARY 2019 Classic Riders Club of Goulburn Swap Meet. 20th January, 2019 – Goulburn Showground, Braidwood Rd, Goulburn NSW Buyers from 6am. Details: secretary@classicridersclubgoulburn.com.au International Island Classic 25-27 January, 2019 – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The largest historic bike meet in the southern hemisphere. Tickets on sale NOW. For more information visit www.islandclassic.com.au FEBRUARY 2019 NZCMRR Classic Festival 1-3 February, 2019 – Pukekohe Park Raceway. The 40th anniversary of this classic event. Organisers are keen to see any bikes that have ever raced at Pukekohe. Details at www.nzcmrr.com Sellick’s Beach Historic Races 16-17 February, 2019 Promoted…