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Bikes Page 1
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Bikes Page 2
Bikes Page 3
Bikes Page 4 Bikes
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| Modern
Speedway bikes look very much alike now, but this wasn’t the case with the
early dirt bikes. Basically any
powerful road going bike was stripped down, tuned up, tinkered with, for racing
on the dirt tracks. It was common
then to see the great British bike marks, in dirt track form.
Famous names like John Alfred Prestwich (JAP), BSA, James, Royal Enfield, Rudge,
Vincent, Velocette, Sunbeam
and Douglas from factories the length and breadth of Great Britain once graced
the tracks. Now speedway is dominated by Jawas from the Czech Republic and the
Italian GM's. Other bikes have come
and gone but the Jawa still remains as ideally suited to going sideways at
speed! But on these pages let us look at some of the other bikes that
thrilled the massive crowds of yesteryear: - |
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Pre Speedway, Early English Track
Racing
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| Evidence of speedway in England, well before
the cinder sport began in Australia? Well no! The bikes were fitted with JAP
engines and certainly look like early speedway bikes. I believe they raced
on grass. These old bikes show their bicycle frame roots, the front forks
for example are borrowed from bicycle technology. |
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| James 500cc V Twin |
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| Courtesy of Paul Wild |
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Thanks for the above image Paul. A photo of an
actual Dirt Track V Twin James is shown below |
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Crocker
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I believe this is a Crocker from the USA. The picture
must date from the early 1930s as I think the factory started production of
speedway bikes then. No other details
known
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This
1926 AJS could be the worlds oldest surviving Dirt Track Bike. The
bike was used in Australia in 1926 by Tony Batros, it has to be older than any
British based bikes as our tracks didn't get under way until 1928. It is a
350cc AJS Special Racing GR7 Big Port. 350cc bikes were quite common on
dirt tracks then, another 350cc was the Harley Peashooter.
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Andreas Raab
says: the AJS-Speedway Motorcycle
on Your Homepage is an AJS Model G8, it is an 1926 500 ohv TT-Model. |
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John says:
Not sure if I can agree with Andreas, I think it is a 350 not a 500, what do you think? |
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Paul Reed says: As the current owner of the Batros AJS, I can confirm that it is a 1926
GR7 350 , described in the AJS catalogue as "Special Racing" . Engine number G
46334, Bore and Stroke 74mm 81 mm = 350cc. Andreas Raab is incorrect in
asserting that it is a G8 500cc. This is obvious at a glance, as the G8 has a
horizontal magneto chain cover, while on the GR7, the cover tilts up to the
front |
| John says: Thanks for sorting
that out Paul. Can you send any more pictures of your great bike? |
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| Another Early AJS |
| AJS grass/dirt bike in 1927 |
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Courtesy of Phil Newton |
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Phil Newton says: Here is a photo of my Dad Arthur James
Edward Newton on his AJS grass/dirt bike in 1927 The picture was taken in the
street of (27 Bligh St Wavertree, Liverpool)
Dad used the AJ for work (Liverpool Gas Co ) he was a Plumber /Gas fitter.
He fell off after winning Golden Helmet in about 1926 and got married 1927
Nearly turned pro I believe. Doc set his collar bone on the track and had
a lumb there but lived to 82 d 1983 |
| John says: The
years (1926/27) Phil is talking about seem to predate what we call UK
speedway, i.e.1928. I have asked him for more details of his dad
(Arthur Newton) not a name I know, perhaps Arthur rode his AJ in races
somewhere before speedway started here in the UK and he later went on to
race at Stanley Stadium Liverpool when the speedway track was born for
"open meetings" in 1928, or maybe Phil has the wrong years in mind? |
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Harley Peashooter
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Frank Arthur (above right) astride his Harley
Peashooter. The Peashooter was a mid 1920s winner until the Douglas
& Rudge came along.
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| Douglas v Harley late 1920s |
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A Peashooter inside battles it out with a
Douglas
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| A Number of old bike pics from Tony Webb |
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| The Calthorpe |
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| The Chater-lea
(Coppernob) |
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| The New Imperial |
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| The Norton |
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| The Velocette |
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| The Wallis DT 1929 |
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| The
OEC with a JAP engine |
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The Zenith |
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The Scott, the only two stroke machine used
on the speedways |
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The McEvoy Blackburne |
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| Douglas |
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This bike was assembled from a "box of bits"
by Harry Huntly his son Ian emailed this: -
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| Ian Huntly says:
In the late 50's, Dad
bought a big box full of motorcycle parts which proved to be a Douglas
Speedway bike !! Some parts were damaged or missing so I remember Dad
fabricating new bits in his garage. He gave the bike a very special gear box
and some special-metal pushrods. He sat down and built this race bike which
ended up being entered at Druridge Bay Sand Track, ridden on the sand by a
rider Dad picked for the "job". It was a heavy bike with straight
through exhaust but it bump started immediately. It sounded glorious.
Dad sold it to the local grass track sidecar champion who added a sidecar and
did well with it for a couple of years. I wish
I knew where it is now !! Can you help please ?? |
| John says: If you know what happened to the
Huntly Douglas please send me an email JOHN |
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Above:
a BSA 500cc
Dirt Track
Bike
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John says: A
very affordable machine at the time. The poor mans speedway machine! For
those who don't already know. BSA was a great British company that began making
weapons. BSA is a shortened version of Birmingham Small Arms. In the 20th
century the company turned it's attention to motorcycle manufacture. BSA along
with Royal Enfield (another old British company) were armaments makers turned
motorcycle makers. The Beezer didn't last long as a dirt-track bike (1929/30), which is a
pity as JAP could have done with some national rivalry and who knows maybe BSA
would still be going now if they had invested properly in making speedway machines? |
| New Zealand Restorer Frank Brookland
has one of these machines to restore and would appreciate contact from anyone
who has any photos etc of the Beesa
John |
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Pat
Jeal has been in touch with the following info and a couple of photographs: -
I've attached a couple of pictures you may like.
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Pat
Jeal says: I suspect the
BSA photo on your site is of this following restored bike, which was ridden by Cyril Lord and later owned by Noel Somerfield.
The photo is of it in grass trim at the 1968 High Beech reunion
but I know it later had a brakeless 21" front wheel refitted.
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1929 BSA Road Version (For Comparison)
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| Courtesy of Les Elmer |
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1930 BSA S29- S19
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| Courtesy of Les Elmer |
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| 1929 BSA Roadster |
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Courtesy of Les Elmer |
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Courtesy of Les Elmer |
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The 1929 BSA roadster appears to be the machine BSA used as the basis for
their speedway machine
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| The Dirtrack BSA appears to have a similar
engine to the JAP. If BSA had seriously opted to build speedway
bikes their company would have continued longer than they lasted with
their road going machines. |
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| Let's hear from you if you own the engine.
Velocette produced many powerful single cylinder engines for their road going
machines, pity they didn't
concentrate on speedway bikes more |
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| John says: What jumps out from these Sunbeam pictures is
the size of the wheels 28". Later regulations limited wheel sizes to 22"
and then to the modern day size 18 inch |
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| This Sunbeam I am told was a 1948 model. I
doubt that and would date it as a 1930s machine. The bike however
is immaculate whatever its year of manufacture. |
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Above:
The Rudge 500.This example
looks very potent even by modern bike standards. (Four valve
technology is not modern ) I bet this machine raced flat out would frighten
the life out of a lot of modern bikers!
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JAP in a Rudge frame
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American Riders 1920s early 1930's |
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American
Riders 1930's at the Richmond Raceway, (Picture courtesy of Carrick Watson)
US riders had been racing around their dirt tracks for a number of years before
we got underway in 1928. These riders are obviously mounted on an
Indian (left) and a Harley Davidson.
The Indian became a popular mount for Wall of Death riders. They don't
appear to be wearing much body protection. I assume therefore that they
are simply posing for pictures but who knows maybe they raced in their long
johns in 1930's, Richmond USA!
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So, in the late 1920's and early 1930's the pioneers quickly discovered which
bikes to use to be a winner. The Harley Peashooter had the edge at first.
The long wheel base Douglas was the first choice of the "leg trailing
winners" with the shorter wheel base Rudge giving the foot forward riders
the edge. Then came the JAP in 1931 and the older bikes gradually gave way
until all riders were mounted on the mighty JAP. |
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The Website owner,
John Skinner,
at the Glasgow Transport Museum. The Bike is a 1929 Douglas D.T. The picture on
the wall shows an Glasgow rider leading a Newcastle Diamond. The Glasgow
museum is well worth a trip, whether you pay the speedway a visit or not.
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The Douglas had 3 gears but no clutch! For three
years, the Dirt Track Douglas was the supreme dirt track machine selling
around 1,200 bikes in 1929 alone. A bike like this one ridden by
Gordon Byers, won the first ever race at Newcastle's Brough Park. |
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David Turner says: That bike was owned and ridden by George Pinkerton. A farmer
near Glasgow. He restored the bike about 25 years ago. I lived on the farm next
to him, and now live in Detroit. He had a brother called Jimmy Pinkerton who was
of more note in the Scottish scene and also a very successful sand racer. George
is also notable for being a Spitfire pilot with City of Glasgow. He and two
others shot down the first German plane over Briton (near Edinburgh). I believe
the bike is still owned by his son Ian who still farms the same land.
George died about 10 years ago |
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| Alex Kynoch shows how it
was done in 1929 |
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A
500cc Douglas Dirt Bike.
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| Alex Kynoch
shows how it was done in 1929. No, he is not falling off! These long wheel-base
bikes had a very low centre of gravity because the "heavy" engines were horizontally
opposed flat twins mounted along the bottom of the frame. The Leg Trailers were usually mounted on
these bikes. |
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A Speedway Rudge
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| The shorter
wheel base and higher centre of gravity of the Rudge did not suit some of the
Douglas leg trailers although many adapted to the foot forward style of riding
when they switched from the Douglas to the Rudge |
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| John Alfred Prestwich |
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John Alfred Prestwich. A
very clever man who invented a number of things including his JAP engines used
in speedway
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Dawn
of the JAP - 1931
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| This early machine probably dates from around 1931? The JAP engine in a
variety of frames reigned the speedway world for decades. You could say modern speedway was born
in 1931? |
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| Courtesy of Phil Newton |
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| Harry on an early JAP |
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| This picture shows an early Jap. Harry by the way became a
Newcastle promoter when his riding days were over. |
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| Martin Comerford JAP |
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Bikes Page 2
Bikes Page 3
Bikes Page 4 Bikes
Page 5
Bikes Page 6
Bikes Page 7
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The contents of this website are © and should not be produced
elsewhere for financial gain. The contributors to this website
gave the pictures and information on that understanding. If anyone
has any issue or objections to any items on my website please email me
and I will amend or remove the item. Where possible credit has
been given to the owner of each item. |