Ray Owen – The complete motorcyclist
You could reasonably assume that there are a few OBA readers out there who started racing more than 60 years ago – not many, perhaps, but a few. But how many of them still own […]
Feature
Katana – The Suzuki born in Bavaria
The boom in big-capacity motorcycles that began in the late 1960s continued unabated a decade later, and the annual end-of-year shows, in Milan and Cologne (which rotated year about) and Tokyo always contained a few […]
Hume Weir – The valley of the kings
Race tracks have been crammed into some unlikely places, but few as unlikely as the site of the circuit built in 1959 in an old quarry which sat in the shadow of the dam wall […]
Rumi 125 – A Latin love affair
In a sea of Bantam BSAs on Victorian race tracks in the late 1950s, Ian Free’s Rumi stood out like the proverbial dog’s bits. Not only was it Italian, but it was a twin-cylinder 125, […]
A Multitude of Manxes
“How would you like to test a few Manx Nortons while you’re at Pukekohe?” This was Kevin Grant speaking – one of the main movers behind the enormously successful annual meeting in New Zealand. “How […]
Graham Young – On for young and old
When Speedway’s youngest sidecar sensation Graham Young teamed up with veteran Ray Murray it was on for young and old. It wasn’t that he was past it, but for a bloke who scratched a living in […]
Bandiana Army Camp – The blast around the barracks
Back in 1954, excitement amongst the motorcycling fraternity was at fever pitch with the confirmation that the works Gilera duo of dashing English World Champion Geoff Duke and Irishman Reg Armstrong had agreed to an […]
Honest Col Crothers – Live fast. Play fast.
The Australian Land Speed Record was a challenge that captivated Col Crothers for most of his life. It was a big task but Col was never afraid of a challenge. Throughout his long life, ‘Honest […]
The Swann International Series – Part 2: 1984-88
Last issue we looked at the highs and lows as the Swann International Series established itself as a major attraction in the European off-season. There were bigger things to come… More fun in the sun […]
The Swann Insurance International Road Race Series – Part 1: 1978-83
The idea of spending the off-season racing in Australia was attractive enough to riders trapped in wintry Europe, but it took decades to establish a true annual series. For eleven years, the Swann International Series […]
