Eric McPherson: Grand Prix pioneer
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 84 – first published in 2020. Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Byron Gunther, OBA archives. Since the advent of the World Championships in 1949, getting aboard a works […]
Eric McPherson
Tracks in Time: Victoria Park, Ballarat
Ballarat is the only Australian city to be listed on the International Historic Cities register. Everywhere you go in Ballarat (or Ballaart to be more correct – from the aboriginal Balla-arat meaning resting place), are […]
Tony McAlpine: The wild colonial boy
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Byron Gunther, Trevor Evans, Keith Bryen Wallace Anthony, or just plain ‘Tony’ McAlpine, died on the Queensland Gold Coast on September 26th 2005, aged 84. With his passing went perhaps […]
Tom Phillis: A bridge too far
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Charles Rice, Keith Ward, Tom Perry The feeling of disbelief that followed the death of Tom Phillis on the Isle of Man in 1962 was palpable. How could Tom, fast […]
Doug James: The Original Wollongong Wizz
At just seventeen years of age, Doug James was the youngest rider in the Australian Tourist Trophy in 1939. He was also a long way from home. Pre-war, the journey from Wollongong to Phillip Island, […]
Harry Hinton: A Racing Life
The Isle of Man mountain course is unique in its sheer abundance of natural hazards, which are rarely tolerant of errors of judgement or mistakes. Those who have taken on the Mountain respect it, for […]
Hartley needed a big heart: Hartley Vale Circuit NSW
Six kilometres of flat-out dirt was a test of the brave in the 1930s…. and you can still try it any weekend. Reaching Lithgow, the first stop over the blue Mountains from Sydney, was an […]
