Chatted to one of the gentlemen of the Mount Gambier Motorcycle & Light Car Club recently, Mr Kevin Lock. Kevin rode at the Borderline Speedway as a rider and a sidecar passenger for the late John Smith. Kevin was also a keen photographer and gave me access to some great photos of his era. This action one is of him passing Noel Creek at the Borderline Speedway in its early days. Well into his eighties he spends a lot of his time at his beach shack nowadays.
Just recently we have lost 3 motorcyclist of bygone eras. Harry Vause (aged 92) and the last of the 3 men that walked the bush block (that was to become Mac Park) with Frank McNamara. Harry was also a successful Speedway competitor at Borderline Speedway on his...
Vale Harry Vause. With the passing of Harry Vause last Thursday at the age of 92, a link to the history of Mac Park was lost. Harry was, with the late Laurie Fox and Maurie von Einem, one of the three Mount Gambier Motor Cycle & LIght Car Club members who...
Best known for it's road racing, McNamara Park's first competitive event occurred on this day September 13 1953 - 70 years ago. It was a Scramble on "the new half mile track" which used part of the planned road race circuit. that Frank McNamara had roughed- out with...
Seventy years ago, in July 1953, the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle and Light Car Club held their annual Wittwer Trial at Mac Park. This was an observed trial and 24 riders took part. Outright winner was Ron Hellyer on an AJS, (pictured below) with Roger Crowe and Ron...
A couple of weeks ago at Isle of Man time I posted about 2 Mount Gambier local motorcyclists Alec Campbell and Jim Pearson who performed very credibly in their first attempt at the sidecar racing there. Alec riding, with Jim in the chair gained a 7th place. A great...
Alec (Alex) Campbell came to mind when reading about preparations for the upcoming Isle of Man TT. Alec competed at the Island on 2 occasions, the first in 1975 when as an virtually unknown sidecar rider, he and passenger Jim...
Following on from the family member's blog recently, the Walker name appears prominently in the list of attendees at the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle & Light Car Club inaugural meeting in 1947. Attending were Messrs A A Walker, H Walker, M H Walker, N Walker and Miss N...
Families were well represented in the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle and Light Car Club with the Fox, Walker, von Einem, and Hamilton names represented and also the Hellyers, brothers Ron, Ralph and Neville. Ron was a well known Solo and Sidecar rider with many successes,...
When the Borderline Speedway opened in Mount Gambier in 1957, many Mount Gambier Motor Cycle and Light Car Club members competed in Solo and Sidecar races. Bikes were generally standard road bikes modified slightly for track use, as from being used in Scrambles. Bruce...
Watched the Levis Motr Cycle Club's 2023 Sellick's Beach races on the week end via live-streaming and was interested to see the late Frank McNamara's 16H Army Norton outfit working on the beach over the 2 days. Darren Winter, well known Adelaide sidecar rider now...
Australian T.T, Longford, Tasmania, March 1953. The Auto Cycle Union of South Australia had selected Mount Gambier's Laurie Fox as one of two State representatives (Allan Wallis, 125cc rider, the other) for the Australian T.T. in Tasmania. Fox had been only “toying...
G'day! Well, some bad news, then some good news! Dear Harry Vause, one of the very early Mt Gambier Motor Cycle & Light Car Club members and the only remaining person to have walked with Laurie, Maurie & Frank over the scrub block now Mac Park has been hospitalised...
Today marks the birthday of a remarkable man, the late Basil Coombe. Basil and Joan, with children Jim, Pat and Frank moved to Mount Gambier in 1956 (Judy was born here later) and this proved to a stroke of luck for the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle & Light Car Club. It...
Local lads were pretty good at building "specials" and this is a very pretty 350cc Ariel engined Royal Enfield built by the late Graham McPherson. I believe Duncan Morrison may have been the last to ride it at Mac Park, but am open to correction. I badly wanted this...
Great weekend coming up for Mac Park, our great local road race circuit, with one of the features being the annual Laurie Fox Memorial Classic Master of Mac Park for sidecars. March 3 to 5 will see an exciting weekend of sidecars and solo races, with around 20...
Saw Mr George Turnbull out walking last evening - he is out walking most days really, but this time I stopped to chat with him. George is the oldest living ex rider from the Buck's Hill Scramble days and will turn 98 in July this year. Walking (with a frame) and...
With all the electronic set up for our newspapers etc it is interesting to look back and see how our papers were set up in the 50s etc when they used lead blocks for illustrations. In a pile of Ariel parts I bought years ago I found this lead block used in an...
Today is the 92nd Birthday of one of the early Mount Gambier Motor Cycle and Light Car Club members, Harry Vause. Harry is the only remaining member of the trio that, in late 1951, walked a 40 acre rough bush block/worked out quarry site with Frank McNamara, to check...
Not all the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle and Light Car Club activities revolved around racing, casual rides often being enjoyed too. This is a Kevin Lock photo and in the 1958 photo left to right most of the participants are named - they are as recorded: Peter Byrne, Ron...
One hundred and ten years ago (1913) according to Sth Australian registration records there were 42 motorcycles registered locally, bringing the total to 122 motorcycles registered in Mount Gambier. Adelaide manufacturer Lewis Cycle Works had a depot here and were...
Laurie Walter Fox, AOM, would have been 96 years old today. He died in December 2017, aged 90. He was a racer, achieving success on sidecars and solo, an administrator, official, journalist, businessman, loving family man and an all round great bloke. Picture is of...
Mount Gambier has had many sidecar aces two of whom died while racing. Ian Hogg died at Bathurst in April 1972 riding his Manx Norton. Ian's son Colin, who lives in New Zealand, has informed me his father's racing outfit which had been restored by Wangarrata legend...
G'day! When I was writing my books on our motorcycle history I often came across the name Owen Land. By all accounts, verbal and written, Owen was a real character. I recounted in Volume 2 of Potholes a good story of Owen being pursued by an officer of the law who...
There are only a very few of what I respectfully call the "Grand old Dames" of motorcycling in this area still with us today and one of them is Noela Hellyer. Noela was the first lady member of the Mount Gambier Motor Cycle & Light Car Club and was married to Ron...
The new Blog facility is currently being tested and hopefully will be fully operational in a day or so. This will enable me to regularly share new content, plus featured older content, on a regular basis. As well as interesting items and photos from the “Potholes and...