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 with the idea of competing” because of the high cost involved, but the subsidy made up his mind. Fox recalled he received £25.0.0 and he and John Wilkinson traveled by boat from Melbourne to Tasmania. The boat trip was very rough, and Laurie said he was the “only one who didn’t eat, and the only one who wasn’t hanging over the side being sick”.
He had his 600cc Norton and his 250cc Moto Guzzi with him on the boat. It was to be the first Guzzi to race there.
*High praise for L W Fox. *
In a preview of the T.T., the Tasmanian newspaper “Examiner” reported that “Laurie Fox (S A) has developed as a sidecar rider in the last 12 months. In the 1952 Australian sidecar T.T. he shared the lap record with Victorian ace Bernie Mack, ultimately securing second place in what has been described as ‘the finest sidecar race ever seen in Australia’.”
