Author Topic: First sliders  (Read 18626 times)

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Offline pancho

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First sliders
« on: July 25, 2010, 01:35:58 pm »
When did the first sliders appear in OZ? I suspect the first copies of the English grass-track machines started with back yard specials and such circa '64. or maybe '63? Good authority says 'Herb' Jeffo rode a gen. Hagon in Jan '64. Kerr specials were seen I believe from later '64, and probably " Squeeky" Wyman rode the Geoff Coombes built slider about then. Who's memory still works?
   Cheers pancho. 
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Offline jimg1au

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2010, 06:48:51 pm »
hagon japs were around in 1965

Offline Mike52

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2010, 07:08:07 pm »
Depends what you mean by sliders.
This is my Dad and Uncle in 1952 or 53.
Sorry about the photo , copy of a really big one, done really badly. :)




This has a interesting motor.
A 500cc overhead cam AJS.
Motor is now in a museum in QLD.
85/400WR,86/240WR,72/DKW125,Pe250c,TC90,TS100,XT250,86/SRX250,XR400r
Friend  struggling up a hill on a old bike at MTMee .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjj6E2MP9xU.

Curly3

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2010, 08:32:07 pm »
Good question Pancho, my memory from stories heard is that Ray Owen down south and Herb Jeffo up this away were pretty well the first and I think Squeeky may have bought a couple back from England.
I've sent the question to Les Burdus who has a great recolection of those days so I'll keep you posted.

colmoody

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2010, 09:51:05 pm »
Mike 52 that's a great image. Anymore like that that.

Offline jimg1au

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2010, 10:05:53 pm »
there was a story on herb in old bike australia mabe firko can ask jim scasbrooke for som info i had the mag but cant find it
jim

firko

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2010, 10:16:22 pm »
I was talking to Vic McTaggart not long ago and he tells of Paul Spooner (I think :-\) importing a Hagon grass tracker in in the mid sixties and it wasn't very long before everyone was copying it and then copying the copies. Vic reckons he had one of the first copies in the mid sixties.

Offline pancho

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2010, 08:53:32 am »
Hey mike52 that is a great shot! pancho.
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Offline pancho

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2010, 08:56:18 am »
Some-one else who would probably have a clue would Daryl Butler, where are you these days Daryl?-pancho.
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Offline E74

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2010, 09:46:32 am »
Do you mean Solo's?

The first ever speedway meeting was held here in Australia at Maitland NSW in  1923, and  using a Model T ford as the track groomer, I have a mate who's grandfather was there when the track was being built, here is some info from Wikipedia on it.

The first speedway meeting, as reported in the Maitland Mercury newspaper, took place on 15 December 1923 at the Maitland Showground in the Lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. There is evidence that there may have been earlier meetings in Australia and broadsiding on small dirt tracks had been practised in America since before World War I. A rider named Don Johns was known to have done this before 1914. It was said that he would ride the entire race course wide open, throwing great showers of dirt into the air at each turn.[citation needed] His style of cornering was followed in the United States by riders such as Albert "Shrimp" Burns, Maldwyn Jones and Eddie Brinck well before 1923. The first meeting in the United Kingdom took place at High Beech on 19 February 1928.[2] There are, however, claims that meetings were held in 1927 at Camberley, Surrey and Droylsden, Lancashire. Despite being described as "the first British Dirt Track meeting" at the time, the meeting at Camberley on 7 May 1927 differed in that the races were held in a clockwise direction.[3] Races at Droylsden were held in an anti-clockwise direction but it is generally accepted that the sport arrived in the United Kingdom when Australians Billy Galloway and Keith McKay arrived with the intention of introducing speedway to the Northern Hemisphere. Both featured in the 1928 High Beech meeting. The the first speedway meeting in the UK to feature bikes with no brakes and broadsiding round corners on loose dirt was the third meeting held at High Beech on 9 April 1928, where Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and "Digger" Pugh demonstrated the art for the first time in the UK. Proto speedway was staged in Glasgow at the Olympic Stadium (Glasgow Nelson) on April 9, 1928 and the first fully professional meeting was staged at Celtic Park on April 28, 1928. The first meeting in Wales was staged at Cardiff White City on Boxing Day 1928.

 
A speedway rider waits at the start gate for his 3 opponentsIn the late 1920s, Australian Colin Stewart of Colac, Victoria won the prestigious Silver Gauntlet. He also achieved success at an international level, racing for Southampton in 1929 and captained the Glasgow in the Northern League in 1930 before moving to Wembley in 1931, for whom he rode in just four matches, averaging 4.00 points per match. He also raced in the 1930 Scottish Championship which was won by Wembley's Harry Whitfield.

The forerunner of the World Championship, the Star Riders' Championship, was inaugurated in Great Britain in 1929 but was split in to two sections as it was felt that the British riders were not yet the equal of the Australians and Americans. Frank Arthur won the Overseas Section and Roger Frogley the British. The following year the two sections were amalgamated and Vic Huxley proved to be the winner.[4] Huxley was also runner-up three times and won the first British Match Race championship in 1931.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2010, 09:48:28 am by E74 »

firko

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2010, 10:35:10 am »
I think Pancho is referring to dirt track sliders Darren. That's a pretty good little speedway history just the same.

firko

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2010, 02:07:26 pm »
                                 

Offline NR555

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2010, 03:11:35 pm »
Modern grasstrack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpwpomq-mMw

It's reasonably fast  :o

Curly3

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #13 on: July 26, 2010, 03:12:29 pm »
The Big Wigg.

Offline JAP 454

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Re: First sliders
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2010, 04:39:29 pm »
What a top shot , Firko .

I remember watching Julian race at Griffith in one of the early Pom V Aussie Short Circuit test matches , he was a very quick and , shall we say, forceful rider.

OK . quote from OBA Sept/ Oct '08 article on Herb,

Talking about 1964 " Ray Owen had procured the first Hagon grasstrack chassis to come to Australia, which had been sent from England by parcel post ! Ray installed a 500 JAP and had a replica frame built, into which he slotted a 350 JAP. At Cowra, Ray let Herb have a gallop on the Hagon after the meeting, and Herb instantly knew that this was the competitive edge of the future.
By early 1965, Herb had imported his own Hagon Chassis, into which he installed his trusty 350 BSA engine "


I remember all sorts of creations from the mid to late '60s and early '70s, like the " Philmac Special " , anyone remember that ? and who rode it ?, from memory it was drilled everywhere for lightness and had a AJS or Matchy engine canted forward and , I think, forming the front downtube of the frame.
And then there was a guy we called Tailshaft , cos his frame top tube was a Holden tailshaft and served as his fuel tank.
There were lots more Hagon copies around , some of them a bit more workmanlike than others

I built my first slider in the late '60s , Jim still has the 350 Ariel motor and the frame  and then bought Buzz Burrows' Hagon Grassstracker in 1971 , It was an early one,  BSA rear wheel and thick frame tubing,  I will ask Buzz when he got it but I 'll bet it will be '65 or '66

Fossil