Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Graeme Crosby....larrikin biker....Croz's first book...his first autobiography...well worth the read....
0 comments Posted by car 2011 at 3:41 PMI've always admired "Croz" as the New Zealand racing motorcyclist, Graeme Crosby is affectionately called....
Well liked in the UK and Europe for his racing exploits there in the late 1970's, early 1980's as well as in NZ and Australia, I recently received an email from an old mate of his and mine, Ross Hannan, alerting me to Croz's first foray into publishing.
So a couple of clicks on his website....
http://www.graemecrosby.com/
where he relieved me of some cash saw the book secured and in a few days the parcel arrived with a signed copy....
Left click on the photos to enlarge....
I read a lot and was a little skeptical, perhaps the photos would be worth it, Croz could ride the wheels off a motorcycle, but could he write a book?
Was I pleasantly surprised.... I found myself with one of those books I had difficulty putting down.
I'ts a bloody good read....
I've just returned from NZ where I was 3 days at the big annual Classic Motorcycle race meeting at Pukekohe, just south of Auckland and I'll do a blog on this within the week.
Croz was there with a stall and I had my camera with me, so we'll visit the stall pictorially....
The three following photos show that...when the flag dropped Croz was off like a scalded cat....
http://www.graemecrosby.com/
Get your signed copy now......
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Around Australia the Hard Way in 1929...a brief look at the trip of Jack Bowers and Frank Smith....
0 comments Posted by car 2011 at 10:24 PMMotorcycle travel books have a fascination for me...regular viewers of my blog will recall my wife and my overland trip from Australia in 1974
http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com/2008/04/overland-to-europe-by-motorcycle-in.html
and Robert Fulton Jnr's epic ride in 1932 and written up in his "One Man Caravan" which I reviewed earlier...
http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-man-caravanrobert-fulton-jnrs-epic.html
I've many others...."Three Wheeling Through Africa" by J.C.Wilson (1937); "Nansen Passport" by I.S.K.Soboleff (1936); "Across Europe with Satanella" by Claire Sheridan (1925); "From Leipzig to Cabul" by G. Stratil-Sauer (1924);"Around the world with Motorcycle and Camera" by Eitel and Rolf Lange (1953); "Two up by Scooter to Australia" by Michael Marriott (1960); "Three Lands on Three Wheels" by Jan and Cora Gordon (1932); "Australia through the Windscreen" by William Hatfield (1939)...not motorcycling, but interesting anyhow...and the list goes on.
Of course we have the DVD's today of the guys Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman riding around the world on BMW's...and I may seem sarcastic, but they had a TV cameraman with a backup vehicle , they had mobile 'phones and heaps of support...
So this blog features the first circumnavigation by "road", well if you can call it a road, by Harley Davidson motorcycle and sidecar in 1929 around mainland Australia....
"Around Australia The Hard Way in 1929" written by Jack L. Bowers, one of the two who started out from the GPO in Sydney on 4th July 1929, the other being Frank Oakley Smith ( who had passed away by the time Bowers had his book published in 1995).
I acknowledge the copyright of the book held by Jack L. Bowers....
Left click on the images to enlarge....
The book I'm reviewing may well be available from the publisher, who's details are on the flyleaf below.
I'll follow their progress in a generalised view via some of the photographs from Jack's book...
A read of the second last page of Jack's book says it all...
Then again in 2008 to raise money for Ageing and Alzheimer's disease research they did motorcycle ride using the same outfit from 1958, putting in 11,470km, not quite as far or the same route as their's and Bowers and Smiths route, but an epic anyhow.
I played in a traditional jazz quartet to welcome them back with many others on 20th July 2008.
The cover of the leaflet to promote their latter ride follows....
Hard men all of them.....
Saturday, September 25, 2010
"The Dashboard Revolution"....an interesting little book from Smiths the instrument people....
0 comments Posted by car 2011 at 7:27 PMThis is a small book I've had on my bookshelf for over 30 years and I chanced on it, looking for other stuff....
Have a look at a bit of it with me.....
I see it for sale still in automotive bookshops, occasionally Ebay....
Cost....around 8 UK quid seems to buy it....
It was written around 1970, so the instruments and their technology fit our interests with the cartoons by the Canadian born motoring artist/cartoonist Russell Brockbank which raise a grin and to his estate/holders of any copyright and Smiths Industries I acknowledge their use here.......
Left click on the images to enlarge....
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Preview.....Don Cox's -"Circus Life"...Australian Motorcycle racers in Europe in the 1950's
0 comments Posted by car 2011 at 11:26 PM
Don summaries his work on the book and comment...
This project began in 2005 and the last chapter was finished in February 2010. (This is while maintaining a full-time day job and having my walking range tail away due to multiple sclerosis.) One reason it took so long was the flavour and scope evolved from a book about a handful of key characters to attempting to shine a light on some 40 riders who ventured to Europe between 1948 and 1960.
It might be the last chance to talk to some of these guys, so I felt compelled to recount their stories. I'm very sad that some key sources haven't lived to see the finished book -- including former racers Bob Mitchell, Bob West, Allen Burt and Jack Findlay.
I was fortunate two decades ago to have talked to Eric and Ruby McPherson, and George Morrison, about their Continental Circus experiences in 1949-50 and to Tom Phillis' parents Tom and Elsie.
Australian Motorcycle Heroes 1949-1989 was an obvious starting point. I had some chapters that didn't make the finished version in 1988. But I re-interviewed many of the characters and tracked down many more -- so this book goes much deeper into the 1950s than "Heroes". It picks up on aspects some reviewers identified as missing from the 1988 effort,
including the economics of 1950s racing in Europe. But it also attempts to show the diverse characters involved and tell the sometimes extraordinary stories.
The focus is very much on the private entrants and their way of life -- riding non-championship Continental Circus internationals week-in,week-out.
In addition, there are several chapters on the experience of racing behind the Iron Curtain. There are also more "side" players, including one of the two women who travelled with Bob Brown in 1955 after Allen Burt was seriously injured at the Isle of Man.
The internet has made research faster than 1988 in some ways -- there are more results and more photos available, even websites devoted to old circuits. Thanks to email you can often have a question answered in 24 hours. But the people are now 20 years older.
One of the first research activities was approaching the FIM for copies of the race calendars -- so I had the actual dates for the non-championship meetings. This made it easier to trace a rider's path across Europe and appreciate the distances from race to race.
In 2006 I visited a couple of the old circuits, most notably St Wendel -- a meeting the 1950s private entrants all enjoyed. One restaurant in the town has a wall dedicated to the races. The metal sign for the start/finish line stands in the front of the house where race director August Balthasar lived.
The next three years were devoted to research and writing -- with momentum often maintained by the thrill of the chase... Finding the tale behind a particular result, poring through a diary, unearthing the photo of a forgotten machine or just hearing the enthusiasm in a voice when you take a chance on a telephone number.
Circus Life: Australian Motorcycle Racers In Europe In The 1950s
By Don Cox
From the co-author of Australian Motorcycle Heroes 1949-1989 and the author of The Aussies & 2 NZ Blokes
Foreword by Australia’s 1969 world 250 champion Kel Carruthers
Over 100 photographs, many previously unpublished
Background on some 40 Australians who raced in Europe from 1948 to 1960
The Story:
Which sport saw the first Australians compete behind the Iron Curtain? In the 1950s, which profession allowed a welder from Prahran and a toolmaker from Belfield to earn 15 times their regular weekly wage?
Welcome to the gypsy world of the Continental Circus private entrants – warts and all -- with the joys, camaraderie, heartache, laughs and low acts. It was a time when rider usually had to be truck driver, mechanic, cook and start-money negotiator as well. And management help? You wish! In the 1950s it was considered un-Australian to push your own barrow.
Travel with the young men criss-crossing a still rebuilding Europe, racing for a living – some with their mates, others just married. Drift a Manx Norton flat out with Bob Brown at Spa-Francorchamps. Learn the Isle of Man Mountain section with Maurie Quincey. Take on race organisers over starting money with Jack Ahearn and Keith Campbell. Cure an electrical problem with your teeth and mend a broken gear linkage with fencing wire. Cross the mine fields into East Germany, where one wrong move could put you in a gulag. Experience the highs, lows and scary hospitals – stories even the men who lived them reckon people would not believe.
The fruits of five years’ research, Circus Life goes deeper than the typical “who won what and when”. The author puts you on the grid at Villefranche des Rouergue; in the van trundling across Europe in high summer and behind the Iron Curtain on the oil-stained public roads of Brno.
“The author has worked miracles from a set of disjointed telephone conversations and emails!” -- Trevor Pound
Don is awaiting the first printed copies and envisages the price to be in the AUD$75 range plus postage from him direct or from specialist bookshops.
When the book becomes available, I'll run another blog with firm details.
I've searched through my files for a pic or two of some of the riders to be featured....
Outside "Rose Villa" the favourite guest-house haunt of Aussies in Douglas IOM, L to R.
Alan Burt, Ritchie Thomsen, Bob Brown, Maurie Quincey's wife, Maurie Quincey.
Bob Brown's trophies.....
Keith Bryen on the podium after winning the 350cc race at Norisring, 21.07.1957. Eric Hinton to the right.
( last five photos courtesy of Keith and Gwen Bryen )
