Atujara Motorcycle Club Inc

At the tender age of 16 this tale begins with my conning my mother into signing a license application with a line something like this:

“It’s okay if you don’t sign it I can still ride in practice without a license”.

My first ride in the sidecar was at Kilburn Speedway which was on Churchill road about opposite where the Albion Hotel is now situated. This was in 1948 and on a practice night and on the first corner of the first lap the front tyre of our outfit connected with the rear of the outfit in ahead, flipping the front of our machine into the air and me onto the track behind it. This would have been the end of my career as a sidecar passenger but for the fact that all my mates were watching and I would have been the laughing stock of the gang. So it was back into the sidecar for approximately 15 years.

During this period I rode in quite a lot of sidecars with different riders and THOROUGHLY enjoyed it most of the time. (Incidentally, don’t knock being a passenger until you have tried it!)

The competitions consisted of road racing at Woodside, Port Wakefield, beach racing at Sellicks, hill climbs at Morialta, scrambles (or motocross) at Royal Park (about where Football PArk now stands), Port Norlunga, speedway at Kilburn, Rowely Park, Marybinongs Melbourne, the half mile at Whyalla, and the fabulous one mile track at Port Pirie. There was nothing to compare with going into bends at around 100 MPH.

Then there were a couple of road trials with Laurie Michel in the Ariel Six Hour and also int he 24 Hour. It was great fun riding with Laurie.

While competing in sidecar racing there were a few little incidents that occurred such as, being left on the bike when the rider slid off the machine because he didn’t think we would make the turn at Rowely Park. He should have stayed on the bike because I got halfway around the bend before hitting the fence, breaking my jaw in two places and my left arm in two places. Incidentally, the rider was Australian Speedway Champion about 5 years in a row.

Rolling over the nose of the sidecar in the Australian Scramble Championship at Royal PArk while riding with Bill Butler who was one of the best outfit rider’s around, but who completely forgot about his passenger once he got on the machine and the throttle in his hand. He had complete trust in his passenger to do the right thing, as do most riders I imagine.

On the final night of the Speedway each season it was declared charity night when solo mechanics rode solo machines, speedcar mechanics drove speedcars and sidecar passengers rode outfits with riders as passengers. Funny things – speedway outfits, shut the throttle and they immediately veer to the right.

NOBODY TOLD ME!!!

On the first practice night I shot off, halfway around the first bend and did a small circle on the infield. This happened 4 times on the first lap and the announcer was heard to say:

“This blokes used to a small track!”

However, this tactic paid off on race night because whilst running third going into the final turn I shut off a bit prematurely, ran across the infield, came back onto the track halfway round the turn and got second place.

Another incident was at Morialta Hill Climb while riding on an Ariel Square Four with Ron Ward and after failing to get to the top of the climb we turned the machine around, took off the plug leads and proceeded to come down the hill with the motor turning over to assist with braking. Unfortunately we had fuel leaking onto the motor and the sparking leads caused a little bit of a fire and fair amount of panic.

About 12 months after I started as a passenger at Speedway, someone said to my father:

“That lad of yours goes pretty well on the sidecar”

He didn’t believe I was competing but didn’t ask me, just decided to go to the speedway to see for himself. Unfortunately he got knocked off his motorcycle on the way, breaking an ankle. He never did see me ride…

Tom Davies, Life Member of the Atujara Motorcycle Club

Following the second world war, 1939-45, motorcycle racing recommenced in S.A. with most riders competing on their road machines. After riding to the track, the lights, number plates and etc., were removed, events were ridden then the lights and plates went back on and home they went.
In speedway racing a lot of riders started riding older machines. For example, Jack Young, who went on to become world champion, used to ride a Peashooter Harley as did his brother Joe while another brother, Frank, rode a Norton. Several other riders, most of whom lived in the Flinders Park-Findon area, including Bob (Bakey) Leverenz, rode a variety of machines that were adapted to speedway style. After a few years several JAP pure speedway machines came on the scene so a road class was incorporated in speedway racing. This class continued for a few years until eventually there were enough pure speedway machines to run meetings. So, out went the road class. Some of these riders gained sponsorship but, other than those lucky few, if you couldn”t afford a tracker that was the end of your speedway career.

Riders then began riding road machines in scrambles or motocross as it is now known. Riders competed on BSA, Matchless, AJS, Tribsa”s, after a few years along came the Greeves, Dot, CZs and other special motocross machines so if you couldn”t afford one you were no longer competitive. Probably a lot of riders retired before they wanted to.

Observed trials riders competed on converted Villiers, BSA Bantams and any other small machines they could adapt. There was the occasional four stroke competing. Probably the most notable was our club”s Fred Greneklee on his 350cc AJS. Most of these riders were able to enjoy their trials at a reasonable cost.

Eventually along came the Bultaco, Montessa and other well sprung motorcycles which eventually made the Villiers specials pretty well obsolete. A lot of riders still competed but with no Bultaco or Montessa no good results were obtained. So unless you could afford good machines you were out of this branch of the sport.

To their credit the observed trials clubs decided to run a greybeards section and a few older members dragged out the old Villiers Specials just to have a ride. Eventually the sections became so tough that no riders on these old machines were able to complete the course. So although there is still a greybeards class, unless your machine is fairly up to date you”re only in the trial for a ride, which is probably what most motorcyclists care about anyway.

In the period 1945-1955 most people in road racing competed on road registrable motorcycles that were in various stages of tune. There were a handful of Manx Nortons, Gold Stars, 7R Ajays, competition AJS/Matchlesses, Triumphs and etc., and the hand built Velos. The most famous of these being the ELDEE Special built by the late Les Diener.

Road racing fell into a bit of a slump for a while but it was only temporary and this seems to be one section of our sport which has not been affected by the almighty dollar, mainly because of the introduction of Classic and Post-Classic classes etc. Not that I think that competing in these sections wouldn”t cost and arm and a leg anyway.

So, by reading this article you should be able to realise that each section of the sport of motorcycling has been taken over by people who have been perhaps able to afford or have been good enough riders to gain sponsorship to have superior motorcycles to ride, the lucky B ….. s!

Tom Davies, Life Member of the Atujara Motorcycle Club