Tracks in Time
Muswellbrook 7 Hour Race
In OBA 53 we covered the short history of the Hillview Circuit at Muswellbrook in the NSW Upper Hunter Valley. Of all the races staged at this fast and undulating circuit, none is more fondly remembered than the Seven Hour Race of 1962. Pete ‘Cob’ Smith covered many miles to track down riders and officials from that event…
Well known motorcycle racing identity John Rumford was as at one stage the President of the Cessnock Motorcycle Club. He attributes the success of this club to some very worthy workers like Reg Corbett, Leo Harrison, and Sandy and Fay George. Rumford was recuperating in hospital after suffering injuries in a racing accident when he read an article about a 24 hour endurance road race in Europe. He began thinking about a dirt track endurance race and sat on the idea for some time before putting forward the idea to the club. Subsequently, the Cessnock Motorcycle Club applied to the Auto Cycle Union (ACU) and was granted permission to conduct a 7 hour race at the Hillview Circuit at nearby Muswellbrook. Headlines from the Muswellbrook Chronicle on Friday 31 August 1962 read “World’s First 7 Hour Race on Dirt Track. Muswellbrook Makes Motor Racing History.” So it was that on Sunday 2nd September 1962 history was created. It was a Le Mans style start at 9.30am with the finish at 4.30pm. The winning team would be the one completing the most laps. Entry fee was five guineas (five pounds five shillings) per team. 51 teams entered, 45 in the Unlimited class and six in the Lightweight. A total of 200 names had been submitted as members of the various teams, with identification of individual riders by way of coloured armbands. Progress results were to be given over the public address system every 15 minutes. Practice was to be between 2.30 and 4.30 pm on the Saturday and again 8.00am to 9.00am Sunday. Machines had to be on their allocated grid position by 9.15am. There were some notable entries. Great expectation was heaped upon multiple NSW Champion Norm Fraser as he was making a comeback after having previously suffered serious injuries at Tamworth in 1959. Another who was going to be a major contender was John Rumford who had won three classes on three different machines at this track when the State Titles had been contested there in 1960. Gold Star BSAs had developed a reputation of being reliable in long distance road racing events, and a number of these were entered with the likes of Norm Fraser and his younger brother Kevin, Jack Davies, and Geoff Coombes with the Gold Star that he had ridden in the Clubman’s TT on the Isle on Man. At 9.15am there were 46 machines of the 51 entered lined up on the grid. Then at 9.29am came complete silence as riders lined up on the edge of the inside portion of the track, facing their machines. Precisely at 9.30am Cessnock
Motorcycle Club President Jim Wilkie fired the starting pistol, and the riders dashed across the track to their waiting machines. First away was Jack Saunders (No.33) with D. Macnamara (No.1) a close second and into the lead by the end of lap 1. Machine problems seemed to start early in the event. Reg Clark (No.31) on a 500 Velocette retired after only 6 laps. Then Norm Fraser came in early and obviously had a gearing problem as they then worked frantically and borrowed a sprocket from a friend’s road machine. By 10.00am two teams shared first place on 27 laps each. Thirty minutes later Les Burdus was safely in the lead and two laps ahead of his nearest rival Jim Airey on the Triumph entered by Adams & Sons, who had been battling with Peter Newey’s CB72 250 Honda. The second Honda in the race, a C72 Dream, was also making good progress through the field and stayed towards the front for the remainder of the day. At 11.30am Coombes took the lead with 110 laps covered. At one stage he covered 87 laps in 90 minutes to get two laps ahead of Burdus. Norm Fraser came back into the race after a half hour pit stop to replace the gearbox but was by now out of contention. By 12.15pm, with 148 laps covered Burdus was back in the lead and stayed there until the finish, while Coombes lost time with a front tyre puncture. There had been 11 retirements by 1.00pm however all the lightweight machines were still running before Bob Melpham’s Puch retired after completing 151 laps at 1.15pm. Around 2.00pm Coombes was involved in a fall, losing him 10 laps, and by 2.15pm the remarkable Newey team Honda CB72 was running second outright. Now with an operative gearbox, Norm Fraser had made up six laps in two hours, but the problems returned and the team finally called it quits with just over one hour left to run. Into the final 60 minutes, the Newey Honda with G. Wilkinson in the saddle still held second but the question arises as to whether it can hold off the fast closing Coombes BSA team. Wilkinson was clearly tiring so he was replaced by Arnold, but by now Jim Whyman on the Coombes BSA had clawed back another 16 laps to draw level with the Honda, which had broken a clutch cable. Rumford had fallen back to 8th position after a pit stop to replace a carburettor which had fallen off. By 4.15pm Wyman had put one lap between himself and the Honda, which now had Airey’s Triumph snapping at its heels. At 4.30pm the chequered flag signalled the finish to an epic race with the Burdus team the winner on 380 laps. Whyman brought the Coombes machine home for second place with the Newey Honda in 3rd place. The Airey team completed 358 laps for fourth place with the Honda Dream in 5th place. Rumford had made up ground to finish 6th with 341 laps.
Only 24 of the 51 starters finished. It was a long haul ridden at a fast and furious pace which had taken a toll on the machines. What is interesting is that
of the six entries in the Lightweight class there was only one withdrawal. Amid the celebrations were many hard luck stories. Lap scoring was done manually. A team, mostly ladies, was assembled and seated just past the pits and adjacent to the well-known football and motorcycle announcer, Rod Allen. Each lap scorer was allocated two machines that they were to record. Hence with 46 entrants starting this required 23 lap scorers. One of those lap scorers was Marion McKennery who was being courted and in 1963 married Kevin Davies on machine No. 17. She tells me that it was a hot dry dusty day. She made a point of concentrating and was not game to take her eyes off-track in case she missed a machine. This affected her sleeping that night as she had nightmares imagining a whole lot of motorcycles racing around.
Stan Shephard started his riding career on a 250 C10 BSA before purchasing a Norton Dominator which he used for Production Racing. He later acquired a 350 Manx Norton which was an ex Jack Gates machine. Like his friend Ken Thompson who acquired a 350 Gold Star BSA they each purchased their machines from Norm Fraser who at that time was operating from behind his residence at Orlando Road, Lambton. They rode up from Newcastle on the day of the 7 hour race. Stan’s recollection, although different from that of Norm Fraser, is that when their entry developed gearbox problems they simply borrowed the one fitted to Ken Thompson’s machine and then continued in the race. They later replaced the gearbox back in Newcastle – after sales service back then I guess. The event preparation and subsequent undertaking of the day’s races would have required a great deal of effort by the Cessnock Motorcycle Club with a substantial number of club members required to undertake various tasks. Stan tells me that he spent the day in the pits and in his opinion it was “Rafferty’s rules”.
One thing that struck me in talking to several participants was that there did not appear to be an equal application of the Supplementary Regulations. These were clearly drafted by Eric Hall, Secretary of the Cessnock Motorcycle Club and published in The Motorcycle Clubman. One of those requirements was that the machines had to be switched off during refuelling and/or the change of rider. Also repairs had to be undertaken and no replacement parts allowed. I have discussed this aspect of the variation in the application on of the rules and Cessnock Club member Bruce Glasgow thinks that perhaps with the numbers of tasks to be undertaken that day that there may have been only one person available to enforce these regulations in the pits. Hence some riders were able to breach the rules and not comply with the Supplementary Regulations. Regardless, it was a marathon event, but one that sadly was not repeated.
Team Players: A gallery from 54 years ago
Bike: No.6 – 650cc A10 BSA Owner: J.C. Cameron Motorcycles Grid Position: 26 Club: Maitland Motorcycle Club Riders: Bob Robinson, Bruce Bowtell, Robert Archer, Gordon Hellyer. Retired after 25 laps credited with 44th Position. Gordon Hellyer who passed away in December 2013 was employed for many years at Cameron’s Motor Cycles, Maitland. He told me that they were pretty well up near the front when the oil pipe to the tank broke. Bob Archer’s recollection is that Bob Robinson started the race and completed the 25 laps. Archer then took over but only did half a lap when the engine seized due to the lack of oil.
Bike: No.9 – 500 BSA Grid Position: 34 Club: Lake Macquarie Motorcycle Club Team: Norm Fraser, Kevin Fraser, Albert (Snow) Wheatley.
Retired having completed 177 laps (159.3 miles) but awarded 31st place. The machine was fitted with the BSA Scrambles gearbox and was the bike that Kevin usually rode in short circuit events. Norm started the race and was running in about 5th place when a pin within the gearbox dislodged and fell down behind the cam plate, jamming it in top gear. The plan prior to the race was that they expected John Rumford to lead and they had pinned hopes on him riding a large portion of the race and tiring and then hoping to pounce.
Bike: No.16 – 1954 Triumph Tiger 100 Grid Position: 37 Team: Les Burdus, Paul New, Bill Larue.
Winner on 380 laps (342 miles). Average speed 48.86 mph. Norm Askew had a motorcycle dealership in Chapel Road, Bankstown and contacted Les early in the year about riding the Triumph. He later went out to the Vineyards track and had a test ride on it. Les started the race with Bill Larue taking the second leg and then alternating with Paul New until Les took over again to finish the race. Years later the machine was stolen and never recovered.
Bike: No.17 – 500 BSA. Grid Position: 40 Team: John Rumford, Pat Fernance, Bruce Glasgow and Kevin Davies.
Completed 341 laps (306.9 miles). Average speed 43.84mph. Finished 6th. A club member Glen Edwards owned the machine, however Rumford did a host of work on the gearbox and engine which included making the cams. Pistons of 10.1 compression were used. Fernance started as it was considered that he was quicker on his feet for the Le Mans start. Rumford then took over, but in the early stages the oil tank split. Then with a little over an hour to go the carburettor broke off. It is believed that this had been bored to enlarge the bore size and subsequently weakened the casting.
Bike: No.24 – Norton Int’l 500 Grid Position: 21 Club: Bankstown-Wiley Park M/C Club Team: Peter Ridgeway, Gordon Hunt, Eric Debenham.
Retired after 113 laps (101.7 miles). Finished 37th. Eric recalled that the machine was Ridgeway’s regular race bike, with a Wideline Featherbed frame. It was still on 12.1 compression for methanol and should have been lowered for petrol for this event. Eric rode for the first hour and recalled that he was running a close second to Norm Fraser before he handed over to Hunt for the second hour. Instead of refuelling he said they simply changed petrol tanks full of fuel. Peter Ridgeway came into the pits saying that the machine was slowing. Eric went back out for just 10 minutes but came back in and advised them that in his opinion the main bearings were collapsing and they retired.
Bike: No.50 – 250cc Honda Dream Owner: J.C. Cameron Motorcycles Club: Maitland Motorcycle Club Grid Position: 19 Team: John Dunscombe, Phil Wallis, Bob Young, Keith Hellyer, Allan Gillan.
345 laps (310.5 miles). Average speed 44.36mph. 5th place outright. 2nd in Lightweight Class. Allan Gillan started the race and tells me that one of the reasons they did so well was that a number of the others on the quick machines were A graders who rode very fast. “We were B graders and because we were not as quick as them we were not so hard on the machine. Other teams had a lot of mechanical problems whereas we didn’t. We rode in one-hour shifts to start with but the last three hours half hour only. We kept the engine running for the whole 7 hours and just fuelled up, changed riders and away the machine went”. I explained that this was contrary to the Supplementary Regulations and that they must have missed seeing it. Phil Wallis’ recollection is that things were going OK but he fell off in front of the pits which was very embarrassing. Ian Cameron later put the road gear back on the machine and sold it. Allan tells me that it was still on the road and going well 10 years after the race.
Bike: No.28 – Possibly an Ariel frame fitted with a 1938 500cc |Empire Star Engine. Club: Lyons Club Grid Position: 10 Team: Paul Daniel, D. Balchin. Clark Hancock, Frank Trappe, John Trappel.
Retired after 84 laps (75.6 miles). 38th position. Clark tells me that about one hour into the race he hit the fence just below the pits and broke the front forks. Unable to borrow parts to get going again they watched the race for the remainder of the day. He liked the extremely fast back straight and claims that going over some undulations towards the end of the straight when the machine was travelling very fast he could feel the bike starting to float. He recalls that a magical sight at Muswellbrook was to watch Rumford taking a corner coming from the top straight and bouncing off the fence at virtually full throttle.
Bike: No.36 – Velocette MSS Scrambler Club: Katoomba Motorcycle Club Grid Position: 31 Team: Harvey (Chook) and Graham Clark, Graeme Maxfield, Tony Clift, Sid Clark, Jack Egan.
Retired after 285 Laps (256.5 miles). 18th position. Graham tells me that his brother Chook purchased the Velocette MSS Scrambler new in 1956. They were going very well until they punctured a rear tyre. They had spare front and rear wheels but when about to replace the rear wheel a steward advised the supplementary regulations prohibited this, so a considerable amount of time was lost in replacing the tube. When they rejoined the race they were coming back through the field but in the last hour the oil feed quill to the big end broke which then caused it to seize on the main straight. This machine has never run again to this day. It is still in the family but in a dismantled and neglected state.
Bike No.43 – B33 BSA Club: Fairfield Club Grid Position: 47 Team: Gordon Guasco. Len Atlee, David Stean, Michael Wadsworth, John Dodds.
302 laps (271.8 miles). Average Speed 38.83mph. 16th place. Len Atlee’s recollection is that it was his short circuit machine which normally ran on alcohol. However for this event a spacer was placed under the cylinder barrel to enable it to run on petrol. He does recall that Guasco laid the machine down and the gear lever clipped the ground resulting in the bike standing back upright and continuing on without the rider. This also happened to him on the same machine at this track.
Bike: No.51 – 250 Honda Super Sports Owner: Peter Newey Club: Lake Macquarie M/C Club Grid Position: 27 Team: Peter Newey, Arthur Arnold, Geoff Wilkinson, Keith Fisher, Kevin Arnold.
365 laps (328.5 miles). Average speed 46.93mph. Finished 3rd Outright and 1st Lightweight. Peter Newey purchased the machine 12 months previously from Cameron Motorcycles, Maitland. He believes that most people were ridiculing their entry on a Japanese machine. Ernie Arnold was a very cluey worker on motorcycles and took charge of the pit duties. Bob and Russell Hatfield were the team timekeepers. Peter was unable to recall who actually commenced the race on the Honda, but that he himself was not as aggressive and only did a half hour stint in the 4th or 5th hour. Kevin did the last session and rode hard to be able to finish third outright and win the lightweight class. Both the Arnold brothers were good riders. Peter Newey was well known in the Newcastle area during the 1960-70s. He was at one stage the editor of the Motorcycle
Clubman as well as having a radio session on 2HD on Tuesday and Thursday nights, “The World of Motorcycling”. From 1963 to 1976 he wrote a column in the Newcastle Sun Motoring Section, Two Wheel Spokesman.