The real Ray
In ‘Under the Chequered Flag’, there is a photo of Lindsay Urquhart at Bathurst. The caption claims that his passenger is the late Ray Kelly. In the interest of accuracy, I would like to point out that this is incorrect, the passenger shown is definitely not Ray Kelly, but more likely Jim or Jack Craig. Here is a photo (above) of the real Ray Kelly passengering for Bernie Mack on the long stroke 600cc Manx Norton at Fishermen’s Bend in 1956. Paul Reed, Stanthorpe, Qld Cycle MC in America’s Georgia in 1990 was drag racing a Suzuki GSXR Pro Stock MC; well it had a GSXR fairing and a 1260cc 1984 EFE engine that was making 240HP at the counter shaft on 115 octane petrol 7.56 seconds @ 175 MPH in the day. NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) decided to do a full story on the MC. One of the interviewers commented “it looks like it is doing 100 MPH standing still”. With this comment someone else said “We are doing some tests in a wind tunnel next week, lets see how the drag bike stacks up.” The day arrived & they set the MC up in the wind tunnel. To say there were a lot of stunned mullets after the first test was an understatement. George Bryce was even more stunned. “The read out was .47. That is horrible – the Pontiac 4 door sedan of the day was .35.” A Co-efficiency of Drag of .47 was definitely the old saying “like the back of a bus “. They then calculated the GSXR fairing was robbing a huge amount of horsepower just trying to push the MC through the air. After 150 mph (240km/h) the fairing was a disaster. Hence the old saying “Not everything is as good as it looks”. But there was some cold comfort to come as they were putting the latest Lamborghini in the tunnel to test its slickness on the same day. All the MC guys were laughing and the Lamborghini guys were crying; .58 was the reading! “This is not possible,” the Lamborghini boss cried. “Your machine is broken.” Half an hour later with the huge rear wing removed from the Lambo its next test readout was .30. The wing may keep the car on the road but we now know why it needed 500+ HP to go fast in a straight line. Barry Taylor Brisbane, Qld International Truck dealer Price Curtis and Momsen, my father tried to get him to come and work for him just before his accident. From what I was told at the time Bob hopped on his mates bike which I was led to believe was a Vincent and he was trying it out on the road when he collided with a car and its door handle which resulted in the loss of his leg. He went on to start a small earthmoving business which was successful. As far as I know all this happened in the early 50’s or late 40’s. Malcolm Bailey Corlette, NSW Alan Crittenden, Bob Hibbert’s former sidecar passenger who later rode as passenger for Jim Gilbert, says Hibbert’s encounter with a car while riding his brother-in-law’s Vincent happened in Warners Bay Road, Mount Hutton in 1957. The Triumph outfit that they raced at Bathurst in 1962 and at Lakeside the same year (known as the Crittert – a combination of both their names – had the engine and gearbox reversed to put the gear change on the left side. Hibbert also converted his Holden car to hand control for the accelerator and later built and raced TQ midgets. Bob and Alan won the Queensland Grand Prix at Lakeside in 1962, taking the lead when local favourite Sandy McCrae broke down. Hibbert passed away in 1987. For your research efforts Malcolm please accept a Raritee Tee Shirt on us! – Ed