New Imps
and around until we had a rough speedway track to hold unofficial races. This was towed by an older friend who had a MkII Ford Zepher and whose father owned the Neptune garage at Lugarno. Another of our group’s brother owned a couple of speedway outfits, a Vincent and a 500cc Ariel that were raced at Westmead Speedway, where the Children’s Hospital now stands.
When I started work as an apprentice fitter in 1963 on about five pounds a week I had slightly more money to upgrade to an A10 650cc BSA to which I fitted a sidecar. The speedway sidecar from the above-mentioned Ariel which had retired from racing was fitted to the 600cc Panther whose Oleomatic front forks had to be pumped up frequently. So we had a mix of solos and sidecars racing around this track we had carved out and much fun was had by all. The mate from Lugarno decided he would like to race Stock Rods and he prepared a Ford Mercury (late ‘40s model) at his dad’s workshop. This consisted of removing all glass, welding roll bars inside and converting it to a live axle. This was done by welding the planetary gears in the diff so there was no differential effect. The lowering was done by heating the leaf springs near the end while four of us jumped on the bumper bar until it was low enough to repeat this on the other springs. He raced the car at Westmead and Windsor Speedways with some success. Mark Dodds Stanwell Tops, NSW I am researching the history of ‘Nooge’ Smith’s New Imperials here in Australia and I am hoping an OBA reader may be able to help. I recently received some excellent photos, from Pete Gaggioni, of the late John ‘Yakka’ Teunissen of Braybrook District MCC on the ex-Cec Weatherby/Les Barnett 250 New Imperial. These photos were taken in 1951 but the bike, in various guises, had been raced in Australia since January of 1934 at Phillip Island by Cec Weatherby. By January of 1935 Les Barnett of St Kilda had purchased this bike and raced it extensively with some success at most major events in the pre-war years, including such circuits as Bathurst, Phillip Island, Lobethal and Victor Harbor. Barnett on the 250 New Imp even won the Victorian Lightweight Grass Track Championships at Warragul in 1936, 1940 and 1941.