The Ziodirog
From GRAEME ‘SPYDA’ STAPLES in New Zealand comes this intriguing creation. “A mate who lives a few minutes from me in Lower Hutt has told me that his bike that he has spent several years working on is almost finished. He is known as Uncle Rog to everyone – the name on the tank means Uncle Rog in Italian. The powerplant is a 250 Kawasaki.”
Jack Dixon
Reader from Nuriootpa, SA, was pleasantly surprised to see the photo of Jack Dixon on page 54 of OBA 91 Tracks in Time: the Goulburn TT. The photo showed members of the Indian team at the 1915 race.
“Jack Dixon was my father, but his real name was the same as mine, Clive Silby,” explains Clive Junior. “He raced pre WW1 and put his age up to enlist in the war. He served overseas and came back as a Warrant Officer. He took up racing again and moved to South Australia and became a radio technician. Unfortunately his workshop, the house and everything in it, including photos, trophies and some bikes, were destroyed in a fire so I don’t remember ever seeing a photo of him from his racing days, until this shot from Goulburn. Then my wife went looking through some old boxes and found two more shots (shown here), one of dad on the speedway, possibly Wayville, and another of one of his very early bikes. I took up racing myself and I had a 1939 Manx Norton. At one of the last meetings at Port Wakefield, Les Diener fell off and was badly hurt, and my mother threatened to put an axe through my Norton unless I stopped racing, so I did!”