Tracks in Time
Waiheke Is. NZ
The concept was modelled on the Isle of Man, but the roads that made up the New Zealand TT course were little more than bush tracks. It took a special breed of rider just to make it to the finish.
Some ninety years ago the secretary of the Sports Motorcycle Club (Inc) of Auckland (forerunner of the Auckland Motorcycle Club), Henry Fletcher, would have been busily organising all the details required to be set in place for the club to run its first New Zealand Tourist Trophy meeting on the Hauraki Gulf island of Waiheke. The aim was to create an event that mirrored the Isle of Man TT, on an island where a suitable course could be set out and with a small population close to a major city, that was serviced by ferry from the mainland. Waiheke Island fitted these requirements nicely. Just like the IoM TT, the first race was scheduled for the beginning of June
1931, however the following year it was changed to January as the weather was felt to be more suitable in summertime for road racing.
Waiheke was primarily a getaway destination for Aucklanders, even in those earlier years, thus the permanent population was relatively small at around 500. This meant that local council funding for improvements was limited so any revenue generated by other means, in this case it was to be motorcycle racing, was greatly welcomed. Everything would have to be sent over by boat, loading and unloading was a challenge and naturally everything was at the mercy of the sea. Bear in mind that at that time the chosen course consisted of loose shingle roads. Each lap of the course was 63⁄ miles. The race started in Ostend and the route was along Belgium St, Ostend Rd, Onetangi Rd and then around the Sea View Rd loop in an anti-clockwise direction. Little did the organisers know when they set the wheels in motion for this first New Zealand motorcycle TT, just how popular the event was going to turn out, or how important it would become in New Zealand’s local as well as its international motorcycle racing history. ‚
When it came to the race planning it was never going to be an easy task for the organising committee. Sailing schedules, tides, competitors, accommodation, support crews, liaison with Island authorities, all had to be carefully attended to and the spectators also had to be really keen to attend. This would involve a trip into Auckland from wherever they lived, a journey by steam ferry to Waiheke Island and then somehow to get to their accommodation or camp site and viewing spots. Competitors, well they would have their camping/sleeping gear to organise as well as having to sort their machine, race gear, spare parts and fuel.
The first race on 3rd June 1931 was run over 20 laps giving a total distance of 135 miles. Despite it being wintertime, the weather was fine. Following the authentic TT racing style, riders were sent off at fixed intervals, unlike the massed start that was to be used later on. Reasoning behind this could have just been imitation of the IoM system or may have been to lessen the risk of crashes or incidents that normally occur within the first few corners. Given the narrowness of the roads being used this was probably not a bad idea, but more importantly riders were racing foremost against the clock and not against each other. In one of the post-war races, thought to be 1948, it appears that even a Le Mans type start was employed in a move to reduce the risk of a first corner melee resulting from a massed start.
Following practice, seventeen riders from the twenty-six entrants lined up for this inaugural event and after drawing lots for their starting position, were sent off at 15 second intervals. The first rider away slid and fell at the first corner, with his machine going over a bank, but he eventually remounted before retiring later with mechanical failure. Sid Moses rode a Rudge to victory in 2 hrs
and 45 mins with Len Sowerby 2nd on a Douglas despite leading across the line. He had fallen near the finish and remounted but failed by 50 seconds on corrected time. The fastest lap went to L. Coulthard on a 350cc Velocette in 7m 42s, although he finished unplaced.
Barely six months later, on January 29th 1932, 22 riders entered the event with 17 starters again lining up. The race length was increased to 25 laps giving a total distance of 168 miles. The winner was Alf Mattson (Norton) known as ‘King of the Cinders’, followed closely by Sid Moses on his Rudge. Alf completed the race in 3 hours and 11 minutes and was one of the few riders who didn’t fall. Len Perry, who had retired his Royal Enfield in the first race, this time broke his gear lever and had to complete the race from half-way in second gear, to finish in a creditable fourth place. Alf was chosen to go to the IoM in 1932 and became part of the Norton works team together with Woods, Guthrie and Hunt, but unfortunately a crash on a road machine in practice ruled him out of competition.
The TT in 1933 was memorable for the wrong reasons. This was a race of attrition, as by the 17th lap only Len Sowerby and Sid Moses were left on the course. On lap 24 Len’s bike broke a rocker-arm and he had to withdraw, leaving Sid to finish the race as the only rider left on the circuit to cross the finish line. Based on his performances, Sid Moses was selected to represent New Zealand at the Isle of Man TT for 1933 where he retired in the Senior, but finished 13th in the Junior race, returning with a coveted replica trophy. In addition, Sid also received the Nisbett Cup for ‘Pluck and Courage’.
Sid Moses won again with a time of 3hrs and 14 minutes on his Rudge in 1934 to achieve an unchallenged record of three wins and a second in the four events held to date. But he did not compete in the fifth (1935) event held at the very end of December in 1934. A. Bradley from Nelson riding a Rudge won a gripping race on this occasion, ‚
reducing the previous year’s race time by 7 minutes to 3 hours and 7 minutes. He also made the trip to the IoM, but unfortunately crashed during practice and suffered a concussion which finished his racing career.
1936 was the year the ‘Big Velo’ was first brought to Waiheke, taking Charles Goldberg to a new record of 3 hours 4 minutes 38 seconds. This ex-works machine, engine number MT5001, had arrived in New Zealand in 1934 and was presented to Auckland Velo agent William White. J.H. Dale (Rudge) was second, five minutes in arrears and O.L. Cox third. Fastest lap went to C.R. Allen with 6m 58s. Chas covered himself in glory later in the year, with a 6th place in the IoM Senior TT race on a 350cc Velo and 15th in the Junior, for two silver replicas.
Unfortunately, misfortune overtook him at Waiheke the following year when he collided with a loose sheep during practice resulting in concussion. He did eventually make a good recovery, but his racing career was over.
The following year the ‘Works’ Velocette was in the hands of Alf Mattson, who pushed it through a continual deluge to score its and his own second NZ TT win. His time of 3hrs 27m reflected the conditions, which were present again in 1938 when Lloyd Dixon was successful on the same machine. In 1939 Len Perry, who had competed in all the previous TT races, took over the handlebars of the Velo to record its fourth successive NZTT win in the cracking time of 2 hours 47m and earned him a trip ‘home’. He looked promising in practice on Mona’s Isle, but crashed, his injuries eliminating him from the competition.
Despite the onset of war, the Velo was again in action until it suffered piston failure in the 1940 NZ TT, which was once again held on Waiheke Island. The winner this time was Bill Grey aboard a Rudge. A shortened race of just 18 laps was in fact held in 1941, with H. Hallam taking his JAP to victory. Then there was a gap of four years before the event was resumed again on a shortened course of 20 laps in 1946. Len Perry and the Big Velo were back again and victorious on that occasion. 1947 could perhaps be described as a milestone year, for it was now that the event was expanded to include two separate races, for Senior and Junior classes and run on separate days. It was to be Perry and Velocette again, the Big Velo taking the 20 lap Senior at a 61mph average speed. Len also dominated its smaller cousin, the 15 lap Junior event, on his own Velocette. This outstanding
result was repeated again the following year, a result even more meritorious when it is realised that two thirds of the entrants did not complete the course on that occasion.
It was that man Len again in the 1949 Senior on the now 15-year-old Velocette, but Sid Jensen came through in the Junior on a smaller version of the marque to take the chequered flag. 1950 was the final year that the NZTT was held on Waiheke and the 500cc Velocette’s reign was over. Ken Mudford riding one of the new GP Triumph machines took the Senior, while Perry did retain the Junior title on his own KTT.
Transport and organisational difficulties as well as rising costs drove the now renamed Auckland Motorcycle Club to relocate the TT event to a four-mile course at Seagrove Aerodrome near
Waiau Pa in South Auckland for the 1951 event. Although the event was successful, the club moved it again the next year, this time to a circuit in Mangere on a six mile track, where it continued until 1959 before moving to Ardmore for 1960-62 when the new international airport preparations were underway at Mangere. For 1963 the new track at Pukekohe became home to the NZ TT, where it remained into the new century.