Description
Author: Tony Loxley, Hardbound, 400 Pages, ISBN: 9781742578552, - Published August 2016
One of the most iconic and deadliest sports in the world ... enclosed speedway tracks, both wall and dirt, featuring cars and bikes.
Images is this wonderful collection are from before World Wat through to the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
As the 1950s approached the cars were getting faster and the drivers were beginning to wear long sleeved leather jackets but the crash helmets were the same style.
Not many people know but, Sir Jack Brabham began his motor racing career in a midget speed car. It was numbered USA 28 and was a V Twin cylindered powered vehicle.
This book captures all of the history, action and danger of car and bike racing in Australia featured many champions teams from overseas.
Chapters Include :
1. Before the War: the Origins of the Sport
2. 1950s: The Boom Fifties
3. 1960s: The Swinging Sixties
4. 1970s: The Sensational Seventies
5. 1980s: Expansion and Coimmercialisation
More than 400 rare archival photographs, many unpublished, of the sports' greatest drivers and riders, key venues and historical moments
Essential information for the casual fan or budding historian
Expertly researched, with background histories behind many rare photos and interesting trivia
Synopsis:
Speedway is a celebration of one of the most iconic and deadliest sports in the world … enclosed speedway tracks, both sealed and dirt, featuring cars and bikes. Images is this wonderful collection are from before World War II through to the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
As the 1950s approached the cars were getting faster and the drivers were beginning to wear long sleeved leather jackets but the crash helmets were the same style. Not many people know but, Sir Jack Brabham began his motor racing career in a midget speed car.
1950s saw bigger tracks emerging. Windsor Speedway (NSW) was a flat dirt half mile speedway which allowed faster racing with wide open spaces. It was typical to see three or even four abreast racing.
1960s saw the emergence of sleek, more powerful speed cars. The introduction of power plants such as Chevy two, Offenhauser, Volvo, Peugeot, Ford Falcon all made for faster racing. The introduction of HOT ROD racing brought out home made cars. The very first Australian Hot Rod title was held at Windsor in 1963 and was taken out by Victorian driver Billy Willis.
1970s saw a radical change in speedway racing in Australia when Liverpool City Raceway Manager Mike Raymond turned the track into Australians first asphalt speedway.
Speedway captures all of the history, action and danger of car and bike racing in Australia featuring many champions teams from overseas.
About Tony Loxley
Tony Loxley is a police officer with a love of fast cars – as long as they are on the racetrack. While he is as vigilant as any police officer in pulling up motorists for speeding, he has been in love with speedway racing since he was 11, when he started going to the old Parramatta Speedway with his parents.
But, as much as he loved the thrills and spills of speedway racing, Loxley was not tempted to get on track himself. Instead, he combined his photographic skills - having been a professional photographer – with his racing passion to produce a series of books on the subject.
