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Australian Speedway Pre-War History 1920's -
1930's |
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1927 - Glanfield and Sparkes Witness Dirt Track Racing in Australia. |
It was the start of a marvellous
adventure when Stanley Glanfield and Flight Sergeant Sparkes left London on
Saturday July 2, 1927. These keen motorcyclists were setting out on a world tour
mounted on 3˝ h.p. Rudge-Whitworth motorcycles and sidecars. Their plan was to
use the sidecars for a dual purpose - as beds, and also as a means of
transporting their equipment and supplies. They set out from the premises of
Glanfield Lawrence Motors, Ltd. in Tottenham Court Road in London on what was
envisaged to be a 120-day trip travelling via Constantinople, Bombay, the
Straits Settlements, Australia and America.
What is of main interest to me, and no doubt was also of keen interest to many
in the United Kingdom who read of the experiences of Glanfield and Sparkes in
various motorcycling magazines during the latter months of 1927 and the early
months of 1928, concerns the pair’s first-hand experience in Australia of the
sport of “dirt track” racing.
The original travel plans of Glanfield and Sparkes were abandoned in Bombay when
they parted company. Sparkes, quite separately to Glanfield, continued to
Australia via Colombo. Whereas Glanfield entered Australia through Darwin in the
north and travelled south, Sparkes entered through Fremantle in the west and
travelled east.
Stanley Glanfield reached Brisbane on Friday December 16, 1927. His journey had
seen him pass through European countries, Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, India,
Singapore, Batavia, Darwin, and country towns of Queensland. On the evening of
Saturday December 17th, Glanfield experienced something which he said he had
never previously seen the likes of. He was the guest that night of the Davies
Park promotion at its speedway meeting.
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| Stanley Glanfield |
The intrepid adventurer
arrives in Brisbane. |
In the Brisbane press the following
day, Glanfield is reported as having made the following comment at Davies Park
the previous evening - “In England, where motorcycling has become a national
pastime, a programme such as I have seen here tonight would draw crowds of
50,000 or more regularly.”
Glanfield also stated that such a thrilling and exciting sport had never been
dreamed of in Britain where track racing was practically confined to the
concrete at Brooklands.
Glanfield was just one of a record crowd which was present at Davies Park on
December 17 to see riders including Vic Huxley, Frank Arthur, Frank Pearce, Dick
Smythe, Billy Lamont, Charlie Spinks and Sprouts Elder in action.
Stanley Glanfield was moved to write a letter to A. J. Hunting, the head of the
Davies Park operation. That letter is reproduced below: -
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Brisbane. 19th
December, 1927.
London Address –
C/o Glanfield Lawrence Motors Ltd.,
230 Tottenham Court Road,
London.
A. J. Hunting Esq.,
National Speedway Ltd.,
Queen Street, Brisbane.
Dear Sir, - It may interest you to put on record my impressions of last Saturday
night’s racing.
I had keenly looked forward to seeing this type of sport, having heard so much
about it at home. I can quite frankly state that on seeing the first practice
laps I was frightened out of my life.
It seems hardly possible that motor cycles can be raced under such difficult
conditions. The whole sport is indeed most thrilling and the most exciting
entertainment it is possible to watch. In fact, I consider it the modern
equivalent of the old Greek and Roman sports, where real men entered the arena
and fought it out.
I believe you intend introducing dirt track racing in England. Let me assure you
that it would be an unqualified success, providing, of course, you are fortunate
enough to find convenient and suitable accommodation.
There are more motorists, particularly motor cyclists, at home than in
Australia, and they would, I am sure, welcome dirt track racing in preference to
the type of racing which they can attend and watch at the moment, particularly
in view of the fact that Brooklands and the Crystal Palace are the only places
where motor cycle racing can be seen.
The admission fee is expensive and the meeting places are inconvenient to get
at. If you carry out your suggestion to introduce this sport in the heart of the
big cities, I feel sure you will encourage the general public to patronise it
and obtain the same amount of excitement and interest as you have already
obtained here in Australia.
Thanking you for your kindness to me during my visit to the Speedway, and
assuring you of your success in dirt track racing should you come to England.
– I am, sincerely yours,
(signed)
S. T. Glanfield.
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Sergeant Sparkes also commented on the dirt track racing
he had witnessed while in Australia. The following appeared in an English
motorcycling magazine in early 1928: -
“On the authority of Flight-Sergeant Sparkes, of round-the-world fame, I am able
to state that dirt track racing is likely to be seen in this country ‘very
soon’. One gathers that a company has been – or is being – formed to exploit it
and that there is every chance of it seriously challenging the popularity of
greyhound meetings. Sergeant Sparkes told me that there is nothing in the world
– and he above all men ought to know – more interesting and thrilling than dirt
track racing as conducted in Australia. The riders, he told me, are amazingly
clever. ‘They race’, he explained, 'around unbanked tracks only a third of a
mile in circumference, and think nothing of lapping at 50 miles an hour. A lap
is one gigantic hair-raising skid, even at that speed; at 60 miles an hour it is
– well I ask you.’ No wonder tens of thousands of people roll up to see the
sport; and it is the sport which attracts them, and not the betting, which most
people believe to be the principal, if not the only, attraction of greyhound
racing as at present conducted. The dogs will have to look to their laurels when
dirt tracks begin to be established.”
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Stanley Glanfield teamed up with A. J. Hunting prior to the opening of
International Speedways' tracks in London in 1928. He was appointed to act as
Mechanical Superintendent to the Company. Glanfield Lawrence Motors, Ltd. set up
a new facility which was staffed by highly-skilled mechanics with access to
special plant and machinery to handle the tuning, repairing and equipping of
machines competing on the London tracks of International Speedways. Each rider
was supplied with a small cubicle in which to work on his racing machinery.
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Thanks to Ross Garrigan for this report. |
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