in Graham’s hands.
‘It’sakeeper,’ he said.‘Formanyreasons.
Just aswe werefinishing therebuild,Iwas at
StaffordShow. Iwas lookingat astall with all
shinyreplica badges on it,and therewas a
Bar-None plaque.I’d seen brass ones before,
and they’rerareenough, butI’dnever seen
an alloyone.Ihardly dared ask the price,
but Idon’t think the stallholderknew its
significance. Igot it forsuchabargain price,
all af ternoon Iwas thinking someonewas
goingto tap me on the shoulder andtell me
there’dbeen amistake,you can’t have the
plaque afterall.’
Andifitw as destinythatthe plaque
should end up on the Enfield,itw as asadder
kind of destinythatfollowed.
‘It’sthe last bike me andmy dad worked on
together,’ Graham says,‘In fact, his lastwords
to me were“Giveusahand in with this front
wheel”, and Isaid,“Don’tworry,we’ll do it
tomorrow.”But he died suddenly thatnight,
he nevergot to see itfinished.That’sthe
other little plaque on therear mudguardinfil,
saying thanksto him. So this bike isn’t going
anywhere foralong time.’
Which isat it shouldbe.The Enfield stands
as testamenttoanera,whenspeedwaywas a
huge spectatorsportint he UK anditplayeda
hugepartinl ifeoverseasforour servicemen.
Many of themwent on to be speedway stars
in civilian life, as SgtPeterNuzumrecalls.
‘NobbyStock rode forHarringay,and
my good friendGeoffBennett (who once
scrounged an engine from the Norton
factory and lugged it backto Italy in his
pack)rode with distinctionforBirmingham.
My friend ErnieRawlinswent on to become
skipper of his hometeam inSouthampton.
Another ladto make goodwasEddieRigg.
Hefirst turned upforanoviceride one day,
lost control, went through thefencemissing
spectators andtook offcross-countr y, ending
up inagorse bush halfamile away.’
Theskill and braveryofthe forces
speedway riders wasn’t lost on professional
teams,includingCapt Alec Jackson, who
becameteam manager of the famous
Wembley Lions afterthe war, and actively
invited despatchridersfortrials. He
reckoned theex-servicemenwerebetter
able to take falls without injuryand were
physically morefit, and hecould get them
into‘first class’racing shape afterjust sixDESERTSLEDS
If the BAR-None MCCcan claimto have
organised thefirst militarymotor cycle
events inEgypt,itw asn’tfirst time
speedway had been tried in the desert.
In 1928, just nine months afterthe
inaugural and hugely popularHigh
Beech event, pioneerriders Ivor Creek
and BillyGallowaywererecruitedby an
Egyptian dirttrack syndicate (!)tobuild
aquarter- mile speedway track inside an
existinggreyhound track. Theevent was
held inpyramidcountry, at Zamalekjust
outsideCairo.
Ivor and Billy enlisted local labour,
initially usingrakes and basketsto
constr uctthe track. Howev er,time began
to run short, sofirst they usedamotor car
withacricket pitchroller towed behind it,
and eventuallyaheavy duty steamroller,
in an efforttoget asmooth racing surface.
Unfortunately,twelvetons of iron and steel
proved toomuchfor the softground,and
the roller sank.Itw as onlyby tremendous
effortthatitw as eventuallyretrieved and
thefirst meetingwent ahead.
Thesubsequentmeetingswere never
acommercial success,but RAFpilots andaircrew from nearby HeliopolisAirport
usedto practiceonthe trackat nigh tunder
floodlights.Zamalekwasprobably the only
speedway track with 60foot palm trees
growing in thecentre green...Aproud badge adorns the RE’sgirder forks
Everypicturetellsastory–and this one’s
explainedinthetextSPEEDWAY SPECIAL
Subscribe and save:www.Real-Classic.co.uk/subs AUGUST 2019 I57