Frank Le Breton, one of our early Speedway Sidecar riders, father of the famous Solo rider Ken Le Breton ( The White Ghost ) and top Speedway photographer has left a huge legacy of Speedway photos from the 1940s, 50s and 60s shot at the Sydney Sports Ground and Sydney Showground Speedways. The photos on this page are from original negatives and are a very minute portion of his work.
Sydney Sports Ground Speedway,
a Friday night, circa 1949-50.
and Jack Brabham in the # 28 J.A.P. 880 powered air cooled twin leads Sel Payne in # 20. # 16 on the outside is Col James.
Col also ran an MG Special road racer of some note, the Barclay Motors MG Special.
Jack Brabham, this time in his later midget # 4, receives his J.Farren Price wrist watch as a reward for highest pointscorer in that particular competition.
Famous Empire Speedways promoter and Australian motor sport figure,
John Sherwood on the far right.
Sel Payne in # 20 leads Bill Annabel in
# 35 and Jack 'Pop' Ferguson in the Ron Ward # 3.
Bill and Jack were to lose their lives in midgets in the mid and late 1950s.
A photo with great atmosphere.
The Sydney Showground Speedway
Pit turn and New Zealander Reece Discombe in his # NZ 35 Ford V860 leads Aussie legend Ray Revell in the Offenhauser Aust # 1.
The #35 car went on to have some great history in Australian midget Speedway racing being driven by Johnny Peers, Bert Martin, Fay Taylour and eventually by Queenslander Kev Jefferson.
Brabham in # 28 and Payne in # 20 negotiate turns 1 & 2 at the Sports Ground. That was a typical crowd of that era.
Lew Murphy in # 6, the ex Wylie, ex Revell A model Q1 leads Andy McGavin in # 48 the ex Frank Brewer Ford V860 " Flame Car " imported into Australia in 1949.
# 6 was the car Bill Annabel lost his life in not # 35.
The two # 35s
Reece Discombe in the V860 NZ35 and Bill Annabel in the ex Reed A model NSW 35.
Note in the crowd, the men's dress of the 1950s. Sports coats or suits and ladies in dresses.
Johnny Peers in the Eddie Dark owned J.A.P. 880 # 2 at the Royale.
The Sydney Showground.
Ray Revell in the ex Balch, ex Grimm Offy, this time carrying the # 7 runs outside Sel Payne in the overheating and oil fuming A model Ford # 20 at the Sports Ground.
1950s and 60s Solo rider Alec Hunter tries out #40 midget for size.
Andy McGavin brings up the rear in
# 48.
Two of the midget maestros of the 1950s and early 1960s midget racing in Australia.
Frank 'Satan ' Brewer in the Eddie Meyer Ford V860 # 99 leads arch rival the famous Ray Revell in Offy Aust. # 1 during a match race at the SSG.
The 1950 Krazy Nite meeting at the Sydney Sports Ground Speedway and Englishman,
Bill ' Curl - the - Mo ' Reynolds, dressed in drag and named ' Miss What a Cam ' is pushed away in the Reece Discombe V860 NZ35. Note, no pushcars but a pit crew of 4 to push you away.
Reynolds was a top midget driver of the era, winning the ' World Speedcar Championships'
in 1939, 1941 and 1958 and the Australian Speedcar Championship in 1956
Legendary Solo rider Graham Warren can be seen in this pic, hands on hips, standing in his leathers on the edge of the track. Graham passed away in 2005.
Neil Hair loses # 8 on the infield, Johnny Peers behind and what looks like Brabham in # 4 coming into shot.
The fabulous Speed Graphic camera. A camera of this sort was used by Frank Le Breton to capture these and hundreds of other photos from the SSG and the Royale.
Thank you to my good friend John Stanley for scanning these large format negs for me so you the viewer could appreciate the art of Frank Le Breton..
