More of DQ's negatives from the past, printed now for the first time...the 1976 Castrol 6 Hour Race with most featuring the BMW R90S entries,some with Helmut Dahne...

I had an email months ago from an Italian chap regrettably whose name escapes me ...he was writing a book on the BMW R90S and was interested in photos of Helmut Dahne, I had some in an earlier post on my 1974 and 1975 IOM TT negatives. I knew I had taken extensive photographs of the 1976 Castrol 6 Hour race here in NSW at Amaroo Park Raceway on the outskirts of Sydney, but where they were stored in the mess I call my office eluded me.
Well I found them yesterday and again like a treasure trove they have never been printed, only a contact print sheet made by me....
My photographic enlarger is now gone, so I succumbed to hours of time consuming scanning of some and they are worth a look....
I utilised Jim Scaysbrook's complete history of the race from 1970-1987 and a page of two follows....

 

I'll just tantalise you with the first page of the 1976 report of the 11 on that years race, prolifically illustrated with photographs, several of which are mine from some of those negatives....

 I mentioned the top German rider Helmut Dahne was out for the races...

There was a big push by BMW in collaboration with Metzeler Motor Cycle Tyres Australia, whose principal, my good friend John Galvin, felt this was the year for both his tyres and BMW...

Four R90S's were entered and they all had good riders....Tony Hatton and  Kenny Blake; Helmut Dahne and  Bryan Hindle; Joe Eastmure and Dave Burgess; Maurie Taylor and Dave Ralph....

The downside for BMW and Metzeler was Lindsay Walker of Team Avon was also on a push, had some quick Z900 Kawasakis and equally good riders....Murray Sayle and Greg Hansford; Jim Budd and Roger Heyes to name a few....

At the end of the day, despite the BMWs one less pitstop, Hatton and Blake were beaten into second place by a lap with Jim Budd and Roger Heyes coming out victors....

A bitter pill for BMW considering the effort put in....

Enough waffle and comment from DQ...lets look photographically at the BMW effort.....

This is the first public or private viewing of them for that matter...

Murray Sayle, Bryan Hindle with back to camera, Greg Hansford and Helmut Dahne...

Don Bain in white overalls...you'd have to think him the tactician in the BMW camp...a highly successful racer in the 1930s,40s and 50s and ran the NSW BMW Distributor, Tom Byrne Pty Ltd workshop...makes a point to Dave Burgess while Joe Eastmure looks on...

 Photos taken during practice....

 #8 Joe Eastmure

  #4 Helmut Dahne

#8 Joe Eastmure

#2 Kenny Blake
The following are two different refuelling and rider change sequence obviously 2 hours apart, as the BMWs could do three, 2 hour stints, whereas most of the Japanese machines did four 1.5 hour or even five 1 hour stints....

Helmut Dahne is the rider coming in with co-rider Bryan Hindle preparing to take over....
In the five photo sequence below, Bryan Hindle is the rider with Helmut Dahne taking over...

I mentioned the "tyre war" between Avon and Metzeler...the word in the pits was the rear Avon  tyre on the leading Z900 was "shot" and the stewards should force them to change a rear wheel...quick as Team Avon was in rear wheel changing... they did 11 seconds fuel stops only in their hey day, it would likely loose them the race...
In came the Budd/Heyes Z900..the following photo shows the chief steward, Chris Peckham running to try to see the tyre and make a decision, but  that lightning fast last pitstop saw them out of his reach and onto victory...

What were the respective first and second tyres like after the race....6 hours of a virtual sprint around Amaroo Park...?

The second placed BMW R90S's Metzeler.....

The winning Kawasaki Z900's Avon.....

A montage of photographs from some recently "re-discovered" negatives in the Velobanjogents archive...

It's a wet series of days here in Sydney and winter approaches so I forsook my shed and prowling around the "mess" I call my office, I spied some of my negative collection for the 1970's and scanned some in...
It became addictive...so let me share some of the scanned prints with you.
Again no particular theme, although many are from the Easter motorcycle races at the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst, NSW in 1978 where they had a classic machine race.
Thanks to Phil Hine for searching through his 1978 Bathurst program to supply some names to machines...
He emailed a pic of himself on a Petty Manx at Oran Park...

Left click on the images to enlarge them....

Kel Carruthers 1960/61 ex works Honda 250/4.

This IS NOT Bathurst!
It's a ripper of  a picture, from a negative I acquired somewhere...
comment on the covering envelope was...."German passenger at Monza for motorcycle Grand Prix, 10.09.1956, at rehearsal"...

Dennis Fry bought this 350 Manx Norton together with a 350 Mk.8 KTT engine fitted, from NZ...nice bit of kit....but this pic I now believe to be at Amaroo Park.

Elmer McCabe, an Ulsterman long resident in Sydney and an AMC racing man made up this road going 7R...he fitted racing numbers to it so he could ride in an historic parade at Bathurst in 1978.

The late Ross "splinta" Pentecost also an AMC man regularly rced this 500 Matchless, which from memory was a Shelsey Walsh model (??...correct me if I'm wrong...). Bathurst 1978.

Jack Rasmussen's Reynold's 1956 500 Inter Norton...Bathurst 1978.

Dennis Fry's 500 Manx Norton, Bathurst 1978.

My Smith framed, Carey engined MAC #55 ridden by Tony Hatton...well known Velo man Ron Kessing, someones youngster, Alan Burt speaking with who?, Bathurst 1978.

Allen Armour's 1948 350 AJS.....

AJS 7R...unsure whose...,Bathurst 1978.The program list #33 as a 1957 Triumph ridden by Des Searle..

Thought I'd finish off with this...photographer that I am...even I fell for the "double exposure" trick....the camera was a 2.25" x 2.25" Mamiya twin lens and unless you remembered to wind the film on you got a double exposure....
Interesting 1000 JAP featured...again at Bathurst 1978.


I've had an email from Michael Brudar who currently owns the big JAP in the above double exposure.
He says...
"..the double exposure is of my Hargreaves_JAP, built in Melbourne in the mid 30's - CS1 Norton frame, Coventry Eagle flying 8 side valve crankcases ..Dunelt heads and barrels.
The bike was used for all sorts of competition in Victoria including road racing, hill climbs and later grass track with a sidecar.
The photo below is at Ballarat road races, ridden by Dennis Skinner.

And the bike as it is today.....