Westmead, a suburb of Western Sydney was the location for the Parramatta Showgrounds. A 620 yard track encircled the show ring and Speedway was operated on this track on Sundays during the Winter months. Famous Australian Solo rider Aub Lawson was Track Manager in 1962. The Westmead Hospital now stands on the site that was once a great Speedway.
On the left, the programme from 25th March 1961. What a great line up of competitors !.
Solos: Bill Bryden, Graham Hartman, Vic Carne , Greg Kentwell, Noel Thorley, Aub Lawson, John Hook.
Sidecars: Doug Robson, Sid Hopping, Doug Tyerman, Jude Sanderson, Stan Bayliss, Bill Bingham, Bert Martin.
Speedcars: Andy McGavin in 65, Johnny Peers in 1, Brian Cunneen in 5, Dallas James in 9, Don Hunt in 32, Don Pollock in 14, Len Brock in 99, Lindsay Olling in 73, Lew Marshall in 77, Jeff Freeman in 55, Nev Doherty in 2, George Archibald in 8, Jack Bissaker in 50, Don Newell in 30, Tony Burke in 6, Al Staples in 69, Mick Bailey in 14, Barry Robinson in 15, Hilton McGee in 2.
Plus a full field of Stockcars.
The Stockcar Feature fron the above programme in 1962.
Fun in the sun on a Sunday at Westmead .L to R.
Lew Marshall in 76, Bryan Cunneen against the fence, John Alexander in 61 and Bob Pymble in 35 drilling John.
Youngsters in V twins at Westmead...Bruce Peters in a Ron Ward twin # 3 outside Barry Robinson in # 15. Barry lost his life at the Sydney Showground Speedway on the 30/11/1963.
Martin King Photos.
Bill Booth in 72 and Garry Rush argue about track space.
Stan Brazier, Father of Steve and Grandfather of Garry gets tangled up n # 58. Stan was one of the greats in stockcars.
A great Martin King photo. Sid Clark ( Pont Holden) leads Don Hunt in the Bennett Holden (outside) while Peter Cunneen in the Higgins Bros Holden runs the pole line.
A great study of Dick Briton in his new Corvette powered modified.
Lew Marshall in the Mackay Offy on his way to winning the Westmead Feature Race.. April 3rd 1966.
This great Des Lawrence photos shows, Sid Reed leading from L to R, Lew Marshall, Peter Cunneen, Nick Collier, Jeff Freeman and Johnny Stewart.
Kev Park hikes the left front. Bill Warner in "Mooneyes"
Wally Kermond and Jim Foster come together in their Micros
What a sorry site old # 67 is as Peter Cunneen clobbers the fence at Westmead !. One of our most historic cars, it was brought to Australia in 1949 by Frank Brewer as a V860 and was raced by Andy McGavin, Bill Reynolds, Fay Taylour, Werner Greve and Johnny Harvey as well as Peter Cunneen as 17. I'm happy to say this fabulous old car has now been restored as the Mackay / Harvey # 13.
Go on to Page 2, the Sevenoaks Westmead Photo Collection.
The day a hero died at Westmead.
The handwriting top left of programme says it all !
"Jeffery Freeman died today in the 9th lap of the Feature Race".
Westmead.... Mother's Day... Sunday 9th May 1965.
Visitors.
To view a nice selection of Des Lawrence Solo photos of Westmead from Kevin Rae's collection , click on Kevin's name.
Right, an aerial view of the Parramatta Show Grounds and the big 620 yard Westmead Speedway track.
The red dot shows where the Start/ Finish line was.
The road running across the LH corner is Hawkesbury Rd and the road running diagonally across the pic L to R is Darcy Rd. The Westmead Hospital is now located on this site.
Thanks to Terry Fitzell for the aerial pic.
Terry is researching Westmead Speedway and Cumberland Oval Speedway, if you have anything at all that may benefit his research please ring Terry on 02 9631 8797, he would appreciate it very much.
Click on Dan's name for a great selection of colour photos from Westmead Speedway in the 1960s.
A 1943 aerial photo of the site later to be Westmead Speedway and on the left an overlay in modern times of the Speedway and the current Westmead Hospital..Photos supplied by Andrew Soulby - thanks Andrew.
