Oh man, I had one of these - a 1961 model in one of Maurie Mattingley's frames. A far better rider than I ever became won an Aussie championship on it.
I love this outfit!! This is EXACTLY how I remember them, not all chromed up and over restored to the extent that they look nothing like they did in the period. Speedway outfits of the 50s and 60s were FUNCTIONAL - hand painted in dull finish, wooden planks on the chair, bits and pieces wired in place. Memories of Tracey's - ah! Wonderful!
Back around 2009-ish when Tony West bought the outfit his Dad had raced in the last 50s-early60s.back he decided to "restore" her to be just as she was when she raced at Rowley Park back in the early 70s. He forbade me to bead blast the engine castings when I was rebuilding it.... did not want me to touch the outside at all. But, I did manage to talk him into letting me at least re-paint the heads and cylinders and fit new head bolts as the old ones were totally knackered. But the rest of her was only sympathetically washed and cleaned... no new paint. In fact when she was wheeled out on to the Gillman track for the first time after her engine rebuild, she still had Rowley Park mud under her rear guard.... some good DNA was spread at Gillman that day!
ESO engines were not only used in motorcycles - in the mid 1960's Ray Platt raced a very quick compact speedcar at the Windsor RSL Speedway in Australia that was powered by an ESO engine.
