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Post by stockcar54 on Nov 26, 2011 23:58:40 GMT 1
Max Grosskreutz, a Belle Vue speedway rider tried his hand, not at Belle Vue, but I think he may have only raced that once. Rod Pashley may know more.
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Post by rodpashley on Nov 27, 2011 0:12:10 GMT 1
Cant help there I'm afraid...I do know that EO Spence held weekly "practice"sessions, where anybody could come and try driving a Midget Car, Grosskreutz may well have tried his hand on one or those sessions, as most likely many of Belle Vue riders probably did. Any driver that showed promise could come again, with the intention of finding capable drivers for the BV Midget team. I have no idea how many made it to the team from these sessions.
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Post by tobyhalter on Nov 27, 2011 0:22:24 GMT 1
I have read elsewhere of Max Grosskreutz's interest in midget cars before 1938, and that he actually built a midget with front and rear engines as well. I have a memory lapse so look to corrections but think it could have been around 1934 or 1935, and that another Australian speedway rider Dickyyy - probably come out as thingy thanks to this forum - Case was also involved in the project. At the time, Grossy was a Belle Vue rider while Case was at Hackney.
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Post by tobyhalter on Nov 27, 2011 0:31:14 GMT 1
![]() grossy reynol..get 1938.jpg[/img] This is a photo on my meagre files that show Max Grosskreutz in the car with England's Bill Reynolds. Probably 1938 or 1939 and taken in Australia. Attachments:
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Post by kiwikid34 on Nov 27, 2011 11:19:34 GMT 1
Looking at the 44 Grosskreutz construction with the driver placed very central, my guess is that it is the twin engine (front and rear) midget car.
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Post by stockcar54 on Nov 30, 2011 0:12:37 GMT 1
Toby it would be interesting to find out if Max did have interest in midgets prior to 1938. He was interviewed in Speedway News in 1939 when he was promoting at Norwich Speedway, reproduced here ad verbatim......"What about midgets ?" I queried, remembering Max had tried them once last season. "Don't talk to me about them" he came back. "They are fatal if you value the foundations of your track as we do at Norwich. They tore the hell out of it on the only occasion I fell for them"
This suggests he wasn't really keen on midgets having tried them only once, so its interesting to see that photo of him with Bill Reynolds albeit a staged photo
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Post by kiwikid34 on Nov 30, 2011 16:33:46 GMT 1
Re the photo previously posted showing Max Grosskreutz seated in a midget car with Bill Reynolds standing by it. Thanks to google search I found this: THE CAR THAT MAX BUILT ! One of the World's greatest Speedway Solo riders Max Grosskreutz is seated in his midget creation at Newcastle (Australia) Speedway in the 1940's. Standing with Max is Midget legend and three times World Midget Champion, Englishman Bill "Curl the Mo" Reynolds. Max's midget # 44 had twin Rudge Speedway engines, one front , one back and started life with a canvas body. The reference is” justmidgets.homestead.com/Photosdiff.htmlThis is a Brian Darby website page. |
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Post by administrator on Dec 7, 2011 9:06:58 GMT 1
FORWARDED MESSAGE:
On 3 Dec 2011, at 07:24 a.m Ray Platt wrote:
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Regarding the Max Grosskreutz midget. I don’t know much more than is allready on site. As far as I know the car was built in the 1940s, had a Rudge engine front and rear and was four-wheel drive.
I don’t think the car raced in competition, only in demonstrations and apparently ran quite well. But Max was involved with the International Speedway Riders Club which promoted the Sydney Sportsground speedway after the 1939-45War.
This was an all-bike show and I don’t think that they were interested in supporting midget car racing at all. I believe that they pressured Max into dropping the project.
The appearance of the midget was a little before my time and I can only rely on hearsay. Sorry I cant elaborate more on the subject.
Ray Platt,
New South Wales, Australia.
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