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Post by administrator on Dec 5, 2011 16:19:50 GMT 1
TAKEN OFF THE OLDTIMESPEEDWAY SITE:: :::::::: --- In oldtimespeedway@yahoogroups.com, "WebbT" <binbooks@...> wrote: Just posted 1938 advert for Putt Mossman at West Wickham, courtesy of a good friend, Anyone know where this venue was? Tony Webb. :::::::::: Admin writes: Layhams Farm, West Wickham, Kent. It is on the North Kent-South East London border. The interesting factor to the 1938 advert is not so much what Putt Mossman was attempting but that speedway car (presumably and almost certainly midget car) racing is mentioned. Does any site member know more about this racing - cars and possible drivers, maybe even some results?Attachments:
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Post by tobyhalter on Dec 5, 2011 21:15:20 GMT 1
I should reckon chances of finding out anything about the West Wickham/Layhams Farm speedway car races is remote. The best bet is for somebody to try and access any local papers dated just after the event like the Kentish Times or Beckham Advertiser maybe. I bet Putt Mossman drove - if they were the promised car races.
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Post by stockcar54 on Dec 5, 2011 21:45:17 GMT 1
Yes Toby I agree, local papers are the answer....but if you just want to see what the place is like type Layhams Farm into You Tube...it brings up a load of banger racing clips but gives a feel for the place.
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Post by tobyhalter on Dec 6, 2011 0:43:31 GMT 1
Yes Toby I agree, local papers are the answer....but if you just want to see what the place is like type Layhams Farm into You Tube...it brings up a load of banger racing clips but gives a feel for the place. Here's one of the 'have a look' clips regarding Layhams Farm. It was certainly primitive. I believe it closed a couple of years ago. One might describe is as "wild and woolly" or something similar. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmsyF7E_i-g
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Post by rodpashley on Dec 6, 2011 1:09:16 GMT 1
Great clip, thanks. I often think that the Autograss tracks have a lot more to offer than we think. I used to work with a couple of fellas that raced autograss cars, VERY hi spec single seaters, with a lot of effort in their preparation, but very robust cars. I n some respects, not a million miles away from midgets.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 6, 2011 12:52:07 GMT 1
It seems to be my time for learning astonishing things I never knew before. Coming hard on the heels of the Norwich Super Midgets and London Specials from '57, I now find that Layhams Farm has a history going back to pre-war and Putt Mossman. I had no real idea when Layhams opened, but if someone had asked me to guess, I'd have said late '70's! Never again will I think of Layhams as "just some outlaw banger track".
I'm now just waiting for somebody to reveal that the site of the 2012 Olympic Stadium was once a car racing track that pre-dates Greenford....
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Post by stockcar54 on Dec 6, 2011 22:16:31 GMT 1
Well not quite pre Greenford but part of the 2012 Olympic stadium site has been built over a former speedway track that staged midget car racing ....... Hackney Stadium.
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Post by haflinger121 on Dec 7, 2011 12:10:55 GMT 1
Yes indeed Trevor, at least now we're talking about something I did know about! As I understand it, originally Hackney was slated to be simply replaced by the actual Olympic stadium on the exact same site. But later the plans were modified and it ended up being built elsewhere. Now I'm told that Hackney will become the site of the Olympic media centre.
As I have tried to avoid being in that area like the plague since construction started (and that will go double once the event itself starts!) I have no idea if Waterden Road actually still exists or if it has been totally wiped out by the massive changes in topography all around there. Anybody know?
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Post by administrator on Dec 10, 2011 11:01:50 GMT 1
More about Layhams Farm - www.simonlewis.com/sc5.htmlLayham's Farm a very recent casualty, the website reads "as of 7pm 20 January 2009 there will never be any more racing at Layham,'s Farm race track" The rent apparently rose by a vast amount and made the venue unworkable. A great shame. The venue is clearly visible on Google Maps Click Here and you can see how close it is to the encroaching housing and to Biggin Hill's famous airfield (itself owned by Bernie Ecclestone these days).A whole heap of photos are on a related facebook site and some Reliant Robin racing on YouTube!
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Post by tobyhalter on Dec 10, 2011 11:10:23 GMT 1
We do seem a bit over the top in regard to Layhams Farm. It's only link to midget cars is a possible series of races staged by the Putt Mossman group in September 1938 - and there's no evidence these actually took place or that Mossman ever appeared there. It could have been rained off. Hopefully though there was some midget car action on that Sunday 73 years ago and eventually it will all get an airing here. But let's forget about what went on there before that date and afterwards - it wasn't really a midget car race outlet after all.
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Post by youtubefiend on Jan 2, 2012 0:01:09 GMT 1
Yes Toby I agree, local papers are the answer....but if you just want to see what the place is like type Layhams Farm into You Tube...it brings up a load of banger racing clips but gives a feel for the place. I am going to the newspaper history library at Colindale towards the end of January. Any idea what the local paper covering the Layhams Farm area - it's isolated and could be one of several - was in 1938?
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fuzzi
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by fuzzi on Jan 17, 2012 18:03:25 GMT 1
Hello
Just to the right of the doors in the reading room are a series of volumes that list newspapers from Britain, Ireland (and I think some of the Empire). there are small scale maps in the back which give you some guidance as to the likely ones for the area. There are atlases on the shelves below the catalogue terminals opposite the annual newspaper volumes.
The staff are very helpful, so don't be afraid to ask questions and remember they have magazines there too so you may find some information in magazines like "The Light Car."
Good Luck Julian
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Post by youtubefiend on Jan 17, 2012 23:28:08 GMT 1
Hello Just to the right of the doors in the reading room are a series of volumes that list newspapers from Britain, Ireland (and I think some of the Empire). there are small scale maps in the back which give you some guidance as to the likely ones for the area. There are atlases on the shelves below the catalogue terminals opposite the annual newspaper volumes. The staff are very helpful, so don't be afraid to ask questions and remember they have magazines there too so you may find some information in magazines like "The Light Car." Good Luck Julian Thank you for the advice in regard to the newspaper library at Colindale. My visit is planned for "very soon" and hopefully I'll track down something about the 1938 midget meeting at Layhams Farm featuring Putt Mossman & Co.
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