Seasons Greetings from The Velobanjogent....a Merry Christmas to you all and here's hoping 2013 is all you hope for......come visit me during the New Year, I've much to share with you.....

W.F. Omodei Pty Ltd, was a business in the motorcycle trade in Sydney, Australia from the 1920's up into around 1990 when it finally closed it's doors...I've most of the Omodei accessory catalogues and this post illustrates Ariel motorcycle information they kept for staff to sell items for in 1938 and 1939.....

I started with an earlier post on the Sydney business, W.F.Omodei Pty. Ltd with some Amal information..see...

http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/276-amal-carburettor-from-early-1930s.html

In the many catalogues from UK and other countries trade houses, for Reg Hardy who was the manager for such a long time and the final owner, was an inveterate writer to these companies seeking products, distribution rights etc, were some hand made data books, which were for the use of himself and his staff to identify parts required from counter and mail order inquiries to assist with sales.

They are fascinating for this use, but now form a very useful reference tool...

This will be the start of a series as I often do, until all the data is displayed....

One of the books featured pages cut out from various motorcycle manufacturers catalogues with reference to the items they could sell to the public...

 I first did  some Velocette information....

 http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/wf-omodei-pty-ltd-was-business-in.html

Then some of the Norton information...

http://velobanjogent.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/wf-omodei-pty-ltd-motorcycle-accessory.html 

And this posting is for the Ariel items in the counter book.... 

The information covers tyre sizes, cylinder bore size for piston rings etc....

The cover leaf for the book...now dismantled  for ease of use....

Ariel square 4.....

Ariel Red Hunter VH...

Ariel Red Hunter 350 NH...

Ariel Red Hunter 250 LH...

Ariel Side valve deluxe 600cc VB...

 

Ariel 500 OHV deluxe VG....

Ariel 350 OHV deluxe NG...

Ariel 250 OHV deluxe LG and OG.....

A look through the lens of Alan Schafer's camera during the 1939 Australian GP motorcycle races on the Mt.Panorama circuit at Bathurst, NSW, some 150 km west of Sydney......

I've introduced you to Alan Schafer before in several posts on my blog..... and I recently scanned in quite a few small sized photos that Alan had uncatalogued in  a plastic bag....
So I sorted through a 1938,1939 and 1940 Bathurst motorcycle race programs to endeavour to identify most of the pics, which in a way allow you to get a better idea of motorcycle racing in Australia in this pre-war period...
I've included some cuttings from the relevant motorcycle magazine of the time here in Sydney..."The Australian Motorcyclist".....

Now there has been motorcycle racing in the Bathurst area since the 1920's, during the earlier 1930's period it was on the Old Vale circuit, but a new purpose built road over the Mt.Panorama on the southern outskirts of Bathurst was unveiled to the visiting Irish motorcycle racing great..Stanley Woods, who was on a racing and promotional holiday for Velocette with starts in the South Australian Centenary TT at Victor Harbour in late December 1936 and then at Phillip Island in February 1937 and after visiting P&R Williams, the NSW Velocette distributors in Sydney he travelled with P&R sponsored riders Cec Weatherby ( pictured to the left) and Don Bain (second from the right) and is shown below, beside the then mayor of Bathurst ( in the black suit to the centre) on an area, later called Reid Park which would form part of the circuit...

The circuit was completed in time for the Easter races in 1938, although the track was unsealed, that is a dirt/gravel surface for this year and sealed for the 1939 races.

Bathurst town centre in 1939 at Easter for the races...
Well as mentioned, Alan had a camera, although I have no idea of the brand or it's capability for action shots, but Alan did take some and considering what might have been available I think he did a good job and for those interested in motorcycle racing in Australia it forms a valuable record...
So lets wander through the snapshots, which I've labelled where possible...

The start of the 1939 Australian Senior GP and the finish line.....

Through McPhillamy Park corner during the Australian Sidecar GP and Abercrombie handicap....#37 W. Hodgekiss 498cc Norton OHV and #87 N.Hilliard 596cc OHC Norton.

Same corner and race...#17 A.Jones 596cc OHC Norton...

 Decending the mountain in the infamous "esses", George Hannaford (Vic), on a 1938 Mk.7 KTT Velocette.

#19, Doug James, 250 Excelsior Manxman, 2nd in 1939 Lwt TT, in the esses at Bathurst.

#8 Leo Tobin 348cc OHC Norton and #7 Don Bain 348cc OHC Velocette.

#13 Cec Weatherby, 348cc OHC Velocette mk.8 KTT

Start of the 1939 Senior Australian GP...somebody got a "blinder" of a start...the mk.7 KTT is Dave Jenkins and #3 is Art Senior on his potent Ariel 500 special..

#8 Leo Tobin , Norton and #9 Wal Hawtry at the end of what later became called "con-rod straight"....due to the number of engines that broke conrods.
The straight was approx a mile and a quarter downhill....

A rider falls at the end of the main straight...I couldn't identify him....

Following the finish of each race, the first three places were impounded for scruitineering...this occured as pictured at what became known as "the green shed"...the Velo thethe left is Don Bain's 495cc OHC ex works Velo racer known as "The Monster", #25 is S.Sharpe,Norton and the Velocette Mk.7 KTT is likely Dave Jenkins.