John Ballantyne has been a motor sport enthusiast all
his life and is also an amateur sketch artist and
illustrator. He includes these images for your enjoyment.
Click images to enlarge.
The SPECTRUM Formula Ford won its first Australian championship in 1998 and has been a regular winner ever since.
The late Harry Hinton is the doyen of all Australian Motor Cycle racers.
This one-eyed gentleman racer had a career spanning 10 years each side of World War 2 on self-tuned machines in Europe and Australia. In Australia he was unbeatable on his stable of Nortons, the 500 Manx is shown here.
Australian ingenuity abounds in motor sport as in all industries. A classic example is the Centaur Waggot shown here which was built in 1962 for a total of $4,000 by a group of amateur engineers and was powered by a Holden engine fitted with a twin camshaft cylinder head. It won everything in sight over a 4 year career
The most beautiful racing car ever built....and the most successful! The Maseratti 250F had a Grand Prix career lasting 6 years from 1954. The 25 examples known to exist today are priceless collectors items.
Solo motor cycle speedway racing has been an adrenalin pumping spectacle since 1923. At right is John Ballantynes childhood remembrance of Australias and Englands test captains going for it at the Sports Ground in about 1952.