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Norman 'Wizard' Smith


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#51 275 GTB-4

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 03:46

Aaah. Marree had platforms, cranes and all mod cons. In Campbells time there was a general carrier in town. Bloke called Tom Kruse who had quite a few large trucks. eg semis!


and not to mention another fella operating through that area...

http://www.roadtrans...d-centre-detail

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#52 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 06:46

and not to mention another fella operating through that area...

http://www.roadtrans...d-centre-detail

  Johansen was more Alice and environs. I have read that book. 

I used to see him driving around in his left hook 73 or so Dodge Wagon with a gas producer attached to the rear. I am amazed the cops never booked him! This in the late 80s.



#53 Catalina Park

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 06:57

Was Don Harkness workshop on Parramatta Rd Five Dock or Victoria Rd Drummoyne?

Both. 

He started out at Drummoyne but that building burned down. (one story suggests it luckily destroyed obsolete but well insured stock).
He then moved to Parramatta Road on the corner of William Street. The building is still there, it is now Barloworld VW.

Drummoyne...

HarknessAndHillier03.jpg

 

Parramatta Road..

HarknessAndHillier02.jpg

 

HarknessAndHillier01.jpg

 

HarknessAndHillier04.jpg

 


 



#54 Amaroo Park

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 11:06

So that Drummoyne site would have to be were the RSL building is



#55 Catalina Park

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 09:56

So that Drummoyne site would have to be were the RSL building is

I think it would have been somewhere around there. It wasn't called Victoria Road then, it was called Bridge Street.
I did find a street number for it a while back but I can't find it now, the numbers have changed anyway.



#56 275 GTB-4

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Posted 08 August 2015 - 23:41

Johansen was more Alice and environs. I have read that book. 
I used to see him driving around in his left hook 73 or so Dodge Wagon with a gas producer attached to the rear. I am amazed the cops never booked him! This in the late 80s.


I read the book too Lee, but I think someone must have slipped a different book into your dust jacket!

Here is Kurts story involving driving millions of miles around the country...

https://ehive.com/ac...15_Deep_Well_NT

#57 GMACKIE

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 02:21

How do you know Lee wears a dust jacket ?



#58 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 07:55

How do you know Lee wears a dust jacket ?

I often wear a dust coat but never a dust jacket!



#59 275 GTB-4

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 00:46

There was a train line [the famous Ghan line] from Adelaide to Marree  about 20k from Muloorina Station and the rail actually went past  the lake higher up about 200m from the lakes edge.  
I was always surprised that the Campbell attempt was carried there on a truck. The roads were there but all fairly rough in parts in those days


A good little item on Campbell at Dumbleyung is here:

http://www.speedwaya...dumbleyung.html

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#60 gkennedy

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 06:08

I had a water jacket, but I kept getting wet sleeves.

 

When I was a teenager, my father told me about the days of inter-City record breaking drives in the years from around 1907 to 1924. I was intrigued, and went searching for anything I could find about that time. 'Wizard' Smith was one of the drivers - if not the driver of that period. The stories about him, along with Boyd Edkins, Albert Turner and others would certainly make a great book. Unfortunately, although there are scattered reports of that era, there is no real definitive account that I know of. Bill Tuckey wrote a brief account in his 'Book of Australian Motor Racing' from around 1965, and there is another account in 'Australia's Yesterdays' which is a large book compiled (I think) by Readers Digest. There have been a few articles in motoring magazines over the years, and I read them avidly and kept them. Back then, in my teenage years, I spent a day at the Mitchell Library going through records from newspapers of that time. I found it hard to believe that these epic drives on rugged dirt roads were happening between capital cities only 25 years before I was born.

 

There is a book about Wizard Smith titled 'Wizard of Oz' by Clinton Walker that I enjoyed. I found a lot of it online, but can't create a link to it here. Anyone interested could google :drunk: 'wakefield press wizard of oz' or similar.



#61 Lee Nicolle

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 06:41

There is a book written by Steve Simpson in the 70s re Wizard Smith. A fair outline of him and his efforts. And it does mention Lake Eyre! Though really in hindsight.

A friend who lurks on this site lent it to me yesterday. 100 odd pages inc about a dozen of pics. The pic of the wet beach with tracks is in it.



#62 Kookaburra

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Posted 20 August 2015 - 09:46

Was Don Harkness workshop on Parramatta Rd Five Dock or Victoria Rd Drummoyne?

 

I'm pretty sure that it was at Five Dock, where the Barloworld Volkswagen dealership is now.  I know that Drummoyne is mentioned somewhere along the line in a book, but all the other references and contemporary newspaper reports refer to the workshop as being at Five Dock.



#63 opplock

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Posted 01 August 2017 - 16:40

I spotted this report in the latest Heritage New Zealand newsletter. Includes link to British Movietone film of record attempt.

 

 

Mixed fortunes for ‘Wizard’ on Ninety Mile Beach

  TaniaDesmondatsiteofshed2Smallcropped.14

The site of a makeshift shed associated with world record-breaking Australian car racer, Norman Leslie ‘Wizard’ Smith, has been found at Hukatere on Ninety Mile Beach.
Heritage New Zealand staff recently recorded the concrete floor of ‘Wizard’ Smith’s shed – the only surviving part of the structure – using a GPS, with help from Tania Desmond, the manager of local campground Utea Park, who confirmed the site’s location.
On 26 January 1932 Smith was towed out from the shed erected near the beach front half way up Ninety Mile Beach, in his specially designed racing car Enterprise, and taxied onto the wet sands.
Filmed by a British Movietone newsreel before he began his brief, epic journey, Smith expressed confidence to the camera that he would topple the 10-mile (16km) land speed record.  He was as good as his word.
The car was timed at 164.084mph (264km/h) overall – shattering the previous record of 137.21mph.  At times Smith hit an impressive 200mph during the 10-mile time trial.
“Smith broke the 10-mile record in conditions that were less than ideal,” says Heritage New Zealand’s Northland Manager, Bill Edwards.
Smith eventually had a go at challenging Sir Malcolm Campbell’s mile and five-mile records on 1 May 1932 – almost four months after his initial run with the Enterprise.
“The attempt was unsuccessful with the Enterprise catching fire,” says Bill.
Watch footage of ‘Wizard’ Smith’s record breaking run at Ninety Mile Beach (including his shed at Hukatere complete with flying Union Jack) by clicking here.
Caption: Tania Desmond marks the site of ‘Wizard’ Smith’s garage with a GPS.  Utea Pa is in the background.

Edited by opplock, 01 August 2017 - 16:59.