Description
27th Oct, 2024 10:00
The October 2024 Auction
1950 Rotrax-JAP 500cc
Vintage Speedway bike
Estimate
£3, 500 - £4, 500
Buyer's premium: 15. 00%
Lot details
Registration: N/ A
Frame: N/ A
Engine: N/ A
MOT: N/ A
497cc 4-stroke single
Single speed
Complete bike but requires recommissioning
Speedway, originally known as dirt track racing, originated in the USA and Australia. The first British meeting was in 1927 and the sport soon became incredibly popular. The design of Speedway bikes has seen little change in more than fifty years. The JAP 497cc speedway engine first appeared in 1930 and was still being raced in the 1970s. Britain's best-known supplier of speedway engines, J. A. Prestwich (JAP) did not make complete Speedway motorcycles, thus leaving the field open to a cottage industry of frame makers, among the foremost of which was Rotrax.
Rotrax's forerunner had been founded in Southampton as a bicycle manufacturer by Bill Harvell. In 1945, the business was taken over and began marketing its products under the 'Rotrax' name, diversifying into the manufacture of frames for speedway motorcycles in 1952. Workshop foreman Mike Compton used Reynolds 531 tubing, which was nickel-bronze brazed into lugs to produce a beautiful frame that was light but at the same time extremely strong.
