THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN OF OZ
An unlikely circuit on the outskirts of a small Australian town was the country’s mecca of motorcycling for decades until the late 1980s.
As well as being a showcase of local talent from its beginnings in the 1930s, the mountain circuit hosted some of the biggest international names in the 1970s. In this decade it also became a proving ground for the Japanese factories, with prototypes and works riders competing.
To recapture the spirit of these times we bring you some snapshots of the Seventies at Mount Panorama. Next issue we go deep in the Eighties.
A golden moment
In the photograph, left, at the end of an Easter weekend, three riders share a joke while friends and family look on. Taken after the Unlimited Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst in 1974, the image sums up all that was great about Mount Panorama. It is also a snapshot of the moment when motorcycle racing changed forever in Australia, as a new international professionalism swept the sport.
The man in the green Kawasaki leathers is Ron Toombs. Aged 40, he was known as the Master of Mount Panorama and had won more than 15 GP titles on Australia’s
