ONE family synonymous with motorcycle racing in Bathurst was the Hintons. Our photo this week shows Harry Hinton and his motorcycle photographed at Mount Panorama by Gwen Ratcliff, who lived at that time in William Street, Bathurst.
The same year that the first of the Commonwealth of Australia’s copper one pennies and halfpennies reached our shores after Federation, the first circuit for motor racing was pegged out at Bathurst. The year was 1911.
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No, it wasn’t at Mount Panorama, but at nearby Yetholme. Four meetings were held for “automobiles” and some motorbikes unofficially tested out the circuit, but there were no official events.
The Great War saw the demise of these events, as was the same for many locally held events, including the Bathurst Show.
By 1922, the Bathurst Motor Cycle Club, with Mr C. Hall as secretary, was operating in its clubrooms in Russell Street. Within a couple of years, the Bathurst Speedway became established properly and was a popular regular event.
As the Depression loomed, the Vale Circuit was opened especially for motorcycles. Events continued on this dirt track until the Second World War, but numbers were decreasing.
The events had the blessing of Bathurst City Council, but the police were not so sure. After all, it was still a public road.
It seems that one of the event’s supporters was Councillor M.J. Griffin, who had become the mayor in 1931. He invited Mr Spooner, Minister for Works in NSW, to visit Bathurst to look over the proposed “tourist or scenic road” which eventually cost just under £28,000.
The Hinton family emigrated after the Great War and settled at Canley Vale, where Harry Hinton went to the public school.
As it happened, his dad and two of his uncles operated a small motorcycle business at Newtown called Hinton Bros. Young Harry soon developed his interest in racing motorcycles. He joined a club and his first race was on the beach at Gerringong in 1929.
He became a motorcycle courier in 1931 in Sydney, where he had an accident, losing one eye. But he was still keen to race and his next took place at Phillip Island in Victoria in 1933. Not wanting to be a courier, he joined Bennett and Wood Ltd (at the time, the agents for the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd in Sydney).
His first appearance at Bathurst was in 1937, when he took first place in the Australian lightweight. He again took that honour in 1940, but not before accepting the first place trophy in the sidecar event in 1938.
The war years found him working on motorcycles for the army and he opened a Bankstown motorbike dealership afterwards.
He also established the Motor Cycle Racing Club of New South Wales with his mate Eric McPherson. He then decided to turn to Norton motorcycles, winning the 350cc class at Bathurst in 1947 and the Senior 500cc Grand Prix the following year.
He sought endorsement by the Auto Cycle Council of Australia and went overseas from 1949, where he raced motorcycles of larger capacities in Europe, Ireland, the Isle of Man and other courses before an accident (where he broke a hand and kneecap) ended his overseas career in 1951.
Henry Frederick Hinton died in Sydney on May 9, 1978, aged 67, his racing career spanning 1937 to 1955. Before he retired, he won an impressive 17 times at Bathurst’s motorcycle races at Easter, but in 1954 he broke a collarbone.
He was proud of his five Australian motorcycle champion wins and his achievements at Bathurst racing against others. Brands raced were BSAs, Nortons, AJSs and Velocette motorcycles. Bathurstians still talk about Harry (some called him “Chisel”) and his family and his over 345 first places on his favourite Norton motorcycle.
