My memories of Lakeside.
Sid Sakzewski's farm was opposite where we lived . The gent who owned our place lived in the next house to the west of us and worked on Sid's farm. I was working for Wilshire File Coy. servicing Lawn Patrol lawnmowers which they manufactured and serviced. At some point the company shut down manufacture and sales and service of this product. Our landlord spoke to Sid about finding a job for me at C.O.N. in Milton, run by Sid. He met me on the farm and took me to Milton to meet the Foreman. During this journey we talked about my motorcycle racing and interest in the circut he was trying to build on the farm. He owned a Porsche 356 Coupe that was tuned for racing but was raced by the man who tuned it. [ In the BP garage , Sandgate Road Nundah.]
On some mornings I would meet Sid at the farm and drive his car in to Milton while he did paperwork in the passenger seat. Thus I got to drive the first Austin Mini in Brisbane that Sid had purchased. It had a long gearstick stuck out of the gearbox through a large gaiter into the cab, the doors had pull cords on the latch and the door windows were different to UK.
By the time I was involved on the construction of the circuit, the basic road works had been carried out but Sid was intent on extending east and cleared trees to create the loop. The usual way of working was to "Borrow" any earthmoving equipment in use on local roads at weekends when not in use so I remember a big self powered scraper charging downhill and bouncing about three feet clear of the ground before abruptly slowing as the blade dug in. Sid had a John Deere crawler with dozer blade on the farm and he attempted to do some work on the drain at the western end but it slid sideways into the drain and could not crawl out . We had to find something to pull it out.
One monday morning I was left to drive an Allis Chalmers Grader in to Chermside to the owners depot. Sid had borrowed it from some local roadworks for the weekend and worked it on the eastern loop. He told no one that he had managed to hit a tree-stump with the left front wheel and bend the steering arm so that the front wheels were at an angle to one another, By sticking the left front wheel on the dirt at the side of the highway I got to the straight to the South Pine river near Bald hills where the tyre burst. I walked to a public phone box and rang the factory to ask the manager for help. This man being used to Sid and his antics, soon loaded oxy torch and a jack picking up a spare wheel from the owner's depot and came out to carry out the repairs.
I was painting some Armco on the inside of the circuit being careful to brush the paint well in without spilling when Sid appeared with a whitewash brush and his usual "This is how you do it !!", white paint was splashed everywhere as he dipped the brush to the handle and almost through it at the armco. This was a Saturday before the first race on Sunday.
When the surface was first sealed it needed to be run in and so the police esed it for driver training and it was usual to see a convoy of police cars going round for a few hours. On the first race day I was sent out between races with tractor and trailer loaded with drum of emulsion and sand to repair any cracks. Later the surface was sealed with hot mix.
The numbers of entrants in the saloon race was small so Sid drove his big "Yank Tank"[ can't remember what it was, Chev V8 Auto maybe}. I can still see him in a "Bone Dome" with right elbow resting out the open window rounding the western loop.
Sid's son was a champion water skier and used the lake on the farm to practice where a jump was moored in the middle. We had an apprentice in the factory who lived near Sid and was also a water ski expert of same age as the son of Sid. The two lads would come and get me to throw buckets of water on the jump as they never had petrol for the pump. I was given a lesson for free , the best reverse flush of my rear. Story was that Sid had split a buoy while playing on the river ? Painfull I think.
One night I was doing night shift as fitter on the 2 Acme-Gridley Autos. About 11 at night I was handing castings from a 44 gal. drum bin to the operators bin when Sid appeared with the usual "This is how it is done," pushing the drum over and grabbing a shovel and loading the bin, Sid in best bib and tucker being on his way home from some big do in town..
C.O.N. was being unionised but 2 of us refused to join. We were invited to Sid's office where he explained that if we did not join, he would have to sack us or the whole place would go out on strike. After more argument he tried to bribed us by offering to pay the dues himself which we reluctantly accepted. One of the Union rules was secret ballots. When the "wharfies" in Victoria wanted to strike and sought nationwide support, a secret ballot was carried out. Our shop steward came round to each of us with the ballot papers and asked us for answers that he filled on the paper. Such a "Secret" ????????????
Sid always looked after the workers. Xmas party was a great do when the factory shut at midday and food and drink was supplied in plenty.
I was offered more money to service Johnson Outboards and so went to work for Brisbane Marine Centre. We also moved into our new Housing Commission house at Acacia Ridge and I used the Lakeside Circuit on a couple of Motorcycle races during which the 7R crankpin broke.
Sid Sakzewski's farm was opposite where we lived . The gent who owned our place lived in the next house to the west of us and worked on Sid's farm. I was working for Wilshire File Coy. servicing Lawn Patrol lawnmowers which they manufactured and serviced. At some point the company shut down manufacture and sales and service of this product. Our landlord spoke to Sid about finding a job for me at C.O.N. in Milton, run by Sid. He met me on the farm and took me to Milton to meet the Foreman. During this journey we talked about my motorcycle racing and interest in the circut he was trying to build on the farm. He owned a Porsche 356 Coupe that was tuned for racing but was raced by the man who tuned it. [ In the BP garage , Sandgate Road Nundah.]
On some mornings I would meet Sid at the farm and drive his car in to Milton while he did paperwork in the passenger seat. Thus I got to drive the first Austin Mini in Brisbane that Sid had purchased. It had a long gearstick stuck out of the gearbox through a large gaiter into the cab, the doors had pull cords on the latch and the door windows were different to UK.
By the time I was involved on the construction of the circuit, the basic road works had been carried out but Sid was intent on extending east and cleared trees to create the loop. The usual way of working was to "Borrow" any earthmoving equipment in use on local roads at weekends when not in use so I remember a big self powered scraper charging downhill and bouncing about three feet clear of the ground before abruptly slowing as the blade dug in. Sid had a John Deere crawler with dozer blade on the farm and he attempted to do some work on the drain at the western end but it slid sideways into the drain and could not crawl out . We had to find something to pull it out.
One monday morning I was left to drive an Allis Chalmers Grader in to Chermside to the owners depot. Sid had borrowed it from some local roadworks for the weekend and worked it on the eastern loop. He told no one that he had managed to hit a tree-stump with the left front wheel and bend the steering arm so that the front wheels were at an angle to one another, By sticking the left front wheel on the dirt at the side of the highway I got to the straight to the South Pine river near Bald hills where the tyre burst. I walked to a public phone box and rang the factory to ask the manager for help. This man being used to Sid and his antics, soon loaded oxy torch and a jack picking up a spare wheel from the owner's depot and came out to carry out the repairs.
I was painting some Armco on the inside of the circuit being careful to brush the paint well in without spilling when Sid appeared with a whitewash brush and his usual "This is how you do it !!", white paint was splashed everywhere as he dipped the brush to the handle and almost through it at the armco. This was a Saturday before the first race on Sunday.
When the surface was first sealed it needed to be run in and so the police esed it for driver training and it was usual to see a convoy of police cars going round for a few hours. On the first race day I was sent out between races with tractor and trailer loaded with drum of emulsion and sand to repair any cracks. Later the surface was sealed with hot mix.
The numbers of entrants in the saloon race was small so Sid drove his big "Yank Tank"[ can't remember what it was, Chev V8 Auto maybe}. I can still see him in a "Bone Dome" with right elbow resting out the open window rounding the western loop.
Sid's son was a champion water skier and used the lake on the farm to practice where a jump was moored in the middle. We had an apprentice in the factory who lived near Sid and was also a water ski expert of same age as the son of Sid. The two lads would come and get me to throw buckets of water on the jump as they never had petrol for the pump. I was given a lesson for free , the best reverse flush of my rear. Story was that Sid had split a buoy while playing on the river ? Painfull I think.
One night I was doing night shift as fitter on the 2 Acme-Gridley Autos. About 11 at night I was handing castings from a 44 gal. drum bin to the operators bin when Sid appeared with the usual "This is how it is done," pushing the drum over and grabbing a shovel and loading the bin, Sid in best bib and tucker being on his way home from some big do in town..
C.O.N. was being unionised but 2 of us refused to join. We were invited to Sid's office where he explained that if we did not join, he would have to sack us or the whole place would go out on strike. After more argument he tried to bribed us by offering to pay the dues himself which we reluctantly accepted. One of the Union rules was secret ballots. When the "wharfies" in Victoria wanted to strike and sought nationwide support, a secret ballot was carried out. Our shop steward came round to each of us with the ballot papers and asked us for answers that he filled on the paper. Such a "Secret" ????????????
Sid always looked after the workers. Xmas party was a great do when the factory shut at midday and food and drink was supplied in plenty.
I was offered more money to service Johnson Outboards and so went to work for Brisbane Marine Centre. We also moved into our new Housing Commission house at Acacia Ridge and I used the Lakeside Circuit on a couple of Motorcycle races during which the 7R crankpin broke.
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Click the button for link to my other sites
All my sites are a work in progress
and liable to change.
[email protected] for comments
THANK YOU.