Tom FARNDON : 'Speedway Thrills'
Tonight's talk is to be given by one of the most fearless and spectacular of speedway riders, Tom Farndon , the British Individual Champion. In bringing this honour to New Cross, Farndon became a Triple Champion, for he was already the National Champion and the London Champion-honours that have never before been held by one rider.
Five years ago, at the age of eighteen,
Farndon presented himself to the manager of the Coventry (Brandon) Speedway and expressed a wish to ' have a go ' on the track. At the next meeting he was given a try-out on his own old road machine, and for several weeks he gave exhibitions how to get on and how not to get off a motor-cycle. Then he persuaded a rider to lend him a real Speedway model so that he could show what he could really do.
The track record was four laps in 79 4-5 seconds. Farndon blazed round in 80 seconds ! The result was a contract and he was put immediately into the League Team.
Farndon has the reputation of being n ' win-or-buster '. He is a hard rider of a machine, for he frequently flings it over at hair-raising angles on the bends and then by remarkable efforts of physical strength hauls it up to a normal position irrespective of the enormous strain on the engine, frame, wheels, and tyres.