Douglas Motorcycles Dt5 Speedway 1927
Douglas motorcycles were distinctive for many years as the only ones with flat-twin engines aligned longitudinally in the frame.
The Douglas Brothers foundry in Kingswood, Bristol, England, was founded by brothers William and Edward in 1882 and produced its first motorcycle in 1907 with an engine designed by J.F. Barter, whose company, Light Motors Ltd., produced what is thought to be the first longitudinal flat twin engine in 1904. Douglas supplied Light Motors with castings and took the company over when it went out of business in 1907. In 1912, a Douglas was ridden to victory in the Isle of Man Junior TT.
Speedway competition was introduced into Britain in 1927 by Australian promoters who had witnessed the sport’s sudden and enormous popularity in their home country. The Australian riders adapted Douglas SW5 racing bikes for speedway and Douglas followed suit and developed the DT5 specifically for the sport. It featured a special frame, a three-speed gearbox with hand change and a strengthened rear wheel, and with its methanol-burning, flat-twin, overhead-valve 500cc engine providing a very low centre of gravity it was ideally suited to the leg-trailing riding style popular with speedway riders of the time. Like other speedway bikes, it had no clutch or brakes and was ridden on full throttle with speed regulated by a magneto cut out. From 1927 to 1929, the DT5 was virtually unbeatable, as was the company’s 600cc DT6 model in the open capacity class.
This example was purchased in Christchurch when new and remained in that city until it was acquired for the NZ Classic Motorcycles collection in October, 2011, from the John Howard collection, a large number of which were stored by NZ Classic Motorcycles following the Christchurch earthquakes.