……..I guess the thing that surprises me most is that there seem to be very few genuine Douglas racers on the Spanish scene, despite there being various races and racetracks well suited to road racing. In Australia, by comparison, despite the lack of road racing venues, there were probably 50 or so RAs and quite a few TTs active in racing. Ultimately the answer is probably commercial: Douglas were selling literally thousands of 2 3/4s in Australia (and obviously a number of expensive RAs), and the well-equipped Douglas racing teams in Sydney (Williams Bros) and Melbourne (Turner Bros) were (let's face it) advertising vehicles. I wonder if the number of Douglases sold to the public in Spain in the 1920s was relatively small?
Leon
Apologies for the time it has taken for me to reply to your post Leon – things have been very busy here over the last month.
I think you are on the money with the comparison of available venues in Spain compared to those in Australia. There appears to have been far more suitable short circuits available in Australia due to access, to the many existing showgrounds and horse racing tracks and also purpose built tracks such as Maroubra and the Melbourne Motordrome etc. Also, these venues were “gated “ to the public, so it would have been easier to collect money from the public compared to the road circuits in Spain (even tho’ from what is shown in the pictures we have seen, the Spanish road races had possibly more spectators than the Australian events (due to spectator capacity at some of the tracks) it would have been difficult for the promoters to make any money out of them? When dirt track racing became popular in Britain in 1928 the promoters adapted many greyhound and some athletic and cycling facilities to suit speedway. These were close to population bases , had reasonable spectator capacity and already possibly had gambling systems in place. So possibly a much better money making proposition for promoters than the Spanish races? – not sure. ( an aside -the Douglas bikes with their relatively long wheel base, were better suited to the longer tracks of Australia, road races at IOM TT and on the continent – such as Spain, than their opposition on the shorter UK tracks and eventually their dominance was squashed (i.e. by 1929-1930 by more suitable machines (i.e. Rudge) ?)
Yes Leon – I agree -in reality it all comes down to the money! 😊
I had a quick look at the GDP of regions in Spain in the 1920’s and 30’s. I was trying to compare this with Australia but have not found the information yet to compare the relative wealth of the two nations in this period but will keep looking. Interestingly I did find out that the three regions of Spain with the highest GDP in 1930 was (In order from highest to lowest as a % of total GDP) were Cataluña (20.17%), Andalucía (15.69%), and Madrid (10.19%). It appears from the location of the events we have looked at so far that there is some correlation between these more affluent regions and the prevalence of Automobile and motorcycle races in Spain?
As you say, the racing motorcycles are mobile advertisements -from the motorcycle manufacturer’s point of view supporting motorcycle racing would be to develop (race winning) technology, display that to the public at racing venues and then mass producing (least viable product) machines to sell to the public to make as much money as possible.
Les Bailey appears to be more oriented towards the former and maybe Millman was more oriented toward the later - a differance of opinion that caused some friction between them? (I guess for any company it is a balancing act?) No surprise then, in 1925, the following article is placed in the Spanish media after the string of success of Douglas motorcycles in many events. (Apologies for posting this as it is not a picture of a Spanish racing Douglas 😊 ). This is from Heraldo Deprtiva 15 November 1925 – picture supplied by Javier.
In 1925 Bailey returns to Australia but still retains very strong connections to Douglas and I guess was possibly instrumental in securing many RA machines to come to the antipodes to be raced at the many suitable venues?? He was also directly involved in the promotion of some of these venues. Also in 1925-26 many TS and CW machines appear to have been essentially “dumped” in Australia prior to the arrival of the "famous" EW.
In Spain, the Douglas agent Quinines appears to be expanding his business and during 1925-26 is opening new offices – but possibly doesn’t have the factory connections and “sway” that Bailey does? Maybe how much factory support he gets depends on the size of his market and the potential to sell “domestic” motorcycles? Hence, as you say, the number of Douglas RA’s or TT machines that are available to Spanish riders is proportional to the combination of how many bikes Douglas expect to sell into the Spanish market, how many suitable venues there for racing that can attract paying spectators and the wealth of the Spanish competitors to be able to afford such machines in the first place rather than relying on factory rider bringing in the factory racing machines.
Although Douglas seems to be going from strength to strength in Australia in 1925-26, some events in Spain seem to change the direction of success for Quinones, Naure and Douglas for the worse (as we will see shortly). Also, other makers such as Velocette are coming onto the Spanish motorcycle racing scene.
Possibly Spain also introduced or enforced existing import tariffs on these foreign vehicles to protect local manufacturers around this time? Not sure and will have to investigate that further.
Thanks for introducing the comparison between the Spanish and Australian motorcycle racing scene in this era Leon - it has been interesting looking into it and I am sure there is a little bit more still to uncover!
(Further to the comparison between Vicente Naure's OB and TT outfits I have investigated this a little more and will post my thoughts on this when I have that progressed it a bit more.)
Cheers
Hutch