Produced in 1928 by Stanley Glanfield, the machine was built for the new sport of speedway or dirt-track racing that had recently been introduced from Australia. A 499cc Rudge engine, forks and wheels were fitted to a duplex frame with strutted tubes bolted together, so if through a crash one of the tubes became bent, it could quickly be replaced.
An Andre steering damper was used. Adjustment was provided for a single footrest and initially the machines were equipped with a clutch which was later removed, giving a direct drive ratio of 8:1.
Rudge themselved introduced a very successful speedway model later that year, so the life of the Glanfield Rudge was short.
In July 1928 Glanfield departed on a Rudge combination on a tour that would take him through four continents and cover 18,000 miles over some very inhospitable terrain including the Syrian Desert and Darwin to Sydney via Boulia. If you know where Boulia is, you can imagine the difficulties encountered travelling that route by motorcycle combination a century ago. Glanfield rode the last 200 miles to Boulia with a broken foot. It appears 1928 was a particularly busy year for the man.
The Coventry Transport Museum has Glanfield's Rudge combination on display.
See also: Speedway Index
Sources: Graces Guide, Speedway Workshop Archive, et al.
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