THE DEAN MACHINE 4,748 Posted January 27 (edited) I raced for Graham at long Eaton, found him very straight to the point and hard to get on with , bumped into him at various different tracks over the years but it wasn’t until I was a mechanic at Birmingham and he was promotor that I really understood him, we had many chats about the state of the sport, he was always backing up my views privately that I was spouting on social media at the time although kept telling me not to swear on them, telling me to keep at them, I asked him if he shared these views why he never spoke out ? He said “the sport had been good to him and he didn’t want to appear ungrateful “speedway needs a Graham Drury now, thoughts with Denise and the family at this sad time.RIP Graham Edited January 27 by THE DEAN MACHINE 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HGould 2,213 Posted January 28 Looking through one of my Speedway Star yearly Binders I found some pictures of Graham circa 1882 1983 at Oxford. It was noticeable that he must have been one of the last riders to switch from the Jawa 4 valve, which looked rather heavier and more cumbersome than the Weslakes of the day. I wonder if they were ex Mauger or Briggo motors from his Hull days. That was a golden era in both Divisions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinmauger 584 Posted January 28 Quite possiibly an ex-Briggo bike. I know Graham had some leathers off Briggo which he wore in 1977, red with yellow sleeves poss from Briggo's time at Wimbledon. Graham favoured the 4v JAWAs over Weslakes, as did Ivan & Olsen of course til late in their careers, apparently they were 'swines' to set up but despite being a tad top heavy, they flew once you got one going right. Graham was 'on fire' riding it in 1977, posting a 9pt ave, til it went 'bang' & his form never really recovered that year. He was one of what I called the 'Fab 4' at Hull, along wth Bobby Beaton, Joe Owen & Frank Auffret, all spending 5 or 6 years together at the Boulevard.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THE DEAN MACHINE 4,748 Posted January 28 41 minutes ago, martinmauger said: Quite possiibly an ex-Briggo bike. I know Graham had some leathers off Briggo which he wore in 1977, red with yellow sleeves poss from Briggo's time at Wimbledon. Graham favoured the 4v JAWAs over Weslakes, as did Ivan & Olsen of course til late in their careers, apparently they were 'swines' to set up but despite being a tad top heavy, they flew once you got one going right. Graham was 'on fire' riding it in 1977, posting a 9pt ave, til it went 'bang' & his form never really recovered that year. He was one of what I called the 'Fab 4' at Hull, along wth Bobby Beaton, Joe Owen & Frank Auffret, all spending 5 or 6 years together at the Boulevard.... The end of the DT500 was the reduction of the carb size to 34mm, they were thirsty engines and worked well with bigger size carbs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FAST GATER 853 Posted January 28 RIP Graham who was also a former Elle Port Gunners rider always gave 100% Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ray Stadia 1,071 Posted January 29 That is sad news. Never met the man, but a name that has been around speedway, it seems, forever! RIP Mr Drury Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinmauger 584 Posted January 29 (edited) 21 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: The end of the DT500 was the reduction of the carb size to 34mm, they were thirsty engines and worked well with bigger size carbs You will obv know better than most, but didn't the ever quieter silencers brought in over the years also cause the DT500 JAWA 4v to overheat, think Olsen complained unsucesfully to the (then) BSPA & SCB about that. (Sorry to hi-jack thread it's about respecting Graham Drury).... Edited January 29 by martinmauger hopefully added tactful respect Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rich 75 Posted January 29 On 1/28/2024 at 5:40 PM, THE DEAN MACHINE said: The end of the DT500 was the reduction of the carb size to 34mm, they were thirsty engines and worked well with bigger size carbs Had a DT500 on the Grass with a 38mm Mikuni, bought from Stefan Salomonnson (Wimbledon). Fastest engine I ever had, much better than I was. Nowhere near the same with a smaller carb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
