If you’ve heard of riders like Ken Le Breton, Norrie Isbister, and Les Collins; bikes like Rudge, Douglas, Weslake and Godden; venues like White City, Marine Gardens and High Beech, then a visit to the speedway museum is a must!
With over 100 speedway machines from the 1920s right up to this century, there’s something to catch your eye no matter how many visits you make to an unassuming industrial estate in deepest Midlothian. Ian Paterson, who runs the museum, began over 20 years ago with a handful of old bikes but the collection has grown in size to become the best array of speedway memorabilia in one place in the whole world. The visitors book boasts the signatures of World Champions Ivan Mauger, Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs and they all couldn’t speak highly enough of the place!
From the helmet Ivan wore on his farewell tour of the UK in 1985, Willie Templeton’s last set of leathers to Gary Havelock’s first set; more race jackets than you can count; Hans Nielsen represented in wheelie mode, pre-war equipment including such rare machinery that there are only one or two examples still in existence, reminders of long-gone venues like Bothwell and Hamilton, right up to a pristine lay-down Jawa that’s never turned a wheel in the heat of a match, there really is something for everyone.
