Norm Kestel
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Jockey-sized Norm Kestel, who worked for Chamberlains Tractors in Welshpool, was born in 1915. He was a very successful motor cycle racer at venues such as Lake Perkolilli and North Beach (on a Norton) before turning his attention to car racing, making his debut in the 1937 Albany Grand Prix driving an MG J2 Midget. This gave way to the very neat supercharged MG TA monoposto, which he raced until the war.
When motor sport resumed after World War 2 Kestel, now married, sold the MG and turned his attention back to motorcycling, his first love. He became a well-known star at Claremont Speedway, until he was killed in a road motorcycling accident in Stirling Highway, Nedlands on January 15, 1949. He was 33.
The lightweight monoposto body shell from his MG was subsequently used by Ron Blowes, and then by Noel Aldous on his MGTC. The body has since been reunited with an MGTA chassis and the car appears in occasional historic racing events.
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