Walter Hartley Phillips (17 October 1908 in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

– 5 January 1998)Bamford, R. & Stallworthy, D. (2003) ''Speedway - The Pre War Years'', Stroud: Tempus Publishing. was an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the first ever

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

final in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Career summary

Phillips began his speedway career alongside

Gus Kuhn Gus Kuhn (17 October 1898 – 30 August 1966) was a successful British TT and motorcycle speedway rider during the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Birmingham, England, and served in the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I. Speedway K ...

at Stamford Bridge Pensioners in 1929, winning the Southern League Championship, and stayed there until they closed at the end of the 1932 season, where he also appeared in the final of the

Star Riders' Championship The Star Riders' Championship was the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship and was inaugurated in 1929. The competition was sponsored by ''The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already m ...

. Philips then joined the

Wimbledon Dons The Wimbledon Dons were a professional motorcycle speedway team who operated from the Wimbledon Stadium, Plough Lane in London.Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', The track opened in 1928 and the Dons operated there from 1929 until 1991. They ...

, staying there until the end of the 1936 season.Jacobs, Norman (2001). ''Speedway in London''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Phillips represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1930 until 1936. His career was ended on the 1936/37 tour of Australia when he suffered a broken leg at the Sydney Showground.Foster, P. (2005) ''History of the Speedway Ashes'', The History Press Ltd.

World Final appearances

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

- 13th - 5pts + 7 semi-final points

Engineering

Phillips was a renowned engineer, his uncle was a development engineer and works rider at

JA Prestwich Industries Ltd JA Prestwich Industries, was a British engineering equipment manufacturing company named after founder John Alfred Prestwich, which was formed in 1951 by the amalgamation of J.A.Prestwich and Company Limited and Pencils Ltd. History John Pres ...

(JAP), and was instrumental in the development of the JAP engines used in speedway. Stan Greening was developing an engine specifically for speedway but the results were not impressive after testing by Australian riders Billy Lamont and

Vic Huxley Victor Nelson Huxley (23 September 1906 – 24 June 1982 in Brisbane. Queensland) was a speedway rider who won the Star Riders' Championship, the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship, in 1930 and finished runner-up in 1931 and 1932. H ...

. Greening and Phillips stripped down Phillips' Rudge bike and used some of the ideas in that engine with the new one of their own. When Phillips rode the bike at a meeting at

Stamford Bridge stadium Stamford Bridge () is a football stadium in Fulham, adjacent to the borough of Chelsea in West London. It is the home of Premier League club Chelsea. With a capacity of 40,341, it is the ninth largest venue of the 2022–23 Premier League seas ...

he beat the track record time. The JAP engines remained in use until the mid-1960s. Phillips was also known for what he termed as his fuel injector, a carburettor replacement mainly intended for motorcycles and scooters.

References

External links

Wal Phillips

Picture of Wal Phillips fuel injector
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Walter Hartley 1908 births 1998 deaths British speedway riders Stamford Bridge Pensioners riders Wimbledon Dons riders Sportspeople from Tottenham