The first Australian to win a Grand Prix World Championship on two wheels or four is to be celebrated in a much-awaited biography written by renowned motorcycle racing historian Don Cox. Keith Campbell, Australia’s first Grand Prix World Champion by Don Cox
Keith Campbell, Australia’s First Grand Prix World Champion is a terrifically researched 95,000-word account of Campbell’s remarkable career featuring many previously unpublished photographs.
Campbell secured the 1957 World 350 Championship in his debut season with Moto Guzzi, finishing on the podium at the Isle of Man and taking consecutive victories in The Netherlands, Belgium and Northern Ireland. He was the first Australian to win multiple Grands Prix in a calendar year.
Campbell’s world title was the culmination of an eight-year journey from Melbourne teenager welding vacuum-cleaner bodies to finance his racing and solo trips to the famed Isle of Man that launched his career as a Continental Circus rookie at 22 and then successful private entrant.
A fair-minded man, Campbell stood up for proper payment for private riders at the 1955 Dutch TT. Along with other striking riders, he was suspended from racing for six months. Undeterred, he was back racing and winning in 1956, and then piloted Guzzi 350 singles, 500 singles and the fabulous Guzzi 500 V-eight as a factory rider.
Guzzi’s withdrawal from racing in September 1957 left Campbell without a works ride. He returned to the privateer ranks for 1958 with plans to head home to Melbourne and start a business in 1959. Campbell tragically died in a race accident at Cadours, France, in July 1958.
Former magazine editor Peter Donaldson, and writer and publishing consultant Jamie McIlwraith have read the full text.
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“This is a truly remarkable biography of the racer, businessman and entrepreneur who became Australia’s first motorsport grand prix world champion,” Donaldson said.
“Talent, bravery, speed, smarts and persistence. Australia’s first road-racing World Champion Keith Campbell used all of that to reach the pinnacle of success,” McIlwraith said. “The man behind the legendary Circus Life history of 1950s’ Aussie international motorcycle racers tells the inspiring yet tragic story of Campbell’s extraordinary career”.
Keith Campbell, Australia’s first Grand Prix World Champion draws on interviews with Keith Campbell’s family, friends, rivals, team mates, helpers and travelling mates, reporters and spectators from the day.
The list of those whom helped contribute to the book includes Jack Ahearn, Keith Bryen, Rod Coleman, Geoff Duke, Keith’s brother George Campbell, key helpers Ron Day and Bob Edmonds, Eric Hinton, Bob Mitchell, Maurie Quincey, John Surtees and Vic Willoughby. Keith Campbell, Australia’s first Grand Prix World Champion is due for release in mid-2025.
Expressions of interest to KRCampbellbook@gmail.com or KR Campbell Book, PO Box 356 Haberfield NSW 2045
