Each year, Crowdy Head beach gets catapulted back into the '50s when Rattle Trap rolls into town. Paul headed there to check out the action and take his H-D for a spin... Pics: D-Train Photography
The yearly pilgrimage to Crowdy Head, NSW, sees the Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club hold their annual beach festival. With everything from 1949 Hot Rods to pre-1963 motorcycles making up a big part of this ’40s and ’50s lifestyle event, I finally got a chance to check it out!
Rattle Trap is an event that sees some of the best vintage cars and bikes come together to make a ruckus on the beach.
There are a number of these types of events around the world held on beaches with the sole purpose of bringing together the nostalgic years of Hot Rods and motorcycles. I made the trip with my mate Craig to attend for the first time last year, we had been trying for years to get a start at the event but it is so popular that we never got a start till last year. Fun, is the only word to describe the day.
With 60 Hot Rods and 25 Motorcycles, it’s all about having fun while doing sprints up the beach two at a time. The course is only 1/8th mile but that is plenty to get the cars and bikes up to speed. It’s not so much a race as it is about doing demonstration runs and having a run against a mate or someone else that wants to challenge you.
Paul was out there ripping it up on the sand on his Harley. The thundering 1200 v-twin loving the loose surface…
For Craig and I it was about giving our 1940s, 1200cc Harleys a run on the sand and having fun doing it. The variety of motorcycles was excellent, Harleys, Indians, Triumphs, Matchless, and Honda were all represented well with some very nice well-presented bikes among them.
Time on the beach is controlled by the tide, once the tide is going out and heading towards low tide the course is set up. A tower made from timber in the style of bygone years was positioned on a trailer for ease of placement, then the start line towers were placed as were the finish line towers, all in that glorious period styling of the ’40s.
The starter girl is another great part of the event, there were several girls that did the starts and they all put in 100 per cent effort with great displays of flag skills. All of the Drag-Ens Hot Rod club were decked out in white overalls which look fantastic as period dress and it also made it so easy to find someone for help or advice for the day.
The beach was flat and had hard sand with enough grip to get the bikes and cars going pretty quick over the 1/8th mile.
The beach was flat and had nice hard sand with enough grip to get the bikes and cars going pretty quick over the 1/8th mile. After the tide ended the day, we finished up with close to four hours on the beach doing our passes, managing to get 10 runs in. When considering the amount of vehicles was a great day of entertainment.
The bikes went amazing all day and we gave them a flogging with high revs and plenty of wheelspin and slides on the sand. My face was hurting from laughing so much! Check out all the great shots from the day below…
2022 Rattle Trap Gallery
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