The Ginger Molloy story
Whenever Ginger Molloy and his mechanic Gary Williams travelled on the Continent they either slept under the stars, between the bikes inside the van, or even on top of the bikes using a thin foam squab laid over them. Sleeping arrangements improved ten-fold however when Ginger’s wife Claire joined the overseas adventures, as they also took along a canvas sheet to tie between two vans!
By the time Molloy finished his professional career at the end of 1971, he had amassed an astounding 66 international race victories spanning seven years in Europe and a season in the USA. He also won races in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and his homeland New Zealand. Ginger Molloy’s success story is one of raw talent on fast bikes, along with rugged determination, a few hair-raising antics and having a good time.
The young racer
Aged 15, William Molloy would cycle to the local scrambles near Huntly, where he decided to have a motorcycle of his own. However, his mother had other ideas and a compromise led to the purchase of a slow 150cc Triumph T15 Terrier.
Molloy recalls: “It was a shit of a thing but it got me into a bike, and it got me down to Wanganui on Boxing Day – I’d just turned 16 on Christmas Day, 1951.” (A 400km trip to watch the inaugural running of the now famous Cemetery Circuit.)
Next came a 125cc Royal Enfield, then a dirt track Tiger 70 which ran on methanol, but was slow due to a worn out camshaft. As a 16-year-old apprentice mechanic, Molloy welded the lobes then ground them back to shape. A 530 AJS followed, then a DBD Gold Star racer in 1958.
“It was very, very fast! I rode it to the Whakatane hill climb, Hugh Anderson and
