Six times World Individual Speedway Champion and the only man to win three consecutive individual world titles, Ivan Mauger is recognised as the world’s greatest speedway rider. Discover how Christchurch-born Mauger dominated speedway racing for 20 years.
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Ivan Mauger fell in love with speedway at the age of 9 during his first visit to Christchurch’s Aranui Speedway with his parents. His first race was at Aranui when he was 16 years old.
Eleven years later he was the Individual World Champion, winning the first of six Individual World Speedway championships of his career. He won three more Long Track World Championships as well as six team and pairs events.
Mauger retired from racing in 1985 but in 1986 he achieved a long-held goal – to break the long track speed record. His bike reached 144.666km/h at Alexandra Park in Auckland. Despite many attempts, this record has never been broken.
Three of Mauger’s World Championship winning bikes are in the Museum collection, including the gold-plated Triple Crown Special, which Mauger rode to victory at his third consecutive Individual World Speedway Championship. Other taonga includes a solid silver trophy known as the Winged Wheel, Mauger’s racing suit, boots and helmet, as well as the racing vests he wore for each of his World Speedway championship wins.
