The motorbike, which has been in Longhurst’s personal collection at his Cafe 25 museum at The Boat Works on the Gold Coast for several years, will be one of 17 major items up for grabs at the sold-out event at the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa on Friday, October 24.
The motorbike is expected to attract national and international interest, and early estimates are that it could raise up to $50,000 for Motorsport Ministries, which are the main beneficiaries of the event.
The auction has been launched through Lloyds Auctions and will go live in the room at the Pirtek Legends Night, featuring supercars and NASCAR legend Marcos Ambrose.
Thanks to Lloyds Auctions, 100 percent of the proceeds from the auction will go to Motorsport Ministries.
Although the auction was only launched a few days ago, the AJS Motorcycle has already attracted bids in excess of $10,000. CLICK HERE to make your bid.
Longhurst has also donated $5000 worth of lift services at his Coomera-based operation, The Boat Works.
“I was more than happy to support last year’s inaugural event with a cash donation, but I thought we could go a little further this year and create an opportunity to raise more money and awareness,” said Longhurst.
“The AJS has been in our collection for a few years and really is a unique bike with great history.
“It is in wonderful condition and I hope it gathers an enormous amount of interest nationally and internationally and raises a heap of funds for Motorsport Ministries, who do an amazing job servicing all levels of Australian motorsport.
“We thought we would back up the bike donation with some lift services at The Boat Works.”
Pirtek Legends Night founder, Brett “Crusher” Murray said the donation from Longhurst was a fantastic highlight on an incredible list of auction items.
“TL (Longhurst) has been an amazing supporter of this event from day one and his contribution this year goes above and beyond,” said Murray.
“We cannot thank him and his wife Karen enough for their incredible contribution, which will not only raise a lot of money, but also create some national and international bidding.
“Tony has seen the work of Motorsport Ministries over the years and this is just another acknowledgement of their work.”
As well as the motorbike and The Boat Works lift services, there is also a list of experiences including a private jet tour to the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000, a 15-person corporate day at the Norwell Motorplex, a return trip for two to Highlands Park in New Zealand and a ride in a $4 million Aston Martin Vulcan, a Presidential Suite package at the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa, a lunch with multiple AFL premiership player and coach Chris Scott, a corporate package at next year’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, a private “after hours” dinner at Dick Johnson Racing and the chance to stand on the start line between two top fuel dragsters. There will also be the chance to wave the flag on the Sunday race at this year’s Gold Coast 500.
Racing memorabilia includes a one-off helmet from Supercars ace Brodie Kostecki, a wheel and tyre from Marcos Ambrose’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race-winning car from 2012 signed by Ambrose and Richard Petty, a flag signed by all the champions of the modern Supercars era 1993-2024, Shane van Gisbergen’s pole suit from NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma earlier this year, and an original teams version of the Pirtek Enduro Cup signed by all the winners from 2013 to 2019.
ABOUT THE AJS MOTORCYCLE
This motorcycle for auction is a late 1930-1931 model as indicated by the R over-stamped S matching frame and engine number prefixes (Frame number: R S 145114. Engine number: R S 145114) and was one of the last produced by the company.
This delightful Cammy AJS R7 was acquired from an elderly gentleman in the Geelong district in late October 1968 and was held by a lady rider for 49 years and was regularly used on vintage rallies in Victoria and South Australia before being purchased by the Longhursts.
A thorough and exacting full back to bare metal restoration and engine rebuild was undertaken in 2012.
The motorbike was fitted with new tyres and renewed chrome work and polished alloy. Both front and rear wheel rims were re-laced with stainless steel spokes along with new axles and wheel bearings.
This rare and exquisite matching-numbers motorcycle is presented in running condition and in its original roll-start set-up.
It offers a connoisseur of the genuine vintage AJS racing era a rare opportunity to acquire one of the last R7s built.
BRIEF HISTORY OF AJS MOTORCYCLES
The first AJS machines, produced in Wolverhampton, England, were sidevalve-engined lightweights offered with belt-drive transmission or optional all-chain drive with a two-speed countershaft gearbox.
They proved to be highly competitive in the Isle of Man TT’s new Junior Class for 350cc machines. Ultimately, AJS would dominate this class with its famous Big Port racers.
By 1927, AJS’s works race bikes appeared with a new overhead-camshaft engine as the Big Port was nearing the end of its development.
The shaft and bevel gears superseded with a chain-driven camshaft created a beautiful and distinctive cast-alloy casing extending forwards to the front-mounted magneto.
The factory works rider, Jimmy Simpson, rode the 350cc version to multiple Grand Prix victories in 1927 across Europe. From 1928, the famous Cammy engine AJS was built in 350cc (K7) and 500cc (K10) capacity with four-speed gearboxes with customer versions following equipped with three-speed gearboxes.
Along with the success of these models, more technical advances were made for 1929 including redesigned frames, Webb forks, stronger crankcasing, different camshaft, bigger brakes, a four-speed gearbox and the up to the minute saddle tank.
By the end of the season the M7 350cc model had achieved race wins in the German TT and the Grands Prix of Austria, Ulster and Europe.
Freddie Hicks was appointed as AJS’s No.1 works rider and his formidable technical skills saw further progress to the factory bikes with 350 class wins at the Dutch TT and the Grands Prix of Germany, Austria, France and Ulster.
By this time, the financial troubles at AJS stalled further development, and although it was hoped for a 1931 Cammy S7 and S10, model production ceased later that year when AJS was absorbed by Matchless.
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