July 31, 2011

KIEHL'S LIFERIDE 2011


Kiehls, established in 1851, has always had a motorcycling connection; every store has a vintage bike or two inside, a legacy of the family's longtime love of bikes, planes, etc, and desire to share their collection in their retail outlets.  Having long been a sponsor of motorcycle events in the US (such as the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours), they've branched out in the past two years into holding annual LifeRides, to support and publicize a special line of Kiehls products which are 100% slated to charity.  This year, they've guaranteed $100,000 to amfAR, the premier AIDS research foundation in the US, and the ride includes a gaggle of celebrities who want to show support for Kiehl's generosity, while helping publicize HIV/AIDS issues in the areas ridden.
Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl's
This year's route starts in Philadelphia, and makes a 1300 mile loop over 5 days, ending up in Manhattan, where 160 riders will join the LifeRiders for a parade through Manhattan's streets, on Saturday Aug 6th (if you're in Manhattan, please join us for a good party), ending up at the Kiehl's original flagship store in the East Village (109 3rd at 13th).
A pair of racing Jags; D-type in front, C-type in rear...yummy catlike wraiths
I've been asked along to document the ride, and raise awareness of this event in the Vintage bike community, which is the Kiehls family stomping grounds.  We won't be riding vintage motorcycles though (I know, I know...), but BMW have generously loaned every rider a new machine, plus some riding gear.  Ruby helmets have provided us all with lids, so we'll look damn stylish meandering through the Amish backroads of Pennsylvania.  What will I be riding?  An S1000RR, the fastest production motorcycle on earth...certainly a change from a '38 Velocette!
Artist Conrad Leach with actor Grant Reynolds
As a pre-ride treat, a visit to the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia was planned for our Sunday evening get-together.  The Museum founder Frank Simeone gave us a personal tour of his unusual collection of Sports Racers, ie, racing cars which have two seats and are road legal, as used in Le Mans and most American endurance races (Sebring, Daytona), although these days a mechanic isn't required in the passenger seat!
Ferrari Testarossa and arch-rival Maserati; warriors at rest
Simeone is a forward-thinking collector, and has long valued original paint, unrestored machines in his collection, although these are increasingly difficult to find.  Half of the incredibly rare racing cars in his vast warehouse have battered and oxidized bodies, and are absolutely glorious.  We were treated to a demonstration of a 1-of-6, original paint ex-Shelby Corvette racer, which boomed around the 3-acre parking lot out back, slithering its fat tires under the masterful helm of Le Mans veteran Alain de Cadanet.
Alain tries out the 'Vette Grand Sport, in original paint
BMW 328, also in original paint, found in Holland after WW2, where it had been hidden in a hay loft.
Original paint 1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spyder...
1909 American 'Underslung'; the chassis was below the axles, making the mudguards the same level as the hood...dig those 42" hoops!
Brooke Zaugg, organizer of the LifeRide...and the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours
The back end of a Bugatti Type 57 'Tank'...
...and the crazy wheels, shared with the open-wheel racers.  It is a two-piece wheel; the brake hub has a toothed engagement to the separate wheel rim.
Actress Marguerite Moreau takes a spin with Alain...
...and decides the noise and wheel-sliding is pretty fun!
Original paint Shelby Daytona coupe, which took a 12-hour record at Bonneville at 150mph!  The shapely body reputedly added 20mph to the top speed, and was sketched out on a napkin.  No wind tunnel testing, but it worked.
Hudson Hornet H-Power...
The Hudson in question, H-powerful.
Alain takes instruction from the owner...rev it harder!
Alain holds court with actor Jason Lee and friends
MG 'K' Magnette supercharged ex-Brooklands racer, in for repairs
To the victor goes the spoils...
Custom builder Paul Cox checks out a LeMans Porsche
Frank Simeone discusses some of his earlier cars
White with blue stripes; must be American...Allard J2X and Corvette
Photographer Travis Shinn gets in close to a Stutz...
That 8C Alfa before a replica Brooklands backdrop
Mellow Yellow Ford GT40
The same holds true for motorcycles...

July 27, 2011

AJS E95 'PORCUPINE' AT QUAIL

Rod Coleman aboard the AJS E95 'Porcupine' in 1954
While Grand Prix circuit motorcycle racing is almost as old as the 20th Century, the World Championship racing series was only introduced in 1949.  From 1924-37, a single race on the Continent determined the 'European Champion', and a points-based racing series was introduced in 1938, a more accurate measure of success over time, although it was still a European Championship.  The first years of the World Championship, in 1949 and 1950, saw several manufacturers win the top prize in their respective capacities, before disappearing forever from the rosters of GP history.  The 1949 World Champions included AJS (500cc - Les Graham), Velocette (350cc - Fred Frith), Moto Guzzi (250cc - Bruno Ruffo), Mondial (125cc - Nello Pagani), and Eric Oliver/Denis Jenkinson (sidecar - Norton).
The E95 with pannier tank removed, the 'wet' sump clearly visible beneath the engine
The following year, AJS was absent from the World Championship list, never to return.  Velocette managed again to claim top spot (Bob Foster aboard) one more time, but that was the end of their dominance in the 350cc class, taken over by Featherbed Norton of young wonderstar Geoff Duke the next two years.  After that, a British motorcycle would never again howl under a World Champion.
The compact lines of the E95 are clear, even if the tank is huge!
The AJS which emerged victorious in that first Championship year was an unusual machine, and the only twin-cylinder racer ever to win the big prize.  The AJS 500cc 'E90' was drawn up during WW2, as a replacement for the very naughty supercharged AJS V4 racer, a tremendously powerful machine with a chassis too light for the weight and torque of the engine.  While extremely fast, its camelish handling meant lighter, better balanced racers eventually won more races.  AJS designer Vic Webb drew up a new twin-cylinder racer, the engine nearly horizontal, with double overhead camshafts driven by a train of gears.  Weight was reduced by extensive use of magnesium castings. Space above the gearbox meant a supercharger was possible, but Webb hedged his bets and made it possible to run the E90 with unaided breathing.  The complicated cylinder heads were reputedly cast in solid silver at first, for its superior heat dissipation qualities, but no one has ever seen such heads, and the story may be apocryphal, or somehow related to the foundry which cast the E90 heads, in Sheffield (known for its silversmiths).
A compelling work of mechanical poetry; the clutch alone is a mesmerizing sculpture.
The press dubbed E90 the 'Porcupine' for its distinctively spiky cylinder head finning, and while the bike was very fast and handled well, carburation was always an issue, as was a propensity for snapping the magneto driveshaft.  Still, a win at the Hutchinson 100 in 1948, plus several GP podium positions, meant AJS were on the right track.  Development continued, and enough issues were sorted by 1949 for Leslie Graham to win two GPs and secure that inaugural World title.

AJS redesigned the machine in 1952 and dubbed it the E95, which had cylinders more upright (and less spiky), and a chain drive to the magneto.  By 1954, a huge pannier fuel tank lowered the center of gravity, but required a fuel pump keep the carbs fed... and the mechanics to stand the bike on its rear wheel before a race, to prime a header tank for the fuel pump!  Jack Williams took over the race team and development of the E95, working out most of the bugs, resulting in a smooth and reliable engine which produced 58hp @ 7800rpm.  One last win at the Swedish GP, plus 2nd at the Ulster GP, were the swansong of the E95, as AMC founder / racing legend Charlie Collier died that year, and direct involvement in Grand Prix racing was wound up for good, although AMC continued to provide their legendary single-cylinder AJS 7R and Matchless G50 racers until 1962, for privateers.

A single AJS E90 survives, as do all four of the E95s built.  They're fascinating and beautiful machines, the technical equal of any racing motorcycle ever made.  The ex-National Motorcycle Museum E95, restored by Rob Ianucci's Team Obsolete,  will be sold by Bonhams at the Quail Motorsports auction on August 18/19, 2011.  If you happen to be in northern California the week of Pebble Beach/Quail/Monterey Historic races, definitely stop by the Bonhams tent for a rare view of this exceptional motorcycle.  (The Bonhams sale page can be viewed here)

July 22, 2011

CHARLOTTE AND THE BROUGH

Charlotte Poutrel models RL on a Brough Superior SS101 'TE Lawrence Replica'

Last November, French actress Charlotte Poutrel made her acquaintance with a new Brough Superior SS101 at Pinup Studios, Paris, during a photo session with NewYorkParis director Yves J Hayat.  It was a natural moment to borrow a Brough, immediately after the Men's File/Ralph Lauren party at the flagship RL store on Blvd St Germain, and RL provided Charlotte's wardrobe for the shoot.  Certainly, the two beauties complemented each other on the rotating turntable, strobes flashing, portending future papparazzi as Charlotte's star begins to rise. 

Ms Poutrel makes her US screen début in 'Sarah's Key', a film based on Tatiana de Rosnay's novel about the roundup of Parisian Jews in 1942, not by the Gestapo, but by the French police, who herded thousands into the Vel' d'Hiv cycledrome (think post-Katrina New Orleans Superdome, with a far more sinister outcome).  Its a disturbing and little-known piece of French history, and the popular book became a film by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, with a US release this week (I saw the film in Paris months ago).  Charlotte plays the adult Sarah, tragically unable to release her past and family....and of course, she's luminous on screen (and charming in person). You've seen her before on The Vintagent, as she was the mystery muse in my 'Chained Love' poem last February.

Top photo c.2010 NewYorkParis

July 21, 2011

THE RALLY'S END: VELOS IN THE PARKING LOT

Paul Zell's MeSS, 700cc of fun.
Longtime Velo man Sam Jowett, of BC, who oversees the 'Concours d'Oiligance'
The essential portable margarita blender, voted second-best Non-Velocette!
George Shoblo cleans his Thruxton
Girder-forked Velos ridden during the week
Would that this Thruxton had its original GP carb...but a Mk2 Amal probably gives easier starting
The Floyd Clymer-built Indian Velo.  Clymer owned the Indian name until his untimely death in 1970, and arranged many British engines to be housed in Italian chassis, as here.
The native fishing spots; photos from the late 1800s show near-identical scenes
The fabulous 1937 Mk7 KTT emerges from its captivity, making a glorious noise
The Concours d'Oiligance
Discussing the finer points of KTT evolution...
Not exactly Brand X; the mighty Norvin
The readers' favorite; hybrid 1948 Triumph 3T chassis, with 1950 Tiger 100 alloy engine shoehorned in place.  Smooth and perky, the super-short chassis gives sharp handling, although I wonder how it feels over 70mph?
The 'barn find' original-everything 1965 Thruxton.  As you would like to find them...

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