MONTLHERY VINCENT: 100MPH FOR 6 HOURS

Coming to the Bonhams Stafford auction April 28th; the Montlhéry Vincent Black Shadow

The Montlhéry race circuit, just 15.5 miles south of Paris, holds a place much like Brooklands in England in the hearts of European speed-fans, but the track isn't a fractured memory from pre WW2, its a living thing in continuous usage since constructed in 1924.  Today the track is regularly pounded by automotive companies, being engineered to withstand 5,000lb racing cars traveling at 150mph - a far-sighted vision for 1920s engineers.  But then, French engineers of the early 20th Century were exactly that, out on the exploratory limbs of technology, making double overhead camshaft four-valve multi-cylinder motorcycles even in the 'Teens.  What Montlhéry became best known for, though, was long-distance record-breaking; while nearby Arpajon was an excellent spot for Land Speed Record attempts in the 1920s and 30s, Montlhéry was a perfect venue to circulate for hours around its steeply banked oval, being relatively smooth (well, smoother than Brooklands...) and amenable to 24-hour full-bore, unsilenced riding.

The most visible modification from 'standard' spec is the large capacity racing fuel tank.  The Shadow is a matching #s machine with History...

On May 13 1952, a pair of mildly modified 1,000cc Vincent Black Shadows arrived in Paris to attempt a new 24-hour speed record, with a slew of Vincent factory employees (including 18 year old apprentice John Surtees), a few pressmen, plus a French team contingent of riders, the record-attempt team manager, and timing officials from the FIM.  One of the machines was a 'test hack' which circulated for hours during testing, on which modifications were made for an average/acceptable riding position for the 11 riders participating; Phil Heath, John Surtees, Robin Sherry (AMC factory racer), Cyril Julian (TT rider), Vic Willoughby (infamous writer for The Motor Cycle), Dennis Lashmar,  and Danny Thomas, plus four French riders; Ken Bills was team manager.  All the riders save Danny Thomas were able to keep up the 100mph pace, so he was relieved of duty.

The Montlhéry Vincent Black Shadow in 1952, at the track

 Paul Richardson, the Vincent-HRD Service Manager, described the record-breaker thus:

"The record breaking machine is a standard Black Shadow with 8:1 compression as supplied to the American market. ... We used 1-5/32" T.T. Annals in conjunction with two inch open pipes, the fuel being non-leaded 80 octane... Lightning cams... We removed our front brakes and rear flap, fixed rearward foot rests were fitted... special five Gallon petrol tank and a Feridax perspex flyscreen. Modified handlebars gave a very flat riding position and riders lay on a Sorbo 'mattress' fastened to the tank top...Avon...Standard 300 x 20 front racing and 3.50 x 19 rear racing tyres..."  His complete (and delightful) account of the attempt can be found here on the VOC site.

Ted Davis, the Vincent competition manager, originally built the Montlhéry racers with a caged big-end bearing, an improvement over the standard crowded-roller item, but Philip Vincent insisted the standard item was good enough, and ordered them changed back to standard, 'to demonstrate the reliability of the standard Black Shadow', which of course it did, but not with the intended outcome!  It didn't help that France was having its hottest May on record - so hot that the Avon rear tires on the pair of Black Lightnings (brought over for high-speed records) shed their treads at high speed, and the Castrol XL oil was described by Davis (read here) as 'dirty hot black water' when drained from the engines.  

After ten hours forty minutes, the standard big-end of the Vincent crankshaft failed, and a deafening silence rang in the speed bowl; the team ran to the far side of the track (a mile!), and waited 20 minutes to push the bike over the 'line' to take the 11hour record.  While a Vincent never took the 24hr/100mph record (it took a Velocette for that one), the Vincent team still took and impressive eight World Records, including the six-hour record at 100.53mph and 1,000km at 100.67mph, and 10 hours at 99.17mph.   Other records were 7 hrs @ 99.73mph, 8 hrs @ 99.73mph, 9 hrs @ 99.40mph, 10 hrs @ 99.17mph, 11 hours @ 91.98mph, and 1,000 miles @ 99.20mph.

I mentioned above that TWO Black Shadows were taken to Montlhéry...one a 'test mule' and the other used in the attempt; both were tuned and prepared for the attempt, and both machines survive.  One is coming up for sale at the Bonhams Stafford sale on April 28th.  Apparently there is no record of 'which bike was which', but both can rightly claim to be part of the attempt at Montlhéry...

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171 MPH ON A VELOCETTE!

Stuart Hooper aboard his supercharged Velocette, which just recorded 171.6mph at Lake Gairdner, Australia

From Stuart Hooper:

"Hi to all,

For the first time in many years Lake Gairdner Speed Trials were unaffected by wet weather.  The surface was initially a little rough and the weather very hot requiring a careful eye on engine temperatures and excessively rich mixtures to ensure the engine survived the meeting. After a steady sighting run to check out the new body and steering geometry the Big Velo ran 166 mph on its second outing !!!!  This was good cause for celebration as the Velo was now the Worlds fastest British single surpassing the fantastic Vincent Might Mouse of Bryan Chapman.

The Velocette unfaired; this photo gives an idea of the modifications required for stability at 170+mph

After a photo session day I decided a higher speed was possible and lined up again with a bit higher gearing and a higher ratio supercharger drive. The third run was only 152mph but this was against a 15 to 20 mph headwind so it was back in line for another 8 hrs for one final run. Friday morning was calm and cool, ideal conditions.......... but the morning ticked inexorably by with one delay after another and a headwind starting to flutter the flags and things looking like the meeting could be cancelled without another run. Finally the track was clear and the Big Velo boomed away from the line with its nearly 100mph first gear into a 7 to 10 mph gusting head and slight crosswind. By the time I changed up from third into top at 156mph the bike was weaving and darting about somewhat in the ruts on the track and the odd gusts of wind, but with the throttle hard aginst the stop one hand hovering over the clutch lever and the revs climbing towards the 6500 mark the track markers started to slip by faster and faster  until the final timing light flashed past and it was time to slow down with the old MSS single leading shoe brake smelling as only red hot 50 year old asbestos can. Back to the pits to see the crew flashing lights, cheering and jumping around !!!!......... 171.600 mph !!     .....  A fantastic end to a great week....... The Velocette name is again in the record books were it belongs !

A closer look reveals the efforts of Stuart Hooper to retain the 'Velocette' identity of the machine; from the front - standard wheel hubs, standard steel 3.5gal fuel tank, 'map of Africa' timing cover, standard gearbox, oil tank, arcuate-slot rear suspension adjustment, and standard rear wheel.  The crankcases look original, but are highly modified for strength.

Worlds Fastest Velocette.

Worlds Fastest British Single

Worlds Fastest Single Cylinder Sit On Motorcycle.

A sincere thanks for the support to my crew and all of you over the years,

Stuart Hooper

ps..... Just how fast can a Velo go ?"

From the rear, we can see the supercharger and enormous SU carb, as well as the monoshock rear suspension and massive front fork assembly.  A highly modified machine, but with definite Velocette DNA.  Note the cheeky Velo KSS oil tank lubricating the dyno...

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PAEAN TO THE 'THRUXTON'

My 1965 Velocette Thruxton, VMT260, 'La Courgette', pictured in 1988

(The following was written for the Southsiders MC blog on the occasion of a lovely set of photographs taken by Guerry/Prat images of an all-black Velocette Thruxton):

Only a monumental fool would deny the Velocette Thruxton its rightful place upon the mount of Olympus, to drip oil beside Zeus and Apollo, glowing modestly while the gods beside it trouble the earth. I know all this because I am a Thruxton's caretaker, so blessed for 25 years now, and the machine told me so.

I retain my marbles, nor is my walnut cracked; the Velocette spoke over tens of thousands of miles in my company, providing an embarrassment of pleasure, enough that should she take on human form, I would feel compelled to give her my wages entirely each week, and happily so, while protecting her from the burden of children and other mundane obligations, retaining her in a gilded, perfumed, and pillow-strewn room for the sole purpose of my selfish excitement.

A youthful Pd'O atop Mt.Tamalpais in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, at sunrise on Easter Morning, 1994

I was introduced to Velocetting via Classic Bike magazine, discovering that formerly-essential quarterly Bible of Old Bikeism in its earliest days, the first years of the 1980s. I'd never seen a Velo in the metal, but I studied those magazines until the pages turned to ragged tissue and the staples wore holes in the covers, which I mended with clear library tape. I have them all, from issue #1; they were equally my education and my pornography.

Not pornographic, but unfortunate, as the anonymous model's hair obscures the 'Velocette' logo on my ancient leather jacket.  Sound of leg and firm of buttock, are these girls. 

The first Thruxton I encountered was all-black with gold pinstriping, plus a half-fairing and shortened hump seat; it had been ridden 90 miles from Sacramento to San Francisco for an unworthy local swap meet in 1985; day was spent gazing rapt, annoying the owner with questions. Not long after, a friend gained employment at an open-secret motorbike museum deep in Oakland; a visit revealed this cave of moto-gems contained a green Thruxton, in truth the lowliest machine among the 300 ultra-rare Broughs and prewar Vincent twins which crowded those dark halls. Yet it was that green bike which I coveted, longed for, dreamed about.

The 'museum' owner was caught with $3M in cash and 3 tons of amphetamines, necessitating the scurried removal of 300 machines to a new, secret, location, and the rapid sale of same to pay lawyer's fees.  As I'd made my desire known (many times), the Thruxton was offered in exchange for an $8900 bank cheque, within 24 hours. At 27 years old I was an under-employed layabout, earning just enough to cover my rent, my fun, and my motorcycle parts, but I borrowed the money, and my sweaty and nervous palms shortly held the title to that green Velocette.  It cost 8 times any motorbike I'd ever bought, and I was actually scared to ride it those first few days. Trepidation soon disappeared, and within the month we'd cracked across the Golden Gate Bridge at 4am, at over 115mph.

The author with his 'Velocette' jacket with Josiah Leet, jacket art by Pd'O.  1989.

My Thruxton gained a name ('la Courgette') and a reputation, as I attempted piecemeal to duplicate Velocette's famous 24 hours at 100mph.  She let me down once only - my fault - being otherwise flawless and peerless, even enduring a two-year stint as my sole transport and daily commuter. We have been from Los Angeles to the Canadian Rockies and every twisted road between, earnestly scrubbing away sidewall rubber as her gaping carburetor sprayed petrol vapor on my right knee. She fires right up and scampers away, is dead smooth at 80mph, with the confluent sound of intake, exhaust, piston rattle, and valve gear symphonic beneath me.

Somewhere near Nelson, BC, Canada, ca.1993, during a Velocette O/C Summer Rally

Together we are invisible to police, having never been stopped, and I am revealed as a half-green Centaur of prodigious speed and agility. She is as important to me as my own liver, and as familiar. My greatest blessing to bestow would be to wish you a long a fruitful marriage to a Velocette Thruxton, such as I have experienced, and its a great pity more riders who imagine they enjoy motorcycles will not have such an opportunity.  The beasts are simply too rare, so I am required to tell the truth about this machine, as it has been told to me by the Thruxton herself, all these many years.

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