TRUSTY STEED WEIRD DREAM
Time-served AJS The Mondial Sogno
CIRCULATES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
AUGUST 2020
TRIUMPH’S BEST EVER?
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LOCKDOWN VELOCETTE: BUILDING A BIKE IN THE BACKYARD BSA M20 VINCENTS TO BERLIN ARIEL COLT ERIC OLIVER
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That’s three lockdown issues down, how many more to go? As I write, it feels like some degree of normality is returning but, well, we’re far away from a total return ‘back to the old days’ – remember them? When you could meet pals for a pint, not have to stand outside shops in a queue and when ‘social distancing’ was just what you chose to do with people you didn’t want to see (‘avoiding them’ as it is otherwise known), not your nearest and dearest. I’m still at my dad’s, though I have been able to be getting out and about a bit more; it’s lovely to be riding again. But we’re still not in a position where we can go and visit anyone much, so that’s why you’ll have certain ‘close to home’ features in this issue; with dad’s AJS, our project (I can’t really say ‘my’ with a clear conscience; as I sit indoors at the computer, dad’s outside working on it, every day) Velocette, Rachael Clegg’s dad’s photo album and recollections, as well as Martin Squires’ father-in-law’s shed. We’re all trying to generate new content, best we can, how we can. Otherwise, it’s been lovely to be able to have some rides, and we’ve taken it as a cue to have several bikes out; I’ve taken turns on the vintage Zenith, an Ariel Square Four and a BSA Bantam, among several others. That I’m still working means I’ve not been out every day, although my dad pretty much has been – in between working on the bits of Velocette I’ve deposited on his garage floor. The Square Four (and the Zenith actually) provoke a school of riding a pal and I have coined (I think he did actually) ‘wafting about’ where one is in no urryy, tha at the e tra ave el is s about the e journe ey ra athe er tha an hu the destination, mainly because when you get to the destination, there nothing’s open anyway, so why rush? It’s just time to be thankful that we can get out for a ride and savour that experience. We hope you enjoy what we’ve produced this month and please keep the correspondence coming in; several people have submitted stories, for which I’m grateful, while the amount of letters and emails has been splendid, with all sorts of great correspondence and facts learned, as well as plenty of talk of “we’ll look forward to meeting up when this is all over”, which is a sentiment shared and expressed by many, the world over.
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JAMES ROBINSON Editor
Regular contributors
Tim Britton, Rachael Clegg, Jonathan Hill, Roy Poynting, Richard Rosenthal, Martin Squires, Jerry Thurston, Alan Turner, Phil Turner, Steve Wilson.
Contributors this issue
Jim Patten, John Robinson.
THE CLASSIC MOTOR CYCLE (USPS:710-470) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd., PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK . USA subscriptions are $63 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CLASSIC MOTOR CYCLE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com
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CONTENTS ISSUE | AUGUST 2020 Archive photograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Subscribe and save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Triumph Thunderbirds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Lockdown Velocette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 BSA M20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Vincents to Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 AJS K8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Rachael Clegg’s family album. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Mondial Sogno. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Closer look – English race circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Interview – VMCC’s Mike Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Triumph unit twin rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Roy Poynting column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Jerry Thurston column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Cover art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Sketchbook (non) Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 You Were Asking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Restoration guide – Ariel Colt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Classic components – JAP part seven . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Classic camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Next month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | AUGUST 2020
Classic archive
Solo racer
That he was a world champion on three wheels is well documented, but Eric Oliver was also a more-than-decent solo competitor, too.
A
Image: MORTONS ARCHIVE
lthough not sporting his familiar, trademark moustache, it clearly is the same Eric Oliver who was to claim the inaugural GP world sidecar racing championship in 1949, a title he added to with further successes in 1951, 1953 and 1954, all on Norton outfits. Indeed, his first win – when 600cc outfits were allowed – was on a prewar example, passengered by the intrepid Denis Jenkinson, who a few years later enjoyed more success, when he partnered Stirling Moss to Mille Miglia victory in their Mercedes. Though he enjoyed his greatest success when he’d switched to three wheels, it was on two Oliver first sought fame and fortune. Born in April 1911, in Crowborough, Sussex, Oliver made his TT debut in 1937, retiring a 500cc Vincent-HRD Comet in the Senior TT. He was back in 1938, with Norton entries for the Junior and Senior races, but, alas, he retired both times, before switching to Velocette for the 1939 TT. That he was fairly well thought of is evidenced by the fact he had a new Mk.VIII KTT K at his disposal – which is the machine he’s h pictured with here. For the 1939 Junior raace, the new Velocette was absolutely the machine m to have, giving privateer runners a reeal chance. They were also overwhelmingly th he most popular choice for the 350cc raace, though a few entrants had to do with th he Mk.VII version. Last year’s model, this was w similar to the Mk.VIII except for one, crucial difference – while the Mk.VII (like many other machines in the race) had a rigid frame, only the Mk.VIII KTTs (and the works Velocette versions) had swinging arm (as opposed to plunger) rear suspension. The performance of the Velos in the Junior TT is extremely impressive; of the 35 finishers listed, 24 of them are Velocettes, the majority being Mk.VIIIs. Winner was Stanley S Woods on the works bike – featuring a lower bottom gear than the ‘customer’ machines, m incidentally – narrowly ahead of Harold H Daniell on the works Norton (Stanley th hought he had more in hand and eased off, nearly n disastrously) and Hans Fleischmann on n the DKW two-stroke. Fourth was Ted Mellors, M on the second works Velo, ahead of Dave Whitworth, on the first Mk.VIII,
Whitworth’s entrant being the self-same Ted Mellors he followed home. Oliver finished 17th, at 76.24mph, then later in the week he pressed the same 350cc Velocette into service for the Senior. He was not alone in choosing to use his ‘350’ in the blue riband event; of 30 finishers, nine were on Junior eligible motorcycles – in fact, the machines they’d used in the Junior race – in the Senior. Best of them was Whitworth again, this time 12th, with Oliver once more 17th, following home like-mounted Harold Lamacraft, on KTT engine number 818, sold by Bonhams in 2018. Oliver’s machine, the one he is on here, was engine number 824; the majority of KTT engine numbers 813 to 836 were at that year’s TT, plus a few earlier numbers. Post-Second World War, Oliver was back at the first (1947) TT, recording an impressive ninth on his Junior Norton, then in 1948, with a 350cc Mk.VIII KTT, a best-ever eighth in the Junior and 10th in the Senior. His last solo appearances at the TT were in 1949, 21st on a Junior Velocette – though from then on his concentration was focussed on sidecars, which had no Isle of Man race, until 1954. Oliver claimed his one TT win that year (the first Sidecar TT since 1925 and held on the shorter – 10.79 mile – Clypse Course), though perhaps his most famous (certainly memorable) attempt was in 1958 on a ‘standard’ Norton Dominator with roadgoing Watsonian Monaco sidecar. With Mrs Pat Wise in the chair, 10th place was a notable achievement, and did no harm in terms of publicity for its entrant – Eric Oliver Motor Cycles Ltd, opened when he’d retired at the end of the 1954 racing season. Spurred on by his achievement, Oliver was back with a ‘pukka’ racer in 1959, for a closed-roads lap on an outfit to see if sidecars could cope with the Mountain Course. The verdict was they could; in 1960, the Sidecar TT was on the Mountain Course. Alas, a practice crash – when a bolt in the forks sheared – left Oliver with his back broken in two places and with that he called it a day. In the 1970s, he was back, campaigning a Norton outfit in vintage racing with gusto, before, in March 1980, his untimely End death, aged just 68, from a stroke.
THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | AUGUST 2020
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&
Neews Events
New ws&Events
NEWS IN BRIEF BANBURY FALLS
Organisers of this summer’s Banbury Run have finally had to admit defeat and cancel this year’s event, which had provisionally been rearranged to a late August date. The VMCC said: “With regret, this year’s run will not take place. All entrants will receive a full refund, but this may take longer than normal due to reduced staffing levels in the office. “The VMCC is working with a coalition of motorcycle organisations and the Government to progress the interests of motorcyclists as the UK starts to come out of lockdown.” A link to the Coalition of Motorcycle Organisations lockdown exit advice can be found at www.vmcc.net/ coalition-of-motorcyclingorganisations
CLASSIC TT IS OFF
The Isle of Man Government and the Manx Motor Cycle Club, the organisers of the Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix, have taken the joint decision to cancel this year’s races, which were due to take place between August 22 and September 4.
POSTPONEMENT AND CANCELLATION OF EVENTS We have, of course, received much correspondence regarding events not taking place, date changes and so on, but with the ever-changing situation, there are simply too many to list at the moment. Once the situation becomes clearer, we shall publish a revised diary.
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Stafford set for a double delight It’s set to be double the value for showgoers this autumn, as thanks to the impact of Covid-19 two huge bike events are set to combine into one great show. The Classic MotorCyclebacked April Stafford show was originally postponed until later in the summer, but now following government advice it has been moved again... and the decision made to combine it with its sister event in October. Nigel Hole, events director at organiser Mortons Media Group said: “The safety and wellbeing of everyone is the most important factor and key reason for postponing. “The show will now be joining forces with its ‘sister’ event in October, which takes place at the Stafford County Showground on Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11. “All ticket and trade bookings will be honoured for these new dates. However, if you are unable to attend, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.”
April Stafford will be incorporated into October’s event, so expect even more motorcycling diversity.
The existing October event, which usually has a more modern theme and is backed by sister magazine Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, will now include the best of both events, with organisers working hard to finalise a programme of events – the April show had been set to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. TCM editor James Robinson
said: “The postponement in April was a huge disappointment but totally the right decision to make. However, we are very much looking forward to seeing everyone in October and celebrating our great passion for motorcycling.” For enquiries about the show, contact Mortons’ team on 01507 529 529 or email customerservices@mortons.co.uk
Fancy winning a Jubilee Bonnie? Dispelling the coronavirus blues, the National Motorcycle Museum has another treat linedup this summer thanks to its summer raffle. Museum director James Hewing said: “We have another amazing ‘new/old stock’ first prize for our raffle with a brand new 1977 Triumph T140 Silver Jubilee Bonneville which has never been run or registered and is showing just four ‘push miles’ only.” Second prize is a Sealey Retro Style Combination Tool Chest (RRP £850) and third is a luxury hotel break and dinner for two, which includes VIP museum tour and dinner at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse in the Manor Hotel, Meriden.
THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | AUGUST 2020
Winner of the NMM’s winter raffle to win a new Triumph Thruxton was Andrew Winscom. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown the raffle was drawn by road racing star John ‘Mooneyes’ Cooper at his Derbyshire home. The draw for the summer raffle will be on October 31 at The National Motorcycle Museum LIVE event. Tickets cost £2 each. Details at www.thenmm.co.uk
Above: John Copper, with wife Rosie looking on, pulls out the winning ticket in the winter raffle. Below: Win this brand new, 1977 Triumph Bonneville in the NMM’s summer raffle.
Next Month ON SALE August 7, 2020
Not a straightforward restoration...
Rare Healey Four reborn after painstaking rebuild The Classic MotorCycle is brought to you by... EDITOR James Robinson Tel 01507 529405 Fax 01507 371066 email jrobinson@mortons.co.uk REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Tim Britton, Rachael Clegg, Jonathan Hill, Roy Poynting, Richard Rosenthal, Martin Squires, Jerry Thurston, Alan Turner, Phil Turner, Steve Wilson. CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE Jim Patten, John Robinson. PRODUCTION EDITOR Sarah Wilkinson ART EDITOR Kelvin Clements PAGE DESIGNERS Tracey Markham, Fran Lovely PUBLISHER Tim Hartley
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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE (USPS: 710-470) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $63 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com PRINTED BY William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. © Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISSN No 0263-0850