Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2024 i The Classic MotorCycle

This picture first appeared in the May 24, 1923, edition of The Motor Cycle, with the caption: “Pa Cowley (Coventry Victor) at the Woodhead Hill Climb. He is 58 years old.” The image was used again, in Motor Cycle, November 11, 1977, by Bob Currie, and with a little detail added: “Pa Cowley and his daughter Dot were well known competitors in northern events in the early 1920s and here we see him at the start of a timed hill climb at Heyden Bridge, Holme Moss, where the BBC television mast now stands. The Manchester registration suggests the bike is Pa’s own, rather than a ‘works’ machine.” The handsome Coventry Victor was a fascinating machine, one which is largely forgotten today, with few survivors – there’s only three listed in…

Triumph | Tiger 100 The 500cc Triumph is the most important motorcycle the British motorcycle industry collectively made. Now, that’s some statement but bear with me… You’ll notice I’ve kept some ambivalence to the declaration, in that it doesn’t say: ‘The Triumph 500cc twin is the most important motorcycle ever made.’ Which is because, although arguably that machine has a strong case, by saying ‘500cc Triumph’ in the original comment, it also opens it up to the early, pre-First World War models, which more than one motorcycle historian has pointed to being the machine which meant the motorcycle industry survived. Perhaps that sounds over the top, hyperbolic even, but the fact was, Pioneer-era motorcycles were beset by reliability problems, which led to a public distrust of them. After all, anything…

Available dates dictated Elk Promotions’ 2024 show season began with two events, separated by just eight days, although at some distance from each other. ARDINGLY This was first up. A fine day for a ride and plenty of attendees needed no further excuse to venture into rural Sussex and the regular venue, the sprawling South of England Showground site, just north of the actual village. By mid-morning the bike park had long lines of two-wheelers occasionally punctuated by a sidecar or three-wheeler. The show theme had been built around road race legend Dave Croxford but unfortunately he was obliged to withdraw. By way of compensation, it still left a lot of Nortons to look at, as well as many other interesting bikes. The jumble is a big part of proceedings…

Crowds line the outside of the bend, with no safety barrier in sight, as William Aubrey ‘Wag’ Gwillan streaks through, still banked over on his Velocette KTT, to take the chequered flag, thus winning the Port Elizabeth 200, a handicap race run on New Year’s Day, 1951, on the WM Gray Circuit. Gwillam led home a 350cc Velocette podium clean sweep, with Doug Sutherland runner-up, then Billy Kay third. It was a good day for the 350s, as fourth was another (this an AJS 7R, ridden by Con Steer) then two 250s – the second a sleeved-down AJS 7R being ridden by 50-something British rider and dealer, Frank Cope. It was 10th before the first 500 appeared, still ahead of the leading scratch man, Cape Town garage owner Vic Proctor…

Easter Saturday 1969 and members of the Moto-Club Brussels wait on Brighton Promenade for the then-town’s (Brighton was made a city in 2000) show to open. The group had travelled, so the accompanying caption published with the picture on April 16, 1969, tells us, by ferry from Ostend to Dover. Motor Cycle’s readers were further informed that: “Club leader and Belgian Lion Rally organiser Paul Lammerant (second from the right) is chatting with John Ebbrell.” It was Ebbrell who was responsible for penning the show report carried in the now-newspaper format Motor Cycle (‘The’ had been dropped in 1962) which was headlined ‘Springtime sparkle at the show.’ While Ebbrell was also fulsome in his praise, declaring: “Bikewise, it was the best show I’ve attended anywhere in the last 10 years.”…

Event report | Stafford show and auction It’s many years since a ‘racer’ won Best in Show at the annual International Classic MotorCycle Show, held this year over April 20/21 at the Stafford County showground, but the top honour was bestowed upon Peter Cunningham’s 1953 Matchless G45, which stood out, not only owing to its fabulous, restored condition, but because it sported a huge, polished aluminium ‘dustbin’ fairing – the type of streamlining used in racing between 1953/54 and being outlawed in 1957. It was the Italian factories who were to the fore with the fully enveloping front fairing, while Moto Guzzi was the acknowledged master, helped by the fact that the factory in Mandello Del Lario had its own wind tunnel, a massive boon for development. The Guzzi singles…

Hundreds of spectators flocked to Bagshot Heath in Surrey on March 24, 2024, to witness the centenary of the first ‘scramble’ organised by Camberley and District Motorcycle Club in 1924. Unknown to the pioneers 100 years ago, the ‘scramble’ sparked the introduction and development of motocross and enduro events across the world which are now enjoyed by millions of motorcyclists. Jonathan Parry and Paul Gander researched the history of the first event using old press reports, Mortons Archive and local history sources. The history In 1923, the age-old debate whether the North or South of England produced the best motorcyclists reared its head. The North had their toughest event, The Scott Trial, but there was nothing with this level of challenge in the South. So Camberley DMCC decided to organise…

Wanting to move away from reliability and maintenance issues of mechanical triggered ignition systems, Delco-Remy was among the first to develop electronic ignition (EI), with its cold cathode electronic ignition in 1948. Transistorised systems began appearing by the mid-1950s and Lucas designs were fitted to Formula 1 car engines from 1962. Pontiac offered its Deltronic system as an optional extra from 1963, when the Canadian maker Hyland Electronics was the first to market commercially a solid-state CD (capacitor discharge) ignition kit. EI soon found its way into racing cars, especially those run at major American events, where makers also offered them as optional fitment to some new cars. It was the Italian factory Fiat which was first to offer EI as standard equipment, initially in 1968 for its Dino. Meanwhile,…

The mighty ‘Hogslayer’ to roar again at Dragstalgia The Norton twin-engined machine that dominated motorcycle drag racing in the 1970s is to feature at this year’s Dragstalgia event at Santa Pod in July, 5-7. A small group of seasoned drag racing motorcyclists wanted to recognise the huge contribution that US rider Tom ‘TC’ Christenson and engineer and tuner John Gregory made to the sport of motorcycle drag racing. It is especially relevant following Tom Christenson’s death in 2023. From a kernel of an idea, Neil Baskerville, son of Ray – who was a respected builder and rider back in the day – approached Chris Illman to ask what were the chances of approaching the National Motorcycle Museum to see if Hogslayer could be borrowed to display at Dragstalgia as a…

If you asked a fan of classic racing motorcycles to name what they considered the best looking of all the machines produced by British factories during their heyday, the Velocette KTT Mk.VIII would more than likely be at the top of, or very close to, most people’s list. The massive finning of the engine sitting below the deep black petrol tank with the gold lining defining its profile is iconic, so it is no wonder it is one of the most sought-after race machines of its period, commanding high premiums when one comes up for sale, just on looks alone, not to mention reputation. The KTT, standing for Kamshaft Tourist Trophy, enjoyed three decades of production in its various guises, starting with the first one on sale to the public…

Rebuild | Triumph unit twinClassic life On a typical British four-stroke engine, there are two areas which need to be timed so the engine works as it should. First is the valve opening and closing, second is the ignition. Both subjects have caused massive confusion for me, the valve timing saga was described some time ago and the big problem with it was the helpful timing marks Triumph scribed on their cam wheels bore no relation to what the timing actually was, or should be. Thankfully, eventually the penny dropped and a degree disc fixed to the end of the crank and a pointer attached to the crankcase provided the correct information, and the valves now open and close when they should. Second cause of frustration has been the ignition…