Vale Keith Heckles and the last time Velocette won a TT…..1967

When I set out to do this blog, Keith Heckles featured in it because he finished second in the 1967 IOM 500cc class of the Production TT.....I was preparing a blog of the last time Velocette won a TT...... however Keith passed away on 28th January 2010, aged 75 year old.
So a short tribute to him from several people, featured on the Manx Grand Prix Community website...the URL is...
http://www.manxgrandprix.org/Community/Communitynews.html

1967 Manx Grand Prix lap record holder, Keith Heckles has died. Keith passed away peacefully at his home in Liverpool. He was 75 years old.
A past vice chairman of the Riders' Association, Keith's best finish in the MGP was second. Moving on to the TT, he famously started with Giacomo Agostini on two occasions.
Keith's funeral will take place on Tuesday 2nd February, 10.30am at Springwood Crematorium, Garston, Liverpool. Donations in lieu of flowers to the TTRA.

Mike Steel (right) and Keith Heckles with the Junior Beart Norton on which Keith finished second in the 1966 Junior MGP. Photo from Manx GP community website.

















Keith during the 1967 Production TT. Photo courtesy ...Bill Snelling, IOM.

amulree@ttwebsite.com

As the name of this blog indicates, 1967 was the last time Velocette won a TT, they were first and second in the 500cc class of the Production TT..... during their active racing efforts up until the early 1950's, a 500cc win, then the Senior TT, eluded them.... ironic that they finally won in a 500cc class.....
The following is the article I did in the current Australian Velocette OC magazine, Fish Tail Down Under ...number FTDU350.....
I acknowledge Mortons Motorcycle Media for the MotorCycling and The MotorCycle items and Motorcyclist Illustrated for the colour photo of the winner Neil Kelly....
Left click on image in the blog to enlarge....

The last time Velocette won a TT…..1967

Taken from “MotorCycling”, June 17, 1967.

Acknowledgement is made to Morton’s Motorcycle Media, copyright holders.

“Heading a Velocette one-two, Manxman Neil Kelly won the 500cc class at an average speed of 89.89mph.”

As the 500s keyed themselves up to start five minutes after the unlimited class got away and the 250s waited to get away after another five minute interval, John Hartle had snatched the 750cc lead inside a couple of miles. And from then on, with clear roads in front of him all the way, he was never headed.

Fastest man of the 500 class by over four mph with a practice lap of 25 minutes 23 seconds ( 89.18mph), Percy Tait started a firm favourite in the 14 strong 500cc race.

But as other riders kicked their engines into life, Graham Penny pressed the starter button on his 444cc Honda and got away at the head of the field, closely followed by Hugh Evans (BSA A50) and Tony Dunnell (305 Honda).

Tait left with the pack, as Bob Biscardine, Neil Kelly and Arthur Lavington all struggled to coax their reluctant Velocette “Thruxton Venoms” to life.

Yet by the time they reached Ballacraine, Kelly lay third on the Reg Orpin machine behind leader Keith Heckles with the Geoff Dodkin “Thruxton Venom” and Penny – and barely a second between each of them.

But there was no sign of Tait, and the leaders were through Ramsay, 24 miles out, before the Ballaugh Bridge commentator reported that Percy had gone over the famous jump “touring”. So it looked as though Triumph had next to no chance of pulling off a 500 and 750cc double, even with Hartle already so far ahead in the big class.

On the gruelling 1400 ft. climb from Ramsey to the Bungalow, Kelly wrested the lead from Heckles and started to pull away- the Peel rider upsetting the form book since he had not once figured on the 500cc leader board in practice.

Interesting this…my information was that they used standard Venom Thruxton engines in practice, but were given special squish head engines from Veloce Ltd for the race…these with another 4½BHP…Bertie Goodman told this to me in a letter. .Ed

But, despite his good start, Evans was already out of the race- with a hole in the BSA’s crankcase at Quarry Bends.

Lapping at 88.29mph, Kelly started his second circuit eight seconds in front of Heckles with Penny third, ahead of Dave Nixon (Triumph T100) and Norman Hanks (BSA A50), hotly challenged by Alan Peck on another T100.

Seventh came Ron Baylee on his Triumph 5TA, then Declan Doyle (Norton 88SS) and Biscardine.

Lavington retired at the pits with suspected suspension trouble. And, last of all, was Tait in fourteenth place, and already behind 11 of the 250cc runners who had started five minutes in arrears.

But after fitting a new plug, he set off in pursuit.

And what a pursuit! For Percy flashed through “MotorCyclings’s” “Highlander” time trap to clock the fastest 500cc maximum of the day at 122.9mph. But, less than a mile later on, he overdid it at Appledene and crashed, sustaining abrasions for which he was taken to Noble Hospital after the race.

At the end of the lap, the only leader board change was that Peck had snatched fifth place from Hanks by a fifth of a second. But Penny lost third place within yards of starting the last lap when he stopped for petrol as Nixon flashed by.

Putting in his best time of the race with a lap at 91.01mph, Kelly pulled still further ahead on the final circuit to win by just 8 seconds from Heckles –both ahead of the eighth 750.”

Neil Kelly in Parliament Square on the winning Velocette Venom Thruxton.























Page from the IOM TT program for the 1967 races...

MotorCycling's speed trap results....













The MotorCycle's speed trap results...
























A bronze TT Replica.......

1939 IOM TT...just how heavy were the racing motorcycles?

Ever wondered just how heavy IOM TT racers were? Ironically when you present for scrutineering prewar, they called it the "weigh-in" and they actually weighed the motorcycles.
Unsure if they still do it for todays GP racers, but they were doing it some little time back, as there was a minimum weight for each of the racing classes.
1939 seems to be the last and perhaps only time the motorcycling press ran a page on it..."MotorCycling" did it and published it in their June 28 1939 edition, page 319.
From a Velocette point of view the weights of the Veloce Ltd factory machines, as ridden by Stanley Woods and Ted Mellors were heavier than the standard over the counter production racer KTTs.
I've included below pages from the TT program of that year with notations where I can identify them of whether the Velocettes were Mk.7 or Mk.8 KTT. The Mk.7 has a rigid frame and is lighter than the Mk.8 which has a swinging arm frame the same as the factory racers.
The engines in the works Velocettes had larger cylinder head fins and a bigger cylinder barrel.
The Mk.7 and 8 KTT had a 9" square head with the factory 10" square, so more aluminium.
Interestingly the factory racers often had an aluminium petrol tank but the gearbox final drive sprocket was solid steel and had no holes drilled in it.
Plenty to ponder there....
I've include a photo or two of relevant Velocettes both standard KTT and factory machines and a works BMW which was the lightest bike in the Senior race!
Acknowledgement is made to Morton's Motorcycle Media for the "Motorcycling" page, the authors of "Always in The Picture" ,the Late Bob Burgess and Jeff Clew for a photo and S.R.Keig and Fox Photos for other photos and the ACU of GB for the IOM TT program pages.
First photo is actually a 1937 works 500, but they were the same. Illustrated is Ted Mellors bike.
Second photo shows a mk.8 KTT, well a brace of them in the race shop in May 1939.
The third is a mk.7 KTT in the paddock in June 1938.
Final photo is reputedly Schorsh Meier's machine, but could be Jock Wests...pic taken by me at the German BMW dealers shop in Munchen, April 1974.
Left click on photos to enlarge.....

Entering the IOM TT Races in 1937.....

I guess we all dreamed that had we lived before WW2, lets say 1937, that we would enter the IOM TT races and so on.....

But just what did it cost to do that?

On the blog are parts of the 1937 supplementary regulations for the IOM TT races... it was a set of these you would have to get and likely you would have written to the ACU of GB in Pall Mall, London who ran the races or got your motorcycle club secretary to get a set for you.

You of course would have to be a member of a club affiliated with the ACU...

Assuming you had sufficient experience, for while they were not as strict then with entrants as they are today, a first time rider could be a danger to himself..I say himself as it was a strictly male event in those days.

The supp. regs note it cost £10 to enter, £20 if you put in a late entry.Prize money as you can see went from £100 for first down to £30 for 6th. After that you got a replica of the TT trophy.

Of course you needed a racing motorcycle and a KTT or Norton of the day would set you back £100.

How much did a person earn then? A chart I chased up on the internet , indicates between £3/15/- and £2/19/- for a craftsman and a labourer per 50 hour week.

So the entry into the TT without the 2 weeks off work, ferry to and from the Island, accommodation etc, is around 2½ and 3½ weeks wages...compare that to today's wages and it cost lots to enter this prestigious road race.

The price of the racer would be some 33 weeks wages.

An earlier blog looked at Stanley Woods costings for his IOM TT successes in 1938.

They make interesting comparisons.

Left click on images to enlarge.

How much did Stanley Woods earn for his 1938 IOM TT success?

With the huge figures quoted today for the MotoGP top runners, one often wonders what did the top pre-war runners get? Stanley Woods was on his peak in the late 1930s and won for Velocette an IOM TT in 1938 and then again in 1939, the first since 1929.
“A long time between drinks” is the old saying……
I’m fortunate to have the documentation between Stanley and Veloce Ltd for some of those years and in particular the 1938 IOM TT races.
Stanley during practice on the 348cc Junior TT Velocette.
Firstly, Stanley was contracted to Veloce Ltd in 1938 to ride in four events…three Irish road races…The Leinster 100, The North-West 200 and The Ulster GP and of course the other being the IOM TT races.
For this he was paid a yearly retainer of £400.
Veloce also agreed to pay the race meeting entry fee and insurance.
I have no figures for the insurance, but the TT entry fee for 1937 was £10, likely the same in 1938.
A lot of money in those days…
They also agreed to pay all Stanley’s expenses for the TT.
This totalled £23.14.6, made up of….
20 days personal expenses @ 20/- = £20. 0. 0
Return ticket, Dublin – IOM = £0. 18. 6
Return cabin on boat = £1. 1. 0
Unloading cycles and boxes from boat = £1. 0. 0
Road tax, “M.G.” car and cycles = £0. 15.0
Following his Junior TT victory, the IOM governor contratulates him. Stanley's wife Mildred is behind with their 16mm movie camera. Yes film exists of late 1930s TT events.
Stanley won the Junior TT and came second in the Senior TT.
The ACU paid him a bonus of £150 for riding in the TT…a “name”…
Ferodo Ltd paid him a bonus of £50 for using their friction materials.
Telacamit paid him a bonus of £30 for using their grease nipples.
KLG Sparking Plugs Ltd. paid him a bonus of £50 for using their spark plugs.
Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. paid him a bonus of £150 for using their tyres and tubes.
Webb paid him a bonus of £8 for using their front forks.
ACU paid him prize money of £100 for winning the Junior TT.
Veloce paid him a bonus of £250 for winning the Junior TT.
ACU paid him prize money of £70 for second place in the Senior TT.
Veloce Ltd. paid him a bonus of £100 for second place in the Senior TT.
All this totals to £981.14.6 plus the TT entry and insurance figures and of course his yearly retainer and he was chasing Veloce Ltd for a “Bowdenex bonus” for using Bowden control cables, unresolved in the correspondence I have!
Now a new production racer in 1938, that is a Mk.7 KTT cost £105.
So Stanley earned over 9 times the cost of a then current production racer. How much is a Yamaha production racer today? Likely some AUD$30,000….so you could say he netted the equivalent in today’s money of AUD$295,000…ouch!!

Left click on photos to enlarge.