The dynamometers at Velocette......

The dynamometers at Veloce Ltd. 
With thanks to Hedley Cox and Dai Gibberson.

Over the years I've researched the dynamometers used at Veloce for the testing of their Velocette engines. 

They never had a rolling road type dyno so power at the rear wheel was never tested. 

Much of the information we have for certain comes from after 1938 when Velocette built a new test house. 

It is pictured, below when opened by Stanley Woods the factories then senior contracted road racer.. 

Pictured is Stanley woods, with wife Mildred by his side and the giant key for publicity. In the white lab. coat is Harold Willis the race team chief and development engineer, sadly to die a year later. The managing director, Percy Goodman's head is just visible over Stanley's shoulder.

 Following the opening of the new test house, the camera moved inside for a pic of Stanley "operating" the throttle of the dynamometer with a factory 350cc SOHC race engine on test. Harold Willis and Percy Goodman look on.

I've formed the opinion that there was only one dynamometer at Veloce before the new test house which when opened contained three. This early Hennan and Froude dyno had a calibration factor of 5500. The comment below is from 1930 and is by Phil Irving in his autobiography, p.160.

 Phil Irving's Autobiography is a mine of information on what happened at Veloce 1930-1943.... regretably the costs of his out of print book today on Amazon and others is in the $1000 range...perhaps a good library may have one to peruse...

The other two dynos installed  in 1938 were new Heenan and Froude DPX2 dynamometers with a calibration factor of 4500.
What does this calibration factor mean?
These Heenan and Froude dynos were called “water brakes” and utilised hydraulic principles with the power developed by an engine on test being measured in the pull on a spring gauge of pounds (lbs).
So the dyno operator..at Veloce, Tommy Mutton, Frank Panes, Hedley Cox,Freddie Owen, Jack Passant etc…would record pull of the dyno in lbs at a given engine rpm and record the barometric pressure and temperature in the room, which was assumed to be the induction air temperature.
This was recorded in a small notebook and occasionally it would show the uncorrected bhp, that is, not corrected for the air temp. and barometric pressure of the day.
The formula was….

uncorrected bhp = rpm x pull in lbs

                                                dyno constant

 As mentioned, early on 5500 then from 1938 on the new dynos, 4500.

an example for say 1939 at Veloce for a factory 500 is....

uncorrected bhp =6250 x 34.6

                                                   4500

                                         =48bhp

Sectioned 1939 Heenan and Froude DPX2 dynamometer

When Heenan and Froude introduced the DPX2 dyno and Veloce bought two for the new test house, the constant was 4500. The new dynos were called the “centre bench” and it was used for the testing of the works racers and the model KTT, the other was specially setup for the new Roarer engine under construction and pictured elsewhere in this post. The old 5500 dyno was called the “end bench”.

Following WW2 in 1949 the “end bench” was replaced by a new DPX2 dyno by Hedley Cox and the old “end bench” scrapped. 

Up to then following the war the “end bench” had been used for running in new mk.8 KTT engines.

During WW2 Phil Irving used this bench to test special MAC and MSS engines for military use.

 The Roarer engine on the test bench during 1939.

The Roarer engine on the way to the test house during early 1939.

Final construction of the Roarer in time to send over to the 1939 IOM TT where it only completed one lap in practice and was replaced by the normal factory 495cc SOHC  racer. Pictured is, left Percy Goodman, Tommy Mutton on the bike and  Harry Thorne.

Tommy Mutton about to start a test of a mk.8 KTT engine on the centre bench  in 1939. The mk.8 KTT engines started at engine nos. KTT801

Tests conducted by Phil Irving in 1940 on 495cc MSS engines for coming  military trials, using the older end bench with the 5500 constant.Details from PEI's notebooks of the time.

Following WW2, racing recommenced in 1946 and Velocette re-introduced their prewar factory racers and continued with the mk.8 KTT, which commence with engine number KTT901

Tommy Mutton continued as the senior race mechanic until around 1948 when following disagreements with Charles Udall, then the development engineer he asked to be transferred to another section of the factory. 

He is pictured below in 1947 with Chas. Udall and a factory SOHC 350 on test on the centre bench.

In 1948 Hedley Cox joined Velocette as a race mechanic and details from his lastest book "A Guide to Motorcycle Racing" published in June 2015, p.19,20 the setup in the Test House at that time....

During 1949 the old end bench which Hedley described as worn out and which had only been used to run in mk.8 KTT engines assembled by himself, Frank Panes and Freddie Owen was dismantled by Hedley and replaced by a new Heenan and Froude DPX2 dynamometer...

Very similar to the prewar design....pictured is a 1960 version.

Following Frank Panes leaving Veloce for New Zealand and Hedley Cox's sacking by Bertie Goodman in 1952, Freddie Owens and a new man, Jack Passant were responsible for the last gasps of the Velocette race effort and the cessation of production of the mk.8 KTT.

Jack Passant went on to become the Development engineer up to the factories liquidation and closure in February 1971.

During this time he further developed the MSS and the Venom and was responsible for the  Venom Thruxton engine.

 Veloce supplied several to teams in the 1967 IOM TT 500cc Production machine race, won by Neil Kelly on a machine entered by the London dealers L.J. Stevens.

A Venom on the centre bench starting a test...

Jack Passant with a Venom Thruxton engine on test

The special VMT engine returned to Velocette after its win in the 1967 500cc class of the production machine race...Jack had it on the test bench....Unsure why there is no reading for 6200rpm, but the uncorrected bhp at 6000rpm is 40bhp.

Neil Kelly winning the 1967 500cc class of the IOM production TT...photo courtesy of Bill Snelling, TT fotofinders.

The late Ron Kessing's Velocette parts auction......DQ auctions Kesso's Shed....

I'd known Ron Kessing for a long time...in fact he only lived 1.3 km from me...sadly he passed on around 2000 aged in his early 80's.
In later years I always rode one of my Velocettes past his house on the way home from a ride...just to tantalise him with the unique sound a Velocette always makes from its exhaust...
He was a Velocette man through and through...rode them as a young man, raced them...he bought a Mk.7 KTT Velocette new in 1938, won the Senior Victory TT at the Easter Bathurst races in 1946 on the ex works Velocette 1935 500cc dog-kennel SOHC, nicknamed here in Australia, "The Monster".

He ran several motorcycle shops...Bain and Kessing being one of them, 
The photograph below is in 1948, a neighbour strides by and Ron, in overalls walks to his 1936 Nash which was for sale ( see the notice on the windscreen).

Bain and Kessing letterheaded paper of the time...

He had petrol stations, then a taxi cab that two 1950's Australian Continental Circus riders, Bob Brown and Alan Burt, drove for him when they returned from Europe to earn additional money for the trip back the following year and to buy new AJS/Matchless racers......

 Ron, in overalls, LtoR, Don Wilson, Alan Burt, Bob Brown with the MSS they rode in the 1954 24 hour production race at Mt.Druitt race circuit.
He had several sheds on his property and despite visiting him many times he never showed me into them... 
I always wondered if there  were any "Velocette gems" still there so to speak.....
Following the death of Ron's widow, Jean about a year ago the family rented the house out and the sheds remained locked up...The house was sold at Easter, but I was at the big Velocette themed weekend at Broadford in Victoria so didn't "sticky beak" at the house auction.
Then a phone call from the family, the house settlement was imminent, they needed to clear his sheds...was I prepared to auction the contents as this was a quick way to clear them out..?
I agreed, wondering if it would be like "opening Pandora's box or just a pile of shit"...
Well initially it looked like the latter....

 There appeared to be Velocette LE's and Honda "Postie" bikes everywhere blocking the floor ( The Australian Postal service uses modified Honda 90's etc to deliver mail).

It took us some 4 days to clear the "rubbish", filling 3 builders dumpsters/skips.
Following the auction there was still a 4th larger skip used and a scrap metal dealer filled is 3 ton truck...!

 

But as we closed towards the action date it became obvious that it was "Pandora's box"....Velocette parts everywhere, including KTT bevel gears, main bearings, cams even a new set seals for the rear oleos on the Mk.8 KTT... "gold dust"...

 Wooden casting patterns for pistons, used LE parts everywhere, four LE's,  five Postie Hondas and Yamahas, magnetos and parts, generators, MAC/MOV heads, barrels, crankcases, Amal carbs/parts.....further on is the list of the sale with prices realised in AUD$.

The prices realised were so incredibly low, but at an unreserved at short notice auction you take what comes. The family on the whole were pleased with the result..the sheds cleared, skips paid for and a little in the till...

 Valve seat cutters and stones..

Tooling...

 The lathe and tooling sold for $5... the pedestal drill for $25.

Ten rows of ten tins full of Velo and some other parts...100 tins in all...

Cast JAP head with a Charlie Ogden castup Amal mk.1 GP carb....note small lugs on the body.

Due to the short notice we had to advertise it expected numbers were down with some 40 people registered to bid....and there were "bargains galore".... much sold for $5 up to $80....

 DQ runs the auction.....

 As I mentioned above, I'd feature the auction running sheets with prices....

Read and weep some would say.....

In a future post I feature Ron Kessing and his racing life....I've some interesting photographs to share with you.......