171.600MPH from a single cylinder Velocette at Lake Gairdner, South Australia..!!!

Wow....an email from Australian Velo Clubmember Stuart Hooper with the news that at the speed week trials on the salt lakes at Lake Gairdner in South Australia his supercharged single cylinder Velocette did 171.600mph.....
Stuart has set previous records at Lake Gairdner and also at Bonneville Salt Flats....

His email follows....

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.

 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 against 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 Venom 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 where it belongs !

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 ?

In the preparation for this attempt, Stuart supercharged the single cylinder engine and sent these photographs... 

Pen and Ink illustrations, cartoons from my usual sources....been a couple of years since I run any....as mentioned back then, I'm a great fan of them.....

As I'm currently running a section in the Australian Velocette Owners Club magazine which I edit...FTDU or FishTailDownUnder...on technical pen and ink drawings this is as good a time as any to review some more in my blog.
The two major English motorcycle magazines from the early 1900's up into the 1970's, "The MotorCycle" and "MotorCycling", ran many as did the French magazine"MotoRevue"...
All great resources....
Relax with me as we wander back in time.....But before we launch into the drawings, a photo I like a lot...
The original was in poor condition as you'll see by the bottom LH corner...
Two Aussies hard at it on home built 250 DOHC Velocettes...#31 is Les Diener on his newly built 250 DOHC based on a pushrod MOV and still in a rigid frame...hard on him is #15 Alan Burt riding the Waggott 250 DOHC Velocette based on a KTT engine and again in a rigid frame..taken at the races in Mildura, Victoria on the NSW/Victoria border, but unsure when...DQ will have to do some research and correct this post....

 

Time for another look through some Veloce Ltd. publicity photographs......

As I've said in the several previous posts (1), (2)  I've done on Velocette publicity photographs, I often acquire more, many from different sources....
Veloce Ltd of course manufactured the Velocette motorcycle....
So I'm not always sure of their origin, but there is a good chance they came from "The MotorCycle" and "MotorCycling" , the copyright of which is now held by Morton's Motorcycle Media in the UK and to who I acknowledge credit if applicable.
Dai Gibberson came over for the 2012 National Velocette Rally at Bundanoon, NSW in October and we shared files.
Some of these are from his sources....thanks Dai.
So lets have a look at some more... 

 

1949 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...348cc Mk.8 KTT.

1949 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...149cc LE (later called mk.1).

1952 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...the newly introduced for 1953, the RS swinging arm frame with the "alloy" 349cc MAC engine. Note the barrel silencer, a departure from the usual Velocette fishtail exhaust....but only for a year, as for 1954 they were back to a fishtail exhaust.

1954 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...the now 200cc LE, called the Mk.2.

1955 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...a sectioned 499cc MSS in Dove Grey colour....

1958 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...499cc Venom with fibreglass engine covers...interesting colour scheme.

1958 November Earles Court Motorcycle show...Veloce Stand...349cc Viper Clubman.

All alloy frame and leading link front forks made by Ernie Earles for Bertie Goodman at Veloce...1951 IOM TT.

Velocette  KTT in the alloy frame, IOM Junior TT, 1951, Frank Fry, retired & entry changed from a Norton...

A sad photo...Les Graham at the start of the ill fated 1953 Senior IOM TT.... he was using a prototype of the Ernie Earles front fork on his works MV Augusta and a violent wobble brought him off and he was killed...

 

A brief photographic look at the life of another Aussie motorcycle racer on the "Continental Circus" 1965-1969.....

A good motorcycle racing friend of mine passed away at the end of October last year....Jack Saunders....

 Above items from the order of service at Jack's funeral....
He in turn was also a good friend of Alan Burt...who I've featured in this blog on several occasions..see the search facility on the RHS of the blog and type in Alan Burt......
Jack sailed for Europe in 1965 with a friend Ron Kirk and perhaps several others.....
Recently fate lent a hand....
An email from Stuart Frossell in California with some images scanned from slides which I recognised as Jack Saunders and others and a quick email back revealed more and the strange tale of Stuart's purchase of a large well kept box of photographic slides totaling over 2000 in number from an old gentleman at a swap meeting in Toowoomba, Queensland. The seller had obtained them from a deceased estate...some research revealed they were originally Ron Kirk of Sydney....he'd died some time back.
Ron was a friend of Jack Saunders and travelled with him to Europe on Jack's Odyssey to the "Continental Circus", that happy go lucky group of Commonwealth country motorcycle racers.....
See my post on Don Cox's book..."Continental Circus" detailing the 1950's era of this disparate group....
So this is far from a history of Jack's life, but a selection of photos from Stuart's slides and some black and white pics taken by me in Australia....
I thank Stuart for his contact and agreement to use the photographs...

Jack in Aden on the way to Europe, 1965

Ron  and Jack....

 ...at the Sphinx on the way to Europe...

Jack, #70, G50 Matchless on the start line of the 1965 Senior TT in the Isle of Man.Jack finished 31st just outside bronze replica time.
#69 is 499 G50 Matchless mounted H.H.Sommerhalder who retired on the second lap.
Jack, riding no.97 a 344 Aermacchi in the Junior TT,  failed to complete the first lap.

 Aussie Malcolm Stanton, 499 Norton Manx #73, second in line in the photo,at the start of the 1965 Senior TT, IOM. 
Malcolm retired on the 5th lap but came 24th in the Junior TT on a Norton in bronze replica time.
#71 is South African A.E.W de Kock also 499 Norton Manx mounted who finished 29th and in bronze replica time.

 

Things don't always go right for TT entrants.... Jack in his "lockup" likely back in England after the 1965 IOM TT...#70 is his 499 G50 Matchless Senior entry and the "bits" are his 344 Aermacchi...... you'll recall Jack failed to finish in the Junior and is working on the Aermacchi in the photo...

Some details from UK ACU Stewards reports and programs for the IOM TT races, 1965 and 1966 when Jack rode there.

 Caption on the slide says..."Jack, Gebby and Ted" on the Ferry, 1965"...
but unsure of where to...

Jack, Lance (who...) and Rae (who..), Mallory Park 1965.
After I posted this post on Jack I acquired from the UK some Mallory Park motorcycle race programs and the one for 26th Sept.1965 was the one thaqt Jack rode in with the photograph above...
John Robinson had kept them all this time and it was he who filled in the results...thanks John.
Small world....
Seems Jack failed to start in his heat of the senior race and started in his heat of the Junior race but was not shown as placed up to 12th...

Titled...."our camp, Le Mans 03.04.1966"

On the road somewhere...Aussies Eric Hinton and Jack Ahearn....

A race paddock "somewhere"...the slide is un-captioned....

"Lewis Young,and Mac, Czechoslovakia 1966"....

Franta Stastney, Brno Czechoslovakia 1967...

Colin Seeley, Brands Hatch 15.04.1967

 

Bill Ivy's Brands Hatch practice crash, 15.04.1967.

French domiciled Aussie, Jack Findlay, likely on a 250 Bultaco, Jicin, Czechoslovakia.

 The Aussie contingent at Boug-en-bresse circuit, mid France...Jack #12,D.Johnson and T.Gill..unsure of year.
Then he continued racing into the 1980's in NSW....mostly on his G50 and occasionally on a G45 he purchased on his return from Ron "Darby" Wilson always then with riding number #53.
A few pics taken by me...

Great mates.... Jack with Alan Burt, both on G50 Matchlesses.

Jack and Alan, Nov.1976 at Amaroo Park on the northern outskirts of Sydney, this time both on G45 Matchlesses...

Again Nov.1976 at Amaroo Park....my Carey headed/Smith framed MAC behind Jack's G45. Jack rode my MAC for a year or two after I retired with good result.