Racing in Australia...Veloce letters to P & R Williams P/L and Don Bain.

In the 1930s and just after WW2, Don Bain was the rider of note on Velocette's in Australia and as such he received assistance from Veloce Ltd with special ex works engines, parts and the like... from my archive, these are some of the correspondence, which makes interesting reading.
The final photo shows Don Bain doing what he enjoyed when not riding....

Left click on images to enlarge.

Racing in Australia, with the emphasis on Velocette…photos from bygone times...

More pics from Australian racing…. Enjoy!

Australia was a big market for Veloce Ltd up perhaps until the late 1950s and so racing machines from the factory frequently were sent to Sydney and Melbourne for the use of ace locals to promote the image of Velocette….very successfully I might add.For those interested in the racing history of Velocette, a perhaps new source of material for your own use or for publication in the future… please acknowledge the source should you capture an image and feel free to do so.

The first photo is taken in 1948 outside the premises of Bain and Kessing, both prominant Velo racers of the day. The machine on the left is a 1936 DOHC engine used in IOM TT that year, the machine to the right is known in Australian racing circles as "The Monster" and was a 1934 ex works 500 SOHC dog kennel machine.

The second pic is Gordon Harper on his ex works 350 KTT, unsure if it was a SOHC dog kennel engine or another of the 350 DOHC 1936 engines. Early 1950s.

Gordon had both types at one time or another.

The third photo is Alan Burt in an observed trial, known here as "sporting trials" on a MAC.Again in early 1950s at Moorebank on southern outskirts of Sydney.

The final pic is Frank Mussett & NZer Len Perry collecting their new Mk.8 KTTs at Veloce Ltd., prior to the 1939 IOM TT. Perry fell off in practice and severed a finger on his clutch hand and retired. Mussett finished 10th. Both bikes went back to Australia and NZ.
Left click on images to enlarge....

More pen and ink from the Motorcycle Media...

Time for another ......
As I mentioned in an earlier foray into pen and ink drawings from the motorcycle media, graphic art has changed dramatically-- …. lets have another look into 1931 and 1933 when graphic artists, cartoonists and the like, armed with pen, ink and pencil recorded the images of the day in concert with the film camera.Acknowledgement is made to Mortons Motorcycle Media owners of the copyright for "The Motorcycle" and "MotorCycling" and to the families of the artists for use of the images.

Left click on images to enlarge....

The 700cc twin cylinder MAC Velocette that never was....

In the 1950s an innovative young engineer, Allan Russell of Sydney, a Velocette enthusiast and assistant to the late Sid Willis, champion Aussie 250 class road racer on Velocettes, started to build a twin cylinder MAC Velocette engine, SOHC valve operation and made many of the casting patterns needed, then cast the cylinder heads, cambox, bevel box, prepared drawings of two ways to drive the overhead cam gear from the MAC timing chest.

Then he fell in love, married Margaret ( they are still together...) ,all work on the MAC ceased and the MAC engine languished in a large drawer in his workshop for over 50 years.

I'd briefly seen the drawer pulled open in the 1960s to illustrate a point in a discussion, but it stayed there until 2005, when my best friend, Velo enthusiast Jim Day suggested we ask Allan to get it out and we would feature it on a display table during the final night meeting at the Australian Velocette Centenary Rally at Richmond, west of Sydney.

Prior to it's return to Allan, we assembled it and I photographed it...

Where is it now....?

Back in Allan's drawer....awaiting the time Allan can find to continue with it....

Interesting "bit of kit" as they say...

Left click on photographs to enlarge....

Racing in Australia. with the emphasis on Velocette…more photos from past times

I’m still “on a roll” as they say, so more pics from Australian racing…. Enjoy!
Australia was a big market for Veloce Ltd up perhaps until the late 1950s and so racing machines from the factory frequently were sent to Sydney and Melbourne for the use of ace locals to promote the image of Velocette….very successfully I might add.
For those interested in the racing history of Velocette, a perhaps new source of material for your own use or for publication in the future… please acknowledge the source should you capture an image and feel free to do so.

Left click on images to enlarge, where possible.

The first photo shows Bob Brown kneeling and Alan Burt- they were great mates- with a load of racing bikes transported from NSW to the road races at Victoria Park, Ballarat, Victoria over Christmas in the early 1950s.
The second is Sid Willis' oversquare ( 74 x 58mm) 250cc DOHC ( factory postwar cylinder head) in a Smith frame ( the first copy of the Beasley frame Sid brought back from Europe at the end of 1952).
The third is Don Bain on his Mk.5 KTT special following a successful record attempt at Maddens Plains, south of Sydney around 1936.
The final shot is Sid Willis on his Beasley framed 250cc DOHC ( ex works prewar 350cc Velocette cylinder head) in the pits at the 1952 IOM Lwt.TT. Sid came 5th. The best privateer. (S.R.Keig IOM, photograph)

The Keig Collection…..

When I was living in England in 1974 and 1975, I chased early motorcycling photographic history when I could.S.R.Keig Ltd in IOM, Keystone Press Agency and Fox Photos in London, the daily newspapers to name some...
Visiting the IOM TT in 1974 and again in 1975 and spending nearly two weeks there each time, meant I spent time in the photographic business of S.R.Keig Ltd., Circular Road, Douglas, IOM.
I still have an old catalogue of their negative collection….so digging deep into funds, I had all the Velocette photographs they had up to about 1951 printed for me, many in 6”x 8” format.
They are a boon to me today…. Good "financial" decision DQ! (My "long suffering" wife Judy likely thought otherwise...)
I also telephoned Bruce Main-Smith during 1974, at his newly started business in Leatherhead, Surrey and spoke to him about the photographs, actually lent him a collection that encompassed Fox and Keystone photos. He was eager to borrow them for an impending book to be written by “Titch” Allen based on the “Velocette Saga”, which had run for 16 issues in “Motorcycle Sport from the late 1960s.
BMS contacted Keig’s in Douglas and struck a deal with S.R.Keig Ltd
To produce selections of his negatives as prints in a series of books he would publish known as “The Keig Collection”. Initially three volumes were produced in 1975, then volume 4 in 1984 and finally volume 5 in 1996.
There were no more produced to my knowledge.
 I am unsure if the current owners of BMS Ltd., still hold any rights to produce reprints ( I've looked at their website and can't find any reference) and certainly Bill Snelling, a resident of the IOM, trading as Amulree Publishing and who now have now completed a comprehensive and searchable TT Database which can be found by clicking on This Link , I believe now owns the copyright to S.R.Keig Ltd., negatives and supplies photographs from them, published the 5th Keig Collection in 1996.
Amulree Publications, Amulree, Glen Road, Laxey, IOM IM4 7AJ, email; amulree@mcb.net
I hold no malice to BMS for his actions…I was a “dreamer” then and he had the knowledge and contacts to produce something that was long overdue…
‘On ya Bruce…..
Regrettably it took over ten years to get my photographs returned from BMS, but he eventually did so and returned all those I lent. However I spent a few sleepless nights worrying over it over the years….
What would you be likely to pay for original copies…I would hazard a guess US$25-50 each…Ebay would be a good starting point…
Left click on images to enlarge where applicable….

European Racing, featuring Velocette……some more pics

As mentioned in a previous blog, my archive includes racing Velocette photos from Europe...
When I lived in London in 1974 and 75, I scoured older photographic sources...S.R.Keig Ltd in IOM, Keystone Press Agency and Fox Photos in London, the daily newspapers...So following are some examples, probably not seen before, although all were in the business of selling their photos to the motorcycling press of the day.....
All photos in this blog are credited to Fox Photos, London.

The first photo shows Ted Mellors with his 1936 DOHC factory 348cc Velocette, engine number KTT482/5, frame 6TT2 at the start of the Junior TT.Despite Velocette having a new spring frame which Stanley Woods and Ernie Thomas used, Mellors rode with the previous years rigid frame and he also liked a block pattern front tyre.

The second photo shows Ted pushing off...

The third is a pensive Wal Handley aboard his factory SOHC "dog-Kennel" 348cc Velocette in the pit area for the first practice of the Ulster GP, 22nd August 1935.

The racing seats, visible and looking like the dual seat we know today, were known as the "Loch Ness Monster" seat by race chief Harold Willis and the patent for this dual seat, held by Veloce Ltd, was sold to Feridax Ltd, the motorcycle seat manufacturers...another Velocette innovation.

The final photo is of Australian Frank Mussett during the 1939 Junior IOM TT on his new Mk.8 KTT Velocette, probably engine number KTT830.He finished 10th.

Left click on the images to enlarge.