'WHIFFLING CLARA' RESURRECTED

Harold Willis is a name missing from the roster of British engineers who made great contributions to Motorcycling as well as their respective employers.  His father purchased a large stock of shares in Veloce Ltd, perhaps to ensure his idiosyncratic and motorcycle-mad son had a job!  Willis soon became indispensible to Veloce, developing and racing their motorcycles through the late 1920s and 30s.  The photo below has Willis on the left, with Freddie Hicks and J.A. Baker, at Montlhery in 1928, setting the one hour/100mph world speed record on an early cammy Velo - Freddie Hick's Brooklands racer with an extra-large petrol tank.

Perhaps he's best known for his 'Willisisms', an endless stream of bon mots which succintly named just about anything of interest.  A piston was always a 'bung', an exhaust pipe the 'long hole', an overhead camshaft engine was a 'knocker',  a double overhead camshaft engine a 'double knocker', a valve was a 'nail', etc.  He also invented the positive-stop footshifter, something we all take for granted nowadays, but a huge improvement in racing times in the day.

He also named a few of the racing motorcycles which Veloce fielded, including this one, 'Whiffling Clara', an experimental supercharged 348cc ohc single which Willis rode in the 1932 Isle of Man Junior TT.  When 'Clara's' blown engine was shut off, air pressure leaked out of its plenum chamber with a sigh...hence the 'whiffling'.

Ivan Rhodes has owned Clara for many years, and the photograph above shows the machine in the condition it remained for many years after the blower was removed and the machine became 'just another KTT', retaining its original 'OX8921' registration from 1931 (note the period photo - a road legal supercharged racer!).  The machine needed a few very special parts made to bring it back the 1931 TT glory days, and while Ivan has tremendous skills, it still took many years to get Clara just right.  He mentioned on a visit during 2002 that all the special racing parts (petrol and oil tanks, plenum chamber, etc) were fairly easily replicated, but the original Foxwell supercharger was impossible to find, even to make a copy.

It took the talented hands of Bob Wiggins to draw up and have cast the components of a replica Foxwell; the job was finished only this May 2010, when Clara was fired up at 'Fellside', Ivan's home in Derby.  The Rhodes live at the rear of the property now and part of their extensive workshops have become a museum, occasionally open for private tours, of Ivan's amazing collection of Velocette and AJS racers.  If you have been living under a rock, Ivan also owns the 'Roarer' (another Willisism), Veloce's supercharged ohc twin-cylinder racer from 1939, and quite a few other Works Velocettes, along with a host of 'ordinary' KTTs.

Ivan says Clara is set up for 5psi boost, and runs nicely.  Clara is a contemporary of other blown single-cylinder racers, and is part of the great general trend towards supercharging which began in the mid-1920s in Germany via BMW, spread to Italy and shortly to England and the rest of Europe.  It's considered difficult to successfully force air into a single-cylinder engine, as the blower is pushing fuel-air mix at a constant rate towards the engine, and the engine takes a breath only so often, leading to a buildup of pressure during the long wait between intake moments.  Multi-cylinder engines take more of the blower's output per crankshaft revolution, and even out the 'pulses' in the incoming charge.

Of course, Ivan owns the 'other' supercharged Velocette racer, the 'Roarer' (below), built for the 1939 Isle of Man  Senior TT, but used only in practice as the bike wasn't fully sorted for the race.  Stanley Woods did the testing, but rode Works 350cc and 500cc models, winning the Junior and placing 4th in the Senior behind George Meier (BMW).  

That's a hell of a pair of blown bikes!  Ivan did a huge amount of work to get these bikes to running condition, and is to be commended.

Many thanks to Dennis Quinlan for inspiration for this post from his excellent blog, the Velobanjogent, the photos from Ivan's startup were taken by Eunice and Phil Goude from Victoria, Australia and Clive Larby in the UK.

1936 Velocette KTT 'Mark 6' at NMM

From the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, England, comes this note about the return of an ultra-rare 'Mk 6' Works Velocette after a total recreation by a 'Velocette Specialist' (3 guesses who that means!), post their disastrous fire of September 2003.  

I wrote an article with Dennis Quinlan about this model, which you can read here.  Technically, its a misnomer to call this machine a 'Mk 6 KTT', as the Works models were never labelled KTTs!  They tended to have other engine prefixes such as 'M'; the KTTs were always over-the-counter production racers, sequenced Mk 1-8, with the Mk 6 the 'missing link' between the bronze-head Mk 5 KTT and the all-alloy Mk 7 KTT.  There never was a Mk 6 for sale, although the factory did build as many as 6 alloy cylinder head racing machines, using modified KSS Mk 2 components.  They didn't do all that well in racing, which has always been a bit of a mystery, as the porting and valve size was identical to the 8" square alloy head of the Mk 7 and Mk 8 machines, yet KSS-head racers never produce as much power.  

 Rare MkVI restored

"A 1936 Velocette KTT MkVI racer is now back on display at the National Motorcycle Museum, after extensive repairs to damage it suffered when fire ravaged part of the Birmingham collection in 2003.

With frame number 6TT6, this machine has the long saddle ['Loch Ness Monster', vide Harold Willis] used on Velo racers of the period and carries the race number 74 of the machine on which Austin Munks won the 1936 Junior Manx Grand Prix, although it is not known exactly which of the very few MkVIs this is.

The rebuild by a leading Velocette specialist included a conical rear hub correct for the year, but not fitted before the fire. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the original crankcase was unserviceable and has been replaced by a new casting in the Stanley Woods-inspired short wheelbase 1936 frame."

THE WORLD'S FASTEST VELOCETTE

By Dennis Quinlan:


Stuart Hooper hails from Buderim north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For the last three years he has spent time and money attempting to produce a Velocette that is the fastest in the world. He made the long road trip with friends as backup crew, some 2500km plus to Lake Gairdner in South Australia.

Lake Gairdner is a salt lake where the Dry Lake Racers Australia hold speed record attempts early March each year. Stuart's effort in 2008 was aborted due to rain washing out the meet with no racing occuring. In 2009 he reached a speed of 133.46mph. This year, 2010, late in the afternoon of Friday 12th March he increased this to 139.001mph, which eclipsed the 132.35mph that Bert Munroe achieved on his prewar MSS Velocette racer in New Zealand in 1971 and which was widely regarded as the fastest speed a Velocette had obtained under accurately timed conditions. Congratulations Stuart.....Keith Canning, President of the Velocette Owners Club of Australia and a member of Stuart crew filed this report to me tonight after he and Stuart returned to Queensland


"Australia has the Worlds Fastest Velocette after a very trying but in the end rewarding Speedweek.
Stuart Hooper achieved 139.001 mph on the last day, Friday, only half an hour before the track closed for 2010.
The record previously set by Burt Munro in 1971 at 132.35 mph in NZ.
For Stuart & the team the week certainly had its ups & downs to say the least.  We arrived on Friday to find a perfect hard dry salt track, only to have rain fall on Saturday & Sunday. This was certainly a set back.  Once this happened no vehicles were allowed to be moved on or to the salt & the only access to the bike & trailer already in the pits was to walk through water stretching 100 metres along the edge of the salt lake.  Water was blown around the pits by high winds as well.
There was no racing on Monday, but with conditions improving, we changed the drive sprocket in anticipation of the track opening.
On Tuesday afternoon we got a run on the test track where things went well.  It was the first run for the bike since last year as a complete unit.
After the drivers' briefing we went straight to the GPS track where we achieved 133 mph as our highest speed.  With everything going well we then lined up for a run on the main track.  This enabled us to get a run on Wednesday where Stuart ran a licensing pass in the 125 mph range which is required because the bike had changed classes.
Thursday was a big day with 3 runs.  The bike was literally tacking over like a sail boat & the back wheel moving out to compensate.  After this, Stuart decided to change to the small tail for the remaining runs.
Our next run was a failure owing to the fact we had the wrong spark plug (warm up) in for the run.  A high wind in the second run resulted with Stuart being blown to the side of the track only missing the marker cones & backing off to stay upright. He also thought the motor was getting tired, so after lining again till the end of racing to get a position for a run the following morning, we retired to our pits to thoroughly check the bike.
We stripped the Velo to a bare machine, inspecting everything we could without dismantling the engine.  Things like the plug, bore, oil, timing, valve clearances etc.  Everything proved OK.  We raised the float level, and then went to bed knowing we only had 1 chance at most of getting a result for 2010.


Friday saw us line up early as racing was to finish about noon. The day turned out to be perfect, no cross winds & very still. We were confident of the bike now, but still ran the small tail, as cross winds usually started up at mid morning.  These never eventuated but by this time we could not change the tail.  We did however mix some new fuel & added 10% nitro to the methanol for an extra boost. We changed to a larger main jet to ensure it ran rich & not damage the motor.
The last run went well. The bike ran straight as an arrow and was very stable.  It did run too rich however & missed & popped at the top end. It actually would have revved harder on straight methanol.  Stuart ran & was timed over 2 miles. He then had the long ride back to the pits, not knowing what we the crew, already knew. He arrived to a jubilant team made up of wife Marsha, Russell Houghton & myself as well as anyone else who was nearby.
Stuart would like to thank all for their support especially the crew, friends, well wishes, fellow club members & those who made the big effort to come out to the salt.
What’s next? Develop the engine more & go faster, for sure!
I can tell you that when the Velo starts up, out on the salt, fellow competitors, crews & spectators all stop & listen to that unmistakable bark of the big single. It’s music to the ears."

THE 'SQUISH' THRUXTONS

What is the starting point when telling the tale of a very special motorcycle; is it the delivery date from the factory? Or does one dig that little bit deeper to give the 'back story', the reason Why a particular machine was made?

In the case of a small batch of factory-modified 1967 Velocette Thruxtons, pulling all the threads of the story left me with a pile of yarn on the floor, no scarf, and no knitting pattern! But it is the job of the writer to assemble a chaotic jumble of facts into a coherent narrative, and thus begins the tale of the 1967 Isle of Man 'Production' TT, a dozen very special Velocettes, and 50 years of engine development.

For the 60th anniversary ('Diamond Jubilee') of the Isle of Man TT, it was decided that something of the original intent of the Tourist Trophy races should be resurrected: showroom-floor motorcycles being put through a harsh full-throttle test over hundreds of racing miles on the world's most notoriously difficult race track. Thus for 1967 were introduced three capacity classes (250/500/750cc), with the stipulation that machines had to be standard production motorcycles with no Factory Special tuning parts.

British manufacturers likely gave a nudge to the TT organizers for this new class, as Japanese manufacturers had bitten hard at the TT and Grand Prix races, winning championships in every class. They had not yet conquered the large bike sales market (ie, over 500cc), but Honda introduced their DOHC CB450 twin in 1965, which was far more technically advanced than any British racing motorcycle currently on offer! Thus, a guaranteed British win in the 500cc and 750cc Production races would generate much-needed good press.

June 10, 1967: all three race classes were flagged off on the same day, albeit with five minutes interval between classes (250s went last), using a mass 'Le Mans'-style start. There was suddenly a lot of machinery on the Manx roads! In the 500cc class, as the smoke from blast-off cleared, two riders could be seen kicking at their mounts - both on Velocettes! Neil Kelly (top pic) and Keith Heckles (above, #31) were having trouble starting their Thruxtons, which due to their high state of tune are notoriously finicky and tend to sulk at the very worst moments. Neither Kelly nor Heckles had experience kick-starting a Velo: There is a Knack, and they didn't have it! Arthur Lavington, riding a third Thruxton, had no such trouble, having raced Velos since the 1949 Clubman's TT.

Neil Kelly's path to the saddle of a special racing Velocette was quirky indeed. Reg Orpin, the sponsor of Kelly's racing Thruxton, had contracted Dennis Craine (winner of the '65 Manx GP) to race the machine, but two weeks prior to the race, at a local Scrambles race, Craine had crashed, been hit by another rider, and broken his arm.... it was Kelly who ran him over! Orpin, suddenly without a rider, offered Kelly the ride for the TT.

In truth, Kelly should not have been allowed to participate in the Production race, for while the '67 was his third TT, he had not completed a single practice lap for this event! The 'Production' Thruxton prepared by Veloce Ltd for his sponsor, Velo dealer Reg Orpin, was late to arrive. Thus Kelley practiced on a borrowed MSS model, which had every sort of mechanical problem, including a badly slipping clutch, which generated a fabulous story told by every Velocette enthusiast; Kelley's clutch was slipping so badly near Quarry Bends he pulled up and considered his practice chances nil. An ancient local farmer, by legend, pulled a nail from an adjacent fence, and adjusted Kelley's clutch! But while kick-starting the MSS, the 'roads open' car, signaling the end of practice, drove by, and his hopes for a complete practice lap were dashed. Kelley in fact went to work the following Saturday, thinking himself disqualified, only to receive a frantic phone call from his pits at lunch - if he could make it to the starting line in time, he could race! His leathers were ready, the bike had passed scrutineering and was ready to go. Kelly's friends had successfully swayed Mary Driver, the Secretary of the TT, on the importance of having a local hero in the race; he DID have 6 Manx races under his belt after all, so was unlikely to be an embarrassment or safety hazard. Still, a few rules were bent.

Rules had been more dramatically bent by Veloce Ltd in providing several 'Production' machines to dealers Reg Orpin (Kelly's sponsor), Geoff Dodkin (Heckles), and Arthur Lavington, for these machines used engines which had been specially developed by Veloce in a bid to win the TT that year - hoping to come home with an Overall win in the process. All three used 'Squish' combustion chambers with specially-shaped forged pistons, and the Orpin/Dodkin machines had a host of internal improvements including needle roller bearings on the cam followers - all of which served to produce and extra 4.5hp over the standard Thruxton, according to Bertie Goodman, Managing Director of Veloce.

In the event, even with his dismal start, Kelly won the 500cc race easily at an 89.89 mph average, passing through the speed trap at Ballacraine at 116.9mph. Keith Heckles on the Dodkin machine was 2nd, with a fourth Thruxton (probably a Squish machine as well), ridden by Bob Biscardine, flew through the radar at 121.6mph, the fastest 500cc machine in the race.

What had inspired Veloce to build a batch of 'Squish Head' racers in 1967? Credit is due to Dennis Quinlan of Australia for communications with the Factory regarding Down Under Velocettes. While the rest of the world had moved away from Velos in serious racing competition, it seems the candle still burned bright for the marque on the other side of the world, and a host of very clever engineers were madly tinkering, modifying, and successfully racing their Velocettes well into the 1960s and 70s. Their ingenuity extended as far as special DOHC cylinder heads for 'pushrod' engines, lightweight frames, bronze cylinder heads for older racers, and experiments to improve combustion and generate more power from the standard article.

Three teams independently produced 'Squish Head' Velocettes in 1964, using post-1951 Norton Manx cylinder heads and pistons as their model. The Aussie tuners found through trial and error that their engines produced significantly more horsepower, with a marked reduction in 'pinking' under load, cooler running, less spark advance, and clearly a far more efficient combustion process. Quinlan wrote to Veloce that his Squish Velo, when road-tested by his co-builder Keith Smith, got 75 miles per gallon!

Bertie Goodman was a racing enthusiast to the core, and the beating heart of all competition success at Veloce Ltd post-war. Had he but a majority stake on the Board, racing Velocettes would have graced the race tracks of the world for many years after 1953, when the factory dropped all race support, to concentrate on their humble 'LE' model. It was Bertie who supported the amazing 24-Hours at 100mph World Record with a 500cc Venom at Montlhery in 1961 (which still stands for a 500cc single, by the way), as well as the attempt with a 350cc Viper model at the same record. Bertie also ushered in the Thruxton model, having taken a good look at some American-brewed special cylinder heads and realizing the potential for an excellent Clubman's racer, or Café Racer!

Thus, it was Dennis Quinlan's (above, left, with Keith Smith in '64) loyal correspondence with the factory about his tuning efforts which set Bertie's ambition on a Production TT win. The Thruxton was already fast, producing 8hp more than the Venom Clubman model; an extra 4.5hp would give that much more of an edge at the Island. Velocettes had already proven their reliability with their 100mph/24hr success, as well as wins in 12- and 24-hour Endurance racing at Barcelona, and of course at the eponymous Thruxton airfield race circuit. While the Australian Squish cylinder heads were far away, Norton Manx cylinder heads were certainly available for inspection, and Goodman had special pistons forged to the Norton pattern, which mated to modified Thruxton cylinder heads.

It seems clear that two engines were heavily developed with many internal modifications as noted above; these went to Reg Orpin and Geoff Dodkin. Between 5 and 10 more Thruxton engines were modified with the 'Squish', albeit less heavily modified. These were sold to selected friends of the factory; long-time racers or dealers who sponsored Velo racers.

One of these engines was sold to Arthur Lavington, legendarily stalwart Velocette racer, the last man to race a MkVIII KTT in a Grand Prix, who in fact died in practice for the 1969 Production TT, when he was struck by another rider and his Thruxton struck a stone wall. He almost certainly used a Squish engine in his '67 race machine - the engine of which was VMT 816RC. A photograph of this engine is shown below.

The development of the 'Squish' engine itself deserves a telling, and will be the subject of my next post.

THE LADY AND THE VELOCETTE

It's quite rare to find a photograph of a woman rider from the 1920s, let alone one of such clarity and charm as this one. Our heroine kneels in supplication to her sulking mount, with tool roll out, and a look of sheer misery which every motorcyclist understands! Oh, the joys and pains of life on two wheels.

The bike looks to be a ca.1923 Velocette 'GS3', in sparkling new condition, with an optional Cowie speedometer driven by the front wheel. The GS3 was a 249cc two-stroke of impeccable quality, typical of Veloce Ltd, a luxury lightweight with a dash of TT thrown in the mix, for the engine was upgraded to the spec of the factory's 1922 Isle of Man entry, with a new duplex tube frame and longer-stroke engine with twin exhaust ports. With a 3-speed close-ratio gearbox, adjustable footpegs, semi-TT handlebars, and 'performance efficient silencer' (vide Dave Masters), it was a sporting mount, capable of 55mph. The Brampton 'Biflex' forks may not have helped handling with their three-dimensional range of movement, but they certainly provided more comfort than the hard racing Druid forks used on the TT bikes (below, Rex Judd on the 1921 TT Velo).

Titch Allen in his book 'The Velocette Saga' (Amulree,1994) has this to say about the Model G:
"The production Model Gs...were pretty accurate replicas of the TT mounts, apart from the detachable head, and soon established an enviable reputation. It would be no exaggeration to say that they were the 'Rolls Royce' of small two-strokes, and their excellence and discreet black and gold finish gained them a following of connoisseurs. An exclusive kind of customer unimpressed by glitter and flamboyance who was to remain loyal to the marque for 60 years."

AUSTRALIAN 'TT' VELOCETTE RALLY

The TT Rally: Turning Back Time in Timber Town
by John Jennings:

We were among the last to leave and as we cleared the town limits of Manjimup on that crisp Monday morning our Venom Clubman (fresh from crash repairs courtesy of a red light runner) settled into a relaxed two-up pace of 3500 rpm / 60 mph as we passed through the majestic Tall Timber country along WA’s sparsely populated South West Highway. About 20 miles out from Walpole the distant vision of a large man on a small motorcycle signalled that we had finally caught Uncle Ted.

At 81 years of age Ted Hicks from Canberra was the oldest rider on the Rally riding my wife Diana’s 1948 350 MAC for the week. This bike, an older restoration, had been unloaded from the QLD container and registered only days before the event, so opportunities for test riding were limited. So this was a welcome sight for us, although with Ted’s lifetime of racing, riding and fettling Velos, Nortons and Ducatis, we needn’t have worried.

Rally headquarters for the 110 entrants was the abandoned mill town of Wheatley, complete with the rusting remains of its once snorting steam powered timber mill. The thirty or so workers cottages dating from the late 1940s, the school building and the quaint General Store stand as a reminder of the simple life this town had seen over 50 years ago. On the hill above the town, the Sports Club was transformed into our version of Birmingham’s Hall Green for the week. The dining room was renamed “The Works Canteen”, the Ladies Lounge became “The Din House Bar” (a Harold Willis reference – his nickname for the engine test room at the Veloce works) and the Billiard Room with its full sized slate-bed table became the gentlemen’s retreat that it had once been, but this time complete with women keen to hone their cue skills.

A Wurlitzer juke box loaded with records from the 1950s and a pot belly fire enhanced the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the place as thirsty riders and their pillions made the walk from cottage to Hall Green at the end of each day’s ride. The fact that the local wildlife has become fully integrated with the ever changing community at Wheatley was a particular novelty for our International and Interstate guests alike. Sharing pre-dinner nibbles on the wide verandahs with flocks of colorful parrots, wrens, kangaroos, emus and the Store owner’s free ranging chooks became a feature of cottage life during the week.

Not so welcome were the nocturnal intrusions of the possums that seemed intent on hammering nails into our tin roofs during the early hours. One alcoholic possum showed great resourcefulness by entering a kitchen via the flue of the still warm combustion stove. In his attempt to scoff the remains of a cherished bottle of The Famous Grouse whisky he knocked it off the table, waking the occupants. Fortunately both bottle and lid stayed intact and the pesky possum was ushered outside with a broom.

Monday’s ride gave the opportunity to visit the magnificent Tingle forest east of Walpole where a tree top walk provides a bird’s eye view of the forest canopy. Not so enjoyable for one entrant who lost a lens from his prescription glasses at the highest point of the walk and didn’t feel inclined to return to that point at ground level to sift through deep leaf litter.
Tuesday’s ride through the Ferguson Valley east of Donnybrook saw those who came prepared with a Velo gnome create our own Club headquarters at Gnomesville, a miniature town set in a glade by a large roundabout in the middle of nowhere. The original gnome inhabitants were placed as part of a fund raising drive around WA in 2003 and since then various Clubs and families have visited and left their gnomes to create a rambling gnome community. During our pilgrimage we were fortunate to have a full sized gnome in the form of Trevor Cason, who dressed accordingly and ushered the family of Velo gnomes to their new home. The following lunch stop at the Wild Bull Brewery with its spectacular mountain top views was well received by the riders.

On Wednesday we braved some rainy periods to do a loop around Manjimup and Pemberton, where a lunch time display in the Memorial Park gave locals a rare opportunity to see over 70 Velocettes in the one place.

On Thursday riders were up early and braved an 80 mile ride through patchy weather to get to the Collie race track where regularity Time Trials were planned for the day. A cooked breakfast on arrival soon had the blood circulating again as the helpful volunteers from the Bunbury based Indian-Harley Club manned the stopwatches and the flags as we practiced then did three timed runs that became the basis for deciding the winners of the Collie TT in both Senior and Junior classes. To add interest to the day a group of Period 2 and 3 race bikes took to the track at lunchtime for a race demonstration which had the crowd enthralled with the sound of Velos and Vincents on open pipe and megaphone. A static display of mainly Vincent road and race machinery put on by world renowned collector Ian Boyd provided riders with something to drool over between track outings.

Friday’s ride to Augusta gave the opportunity to visit the place where two of the great oceans meet. This popular, wind-blown spot below the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse marks the boundary between the Indian Ocean to the west and the Great Southern Ocean to the east. Apparently this is one of only four such points on earth, so it was well worth the walk down from the car park. A nearby rock cairn turned out to have a direct and poignant Velocette link. South Australian based entrant Keith Milich’s brother was one of 10 sailors on the night watch washed overboard from HMAS Nizam on a stormy night in February 1945. The Nizam was hit by a freak wave while passing 11 miles off Cape Leeuwin. The sailors’ bodies were never recovered.
Saturday provided the opportunity for another display, this time in the nearby town of Manjimup, regional base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This was our chosen charity for the TT Rally so the local townsfolk gave generously as we roamed the streets rattling our tins for the cause. Many a motorcyclist has been grateful for the Flying Doctor when things go wrong while travelling on two wheels in remote parts. The presentation dinner on Saturday night saw Hall Green turn into our equivalent of an Irish pub, when local folk singer John Wilson (whose father owned 3 Velocettes and was a personal friend of Stanley Woods) was joined on stage by our own Velo-riding, banjo-playing maestro, Dennis Quinlan. It rapidly developed into a sing-along that saw the crowd party on into the early hours, singing badly to old standards and doing the Hall Green boogie in the aisles. Nights like that can’t be planned – they just happen. And when they do it becomes a very special memory for those who were there.
I’d like to think that 25 or 30 years down the track, I’ll be doing an Uncle Ted, still riding a Velo and telling Tall Tales to my mates over a beer or two at some future TT Rally. Roll on October 2010 where we will do it all over again at Lennox Head NSW.

RACER ON THE ROAD-TEST: 1933 VELO KTT MKIV

Back in July 2000, my good friend John Jennings of Perth, Australia, rode one day of the week-long Velocette Owner's Club of North America Summer Rally on my 1933 MkIV KTT Velo. In its current incarnation, 'The Mule' was built up for historic racing by Eddie Arnold in the late 1970s. Eddie found the machine at Mack's Motorcycles in Massachusetts, where it had been imported as an engine only from the factory in 1933. Presumably a donor KSS chassis housed the engine (or Mack's also purchased a factory-spare frame; it bears no numbers).
As European-style road-racing was almost nonexistent in the US at that time, it must have seen competition on the dirt ovals popular on the East Coast in the 30s. My friend Rick Haner is convinced his father raced this very machine 'in the day', and had a photograph he believed showed KTT470 in competition. Sadly, his house burned a couple of years ago, so the search for documentation continues...

By John Jennings

“Who me? Are you serious? All day tomorrow? I sure would!” This was roughly the response Paul d’Orleans heard when he offered me a ride on the most impressive and desirable Velo in attendance at the 2000 Summer Ride. So the deal was done – Paul and Alison would ride Paul’s Viper, which had been my faithful mount thus far, and I would ride Paul’s delectable 1933 KTT. Because of its heroic passage along the treacherous dirt of Mule Town Road the previous day of the rally, the KTT has become widely known as the "Little Mule". The Mule and I have shared many happy miles in North America, including one dramatic day in 2005 when the friendly officers of the Lake Tahoe CHP decided that it should be impounded for 'registration irregularities' - but that's another story [It certainly is...]. What follows is my impressions after the first big day on the Mule.

It was a hot Thursday evening in Etna, in the mountain wilds of NorCal – the most northern part of our route. Friday we were returning to rally HQ, Redway some 250 miles to the south. Between Etna and Redway stood some of the most challenging roads of the week, including the infamous Forks of Salmon road, where legend has it that reclusive locals in beaten up pick-ups have been known to force unwanted tourists off the road and over the edge of the roadside abyss, never to be seen again. ‘Am I doing the right thing?’, came a small voice in my head.

Friday dawned to a crisp blue sky over the Etna City Park. KTT sat poised to go, on a convenient stump; a surrogate centrestand. After packing the gear onto the Viper and a final check of its vital parts, it was time to hand this mount over to Paul for the day. Paul gave some basic instructions and advice. Fuel taps. Tickler. Lots of oil blowing from the exposed valve gear onto the rear tyre. Upside down gearshift pattern (fortunately the same as the reverse gear lever equipped Viper). No rear view mirror. No kickstarter. No silencer. No horn. No lights. A front brake that works best once there’s some heat in the linings. How to bump start. ‘Am I doing the right thing?’, the small voice asked again.

Time to go. I looked at the long gravel access road and did a rough head count of the assembled onlookers. Discretion versus valour. ‘Righto Paul, show me how it’s done, mate!’ Paul is a special sort of Velo rider. I knew that he’d bumped and thumped KTT along the impossible, impassable Mule Town Road the previous day. I knew that he’d bump started KTT in loose sand when there was no-one else around in 98 degree heat. I knew this bit of gravel access road would be a piece of cake for him. And so it was. I pulled on the gloves, walked down to where he sat side saddle, blipping the throttle and threw my leg over the low slung sprung saddle. I rode down to the main road and did a couple of familiarisation laps while waiting for P & A on the Viper. I stopped the engine and did a trial bump start. Second gear, wind back off compression, clutch in, then run and bump. KTT fires but before I can get the clutch in stalls with a couple of kangaroo hops – my fault, not hers. Second attempt I grab the clutch, just in time. Before day’s end I have my own version of the bump start routine that suits me better. First gear, wind back off compression, clutch in, run and bump and clutch in. Then catch the engine on the throttle. The lower gear spins the engine faster and almost guarantees that it will fire immediately, so you don’t have to wait for things to light up, then respond with the clutch. Not recommended for sand or gravel bump starts, however.

Paul & Alison appear on the laden Viper and we turn east and almost immediately start a long climb. For KTT, with more power than Viper and far less unladen weight, this is no problem. But for Viper the added burden of all my camping gear plus pillion (albeit a lightweight one today) means each ascent becomes a second and third gear challenge. But Paul pushes hard and we enjoy a pleasant 15 minutes or so of climbing before the hairpins appear and the grade steepens. Paul waves me by and for the first time I feel the exhilaration of riding a Velo with a power to weight ratio that makes uphill as much fun as downhill. This KTT pulls strongly from low revs, and after each up change the bars literally tug on your arms as the clutch bites and the revs rise quickly to the next change point or braking point, whichever arrives first. After another 20 minutes or so we crest a saddle at 5500 feet. The view is spectacular in every direction. I stop at a viewing bay, dismount and reflect on the oily black and gold machine leaning against the stone wall. So far Paul’s advice is right - the oily rear tyre grips, but I wouldn’t like to try it on damp or wet bitumen. The riding position is more relaxed than racy, with flattish bars and mid mounted footpegs (definitely not rearset). The rear brake feels spongy (cable operated) but bites progressively. The front brake – well haven’t had much call for it yet, as engine braking has done most of the work so far. The clutch is a beauty, freeing cleanly for the bump start routine and not a sign of slip under power. Paul credits me with this, as it had started to drag during the previous day’s horror stretch and I spent 10 minutes with the adjusting peg on Thursday evening, and reset the cable. No cover on the gearbox sprocket so it was even easier than normal. Steering is precise, with the MkVIII style front end (forks and brake) giving clear signals as to what the front tyre is up to, and doing a ‘good for the era’ job of absorbing bumps. And the sprung saddle looks after minor bumps OK but after landing a little far back and copping the rear edge of the seat in the coccyx on one occasion, I decide to ride on the pegs for any substantial bumps I see in future.

The frenzied sound of a little engine working hard signals the arrival of the Viper. P & A soak up the view, then Paul decides a nearby rock cairn would be a great setting for a victory shot of KTT [above]. So we manoeuvre it gingerly out onto the cairn, engage first gear so it won’t roll away and prop the left footpeg on a substantial rock. Alison shoots photos from every angle, then we safely retrieve KTT and it’s off again, for my first taste of downhill KTT’ing. I must say that selecting the crest of a mountain for the first public demonstration of my prowess at the bump start routine was a masterstroke! However KTT fires up in the first 10 feet of the decline, leaving 4990 feet in reserve.

Paul obviously believes I‘ll get the plot home in one piece so I don’t feel the need for us to travel in convoy all day. I’m definitely a “travel at your own pace” sort of person, and generally detest the regimented riding which some Clubs force upon their riders. After a few gentle corners I begin to get the feel of the bike again and the pace quickens. But the first hairpin I encounter calls for an extraordinary amount of pressure on the front brake (and as much as I dare on the rear) to get down to a speed where I’m comfortable to tip it into the turn. Comfortable or not, there comes a point in every turn where tip it in you must, as the options are few. Lesson learnt – this ain’t no Tickle twin leader and I must adjust braking points to suit. Down through Sawyers Bar and on to Forks of Salmon I see few other Velos. The pace of the KTT on all the uphill riding means by this time Viper must be far behind. I come up behind a Velo pottering along at about 40 mph. I slip past and continue on at an enjoyable 7 or 8-tenths sort of pace. The road is bumpy and a little narrow but many of the corners have a clear view around. I look behind at one stage and see that the potterer has tagged on and we enjoy this ride for the next half hour or so. He drops back a little and then a little further down this winding road I hear another sound, at my left ear in the middle of a sweeping left-hander. Paul has cruised up on the inside. He waves, gives the thumbs up, shouts something (which is later translated to ‘it sounds great – I’ve been following you for 10 minutes’). Must look over my shoulder more often in future. I spend the remainder of the ride puzzling as to how the laden Viper could close what surely must have been a 10 to 15 minute advantage given the numerous climbs along the road this morning. Was there a shortcut I didn’t see? Or does he just ride downhill without touching brakes at all? [Yes.]

We stop at Soames Bar and the potterer turned tagger reveals himself as Frank Brennan, who admits to getting a real buzz out of following the KTT, simply to hear the note that she makes on the over run. This road must have given him a near overdose. I realise that the front brake has worked fine in the last hour or so, a combination of heat in the linings and my adjusting to its capabilities.

(photo above c.Nick Cedar, used with permission)
The remainder of the day passes with just a few incidents – major wildfire blocking the road, a broken clutch cable (replaced in 20 minutes when a spare was offered by a real Good Samaritan – thanks Victor), a much too close up view of a minor landslide, a fantastic lunch in the cool of a restored Victorian era Hotel in Ferndale (thanks again Victor for your good company), a severe lack of fuel (thanks Bill for getting me out of trouble) and a rough ride through the redwoods near day’s end. Back at Redway that evening, I leaned KTT against a tree near Paul’s room, closed the fuel taps, stood back, took a deep breath and smiled. I’d just heard a small voice say ‘You did the right thing!’

Thanks Paul for the opportunity of a lifetime. Thanks CHP for leaving us alone for the whole day, despite KTT’s doubtful legality on those public roads. And thanks KTT - you deserved the 'Machine of the Rally' award bestowed upon you on Saturday evening."
John Jennings

2009 VELO RALLY; DAY 2 - MAYHEM!

Was it the heat or a confluence of bad luck which made Tuesday so chaotic and destructive. By the end of the day, fully 20% of the motorcycles had taken a free ride on the back of a truck or trailer, (at least for a short while), and 5 motorcycles had shaken hands with the pavement, with two bone breakages as the struck bargain. Four flat tires, two total compression failures, four clutch teardowns and rebuilds, a mysterious graunching transmission, horrible rich running, etc... by lunch, some of us wondered if this were indeed the Terminator Rally.

The day began innocently, clear and warm at 8am as usual, and the route promised to be fairly straightforward, with a pig-roast feast in a vineyard as our pot of gold at the end. My 'posse' of the morning consisted of me riding the Endurance (which I had happily escorted home the prior afternoon), Dai on the 'Zumac' (a bored-out Velo MAC at 430cc) which had gone spare as its eponymous owner wasn't feeling at all well, and Uncle Brian on a borrowed Moto Guzzi V65, surely the most reliable machine of the bunch. Which of course proved the folly of assumptions, when the u-joints on the drive shaft disintegrated 20 miles from the start.

It seemed prudent to let Brian wait for a Chase Truck to snatch the Guzzi, while I rode Dai back to camp to grab my Norton Atlas, which suddenly needed a rear tire after 240 miles at 100 degrees.

Dai thus took posession of the incredibly leaky and bits-falling-off Endurance, which was poetic justice, as Dai's machines are always immaculate; a wayward drop of oil merits a rise of blood pressure and hasty investigation. Thus, to be saddled on a machine purported to shed 2 quarts per day over itself, the rider, and the greater world, held a sweetly smirking irony. He would simply have to Cope.

I blasted into town on the Norton, and rode back out again wearing a new rubber sash over my shoulder - it took a visit to 3 motorcycle dealers to find an 18" tire narrow enough to suit an old bike, but who's complaining? I bought a spare innertube, Just In Case. Thinking I might have missed my ride-mates at Dead Guzzi junction, judicious throttle application had me at that lonesome spot in a jiffy - only to find... Uncle Brian slumped against a concrete barrier, with no Dai or Chase Truck in sight, 1.5 hours later. This was double-plus ungood (in Newspeak), as the temperature was now hitting the Ton, and Brian is nearly 70. Luckily, the Truck appeared soon, and the Guzzi was loaded up.

Now we had to sort out if Brian's artificial leg would shift the Zumac! Uncle Brian, (whose photo you may have seen here) you see, has a very long history of motoring miscreantism, and around 1960 he lost a leg on a Triumph Thunderbird very late at night, post-pub, taking a favorite bend quite a bit faster than his usual hot pace, just after passing a local in a car... 'I'll either make it or be dead' he thought, before waking up in hospital. In truth, he hasn't slowed much since then.
Finding he could in fact shift gears, we set off, wondering where on earth Dai had got to.

We had all agreed to have lunch at the Quilchina Hotel, a Victorian anomaly in dead flat sagebrush plain, and as I arrived first, goal #1 was to get out of the Heat and into the Kitchen for lunch. As I relaxed at my table, I saw Uncle Brian pass by, flat-out on the MAC, with nary a sideward glance for the big pink hotel. That was the last I saw of him until the end of the day...and I admit to a moment of concern, as Brian couldn't kick-start the bike with his lack of leg. I reflected that we all attend Rallies looking for a bit of adventure, but the adventure we get is usually not the adventure we've chosen! So, Brian's day would clearly be a little different than he might have imagined...

Within a few minutes, Dai appeared on the Leaker, and lamented both oiliness and a general looseness to every nut and bolt on his mount. Dai's disconcerting habit is to go over a borrowed motorcycle with sockets and spanners, tightening Every nut and bolt on the machine, prior to riding it. Having watched him do thus to two of my motorcycles in the past, I chuckled inside that our morning game of musical bikes hadn't allowed him time to spanner-tune his machine, and Things were Falling Off. Not 3 miles from lunch in fact, he motioned me to the side of the road for a navigational query, not realizing that the rear mudguard was swaying from side to side like a happy tail. Every nut holding it fast had jumped ship... luckily a stash of stray bolts on the Chase Truck made everything secure, except for the taillamp assembly, which required a veritable prosthesis of electrical tape to hold in place.

Thus we continued through the Country-music-star-mural bedecked town of Merritt, heading north towards smaller and more interesting roads. Which luckily included the wonderful Otter Lake road, which while unpaved, varied in terrain from snaking baked volcanic boulders to sweet floral lakeside grasses. The only real hazard was a succession of massive logging trucks, truly hauling ass down this firm dirt track, leaving just enough room for a motorcycle to squeeze alongside without damage, but giving no quarter otherwise. See the film!

And, something Happened for me along this 40-mile stretch... I've described the experience previously as near-sexual, when road and rider and machine find a harmony of movement and sensation. Suffice it to say it was a kind of two-wheeled Bliss, and I literally could not have been happier during that extended moment. If I could bottle the feeling, I'd be a very rich man. Perhaps I am already, simply having felt thus for so many hours. I was astonished when I asked Dai at the end of this road, full of energetic happiness, how his ride had been, and he answered, 'Tiring!'.

As we neared our destination of Keremeous and the Crow's Nest Vineyard, the temperature climbed further, and we heard tales of two flattened rear tires - one of which caused a dramatic wipeout, resulting in the rider's leg being broken in 3 places... That's the kind of event which sets every motorcyclist to wondering. Still, by the end of the day, the mechanical carnage seemed to have stabilized, and once again those with afflicted machinery set to work after a relaxing hour on the patio with German beer, and a meal of whole roast pig with spaetzle and kartoffeln salat - the winery is owned by Deutsche expats, in a river plain surrounded by high mountains. Sleeping on the grass next to the vines was just about nice.