Whatever....
Can't remember that Surtees has ever been nicknamed by English speaking people as "John the Great", do you ??

1956 IoM (I cheat - RRT2, I have the same book, I think. If so on page 76 there is a picture of the Guzzi wind tunnel - v. advanced for the day. I'd say)

Pity 1 guy seems to have been decapititated

You're right Chris on both counts

Hello Phil. Will ring you soon. It looks that way. MV won three of the four solo races that year. Maybe he was in charge of filling Surtees' Junior petrol tank

[quote name='RRT2' date='Oct 1 2009, 22:50' post='3897671']
Hello Phil. Will ring you soon.

Look forward to it .........( I think )

Hello Phil. Will ring you soon.

Look forward to it .........( I think )
[/quote]

Good morning boys (and girls), this is another of our mystery workshop shots. It show a bike and a dustbin fairing in the back ground, this is from the same batch which showed Charlie Rous, scribe and sprinter. Had Charlie come for a 'fitting'?

Come on Russ, we need you.
Roy

www

Remo Venturi '59/'60

Correct but not sure on year as photo is off of a set of cigarette cards Gary

www

John Hempleman on a MZ 250, Hockenheim Stadtkurve ?

No not John

Horst Fuegner ?

No not Horst, Hungarian I think Gary

Must be Szabo then

Correct

Remo Venturi , Assen revival '98

Got any pics of the apparently-rapid MV parades from that meeting, Phil ? Featuring Surtees, Venturi, Read, Redman, Mamola and co.....one for the ages. Whatever kept the hordes away.....

Wish I had Glen , both my SLR camera 200mm lens literally fell to bits , then within 5 mins my cam-corder broke
But it was good to see and hear

Here's a couple that I took of Read and Ubbiali - smaller MV I know but he wasn't hanging about !

Hi Roy, as you say, Rous did some sprinting but I can't recall anything about it. That's assuming it actually is him...... Pics look to be of about late fifties, early sixties vintage so I wonder if anyone has a good collection of period bike mags....

Roy, found this on the sprinting thread:
I have read an excellent book on Sprinting in this period by Colquhoun who built the Vincent Sprinter ridden by Charlie Rous. It is a first hand account by a practical engineer - not a literature graduate - of the preparation of bikes for this exacting and explosive form of Competion.

Sorry, but I can't recall the title and I can't find a specialist motorcycle bookseller with an online catalogue.

Colquhoun came up with the phrase quoted by Jenks when asked how do you get a job done "All you need to find is ten minutes a day. Once you've found that ten minutes the rest of the time follows." ;)

Thanks for that Russ, in the same batch is the sprint bike in action. Could this be Charlie. We concurr with the date late, 1950's.

You are our last hope Russ.
Roy

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?show...mp;hl=sprinting

Blimey.....

Looks like it Roy. Who was Colquhon I wonder?

I tried a while ago googling 'Colquoun' without success. I have wondered if our team is 'Colquoun'.
With Ian's ok we have another shot of the sprint rider talking to 'our' team member.

Roy

Roy - I'm 95% sure that that is Gordon Colquhoun talking to his rider Charlie Rous.

Gordon indeed wrote an autobiographical book, which I have but which I cannot find - however, it was called "Brands Hatch and Beyond" and is a paperback.

I should remember the name of the bike, but - you know - senior moments!!

Thats absolutely stunning Larry, so probably our team was run by Gordon Coquhoun and possibly Charlie Rous tried out the bike with Cyrill Contrill reporting.
'Brands Hatch and beyond' by Gordon Colquhoun is on the Christmas wish list. Any leads to this team would be wonderful.
On behalf of Ian Simpson and myself thanks to all you guys for putting the story together (Part 1)
Roy

Gets better, Roy - I haven't found the book, but in Issues 35 (Autumn 1991) and 36 (Winter 1991) of "Classic Racer" there are articles on this matter.

Issue 35 carried an article by Charlie Rous in which he described how Gordon C built a replica "of the Moto Vincent (aha - the name at last!!) which Charlie rode for Gordon between 1955 and 1960."

During that time, Charlie and the Moto finished either first or second in every sprint event contested. On one occasion, when Charlie was unwell, Alf Hagon rode it to victory.

Issue 36 has six pages of photos from that sprinting career - interestingly, the Moto Vincent in its original form was owned by Jack (Pa) Surtees and raced on the grass as an outfit with passenger Charlie Rous in the late 40s!

Worth hunting down those back issues!

I seem to remember the late and much-lamented Allan Robinson telling me that Gordon died a few years ago - Charlie, alas, is also gone.

Don't think I can do much more on this one . . . . . . . . .

You have scored Larry, fantastic help. Thanks for the 'Classic Bike' info.
So 'our' bike was 'Moto Vincent' which raced between 1955-60. This fits with other shots. Gordon Colquhoun intrigues me. Does anyone have any idea where the workshop/HQ was. We have two shots which look like the HQ.





Sincere thanks,
Roy

Charlie Rous was later tied up with Triumph sprint ace Fred Cooper, and from an admittedly rather scratchy memory, set a couple of kilo records with Fred : Charlie on a 650 and Fred on a 500, both built as frugally as possible, but with good results. This was Charlie's swansong, but Fred persisted, and got great results for a number of years afterward. I think the bikes may have been named Hermes and Cyclotron....

Haven't a clue on this one Roy.....

Hi GD66, you have a good memory, I seem to remember 'Hermes' and 'Cyclotron' in the weeklies, that was when we had all m/c sport reported. I went to Duxford and Church Lawford in the early 1960's which were bikes only.
Roy

gorgeous....well, the brake lever looks a bit odd, if it's a brake lever

Really big hands ....? He was an old Speedway rider....

yeah, speedway rider don't need such unnecessary things as brakes, consequently there seems to be no cable on the left side....

We may not know where 'Moto Vincent' was created but it is alive and well today at the National M/C Collection with 'Nero' and 'Super Nero'. I guess 'Moto Vincent' is displayed in its final evolution.
Gordon Colquhoun's creation can be seen on 'Babelgum-Best of British-Vincent website. Set the slider to 48 min and enjoy.
What a result, I am quite chuffed.
Roy

Hi Roy, have just watched that Vincent footage, really brilliant.

BTW, wonder why there are no Alf Garnett episodes in a "Best of British" website

What a thinker Alf was : rigid rear end (note the full rear suspension on the earlier Vincent sprinters), minimalist seat, fins machined off the JAP's barrells,125 front end, fuel tank in the fairing nose...I think for a while he had a cable-operated stand release to wheelspin off the line, he really got things going forward....and could ride it, as well....

Great stuff


http://www.babelgum.com/browser.php#play/S...EVANT/3,3002078

Mmmmmm yes seen the first 5 mins , will watch later

Good morning chaps, this seems to be a fine collection of Duke videos.....the vid about himself refering to the talk with Gilbert-Smith which finally resulted in a phone call with Gilera.....

Yes Renn, really good stuff - thanks to you or Roy or whoever it was that found them. I've only watched Lutonboy's so far.....ah, those Kirby 7R's/G50's.

Hi Russ, enjoyed Phil's nagging at the performance of the Gilera, at least of the 350, and Duke's alleged response

Has anyone managed to download the Babelgum videos yet, I've tried and not been able to. I'm only interested in the Geoff Duke and Phil Read ones, so if anyone has them I'd be gratefull for a copy by e-mail to gilera@igottagilera.co.uk
Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul

I can usually download using RealPlayer from YouTube etc but not from this site, I'll try to find a program, keep you posted

Thanks, much appreciated. I tried Real and a couple of others but none worked.
Paul

The guy on the left, WWW? guess the other two as well if you like/can?

Photo Copyrighted to Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Kojak , with Cagney and Lacey ???----1 in drag

In other words you have no idea? well you should!

Errrr your brother without his 'mop '
Think I was with you as well at the time