1955 Silverstone

Bill Thomas

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VOC Member
I was only 8 !,, I started watching there on the back of my Brother in the early 60s, It was a big day out for the West London Section, Every year, Early 70s before I could Ride there myself, But never very good, Kept getting LOST !,
Being so flat, All the corners looked the same to me !, So wrong gear and wrong part of the track.
 

vibrac

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VOC Member
I have been doing MCC events since I was invited to do a long distance trial when competing at Silverstone in 1965 (I am still at it and hoping in 3 weeks that I can get entry for the next one in the main trials class) I used to often ride with Ron Kemp one year he did it on his Grey Flash all he changed from Silverstone trim was his tyres and handlebars he got astronomical mileage from his TT carb,and being Ron he got an award in both events!. Nowadays there is a class R for road bikes and cars all tarmac and tests. Last year I did not have a suitable bike so for a change I was navigator and Angela drove my tin box Mereva FWD and thats as gray porridge as you can get we did class R and we only failed one climb (all sections tarmac) I think would have done it OK on a road Comet.
Doing it on a Vincent would follow in the footsteps of the great I have a program from 1933 Lands end Trial and we have No 35 Tingle R F, No36 Clark W, No 37 Vincent P C, all together on 499 Vincent HRD bikes so it looks like a factory entry (and a certain G Brough on one of his Bitsas in the sidecar class)
 

Bill Thomas

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VOC Member
I did have a laugh one day, I got past Roger Moss on His new 750 140 mph Ducati,
Down the back straight ! , I stuck my legs out the back, I had seen it in a photo somewhere :D ,
Must have looked a right Twit, I am twice Rogers size.
I was on my Blue Twin Road Bike with Twin Ex' pipes and megas,
Roger came up after and said how well mine went, I said don't forget mine is a 1000 !! and yours is only a 750.
Soon as we got to the Corner, He was past and gone.
 

Texas John

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Non-VOC Member
On the forum home page is Photo of the Day: 16/06/20. "With speed epitomised in every line, Alex Phillip races to victory in 1950. Photo courtesy: David Wright."
It shows a bike with twin exhausts, which I suspect would give better performance. So many things on the Vincent are for performance, so why did the factory stay with the single exhaust system, aside from that it is likely cheaper and a little lighter?
 

Bill Thomas

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VOC Member
Having played with many Home Made Exhausts, There is something to be said for standard,
Good secure fittings etc, Also the 2 into 1 can help with sucking the ex' out, A good all round performance
can be had by just adding a straight pipe ending at the rear wheel spindle.
And as you say lightness.
I love best a pair of 2" open pipes, But I found bad ground clearance for road racing, They say power was only at the top end, but I did not find that.
For performance nothing came close to my home made, 2 x 1.5/8 pipes going into a home made collector box
ending at the rear wheel spindle with a HUGE open pipe,
My Brother in Law worked out the size of 2 x 1.5/8", Is was HUGE and what a sound, But I used it on the road
And went on holiday to the I.O.M. a few times.
 

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