Montlhery Shadow 2

Colin

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
No doubt "The Times" readers amongst us will have noted the article in todays paper about the Montlhery Shadow
 

Diogenes

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Non-VOC Member
first left Ken Bills team manager second left Vic Willoughby pusher Brian Mc Carthy

Thanks.
Rider appears to be Cyril Julian, as his 2 tone helmet seems same as that of rider on page 62 of Peter Carrick's 1982 book VINCENT-HRD ISBN 0-85059-512-6 .

At the risk of seeming tedious, it seems to me that there are loads of excellent photos of the Vincent story in various books and articles. In many cases the people in the photos are not named fully.

In my opinion it would be a help in capturing the fullest possible Vincent history if as many names as possible could be added and published.

Most of the surviving ex-Works people are still in the Stevenage area, so it would seem natural for local VOC Sections to have a shared project of trying to get and record as many names on photos as possible, while those ex-Works people are still available.

For a start, there are loads of really interesting photos in the small VINCENT booklet available from Stevenage Library ( if it has not yet been closed ).
Some of those fuzzy photos were taken from a local newspaper, so that would be a source of better quality pictures.

Time is not on our side and action would be most effective by those living near to Stevenage.

I feel reasonably confident that this suggestion will be totally ignored.
 

david bowen

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Why not put them on the forum it worked this time, I am told rider is Cyril Julian hired rider I live 12500miles from Stevenage
 
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dave g6xnc

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Non-VOC Member
I spoke to Mr W. once about that and he reckoned his mount was the first to suffer big end failure and he received a real bo>>>> from PCV, Vic reckoned he was the first works rider to get told off for going too fast!.
 

Diogenes

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
I spoke to Mr W. once about that and he reckoned his mount was the first to suffer big end failure and he received a real bo>>>> from PCV, Vic reckoned he was the first works rider to get told off for going too fast!.

As I recall Vic Willoughby wrote that before riding at Montlhery he asked for guidance on what maximum rpm limit was, but received no useful reply. So he just let rip, with the result of failed standard big ends.
That photo shows what might be a 5 inch Shadow speedo, but it might be a tachometer [ rpm ] in a 5 inch case.
Can anyone say which?
 

Montlhery

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Yes the bikes had 5" speedos and were found to be accurate to be within 1 mph . (with FIM timekeepers) .Riders were instructed at the start to ride at 110mph to allow for fuel stops etc . Vic was rider number 4 so he must have had some idea of which speed to travel . Two riders where unable to do this and where therefore let go . The revs would have been around 5000 or so with a 44 tooth rear sprocket.
 
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