Archive stuff

Barcelona 24 hour race ...1975 this time .
Another case of what if ? for the Space Frames...

Mentions Richard Peckett on the Dresda who went on to co found Peckett and McNab ( P & M ) frame builders and who also built a 970 cc Triumph T150 Triple with 100.4 bhp at the gearbox sprocket .

No pictures of the Space Frames so you`ll have to make do with a shot of Benjamin Grau on the Ducati.....
Sandcast cases machined for lightness and an extra 2 mm on the bores to give 905 cc....plus having midgets ride the thing equals a winning combination so it would seem.....

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See # 143 for images of the Space Frames in greater detail ........
 
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Stadium advert 1975...OK so it`s £6.94 , but as the advert says , you get what you pay for right ? .....

It`s like Bell Helmets used to say in their adverts ( when they were still made in Los Angeles )..." If you`ve got a $10 head wear a $10 helmet "....

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For no particular reason here`s some BrufSup stuff.....

996 cc "opposed vertical twin " killed off by a certain A .Hitler esq......although a few may have been delivered .

Also well known pic of T.E. Lawrence / Aircraftsman Shaw / Lawrence of Arabia taking delivery of one of his many SS100`s .
George Brough isn`t blanking him , just shouting out something to Ike Webb ( just off camera ) .

For a few extra quid you could ask JAP to paint PTO on the crank flywheels ( worth an extra 10 mph ) ....

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andre g said:
see the helmet 😜
Btw, in that race there was a Herkules Wankel with Volker Briel at the 19th !
Andre
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Never noticed that !...
Was the Hercules Wankel the same as the DKW Wankel ( air cooled 300 cc single rotor ) marketed in the UK in the early `seventies ?

I think it was one of these that BSA / Triumph obtained and got the rights to copy for their prototype rotaries , originally mounted in a T160 frame , which was eventually developed into the Norton Rotary roadsters , police bikes , and eventually RCW 588 twin rotor race bikes ?
 
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Was the Hercules Wankel the same as the DKW Wankel ( air cooled 300 cc single rotor ) marketed in the UK in the early `seventies ?

Yes, in Germany it was Herkules but maybe in UK is was sold as DKW, we called it vacuum cleaner😂
 
And the Beach Boys promoting their "Little Honda " single....

Good publicity for Honda ?...well maybe...

Brian Wilson famously went bonkers during the recording of the " Smile " album and had to be replaced for live appearances and TV shows by Glenn Campbell...Shrink Eugene Landy was employed to sort Brian out , moving in on a 24 hr basis with him , and later claimed to had "co - written " several Beach Boys tracks with Brian , presumbably in an effort to supplement his already substantial fee...

Meanwhile brother and fellow Beach Boy Dennis Wilson was best mates with Charles Manson ; moved in with Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac ; and finally drowned after jumping off a quayside in an effort to retrieve something he`d convinced himself he`d dropped in the water some twelve months earlier...
( Although he did co-star alongside Warren Oates , James Taylor and Art Garfunkel`s girlfriend Laurie Bird in Two Lane Blacktop , probably one of the best American Road Movies ever made , better than Vanishing Point , almost as good as Duel )...

At least Honda didn`t get this sort of thing when they hired Twiggy...

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Funny thing, I saw Brian Wilson twice at the Hollywood Bowl in the pre-pandemic years and both times he sat behind a keyboard/piano setup but didn’t actually play a note the whole show. I watched him closely with binoculars too. Strange…..
 
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Alzero said:
Funny thing, I saw Brian Wilson twice at the Hollywood Bowl in the pre-pandemic years and both times he sat behind a keyboard/piano setup but didn’t actually play a note. I watched him closely with binoculars too. Strange…..
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Yes I`ve heard that , never actually seen him perform live , but apparently he just sits there sort of conducting proceedings with his hands without ever touching the keyboard .
I`ve a feeling he appeared on Jools Holland`s Later programme here in the UK a while back , I`ll have to search You Tube to see if it`s on there and have a look , or any " performance " by him really...
 
rocketonarail said:
For no particular reason here`s some BrufSup stuff.....

996 cc "opposed vertical twin " killed off by a certain A .Hitler esq......although a few may have been delivered .

View attachment 66949
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That wasn't an opposed twin, it was a 4 cylinder engine. Basically two boxer twins stacked on top of each other with their crankshafts geared together. Except they weren't typical boxer twin cranks because the opposing pistons ran on the same crank pin. Imagining opening a V twin out to 180°. Not the best arrangement for engine balance you'd think. Not only that but the two cranks were geared in phase with each other, so all pistons moved right at the same time, then left at the same time. Looking at an animation of the engine (link below) you'd imagine that it would vibrate like a bastard. But with counterweighted cranks, it was actually 100% perfectly balanced. Must have been smooth as silk to ride.

It was called the "Golden Dream" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brough_Superior_Golden_Dream.
 
rocketonarail said:
Yes I`ve heard that , never actually seen him perform live , but apparently he just sits there sort of conducting proceedings with his hands without ever touching the keyboard .
I`ve a feeling he appeared on Jools Holland`s Later programme here in the UK a while back , I`ll have to search You Tube to see if it`s on there and have a look , or any " performance " by him really...
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IMVHO, he’s a bit overrated: wrote some catchy songs as a very young man and did some things in the studio that showed the way to others (Pet Sounds), but his real strength was as an arranger of vocal harmonies. Sort of a super choir master! Having said that, I did love the hot rod songs (I Get Around, Little Deuce Coupe) and Wouldn’t It Be Nice was a great horny teenage love song!
 
Dellortoman said:
That wasn't an opposed twin, it was a 4 cylinder engine. Basically two boxer twins stacked on top of each other with their crankshafts geared together. Except they weren't typical boxer twin cranks because the opposing pistons ran on the same crank pin. Imagining opening a V twin out to 180°. Not the best arrangement for engine balance you'd think. Not only that but the two cranks were geared in phase with each other, so all pistons moved right at the same time, then left at the same time. Looking at an animation of the engine (link below) you'd imagine that it would vibrate like a bastard. But with counterweighted cranks, it was actually 100% perfectly balanced. Must have been smooth as silk to ride.

It was called the "Golden Dream" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brough_Superior_Golden_Dream.
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I like the animation in the link , explains the working better than words .
When I said opposed vertical twin what I really meant was two vertical twins opposed to each other equalling four cylinders as you say .

The four speed option had a start lever you pulled up by hand once you were seated on the bike , as opposed to the three speed`s kickstart , no need to worry about a broken wrist as the lever was disengaged immediately by a trigger mechanism in the event of a backfire ..... there was a starter motor on the Austin 7 engined bike , I would have thought the Golden Dream would have benefitted with one fitted as well .

I believe in development the engine was referred to as just the Dream , the Golden Dream referring to the completed bikes enameled finish .
 
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rocketonarail said:
I like the animation in the link , explains the working better than words .
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Yes, except it would have been better if they'd shown the counterweights on the cranks opposite the big end pins. It would have made the balancing easier to understand if you could see the weights moving in the opposite direction to the pistons to balance the system in the horizontal direction, and opposite each other to balance in the vertical direction.
 
Another of our Aussie Laverda owners (vale Ian) also willed his Jota to a mate and left some history to go with it. Here is an article from a 1976 Melbourne newspaper.
 

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