No pics of Morphy Motors that I can find so far , but I remember an article / letter in the ILOC mag regarding a customer of Morphy who , when in conversation with Chris Morphy , said that Mr Morphy claimed it was he , and not Slater Bros who " invented the Jota " ........
Strictly speaking , to have invented the Jota would mean he would have to be about three hundred and fifty years old .... and Spanish ..... , but what he apparently meant was that it was he who first fitted factory parts to the triple , to boost it`s performance ...... ( Which would mean it would really be the 3CE he " invented " , not the Jota ..... but never mind about that ... ) .....
There was a printed reposte from Roger Slater , who disputed this claim .....
Of course , there was more to the development of the Jota / 3CE than just the fitting of fancy pistons , cams , jetting , and gutting the airbox .......
.......... Slater Bros spent many hours , in conjunction with the Healey Bros , and with the aid of a dynometer , in developing the exhaust system ............... which was a vital element in extracting the full potential of the triple engine .................. Not just the diameter of the collector box , but also the volume of the empty " silencers " .......... , and also experimentation with the diameter and length of the outlet pipes at the end of the " silencers " ....... not only their length , but how much they protruded into the interior , and from the exterior of the silencer end cap ......
......... ( I`ve been holding that little detail back for a while now ........ If you ain`t got the correct tail pipe length poking in and out of the end of your Jota silencers , then you ain`t got a proper Jota mate ...... That should get the " Real Jota " argument going again ...... It`s been far too quiet for far too long ........ ........
......... ) .......
The point is , it was Slaters who put in these weeks / months of work .... I`m not so sure Morphy Motors would have got quite so involved ( ....... as far as I know ) .......
As part of his reply , Roger Slater also told the true story of how the Laverda Jota was " invented " ....... It went something like this .........
Imagine a scene from the TV programme " Dragons Den " ........ Except in place of the Dragons we have the Laverda Management , with Roger Slater stood before them , trying to sell them his idea / proposal .........
Roger informed them he intended to apply the lessons learnt from developing the 3CE to the new 3CL ........ to offer the fastest motorcycle available for sale in the UK , but this time the new machine would be accompanied with a dedicated promotional and advertising campaign , which the 3CE never received , in order to bring it to the attention of the motorcycling public .......
.......... The thing was , in order to pay for this , the new machine would have to be offered for sale with a price tag in excess of that for the already over-priced 3CL .....
Naturally , this went down like a lead balloon as far as the Dragons ( Laverda Management ) were concerned ........ If the 3CL was already expensive they reasoned , then who was going to pay even more for this proposed new version ... ? ......
Undaunted , Roger continued ......... The new model would be the fastest bike available ..... It would enter the Avon Production Championship and win ....... There would be the sophisticated advertising campaign ( " First Class Travel " , pics of the bike parked outside expensive hotels , or next to executive jets etc. ) ...... and the inference that if you want the best , you have to be prepared to pay for it .... ) ........
.......... But most important of all says Roger , this new model must have a name ............. All great motorcycles have names ............ and the name would be ....... JOTA ... ! .......
This was met with more blank stares , and silence from the Dragons ......... " I`m out " hung in the air ....... Until a lone voice asked " What is Jota ? " ......
" It`s a fast dance performed in triple time " replied Roger ........ At which point the assembled Dragons burst out with a roar of approval , throwing their arms up in the air , congratulating themselves over the creation of this marketing masterstroke ....... and then promptly headed out to the nearest restaurant , Roger in tow , for a celebratory three hour lunch ..........
.... And that is the true story , believe it or not , of how the Laverda Jota was born ........
( Despite all that , I believe the Jota name was originally used by Lamborghini , for a limited edition of the Miura sportscar ............... which makes me wonder ........ If a Jota was a re-engineered Miura , then was that the inspiration for the name Miura Engineering , well known Laverda dealer from the `seventies / `eighties ... ? .......
....... I always meant to ask Alan Bell , but kept forgetting .... ) .........
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