Velocette
LE
It
has been quiet for me over the last month with not much being done
for the Museum. I have been plagued with cars with problems including
MOT’s. All needed work being done on them either by me or a garage
so I’ve had little time to get out and about and when I did the
Buell broke a muffler strap and I didn’t ride it for a couple of
weeks until it was replaced.
Riding it with the front strap broken
would eventually fracture the down pipes as happened to me in 2011.
Over Easter the Calthorpe and the Raleigh were fired up for the first
time in ages. Great news for our enthusiasts. I’ve been reading and
finally finished the book on Harry Baughan. Being in Gloucestershire
and not far from from the place where Frank Whittles’ jet engine
was first made it is not surprising that Harry Baughan’s company
were involved in making parts for this engine. In much secrecy and
everyone being kept in the dark, bits were made and no one new what
for. Harry Baughan was enthusiastic about trials and much of the book
is devoted to his efforts in making difficult courses that tested man
and machine and very much part of the success of the Cotswold trial.
He made light cars and motorcycles, all being hand built and his
sidecar wheel drive a real special. There is some conjecture that
Norton’s version was a rebadged Baughan set up as one was made for
one of the Norton trials team on the hush-hush and a version of that
was produced by Norton for the military in World War 2. This ended up
on the market after the war with the sidecar wheel drive disabled as
it was deemed unsafe for public use.
Being
the resident LE expert I was asked if I would put the Museum LE back
together again. After a long time I have got around to collecting the
engine, gearbox and final drive from the Museum with a view on
getting this ex-Greenford Police LE back together again. It is in a
bit of a sorry state as the place where it was stored was not very
dry and has caused a good deal of corrosion. I’ll update on the
progress as it happens.
In the box of bits I discovered a large
envelope in which there was an article called “On the Speedway” published in The
Oxford Annual for Boys 22nd Year by Oxford University Press 1929. This describes Speedway at
its start in 1928 the stars of the day and the bikes and gear that
went with it. Nothing about Greenford in it, other than just being mentioned, but still an interesting
read. No thoughts about it being possibly a little “Dangerous” it
was just “Thrilling”. Perhaps we should now replace every
reference to motorcycling that mentions dangerous to be thrilling?
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