What might have been... Tricati

In the mid-late 60's, there was an article in the UK magazine, Motorcycle Mechanics, about a guy who shoehorned a 500cc Triumph twin unit construction motor into a 250cc Ducati rolling chassis, calling it a Tricati.  That article was subconsciously filed away in the back of the brain for future reference.

After giving up competitive drag racing in the early 70's (a combination of building a career and being financially strapped at the same time!), there was a hankering for building an exotic road bike based around my 350 cc Triumph drag motor (Drag Bike) and that article on the Tricati was remembered. 

You may not have heard of the Ducati 200cc Elite as there weren't many about but in my humble opinion, it's still one of the most beautiful bikes ever made and the fuel tank shape is pure sex!  Here's a pristine example:

As it happened, a local bike repair shop had a Ducati Elite tucked away in the back of their workshop.  The motor had a cracked crankcase and heaven knows what state the internals were in.  I'm sure they thought I was insane for even enquiring about it but my interest was in the cycle parts and got the whole thing for next to nothing.

The first job was to see how difficult it was going to be to squeeze the 350cc Triumph twin into what was a pretty small chassis.  There was no intention to transfer the supercharger too, so there was adequate room for replacing it with twin carbs.  Clearance under the tank didn't look like an issue as the short-stroke motor was already lower than standard and it also looked shorter overall  than the original Ducati motor.  Some very crude engine plates and spacers were made and the motor pretty much went in first time. This photo is of the motor although the head was reversed back to standard configuration and the supercharger removed before the transfer.

But aha, I hear the knowledgeable ones say, "The Ducati final drive is on the right and the Triumph is on the left".  Well spotted!  This wasn't much of an issue actually.  Inverting the swingarm and re-welding the suspension lugs on the other side was all that was required and the bonus was that the front and rear chain sprockets were almost perfectly in line.  Precision alignment could be achieved by carefully machined engine spacers.  With all that sorted, some engine plate patterns were sent to top drag racer Alf Hagon and back came some fantastic alloy plates with an engine-turned circular finish; simply magnificent.  Spacers were machined from stainless steel and the engine slotted in perfectly. 

Next step was to sort out some of the cycle parts.  A half-fairing identical in style to the original Ducati 900ss was fitted and a single racing seat not unlike that on Cal Rayborn's racing XR TT Harley was made from polystyrene and glass fibre.  The intention was to manufacture high level pipes and mufflers like the factory 500cc Triumph Daytona racer shown in the last photo of this post: Nostalgia.  However, events were taking an unexpected turn.

Because of other commitments (including the minor issue of getting married and buying a house!) progress was slower than originally anticipated and construction activity virtually stalled.  At best guess, detailed finishing including a new wiring loom and painting would have taken perhaps 18 months working most weekends.  A further complication was that a good job offer working on the other side of the world in New Zealand was made - too good to turn down in fact.

It would be fair to say that the focus at that time wasn't on motorcycles, more on the upcoming new life and when an offer for the rolling chassis was made, it was accepted.  The drag engine was given to a friend I've lost touch with and for all I know, it might still be sitting in the back of his shed.  It was some 12 years after emigrating that an active interest in bikes was re-kindled: Getting back into it and memories of the Tricati also surfaced again.  Not one to have regrets about the past but I'll admit that with the benefit of hindsight, I was a complete plonker to sell as it wouldn't have taken up a lot of space in the container when we moved to NZ.  Also wish I'd had the foresight to take to take photos at different stages of construction just for the memories.

Ahhhh... what might have been! (But there is a happier sequel to special-building which will be the subject of the next post).

Update: For an amazing sequel, go to THIS post.

Growing up a bit - drag racing

Road bike ownership was replaced by an old Wolesley 6/110 car as the main form of transport. Bikes certainly weren't forgotten though because mechanical engineering studies awakened an interest in engine development. The decision was taken to build a drag bike, partly because of the outrageous horsepower achievable with a supercharger and nitromethane but also because riding in a straight line would not expose my inability to go round corners at a fair lick without falling off.

My first ever drag meet - Santa Pod Dragway, UK

 The Mk1 supercharged 3TA 350cc drag bike, circa 1967

The first attempt at building a hot motor consisted of sticking a supercharger on a nearly stock Triumph 350cc twin motor and running it on methanol. Optimisim was soon replaced with pessimism when piston crowns regularly separated at the oil control ring as a result of high revs. A few calculations were done and a short-stroke crankshaft was built in the engineering labs and mated to a modified 500cc barrel and head to make a very over-square 350 to reduce mean piston speed. A whole load of other mods were carried out at the same time and a prolonged cycle of "blow it up, fix it, improve it and blow it up again" was entered into. The engineering work during this period would fill a book by itself.

The short stroke Mk 2 bike, Santa Pod UK, circa 1970 (courtesy Pete Miller)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.... the hairy 1970's (courtesy Pete Miller)

The photo of me above shows a buckled alloy pushrod, one of the many engineering problems to be overcome and was fixed by replacing them with titanium. A friend recently commented that I looked like an extra from the TV series "The Avengers", which I thought was a bit uncalled for! The photo below is of me hanging on grimly at Santa Pod raceway.

 Nice hole shot! (courtesy Pete Miller)

 

Mk2 short stroke Icarus ready to go on the starting rollers

Eventually, Icarus became extremely competitive at a national level over the quarter mile and at world level over the standing start mile but the time and money to go further was beyond my means, interest waned and racing was abandoned.

As a footnote, the engine languished for many years in the shed of a friend,  John Hancock, who went on to become R&D Director at Cosworth Engineering, the race car engine builders.  It may still be there!!

Conclusions from this period: A happy marriage of engineering theory and practice by actually using my education to have fun! Worrying signs of maturity appearing.