Back to the future again

Back in the early 90's, I rode a BMW K100 RS.  It was a heavy old beast but handled well and was pretty quick.  Reliability was excellent which was just as well given the outrageous cost of parts.  By way of a minor example, a BMW replacement accessory port (much like a cigar lighter socket) was over twice the price of one marketed by Hella.  Probably manufactured by the same company as the only visual difference was the packaging.

BMW K100RS, circa 1994, Taranaki Province

 

In 8 years of ownership, the only significant problem showed up on my first ever Rusty Nuts 1000 miles/1600 km in under 24 hours event I took part in.  That was 1996.  Late in the ride when giving it fairly large amounts of throttle, it felt sluggish but at lesser amounts of throttle, it behaved normally.  Over the following weeks, it got progressively worse.  Starting a ride, it behaved normally for half an hour or so then the symptoms started appearing, not responding properly to more than half throttle.  Leave it for a while and it was fine for a short while and then it started all over again.

I failed dismally in finding the cause and ended up taking it to a BMW dealer I knew and trusted.  It took them a while to find the cause but they discovered that the relatively new in-line fuel filter was full of a fine powdery substance.  Their theory was that when the bike wasn't running, the powder sat in the bottom of the filter but when it was running with high fuel flows, it gradually got stirred up and attached itself to the filter medium, partially blocking fuel flow.   A filter change completely solved the problem, but where did the powder come from?  It so happened that not long before I did the big ride, leaded fuel was discontinued in NZ and it was suggested that vehicles which relied on lead to prevent valve seat recession used a substitute called Valvemaster.  This was a viscous liquid which was squirted into a fuel tank via a syringe.  Many vehicles at this time were carbureted but fuel injected ones like the BMW used filters with an exceedingly fine mesh.  It was pretty clear that some of the particulates in Valvemaster were too big to pass through the mesh and that's what caused the performance issues.  After talking to the BMW national service manager, I discontinued using the additive and there were no further problems.  His contention was that the 30,000 km I'd already covered on the bike would have work hardened the valve seats.  A really odd problem but one that I've never forgotten and is relevant to the current time.

Moving forward to the present, we've owned our 1972 MGB GT for a little over a year.  The previous owner kept meticulous records of the 2017/8 restoration but nothing of consequence in terms of routine maintenance.  Most of my efforts have been directed at undertaking and recording preventive maintenance, including dates and mileages.  Harking back to the BMW problem, the 50 year old MG uses a fuel additive as a lead substitute so this week, I changed the in-line fuel filter as there was no record of when it was last done.  I also took to it with a hacksaw to have a look at the internals.  Here's a photo.

Sectioned in-line Fram fuel filter

The paper element has a considerable amount of gritty substance in it which doesn't appear to be ferrous (i.e. rust from the fuel tank).  Not sure whether it allows particulate matter from the modern lead substitute to pass through but in any event, fuel starvation hasn't been an issue.  There was a small amount of crap sitting in the casing itself which drained out when I cut it.  Difficult to know how long it took to accumulate with no maintenance history but it does serve to show the value of a fuel filter in preventing blockages and wear and tear to a vehicle fuel system.  Its replacement has a clear casing so I should be able to monitor condition from now on.

The new Repco fuel filter on the MG

My mate Rick in the UK and I have been exchanging emails about engine temperatures, particularly with respect to classic cars.  Rick has a Morgan V8 and a Jensen CV8 and over the years, has experienced overheating; particularly in slow, heavy traffic.  Fitting electric fans and modern alloy radiators has alleviated the problems somewhat.  It's not a problem I've experienced to date with the MG, particularly as a new radiator was fitted during restoration.  That's assuming that the temperature gauge is accurate of course!  Having been sucked into the discussion, my engineering background was keen to get objective data as a baseline.  What should show up recently on my AliExpress news feed but a digital infrared thermometer.  Oh goody, another toy, err... essential tool for the garage!  It arrived today and here it is:

Infra red thermometer

Note the awesome laser dots on the top right of the cold MG radiator!

As well as recording objective data for our MG, Honda and Toyota cars, I can check the accuracy of our oven, the temperature of beer in our beer fridge and even Jennie's rising temperature when she finds out that I've bought one!  Like great mates everywhere, I can even blame it on Rick for raising the whole subject.  Happy days ahead!

Finally, a serendipitous encounter. About 10 years ago, I had an email from a chap called Roy in the UK who had seen a post on the blog about the drag bike I campaigned in the late 60's. Although we'd never met, he'd been at Santa Pod Dragway meetings I'd competed at and was a keen motorcyclist. That was the start of correspondence over the years.  We also both lived in Northamptonshire at that time and had similar professional career paths, albeit in different organisations.  Roy and his wife Dawn are also classic car enthusiasts and have a Hillman Imp which featured on a UK TV programme, plus a Triumph Spitfire.

Roy and Dawn had planned an overdue organised tour of Australia and NZ.  Their schedule was tight but the plan was for them to spend the day with us in Coromandel, travelling via the ferry from Auckland.  Unfortunately, the ferry company recently announced that there would be no sailings this summer due to staff shortages.  Bugger - the legacy of Covid strikes again and time for a Plan B!  It so happened that Roy already had contact with Brian,  an Imp and Sunbeam Rapier owner in Auckland who was a committee member of the NZ Humber/Hillman car club.  A plan was hatched for Brian to drive Roy and Dawn to a mid-point rendezvous for lunch at Kaiaua on the western shores of the Firth of Thames and all have lunch together.

That happened yesterday and was a rip-roaring success and we all got on famously, with the same cynical sense of humour and attitude to life.  We chatted for several hours with much laughter and it was over way too soon, but we'll carry and cherish those memories.  Isn't it fantastic when you get to meet wonderful new people?  That's happened a number of times over the decades and what a great part of life!

Jennie, Dawn, Roy and Brian at Kaiaua with our MG and Brian's Rapier

Innovation ain't what it used to be!

I suppose that having ridden for more than 40 years, you notice trends and can compare them with past periods of time. Looking backward doesn't mean I yearn for the bikes of yesteryear though as today's bikes are clearly superior in most respects.

To obtain performance increases in modern bikes, for the most part; it seems to mainly involve buying bolt-on goodies from specialist sources from around the world with perhaps less personal innovation to get that all-important boost or edge.

However, I have a (maybe half-baked) theory!  Less money and lack of easy access to tuning equipment or expertise may have driven greater self-reliance and an innovative approach in the past.  Nosing through some bike photographs I took a few decades ago, I thought I'd post a few of them and comment on some of the innovative features on these bikes.  With one exception, they're drag bikes, partly because I was campaigning a short-stroke Triumph drag bike called Icarus at the time (see: Growing up a bit) but also because they're a great example of interesting ways of pursuing outrageous performance!

Super Nero

The Vincent V twin-powered Super Nero was what might be described as the ancestor of "modern" drag bikes in Europe.  Its builder, George Brown, was a talented road racer in his earlier days who worked at the Vincent factory at one stage in his career. It's hardly surprising therefore that he chose this power plant for a series of  bikes, culminating in Super Nero.  George was a sprinter, as opposed to drag racer, preferring the battle against the clock over numerous distances as opposed to against a competitor over the quarter mile. The Vincent V twin had its origins in the mid 30's and it's testament to George's development skills, aided by a big supercharger  and alcohol-based fuel that Super Nero set a number of world and national records throughout the 60's in both solo and sidecar configuration. Over 4 decades later, Super Nero's performance is still incredible.  Over the flying quarter mile in 1968, he averaged 182 mph in both directions to set a new world record and in 1970, he averaged 190 mph in gusty and wet conditions.

His persistence in continuously improving Super Nero was legendary and his tenacity was further demonstrated by taking on the international motorcycling body, the FIM.  The FIM had an arbitrary age limit of 55 for international competitors and George had already exceeded this whilst he was still chasing international records.  His persistence paid off and the age limit was lifted, allowing George to set his 182 mph record at the age of 58!  Truly innovative and inspirational.

Alf Hagon's JAP

Alf Hagon was a champion grass track racer who got into quarter-miling in the early days of the sport in the UK.  Alf's bike also used a V twin with pre-WW2 origins; a British JAP.  His innovation was to build the bike as a real lightweight (some might say flimsy!) to increase power to weight ratio and whilst the early version had a 2 speed gearbox, the final version had a single speed countershaft and spectacularly smoked its slick for almost the entire quarter mile!  Alf also showed considerable balls by laying over the exposed cylinder heads, especially as drag motors can be likened to hand grenades with the pin pulled!  His ingenuity paid off in spades when in 1967, he achieved the Holy Grail of quarter-miling at that time, the first ever sub-10 second bike run on UK soil.  Even more remarkably, it was on a runway in indifferent condition, not a specialist drag strip.  Later that year, he became the first motorcycle in history to set an official 2-way quarter mile world record in the 9's.

Alf didn't rest on his laurels though. In 1968, he took his bike with higher gearing to a British air base with a 9000ft runway.  On what was essentially an unfaired bike with minimal suspension, he clocked a staggering 206.54 mph; becoming the first Englishman to exceed 200 mph.

It's funny how innovation seems prevalent  with V twin motors!  As well as Englishmen George Brown and Alf Hagon, Kiwis Burt Munro and John Britten also enjoyed considerable success on the international stage with their V twins; albeit some decades apart!

Pete Allan's Twin Triumph

Although twin-engined drag bikes made their 60's debut in the USA, Pete Allan was arguably the first UK drag racer to have one which ran both competitively and reliably.  Coupling the two motors together was not a straightforward exercise because of power pulses putting enormous stresses on the drive chains but Pete's beautiful engineering largely overcame this.  The American twins of this era were normally aspirated and used nitromethane to develop big dollops of horsepower.  Pete's bike used both nitro AND a big supercharger to produce outrageous horses!  The photo clearly shows the massive intake to the supercharger and the pressure release valve between the two engines (the rear engine has the head reversed to minimise intake piping and fuel condensing).  The pressure release valve also had considerable value as a safety device in event of a backfire when starting the bike on rollers!  Pete Allan emigrated to Australia in the early 70's and also competed at the highest level there. He's still well-known for his non-riding involvement in the drag and custom bike scene.

Twin-engined bikes are still on the drag race scene but are arguably more of an oddity than performing right at the top.  Probably the most famous and successful twin drag bike of all was The Hobbit, campaigned by John Hobbs from 1975 to 1979.  It had twin superchargers fed with nitromethane and at its peak, was covering the standing quarter mile in a fraction over 8 seconds with terminal speeds of around 180mph.  All this from engines which had their roots as early British road bikes!

Vic Phillip's Impulse drag bike

In the early-mid 60's,  Japanese 4 cylinder road bikes had yet to be launched but it was clear that multi-cylinders could offer significant horsepower advantages compared with twins or singles.  One of the early believers was Vic Phillips who built a sidecar drag bike using a tuned 1000cc Hillman Imp motor.  I lost touch with progress early in its development but as with the other bikes and builders mentioned here, it was a highly innovative approach with limited resources.  What's more, the standard of engineering was superb, one example being the flawless hand-made fairing.  The photos were taken by me at Santa Pod dragstrip, close to where I used to live prior to emigrating.

Money sure helps, but it's sheer hard work and clever thinking which carries the day!

Impulse from the front

Ag's Barra (Angus McPhails Barrow translated from Scottish English!)

When sprint/drag bikes are mentioned, the mental image is of big capacity monsters producing equally monstrous horsepower.  However, there are a number of smaller capacity classes where arguably; it is harder to achieve a favourable power to weight ratio compared with the big 'uns.  Angus McPhail raced a tuned 250cc Arial Arrow.  Conscious of the need to shed as much weight as possible to offset the relatively modest power of the 250cc engine, Angus went for a tiny hand-crafted monococque alloy frame, tiny wheels and equally tiny front suspension to minimise weight.  At least he didn't have far to fall if things went pear-shaped!

I'm a bit hazy on exactly how fast the bike was but if I remember correctly, it set a number of British records over several distances.  However, the main point was that it was yet another example of ingenuity rather than money yielding good results.

The next photo is of Icarus, my ultra-short stroke supercharged Triumph.  Details  HERE
(photo taken by Pete Miller).

Icarus

The final example of ingenuity is not a drag bike, it's a circuit racer developed by the Triumph Factory.  The name has been proudly carried forward nearly 4 decades to grace Triumph's current 675cc sports bike:

The 1960's 500cc Triumph Daytona Factory Racer.

The Daytona 200 has been America's premier motorcycle race for several decades and it's fair to say that the earlier days were a Harley Davidson benefit with the factory-backed bikes cleaning up virtually every year.  The US bike market was where Triumph had its greatest sales and a win at Daytona would have a huge impact on increasing market share.  Doug Hele, chief development engineer of the Triumph factory and a US dealership set about building a twin carburettor 500 based on the Tiger 100 which was light, powerful, having a low drag coefficient to take it to around 150 mph and be very manoeuvrable for the tight infield turns. In 1967, Gary Nixon blitzed the field to take line honours and to celebrate, Triumph released the first Daytona road bike the same year.

The photo taken at Mallory Park in the UK shows a works Daytona raced by chief tester Percy Tait.  Note the huge amount of tread on the race tyres and the foam-lined brackets to isolate the carburettors from vibration and fuel foaming.  The bike's light weight and superb handling gave Percy many short circuit victories against the likes of Agostini on the MV Augusta 500 as well as other aces on factory machinery.  In 1969, it was even entered into the Belgian GP as a one-off which Percy led for several laps; eventually finishing second to Giacomo Agostini.

Well, there we are - money undoubtedly helps, but it's smart thinking (REAL engineering!) which can win the day when the money isn't there!