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his previous s n the tour,
but on his home track Ehret
wasfiredupdodowelland
fancied his chances.
Reporting on his tour in the
British motorcycle press, Duke
wrote: “Ehret made a poor
[push] start in the Unlimited
event, whereas I was first away,
and piled on the coals from
the beginning. Thereafter I
was able to keep an eye on the
Vincent rider approaching
the hairpin as I accelerated
away from it. Although he
was unable to make up for his
bad start, Ehret rode to such
purpose that he equalled my
fastest lap, and we now share
the honour of being the lap
record holders.”
After this scintillating
performance, Jack bolted
on the chair for him and
passenger Stan Blundell to win
the sidecar race!
One win that had eluded
Ehret was the Australian TT
at Bathurst, but he put that
right in Easter 1956, winning
the Sidecar TT with passenger
George Donkin. Perhaps with
this goal achieved, Jack and the
Vincent became less frequent
competitors, and when Mount
Druitt closed in 1958 the Black
Lightning was mothballed for
10 years.
In 1968, Ehret made a
comeback of sorts at Oran
Park, the Lightning now fitted
with 16-inch wheels. Despite
the long layoff, Ehret didn’t
disgrace himself, finishing
third in the sidecar race.
A further decade passed
before he brought the Black
Lightning out once more, again
at Oran Park. By this time,
the Vincent was in a different
class – Historic – and Ehret
demolished the field to win
both his races by almost a
complete lap.
Its last appearance was at
Eastern Creek in 1993, where
Ehret lapped the field, winning
both Historic Sidecar races
passengered by his son, John,
then removed the chair for
John to ride it in two solo races.
According to Jack, the Vincent
finished on the rostrum in 80
per cent of the races he entered
during his 40 years of racing it.
Thereafter, the Lightningbegan a long hibernation in
a Sydney shed until it was
put up for sale in 1999 and
purchased by noted Vincent
enthusiast Franc Trento, owner
of Melbourne-based EuroBrit
Motorbikes.
Trento decided not to restore
the Lightning, keeping it in
exactly the same ‘as used’
condition he’d acquired it in.
It was returned to its original
specification with 21-inch front
and 20-inch rear wheels, with
a very rare big-fin drum front
brake and a double-sided rear
one for sidecar use. Far from
becoming a static piece, the
Lightning was regularly used,
including taking to the track at
the Broadford Bike Bonanza in
2009 and 2010.
Trento sold the bike in 2014
to French collector Nicolas
Dourassoff, who shipped
it to France where local
Vincent expert Patrick Godet
recommissioned it.
In its 66-year existence,
this Vincent Black Lightning
has clocked up 8587km and
virtually every metre has been
covered in pursuit of glory.And as far as its new owner was
concerned, it wasn’t ready to be
tucked away in a museum just
yet – so he asked me to come
and ride it!
My laps came at the Circuit
Carole on the outskirts of
Paris. Patrick Godet also
brought along a recently built,
100 per cent authentic Black
Lightning replica he’d created
for customer Peter Fox. Peter
had already covered 1930km
on it, pronouncing it “huge fun,
and incredibly impressive once
you get it rev ving – it feels like
you’re being pulled along by a
huge bungee cord!”
That is indeed the
impression you get on the
ex-Ehret Vincent once the rev
counter needle tracks its way to
the 3800rpm mark, whereupon
the bungee cord releases and
you’re swept to what must have
been unthought-of speed in
the middle of the last century.
Nothing much happens below
those revs, though, so you
have to coax the engine into
meaningful action with a dab
on the Ferodo clutch’s light-
action lever. Soon the tach isAt a Glance
Available only by special order,
the standard Black Lightning
was supplied in racing trim with
a tachometer, magnesium alloy
brake plates, racing tyres and rims,
rearset foot controls, a solo seat
and aluminium mudguards. This
reduced the Black Lightning’s dry
weight to just 172kg versus the
Black Shadow’s 208kg.
The 998cc air-cooled ohv 50º V-twin
had higher-performance racing
components including higher-lift
cams with more overlap, stronger
rods with a large-diameter caged
roller-bearing big end, polished
flywheel and 13:1 compression ratio
for methanol fuel.
Combustion chamber spheres were
polished and larger inlet ports were
fed by twin 1¼-inch Amal 10TT9
carburettors. The Ferodo single-
plate clutch’s cover featured centre
and rear cooling holes, while the
four-speed gearbox was beefed
up to handle the 52kW at 5600 rpm
(versus the Black Shadow’s 41kW).
The crankcases on this bike are
original, with the main bearings
resleeved. New pistons, liners,
valves, dual valve springs, Mark II
Vincent cams, cam followers and oil
pump are fitted. The original parts
have all been saved.hii i tt th t Vi tb l f
The £500 price
would have bought
a nice house in
Sydney at the time