Australian Road Rider — August 2017

TUNED FOR SPEED

The man who knew more about making a bike go fast

than anyone. And he was an Aussie

W

hen the world needed to

know how to get unheard-of

performance numbers out of

motorcycle engines, it looked

south. Right here, in the Land of Oz. And more

specifi cally, one bloke: Philip Edward Irving.

Irving was an engineer and author, most

famous for the Repco-Brabham Formula One

and Vincent motorcycle engines. He also wrote

the books Tuning For Speed and Motorcycle

Technicalities and had a tech column in Motor

Cycling magazine called Slide Rule.

Irving was completely immersed in

motorcycles and racing. At 89 (weeks before

his death in 1992), he was still tuning engines

at Midwest Harley in Ballarat. Business owner

Ken James was quoted as saying, “You can’t

stop Phil; he just needs to be around engines

and make them sing!”

Many will know that the Irving Vincent

name lives on inthe wonderful black beasts

being built and raced by KHE under the name

Irving Vincent Motorcycles in Hallam, Victoria.

To honour Irving’s great achievements, the

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport

named its highest engineering award the Phil

Irving Award.

There is also a Phil Irving Trophy motorcycle

race held at Phillip Island during its annual

Island Classic race meeting.

Cam Donald fl anked by Ken (right)

and Barry Horner, builders of the

venerable Irving Vincent.

14 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

UPFRONT

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