Classic Dirt Bike — Autumn 2017

Clearlyalotofcarewasinvolvedwith

thisbuildandeventhepartsfrom

severalmakersfittogethernicely.

AVelo for the rough

Notgenerally notedforoff-roadsport, Velocette

neverthelesshadtheirdalliancesinthedirt.

WordsTim BrittonPicsMortons Archive

T

he wayofthe magazineworld

is fascinatingin manyrespects,

especiallywherean archiveis

involved.Here at Mortons the

archiveis probablythe company’smost

valuableresourceand also its mostenticing

department.Yousee, goingin to searchfor

picturesinvolveslookingthroughboxesof

imagesand magazinestoo. That’swhen

thingsinnocentlychangethe course of a

search.Take this Velocette-basedscrambler

for instance–there Iwas, lookingthrough

boxesfor,ofall things,aPanthersidecar

outfitwhen the photoof the younglad

checkinghis rear brakefell from the folder.

Clearly working on ascramblerand apretty

neat lookingone too, interestwaspiqued.

The informationon the rear of the image

showed it enteredtheMotorCycleeditorial

officesin September1964,and haulingout

the back issuesrevealedthe picturewasone

offive usedin afeatureon the bike.

Firstofall, the younglad –MikeWinwood

–was makingabit of aname for himself

in the West Midlands,with several wins,

secondsand thirdsin the two monthssince

the bikewas readyto race.The pictures

accompanying the article showed what

aneat motorcyclethis actuallywasand

whilelabelleda‘special’thereare different

levels of special.This proved to be very

specialindeed.

The writerof the originalfeature

interviewedMikeand his dad Ray, who did

the bulk of the workonthe machine,tofind

out moreaboutthe bike’sbackground.First

questionwas‘whyaVelo?’Rayadmittedto

having asoft spot for the marquebut allowed

the availabilityof sparesand the reliabilityof

the motorto be decidingfactors. The 500cc

Venom enginewasinstandardroad trim and

producedthe right sortofpower from zero

revs right the wayupthe range.

Mostspecialbuildersfor scramblingor MX

at the time were usingaBSA frameof some

description,be it aGold Star or an A7/10

version and the Winwoodssaid theyhad

beeninfluencedby BSA for their framebut

had madeit entirelythemselves.

Wheninitialplansto slot a500ccmotor

into aC15 framewere scupperedbecause

therewasn’troom for aseparateengine/

gearboxset-up,the Winwoodssimplyused

the dimensionssuch as headanglesand

tube bendsto maketheir own framefrom

Reynolds531 whichwouldhold the engine

and gearboxin acradlemadefrom 12 gauge

one inch diametertube.Whiletheywere at it

theytook influencefrom acertain Ariel trials

bikeand madethe three-inchdiameterseat

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