AUTOCYCLE SPRINTER
Steve Massie’s tiny 1939 Aberdale Brown special, based on a New Hudson autocycle powered by a 98cc Villiers 2F engine, drew plenty of attention. Steve said: “This was a joint project between Ron Phillips of Fahron Engineering and myself. I’ve been into autocycles for a while and did the National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club’s ‘Coast to Coast’ run where I discovered I couldn’t keep up with a couple of guys with New Hudsons. We got talking at the end of the ride and I thought: ‘I’m going to come back next year with something a bit special’.
“Luckily for me, Ron had just done some development work tuning a 98cc James Comet for a land speed record attempt at Bonneville. The Villiers 2F engine is single-speed, but it’s now got radical porting thanks to an extra transfer [boost] port which gives more torque and power. Carb is a 22mm Mikuni. Ron’s also come up with a special centre-fire spark plug cylinder head from alloy billet, he’s increased compression and made an expansion chamber to suit the engine. It’s built as a sprinter and the best top speed I’ve seen is 51mph at East Kirkby, with standard gearing; not bad considering the 2F was good for 30mph as standard.”
The frame is standard autocycle, except Steve’s removed the seat post and added the new subframe and seat. “The method to get this going is to slip the clutch, pedal like mad and when it’s going, slide back on the saddle and wind open the throttle. The ’bars are standard but cut-and-shut by me to create Brooklands-style racing ’bars.”
Steve also owns a Ducati SL1 two-stroke which was displayed in front of the castle alongside a period Manx Norton. Steve built the Ducati as a replica of the bike Rodney Gooch raced in the final 50cc TT in 1968. “I built it based on photos of Rodney’s bike – but then his original came up for sale at auction, so I bought that, too. Now I have the real bike I can see the small differences compared to my replica; the petrol tank shape is the most obvious. But I’m planning to show both bikes together in future.”