VELOCETTE 24hr RECORD
How eight riders and a Venom broke the record at Montlhéry
There were bigger bikes and there were faster bikes at the time, but in 1961 a Velocette Venom proved it had the combined speed and stamina to outshine them all. At the banked Montlhéry speed bowl on the outskirts of Paris, with the help of a team of eight riders the 500cc single became the first motorcycle in the world to average over 100mph (160kmh) for 24 hours.
The team leader was none other than Bertie Goodman, son of the founder and managing director of Veloce Ltd, the company which produced Velocettes. He was a hard rider who had finished third in the 1947 Ulster GP on a 350cc KTT, and enjoyed testing his company’s products on road and track. With him was British journalist Bruce Main-smith and six Frenchmen, including Georges Monneret (the 55-year-old six-time national champion), his son Pierre and Robert Leconte, the Velocette importer.
The bike was basically standard and ran with a compression ratio of a mere 8.75:1, although a five-lobe engine shock absorber (instead of three lobes) was fitted. Close-ratio gears – the same as the MKIII KTT racer – were used, with a final top gear ratio of 3.92:1 instead of the standard 4.87:1. As the plan was to illuminate the bends on the track with 50 strategically-placed Marchal car headlamps wired to 12-volt batteries, the bike did not have lights or a dynamo. What it did have was a specially-made Avonaire fairing produced by Mitchenall Brothers, clip-on handlebars, a centrestand to make wheel changes faster and a petrol tank modified to take 3.7 gallons (16.8 litres). There was no kickstart or front mudguard. Instead of the notoriously leaky primary chaincase, there was an open chain guard. The engine breathed through a 30mm Amal GP, and the usual Velocette fishtail silencer was replaced with a short megaphone based on KTT dimensions. The engine delivered 39.8bhp at 5900rpm
when bench tested at the Hall Green, Birmingham factory.
After finishing the Venom, Bertie took it to the Motor Industry Research Association test track, where he covered 2000 miles (over 3000km) with the throttle pinned to the stop. Satisfied that it was fit for the job, the bike was given an oil change – and they were ready for Montlhéry. At the time, the 24-hour motorcycle speed record was held by BMW, having been set in November 1959 by a French team that averaged 96.4mph (155.10kmh).
At 8.27am on March 18, 1961, Georges Monneret pushed off to start his one-hour session. There was a yellow line painted halfway up the concrete banking around the length of the circuit. To cover the correct distance, the bike had to stay on the line and travel exactly 1.398 miles (2.25km) each lap, or ride above it. Riders boomed round at 110-112mph (177180kmh). After dark, lap speeds dropped to about 108mph (174kmh), but the team still took the 12-hour record at a 104.66mph (168.43kmh) average, when both tyres were changed, along with the drive chain.
Then disaster struck. A new, cheaper internal gearchange mechanism had been bent by the French riders’ habit of stamping on the pedal. It took 33 minutes to fit a new one, but then the Venom was booming around Montlhéry again, charging over the bumpy concrete track with the usual Velocette taut, waggle-free, totally safe handling. There were no further problems and 24 hours after Monneret pushed off, the record was in the bag with an average speed of 100.05mph (161.02kmh), the Venom having consumed five pints of engine oil, four front and two rear Dunlop tyres, and Esso Super at a rate of 45mpg. Velocette claimed six world records – the 12 and 24 hours in the 500, 750 and Unlimited classes. It was a magnificent achievement.
‘VELOCETTE CLAIMED SIX WORLD RECORDS. IT WAS A MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENT’
Sadly, the record-breaking Velo was one of the casualties of the 2003 fire that destroyed around 600 of the 850 motorcycles on display at Britain’s National Motorcycle Museum, but Ivan Rhodes, the well-respected Velocette expert, has recently finished a complete restoration.
“The alloy parts were our biggest concern,” explains Ivan. “We decided to replace the crankcase and also the gearbox shell for safety reasons, but we used the original cylinder head with new valves and springs. I fitted a new piston even though the original looked OK, because this bike has been built to be ridden. The crank assembly and gearbox internals were all in good order, so we heat treated the steel components and replaced the bearings.”
The frame is a brazed-lug construction, so that was sent to Spondon Engineering, who checked the alignment and renewed the brazing. The petrol tank looked beyond repair, but it was cut in half and a panel beater skilfully knocked out the dents before welding it together again. The megaphone was also beaten back into shape, but the exhaust pipe only needed rechroming. Of course the Velo needed a pair of alloy wheel rims and a replica Avonaire fairing had to be made. “We tried to keep as many of the original components as possible,” explains Ivan. “Which is why the rear mudguard stays wear the scars caused by falling roof tiles.”
The record breaker was demonstrated at the Velocette annual rally at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire on the 50th anniversary of its Montlhéry success. “There was a great cheer when we started it up,” says a beaming Ivan. He is too modest to say whether the cheers were in appreciation of his efforts or to welcome back a famous motorcycle... To find out more about the museum, visit: nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk