Royal Enfield

In my early days of editing this magazine, which rather terrifyingly is now only a couple of years shy of two decades, The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu kindly provided me with motorcycles for a couple of Pioneer runs, the first on a delightful fore-and-aft Douglas, the second on the museum’s long-term owned 1914 Royal Enfield V-twin.

There was always something I found a touch unsettling about the Enfield – the reason being that in 1914, after finishing third in the Junior TT, Irishman Fred Walker crashed into a barrier posted across the road, subsequently dying from his injuries, albeit five days later. Poor Walker had led early on in the race, but a puncture dropped him down the reckoning, and he was reported to have crashed at least twice in his attempts to get back to the front. Whether concussion or exhaustion contributed to his fatal misjudgement, isn’t really known.

Riding a motorcycle – albeit apparently with a replacement engine – is a bit of a strange feeling, I always felt. Still, the machine itself, which carries the registration number XOT 4, remains the most impressive veteran I’ve ever riden, with sprightly performance and the benefit of a two-speed, tank-mounted gear. No clutch though.

In the 1914 Junior TT race, nine of the 49 participants were Royal Enfield mounted. Early on, the first four were all Enfields, but misfortune struck, and the best finisher was the unfortunate Walker, in third.

Royal Enfield made V-twins up until the Second World War, the machines getting ever bigger and becoming more sidecar orientated. They didn’t reappear after the Second World War though there was a fabulous concept displayed by the current company a year or two back. Who knows, maybe they’ll come again…