British World-beater # 2,453 Hadley Starr, 1968

Cycle, Sept 1968

 In the late fifties Alpha was a company making high performance engine components for the British motorcycle industry,  and as the Villiers 9E 2 stroke single began to be raced in the early sixties they became an independent race developer for the engine. The owners of the company put a stop to the fun in 1968, complaining of the cost.

 One of the people working on that project was Fred Hadley, who saw a need for a competitive 2 stroke for the privateers in the 125 class. As a side project he developed the engine in this picture which produced 28 horsepower at 12,000 rpm.  The chassis was developed by Starr Engineering of Wolverhampton who built six bikes. A 5 speed Albion transmission was used but an all-new transmission was planned for the production version. They even had a $1300 price set but this project also died as part of the company owners no-racing rule. More here.