| Peter McManus, Motorcycles, Merlins, and Mosquitos, Breedon Books 2009 |
The caption described this as a 1927 McEvoy later fitted with a V twin made up of two JAP alcohol speedway cylinders on a common crankcase making 78 hp. It was apparently raced by George Patchett but no pictures are turning up...
I wonder if it was a sprinter rather than a racer? That's quite a small fuel tank, and the rear exhaust blocks airflow over the front cylinder. The standard fuel tank is quite long. I think that the speedway exhausts were a bigger diameter than the road ones, too. D.
ReplyDeleteI found a few, and also this, searching for "George Patchett motorcycle racer 1920s". D.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Patchett
Methanol burns so much cooler, cylinder fins are shaved off to keep the heat in, so exhaust routing is not critical.
DeleteI was thinking the fuel tank might be a '30s replacement. I'm with Anonymous in thinking it was last used for sprinting.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the first bike I've ever seen that made me think "In all honesty, do I have the cojones to ride that thing hard?". ... Shid: I really am old.
--rats