Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Austin Brough

A while back a post on a modified Austin car mentioned George Brough's three wheel motorcycle, Powered by a 750cc Austin car engine, the three wheeler was intended as a sidecar rig. But why 2 drive wheels, I don't know. If it was for traction, I'm sure the Matchless and JAP Vtwins made more power and torque and definitely were faster than this device. Not one of the superior Brough Superiors, in my view.



 

4 comments:

  1. If they used the car engine and gearbox, they were stuck with a centerline driveshaft,
    as the photos show. The twin rear wheels would have been the only way to keep the
    geometry on an even keel if it was to qualify, even just theoretically, or legally,
    as a motorcycle to start with...

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  2. Come to think of it, wasn't there a previous post about some racing contraption,
    where twin rear wheels were allowed within some maximum width or spacing ?
    I can't find it. Could be similarly related to some ad hoc legal loophole ?

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  3. Thanks yes, it was the LHW Austin three wheeler, I've added the link. Apparently the Austin drive train (with stock axle ratio) was used. With all the engine/transmission work already provided, building an offset final drive wouldn't have been that hard to do.
    The company did go to the trouble of an aluminum cylinder head for that custom touch.

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  4. Some additional info here on how (apparently) they came to do it like that:

    https://www.classicdriver.com/en/bike/brough-superior/1932/374431

    The "inexplicable rule" alluded to about the LHW Austin seems to be a 1 foot
    restriction for taxation purposes.

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