New 50 year old race project

Chris · Dec 18, 2022

So far I haven't been able to find a photo of the Mick Grant Jim Lee Goldstar.
However I have found a photo of the
Eric Stanbra velocette. He was Jim & Mick Grants mechanic 70/ 71 & as a reward Jim made him a frame for his velo. This frame was nothing like the frames made for Stan Stevens the Velocette dealer. One of which Mick used with his Velocette engine & started the association with Jim Lee. This one was similar to the Jim Lee Commando frames.

Fast Eddie · Dec 18, 2022

Chris said:
So far I haven't been able to find a photo of the Mick Grant Jim Lee Goldstar.
However I have found a photo of the
Eric Stanbra velocette. He was Jim & Mick Grants mechanic 70/ 71 & as a reward Jim made him a frame for his velo. This frame was nothing like the frames made for Stan Stevens the Velocette dealer. One of which Mick used with his Velocette engine & started the association with Jim Lee. This one was similar to the Jim Lee Commando frames.

A chap called Cliff Ransley had, or has, a Jim Lee Velo. Do you know him Chris ?

Chris · Dec 18, 2022

I know Micks Jim Lee Velo came back to the UK after being in Canada for 30 years where it was raced a lot. Somewhere I have the name of the man who owns it. Is it Cliff?
What I didnt know is Jim made the frames for Stevens & gave Mick one. It looks similar to my 8 valve but has lowers seat rails & an extended Velocette swinging arm, thats now been fully rebuilt.
Nice piece by the yorkshire ferret about a group of velocette racers. In fact lots of great blogs but hard to find them all.

storm42 · Dec 18, 2022

Hi Chris, I think this Velo may have a Jim Lee frame, it is a 4 valve and was built by the father of the guy that write the Yorkshire Ferret blog

Chris · Dec 19, 2022

Wow Ralph
& twin discs to boot. Could well be, although others in that group built frames. It was a fascinating group, lots of little snippets but few clear photos.
Im enjoying the search though.

Chris · Dec 20, 2022

Ralph Eric Stanbra's bike looks one & the same!

domino77 · Dec 24, 2022

Circuit de Montlhéry France

Chris · Dec 24, 2022

Donino the 4 valve! Wonderful pictures.

Fast Eddie · Dec 24, 2022

domino77 said:
Circuit de Montlhéry France

What a wonderfully prepared machine.

mean gene · Dec 24, 2022

Beautiful bike! Is that a Weber carb on the Velocette? Often wondered why you don't see more Webers on twins! Can't be that hard to match up and no linkage or twin cable to mess with.

Chris · Dec 25, 2022

It's a couple of Gardners Gene. Nigel Hall Smith ran Webbers on his 8 valve Triton. He said that they never stick unlike his Amals. Easy to set up & didnt go out of sync. Problem for me was fitting one between the top rails!

storm42 · Dec 25, 2022

Chris as far as I can find out, Eric and Shaun worked together on the project, and it is a Weber, that seemed to cause Shaun more problems than the 4 valve when he wanted to race with the classic club back in the day, i believe they would allow it now though.

Chris · Dec 25, 2022

My bad thats a beautifully crafted alloy shield! I can see the weber behind it. It looked like a pair of Gardeners. Nige ran his weber from 1996.