The Tale of the Triumph 500cc Racer that went to the Belgian GP Part One, Two and Three.

Mark Savage

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A true tale of the Triumph 500cc racer that went to the Belgium GP and finished second to the mighty MV Agusta.
By Les Williams.

Part One.

One day a long time ago in the year of '69 at the humble Triumph motorcycle factory Mr Hele, who was a genius and a gentleman and also the boss of the trying out and gofaster shop, asked two of the mechanics named Arthur and Jack if they would mind making two racing motorbikes for our Percy. Now in those days Percy was the tryer out and gofast person and a very fast racer man, his riding boots had a lot of sticky tape holding them together, proof that he was a very fast corner man and also that he did not have a lot of shiny pennies. Arthur and Jack set to work with great gusto and after many loud engine noises from the Heenan and Froude device, then much work with the hammers and things and after a few days hard work they blew the tyres up to reveal two beautiful racing motorbikes. Number one racer was made from a single front downtube but the tubes and things were made from the magic not so heavy metal, brought over to the works by “Ken the Frame” all the way from the place called Brum, a number five mark was bestowed on to the headstock, because as Arthur said to Jack he may have to find the frame again in thirty long years or so.


Two special, very shiny light metal oil tanks fitted down low in front of the engine, a clever idea of the nice Mr Hele. Number two racer was made with a very special twin downtube frame, put together in that place called Brum by the most clever Ken the Frame. No mark was bestowed on this frame so Arthur decided to name it “Enfield”, a central oil tank was made to keep the slippery stuff in.


Both racers had the same go very fast engines, made by Jack in between his teabreaks and the odd smoke or two to reflect on how much horse manure would be left on the floor of the loud noise shop after testing the said engines. There was a lot.

Now in those days Mr Hopwood lived upstairs in a big shiny office with wood panelling, a deep pile carpet, a large oak desk and chairs with leather seats for his minions to sit on when he wanted to shout at them. Also he had a pretty desk maiden to bring him tea and bickies all day long. Now in the time taken to tell you about the office and things Mr Hele had rushed up the stairs and stepped into the big shiny place without knocking, he could do this because really they were both very good friends. However Mr Hopwood was in a rather vexed mood that morning, his Rover automobile had been seen off by a BSA testerman on a proddy race bike on his journey to the factory, so perhaps he did not quite cotton on where when Mr Hele asked about the gofaster test in the land of the belgiums, he looked down at Hele but said they could go if Mr Percy would bring him something nice back, also they could take the Transit to bring it back in, so that was that.

On the day after next the trusty Transit was made ready with an oily rag service and the kipper smell removed, after being in the Isle of Man for the TT races you see. Then the two beautiful racers were loaded carefully, plus a couple of hammers and tool things, a change of underwear, a few sandwiches and a big flask of tea, then Arthur, Jack and Percy were away. After a pleasant sea trip landing in Belgium and after our Percy had bribed the borderman with a pile of Triumph stickers and things all they had to do then was to find Spa, so with Jack doing the the map work they got to the circuit in half an hour or so. Arriving at the circuit this “Ragbag Team” were allocated the same pit area as the mighty MV Agusta team, at first the MV mechanics could not believe the tatty Transit entering the pit of the great and mighty and duly refused entry. The order of the day became fisticuffs and things, so Arthur who is quite large showed the smallest Italian his fist and the trusty van, which I might add was the mobile hotel, cookhouse, workshop and perhaps with a bit of luck a resting place for a passing maiden, was in. The MV mechanics moved their beloved machines as far as possible from this new outfit worried they might catch oil leaks and things.

In due course practise happened and our Percy taking out in turn the two racers to test the best for gofast and also for the wibble wobbles, making very fast times on both and at the end of a glorious day Percy was on the front of the grid along with the person called “Ago” After this the MV team became very nice and started offering round the pasta and vino and things, moving closer to the Triumphs for a better looksee.
TBC.
 
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Love the writing style... eagerly awaiting next 'bit' thank you....

(Not exactly sure what a: 'Triumph' is, mind you)
 
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Soon, if there's "Lockdown reading interest"

I worked as part of a dirt race car pit crew for a season. The real stories and drama surrounding the racing were great. To say nothing of watching a race where someone taps another racer into the wall, and then seeing the ensueing fist fight in the pits after the race is finished...
 
My Pop's raced dirt track back in the days after WWII and I heard some cool stories, I still have a couple of programs from some of the races he was in. :)
 
My 500cc short stroke Triton was built out of parts which were brought to Australia by Baldo Meli - (Paddy). He used to work in the Triumph factory and was involved in making the first Bonneville head. He got a 12th on the IOM in about 1948. The Triton was built with all the theories of the 1950s. It was just a nasty piece of shit. I raced it for 12 years and it taught me everything I know. The stroke was 63mm and the motor was built out of 650 parts. The Percy Tait 500 would not have been a nice bike to race. And a Paton 500 would also probably give the rider a hard time. A Norton Manx is a much better way to go - much less anxiety.
 
If you were going to build a replica of the Percy Tait 500cc Triumph, you need to remember that Percy Tait was not an ordinary rider. Both Percy Tait and Geoff Duke spent WW2 in the British Army motorcycle corps. I've got an article about Percy in a magazine. He used to ride across snow-covered roads extremely quickly. When asked, he simply said 'you don't tense-up'. If you wanted to build the Triumph, replica, you would need to find a 1973 T100 motor which has the real timing side bearing in the crankcases, and also a six-speed gearbox. I saw one of those motors at a swap meet years ago - the bike was $3000 when that was a lot of money, so I did not buy it.
 
Percy Tait was a yokel. Mike Hailwood had a rich father. It makes a difference.
 
Part Two.


Comes raceday and Percy opts to ride the racerbike with the twin downtube frame known as Enfield. Lined up on the front row, Agostini, Nelson, Carruthers, Barnett, our Percy, Marsovsky and Finley. The flag drops and and away they go, a few laps and Ago leads and after him goes our Percy riding like the wind and smoking like the devil to finish second to Ago the Great on his rapido red motorbike who lapped all others except our Percy. Indeed it is so recorded that the race speed of our Percy was in the region of 116 miles in the hour. So returned the happy trio to the factory to great joy and jubilation from Mr Hele and all the workers that drilled holes and things and the putting of motorbikes together as they all knew it was good for the ordermen and perhaps more pennies in their wages sacks. They were all good people and proud of their craft. Then there was cause for further joy as two of the other gofast mechanics named Bill and Fred had just returned from a place called Barcelona in sunny Spain where had taken place a day and night race and Mr Hele had sent them there with a fast Bonneville to try out, ridden by two Jolly Uphill riders and indeed to goodness they had won. Mr Hopwood was also in a good mood, Mr Copson the automobile man had tuned his Rover and he had just blown the BSA testerman into the weeds.

On the Tuesday of that week Mr Hele had a bit of a meeting with a bloke named Les, he was Mr Hele's right hand man with the gofaster bits and bobs and the mechanics and the sweeping up of things. He also wrote down a lot writing about the racers and the goings on and kept all the bits of paper. He wore shiny overalls but Mr Hopwood would sometimes invite him into the shiny office to have a chat about this or that so he was not daft. Anyway back to the meeting, Mr Hele said to Les that he had received a telex from his friend Mr Coates in the US of A, seems he needed a fast engine for one of his fast men to go fast at a place called Indianapolis. So Mr Hele said how about the Belgium race engine, Mr Coates said “Yeah OK”. So would Les please have the engine removed from the frame, wrap some brown paper round it and get it on to the next airbus. So Les did as he was asked and the engine was gone forever. Mr Hele's desk maiden sent Les an official script to say it was all above board, which also kept the accountant lady happy and do you know to this day Les still has that script.

As for the frame called Enfield it was now redundant, it was a bit weak anyway. One rainy day one of the muddymen from the trials shed who was called Bob but his real name was Dobbin was indoors and saw it and desired it to make a mudbike for his own use, so for a small bag of used pennies and his teatime orange it was his along with the forks, after some cutting and welding he made a nice mudmachine, which in turn has now vanished into the mists of time so the Triumph that finished second in the Belgium Grand Prix was gone.

The racer called “Number 5” Percy raced throughout the rest of the season with great results and also a few engine blow ups, but with much happiness our Percy won the Swedish Grand Prix with it in that year. As Norman, who was Mr Hele's right hand slide rule man, said what a spiffing season we have all had (he did speak a bit posh).

Number 5 was put away for the winter. As for all the left over bits and bobs from the said racerbikes plus a few test engines, that bloke Les swept them all up one morning and stuffed them in the big steel cupboard under the clock in the trying out and gofaster shop where they stayed for years and years.

For as Mr Hele said to that bloke Les, “There will be a more exciting job to do in the cold of the winter”, he was right as always, the howling triples were waiting in the wings.

The year '69 was soon at it's end and the year of '70 arrived one cold frosty morning on the 1st of January, the next day, which was Friday all the gofast mechanics rushed back into the gofast and tryout shop, joyfully refreshed after the once a year yuletide kneesup and filled with joy at the prospect of making those triples howl. So with much banging with hammers and too things and loud noises from the Heenen and Froudes thet got on with the good work. The doors were shut to keep out the din, so one can carry on with the tale of the 500 racer and the remaining bits and bobs.

As all have been told the racer known as Enfield is no more, perhaps the ghost of Enfield will return the gofast places of the years to come, as Frank the gateman said these things do happen.

Racer number 5 was, in the year of '70, raced only a few times as our Percy was busy sorting out the howling triples but in the year of '71 on the 6th day of the windy month at the Park of Mallory our Percy and number 5 had their last race in which Percy threw the old thing down the road so that was the end of that.

For some time it lived in one of the sheds at the back of the works with quite a lot of other retired gofast and tryout motorbikes so it was not too sad. Then one day one of the sales persons sold the racer with a few bits and bobs to a friend who was a dealerman of used gofast bikes and things. For how many shiny shillings it is not known but with a bit of a nod and a wink the dealerman thought he was the proud keeper of the Triumph 500 racer that was second at the Belgium Grand Prix, but it was not so as has been explained.

The dealerman made the racer all pretty and polished it a bit and put it in his show window for all to see and admire. Now for a nice big bag of shiny shillings the ex works racer along with a casket of spare bits was for sale. One damp morning in the year of '72 a nice man named David, out for his morning stroll, passed by the shop window saw this beautiful racer that had been to Belgium and for the said bag of shiny shillings it was his. As he said to his wife later, he had always wanted to race in the island where the pussy cats had no tails and so he did. It is recorded that he had a speed of faster than 120 miles in the hour, at the place called the Highlander. For a year or two he had very jolly times with the number 5 ex works racer on the gofast parts of his homeland, then the year of '74 David himself retired from the art of racing and put the old racer away. He loved the old thing so much he put it in his sitting room and there it stayed until the year of '83, the wallpaper man was coming and the racer had to go.

Where did it go? It went back to Belgium, David did a bit of a deal for a sack of Belgium choccies and a bit of the hard stuff with a Frank De Something who was a Belgium person. For many years he also raced and used the racer for classic events plus a few throwing down the road shows. Then one day the primary chain restyled the crankcases so Frank put the poor old bike away in his barn where it stayed until the year of 02 appeared.

One afternoon early that year a famous Belgium lawyerman named Jacques came to see Frank about something or other so Frank proudly showing him his slightly rearranged ex works racer and asking Jacques that as he had friends in the land of the Triumph did he know a collectorman there that for a big sack of shiny shillings would like to have his lovely machine. Indeed he did and in a couple of hours the man named Roy, who has a house stuffed with gleaming motorbikes and things sent a paper promising the said shiny shillings and our Percy's GP racer was back.

After a day or two Roy asked Arthur, who if one recalls was the former race mechanic now a little older but still clever with the workings and things of the old works racers, could he do it up a bit. He said he would be pleased to do that little job and after a few days with his trusty hammers and things the racer was as good as new. Just in time for the gofast tryout day at the howling triples beano in the warmtime of the year at Cadwell Park. It's rider was John of the Bartons, and ex Triumph racerman and did he make it sing. The song from it's smoke outlets made the howling triples persons look up in great joy. By the way John was Mr Hele's left hand slide rule man so man and machine made a great tribute to the memory of Mr Doug Hele and all he stood for and his many achievements.

Now one may ask what happened to the bits and bobs and the engines in the cupboard under the clock. To tell one must go back in time to the year of '73, that was the beginning of the unhappy times, the humble Triumph factory now belonged to the mighty but poor BSA emporium, no shillings or even pennies left in the kitty, so the man that made the packing boxes said, “ No pennies, no boxes, you will have to shut the gates”. And so they shut, all this despite the sterling efforts of the workermen and the winnings of the howling triple racers which there is no doubt that the antics of our Percy on the gofast and breakeasy 500 racers played a massive part

The Triumph gates closed and all the workers got very angry and stayed at work and would not go home for their tea staying behind the gates and lighting bonfires. The wives ever faithful, well most of them, brought their tea to the angry workers who had now called themselves pickets.

In due course the robber barons who ruled the land at the time got to hear about the goings on at the Merry Den and said to each other over whisky breaks and things, “How about asking the poor Dennis, (who's real name was Poore) but he was not poor he lived at Norton Villiers, to sort out the goings on at the Merry Den”. Now Dennis was a good man and had the right ideas which time has proven but the union men and a few of the robber barons had other ideas for their own advancements and did it on Dennis from a great height so he was out in the cold. So in the year of '75 the great experiment of the workers co-operative came to pass.


Part Three coming up...
 
Part Three


From this time the mechanics of the gofast shop had taken up their hammers and tools and things and gone away to do things with Jaguar and Rover automobiles and also with the new fangled wankling device. As for that bloke Les, he was a bit of a buccaneer, he went off to make a legend or two. Our Percy was now a mighty merchant of oriental two and four wheel machines and had profited greatly as he was a clever old shopkeeper but in between counting his pennies he still thought of his GP Triumph and how he had blown off the cooperman at the place of Snetterton.

The years passed by as they do, the Co-op thing at the Merry Den was doing well all the workermen and ladies proudly bolting their bonny bikes together and making a lovely job of it. In the year of '79 at the Co-op of the Triumph a man called Brian happened to look in the cupboard under the clock in the said before shop and found the engines and bits and bobs that had been put away all those years ago. Brian was the Co-op man who did the shopping for all the bits and pieces to make the bonny bikes, he had to pay a bill or two and the Co-op were at the time low on shilling pieces so the plan was to talk nicely to our Percy for a hefty bag of the necessary the goods would be his and so it came to pass.

On a cold Thursday evening a month or two later our Percy called at the house of Arthur for a bit of a chat and asked him could he make a nice copy GP racer from the engine and bits and bobs he had just by chance with him. So for old times sake and to keep his hand in plus a few pennies he said “Yeah OK” (he could speak American). The frame he cleverly made from a standard single downtube Daytona frame to make it like the real racer he did things with his magic saw and and flame gun to the rear end with the tubes and seat rail from an oriental thing. Put two front oil tanks on, put the engine in. But there was no petrol tank and a few other bits were missing so the machine could not be finished as the parts never arrived in the post so that was the end of that.

It was about the foggy time of the year after that our Percy, now a champion Suzuki dealer of some repute, needed to purchase yet another garage so his copy racer had to go. A deal was done and the project went to a couple of racermen called Mick and Rob from the Hampton in the North. So in the first years of the new century the machine now with a nice new petrol tank made by the welding wizard called Don, all beautifully completed as Percy's GP racer complete with works engine the other engine crafted into a prototype bandit frame and is wonderful to behold. The years have rolled by and many fables and myths of the humble Triumph motorcycle factory have been told but undo the twist in the tale of the tiger to see the truth in this tale of the triumph GP racer that went to the Belgium GP and finished second to the mighty MV Agusta.

The End.
 
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