Torquey motors

You might be interested in this article about Ken Blake:
http://www.halltech.com.au/kennyb/kbbio.htm
While was in Europe he rode for Gus Kuhn, before he was killed at the IOM in 1981.
He started his racing on the Jesser Triumph ,a 650 which was bored to 730cc and through bolted. Dean Jesser used to feed it with a mix of methanol and more than 60% nitro, and it developed massive torque. Blake was spectacular on it. At Mallala in about 1966, the motor spread itself around and brought down four other A graders, one a friend of mine stormed up to Dean and yelled 'see what happens when you use that shit ! '
The oppositon in those days rode manxes and feather bed vincents, The triumph usually trounced them.

acotrel said:

The oppositon in those days rode manxes and feather bed vincents, The triumph usually trounced them.

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If they weren't running nitro, that is hardly surprising. ?
60% nitro means the jetting has to be increased to flow approx 75% more fuel, so the power increase would be about 100% ?

Was that legal back then, a lot of race classes excluded rocket fuel ??

Legal ? Who was looking ? ]Methanol was banned in 1972, some TZ350s still used it.

Legal ? Who was looking ? Methanol was banned in 1972, some TZ350s still used it. A good A grader on a manx was not easy to beat with a triumph, even running nitro. Blake was interesting to watch, he used to wash off speed coming up to corners with a series of rear wheel slides. I once asked him how he could do that, and said it was due to the way Dean had the bike set up, it was that good.

Blake was interesting to watch, he used to wash off speed coming up to corners with a series of rear wheel slides. I once asked him how he could do that, and said it was due to the way Dean had the bike set up, it was that good.

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Yep Sir if the bike is up for it - it just invites the pilot to take good advantage of trading speed in one direction for another while keeping the momentum up. Freddie Spencer is another fella that made good use of using instants of front brake rear lift to twitch it into a new line of thrust. No one could ride his bike set up the way he liked it. I think this is what they call 'backing into a turn', that what it feels like to me but if not understanding what's going on and what bike will do, like letting off power too much or not enough, >>> Hi Side City or Low Side Sewer. I've only seen a very few do that in the gymkanna close courses and want to see my Commando try it too.

Hm, all this talk about special fuels when most I come up with is creek water and pump gas. As our po clunkers are so rpm allergic, hell there's HD and push rod Chevy V8 that spin faster that almost any Norton that lived, there is only torque to work on. What would ya feed Ms Peel engine to about blow her stack and my mind with?

acotrel said:

Legal ? Who was looking ? ]Methanol was banned in 1972, some TZ350s still used it.

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Indeed, Methanol was banned, but I was at a clubman’s race meeting once in the early 1970s, where there was an open fuel race, & there was an old rigid frame Scott flying Squirrel running on Methanol that beat the whole field, including a 750 Trident :!:
The owner of the Scott said running on Methanol was the only way to prevent the engine seizing up at racing speed.
those were the days

Hi
Have a look at the historic racing motorcycle club website.
Find some photos of a race meeting & look for the orange circles.
Fitted to show the marshals you are running methanol.
Cos you cant see the flame if it's burning!

Chris

I've watched a few videos which had Scott Squirrels in them. I think they were designed and first built in the late twenties. In recent times the Silk was built , along the same lines, and I always thought it was a waste of time. The original motors had overhung crankshafts, and just Looking at ther motors, the port heights would have been very strange. Considering the lack of knowledge that we had about two strokes, even in the 60s, the Scotts went extremely well, and I think that if someone built a look alike using current technology, it would be a winner if it was allowed into historic racing . I've never believed in British two strokes, but looking at that Ariel Leader go in the Thruxton production race video, they were not all bad.
As f ar as methanol is concerned, you might not be able to see it burning, but if you have a fire with it, you don't get that huge energy release that you get with petrol. I've actually been riding a bike and felt my legs go hot when the float bowl cracked off the carburettor and the petrol went up, worse when the oil lines burned through and that caught on too. Unless I am racing a two stroke, I always use methanol when racing. It is much easier on the engine. In a two stroke it is often enough to get a bike with an aircooled motor up and faster than a watercooled bike. The trouble is that as the crankcases warm, the motor usually slows as the jetting requirements change. On most of our local circuits you get two fast laps, and if you use a drum brake, that also changes in those two laps as the linings heat up. That methanol fuelled H2 Kawasaki motor my brother races in historic speedway sidecars, would be impossible and simply dangerous to try and use in a road race bike. Methanol is a great race fuel and replacing leaded petrol with unleaded for environmental reasons in road racing seems absurd when methanol is available. In competition, it is a great leveller if it is used in four strokes.