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about 35 years ago, about 20 years old, getting my Velocette Venom ready for a flying quarter and sprint meet. i took every thing off the Velo, leaving just the frame, seat, wheels, motor with magneto, petrol tank, oil tank, and straight through pipe
it was about 7pm, getting dark outside. i was in my front room, getting bored watching some guys drinking beer on the sidewalk outside the pub across the road from where i lived. i decided to take a short ride down the road to a garage where some mates used to work on Jags after hours
i went out and got on the Velo, started it up, and eased out onto the road, the straight through pipe making a hell of a noise. the guys outside the pub gave me a cheer. so i gave it a fistful and roared off down the road. i changed into second at about 60 MPH (close ratio gearbox). ‘that’s funny’, i thought to myself, ‘the revs didn’t drop when I pulled in the clutch’. i was now doing about 70 MPH down the middle of the road, between cars which were travelling, a lot slower, in both directions. it was quite dark, and i had no lights. i realised the slide was stuck in the top of the carb, because nothing happened when i closed the throttle. i just kept accelerating.
i was now doing about 80 MPH down the busy narrow road between cars moving in opposite directions in the dark, and i had no lights. the cars had their lights on, and i could see them, but could they see me?
my situation was a difficult one, because there was no wiring, and no ignition switch. just an HT lead from the magneto to the plug. one of the good things about magnetos was that the faster they spin, the more spark they put out. so you don’t touch an HT lead from a high revving magneto while trying to control a runaway motorcycle with no lights, dodging cars in the dark, if you like living. of course it was starting to look like i might not be doing that for very much longer anyway, but i tried to think of something else
i decided not to change into third, even though i was doing almost 90 MPH and she was now revving about 6000 RPM. thankfully, i didn’t have to worry too much about dropping a valve – Velos had hairpin valve springs and very short pushrods. they were winning the Production Class at the IOM as late as the sixties, and they set a World Record for 24 Hours Over 100 MPH which still stands today. so i had a little time to think. at least now the cars didn’t seem to be moving at all, and the road was dead straight
i pulled in the exhaust valve lifter (compression release). very little effect at 6000 RPM. putting on the brakes while accelerating at maximum power seemed a little unwise, or at least too complicated for me to think about at the time. i decided to try steering with one hand, the left one, even though this made dodging the cars more difficult, because with that one i could pull in the valve lifter at the same time, and with the other hand i reached down between my legs, feeling for the carburettor bell mouth. with my hand over the bell mouth and pulling on the valve lifter was able to slow my progress, and at the same time avoid the cars. i remember coming to a stop, but i don’t remember anything else of that evening
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