Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126638
; Vincent Black Lightning ~ Pinnacle of a high perforntance ntarque '16 By Don Laurino "VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING: $30,000. Serious inquiries only." That is how the ad read as I thumbed through the Sunday New York Times. I knew Vincents were supposed be hot, but 30 grand? It wa s cu riosity ,(certa in ly not th e ibil i f h ) h POSSI 1 rty 0 a pure ase t at made m e call the number th e to 26 ne xt day. As it turn ed out, th e Vin cent was owne d by Rob Iannucci of T eam Obsolete in Brooklyn. R ob is an attorney, specializing in -motorcycle r~lated cases, who uses hi s ,Ia,,: p racu ce to bankroll th e team s vinta ge road race efforts . R ob had co me across th e Vin cent several months ago a nd a lthough there were only 23 Black Li ghtnings produced this was one of the most noteworthy. It was bu ilt to sp ec in th e fact ory in Stev enage, En gl and, for Rollie Free's attempt to br eak the two -w heel World Land Speed Record at Bonneville in 1950. It was beli eved tha t with th e addi tio n of a stream li ned body th is 998cc V-Twin with " mon o -: shock" rea r sus pe ns io n had a good cha nce o f bre ak ing Ernst H enne's record of 173.625 mph set in 1937 on a supercharge d BMW 500. The engineers of th e d ay figured that a bl own engi ne would produce three times th e power of a normally asp ir a ted engi ne o f th e sa me size, so Free felt th at using an unbl own 1000 was indeed a sp ortin g p roposition. The Vince nt d id n ot arrive iri the Sta tes until th e beg inning of September which left less th an two weeks until the time tri als . By th e time th e strea m li ne d body was fitted there was littl e opportunity to test. After bei ng to wed to fire u p the' engine, whi ch was ru nn in g gas at a 12.8:I compression rati o, Free's strea m lin ed Li ghtnin g was al most immedi at ely in troubl e. With th e engin e just o ff idl e, th e bik e was weaving back and forth. As more throttl e was applied , the li ner stabilized while rea chin g 144 mph i n second gear. Then the wobble returned an d n either steer ing n or decelerati on wo u ld h el p to hold a straight co urse. Feel in g th at acce lera tion was the only ave n ue o pe n to him , Free acce lera ted a nd th e Li ghtning went dow n . Skidding fir st o n one side th en th e o ther, th en o n its n ose a n d fin all y o n the ta il , th e Vincent ca me to rest a fter sca rr i ng 1000 feet of th e sa l t. T here were co n flic ting o pinio ns tha t th e hat ch had di sen ga ged as a result of th e fall. Nevertheless, the body was o u t fo r th e rem ainder of th e tri al s, but Free, a lmost 50 years o ld a t th e time, was undaunted. H e de cided to go fo r th e records with the bi ke with out a fairi ng. Fo ur days later , o n September I I, Rollie wa s read y for a ttempts a t th e records from o ne kil ometer to 10 miles. The procedure was to mak e a flying sta rt going north, run through th e elec tric eyes spaced a t o ne mile interval s, turn a n d m ak e th e run so u th immediat el y. • First, Free tackl ed th e one kilom eter and one mil e d istances and shot th ro ugh th e north run a t 160.05 m p h . T he n o n th e return p ass he tripped the wire wi th 153.26 to co m p lete a record ave rage time of 156.58 mph in th e m ile, 156.77 in the kil ometer. Free' s riding posi tion on th e u n fair ed Vin cent was uncon ventional to say th e lea st. H e would lay o n th e sea t with h is legs extended rearw ard, parallel to th e grou n d, thighs gri pp in g a p ad mounted on th e rea r fender. Whil e in this position h is o n ly rea l sense of dir ection was su ppli ed by watching th e lin e pai n ted on th e sa lt speed by. Un perturbed by h is previo us di fficu lties, Fr ee spe d north on th e ten mil e run , tripp in g th e elec tric eye at 154 mph, turn ed a slo w arc a t 60 mph an d roared so uth . Alth ou gh h e la ter prai sed th e Vin cent's sus pe ns io n as " par-e xcellen t," th e sa lt was in bad co ndi tio n a nd ab out a mile sho rt o f the end of th e so u th run Free fel t himself sta rt in g to lo se co n trol. R ollie's leg s sta rte d to sp rea d frog-like and hi s throttl e h and was p aral yzed. " To slide from th e saddl e to th e fender at high speed is quite easy with th e wind pressure aiding you. To pull yo ur self forward aga ins t 150 mph wind pressure is quite a n othe r story, ' and, frankly , I didn't know' how it was g oing to come o u t," Free lat er told Mot orcyclist m agazine. " I hated to make th e move kn owing that it would slow my sp eed, but I wa s d esperate i n the fa ce o f th e punishmen t I was taking a n d I felt I co u ldn' t tak e a no the r m ile on th e fender." Rollie h eaved himself onto th e tank, tu ck ed in and fini sh ed the mil e without using th e sea t. T aking into acco u nt th e problems encou ntered on th e last m ile, Rollie sti ll ave raged 152.32 mph for th e twenty-m il e round trip a nd eas il y claimed four more Am eri can records (five mile and kil ometer , and ten mil e and kilom eter). U n fort u nately, the FIM required standing start s for a ny distan ces fiv e mil es or ove r, so Free was disqualified from th ose interna-