Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 'Ihe story of part 1. . e tn 00 E.L Edward Turner, Triumph designer and visionary ~ ....... Triumph designer Edward Turner and ~ov!e star Rita Hayworth, 1946. By Neale Shilton It is appropriate to begin this story of Edward Turner in the center of England. . One afternoon in 1948 I was riding my Tiger 100 through the village of Meriden on my way to th e Triumph factory h alf a mil e a way . T he end of a 250-m il e j ourney which h ad sta rted four hours earl ier from 20 th e to wn o f La u nc esto n in th e western co u nt y o f Corn we ll. I was th e Tri umph road man for th e midland and sou thwes t area o f Engla nd . an d a p hon e message was wa itin g for m e wh en I arr ived at th e sho p o f the La u n cesto n dea ler at noon.The T riu m p h chief Ed wa rd T u rner wan ted to see me in h is off ice at 4:00 p .m . The o n ly speed restrict ion sig n I did not ignore o n the jo urney was th e las t one. th e 30 m ph li mi t th rough Mer iden vill age a nd this was sacrosant fo r a ll Triumph tes t rid ers to precl ude a ny comp la ints fro m th e inha bi tants o f th is quiet pl ace in th e geogra p h ica l cen ter of England. As I rode past th e duck pond in th e center o f the vill age. th e quietn ess a nd speed limi t were shattered by a Gra n d Prix T ri u m p h which ove rtook me. .The megaphone exha u st system ho wl ed . there was no regis tration n u m ber pl ate; a nd the crouching ri de r wor e no hel met. By the time I passed th e de-rest riction sig n he was a t the top o f Meriden h ill an d seconds la ter I hea rd th e crescendo o f noi se as h e went·dow n thro ugh th e gea rs for th e slowdown a t th e facto ry entra nce . As I rode th rough the ga tes I sa w the ma chi ne parked by th e o ffice door s and the rider wal king up the steps . It was th e boss himself , Edward T u rner, th e en gi neering a nd co m mercia l geni us w ho chose to devot e his a bi li tie s to the ' mo torcycle in du s- tr y, an d wh ose brill iance was responsible for th e dominant p osition of the Meridan Compan y ove r many yea rs. Ed ward Turner was born in Loncion a t th e beg inning o f 190I an d h e . often recalled his boyh ood memories of streets lit by gas lamps a nd crowded w ith ho rse-dra wn wago ns an d coach'es. His fath er o wne d an engi neeri n g factory which manu factu red a wid e range of prod uc ts a nd u ndo ubtedl y it was th is en vironment wh ich sha pe d th e future - for th e yo u ng .Ed wa rd , Wh il e sti ll a sch oolbo y h e began to dev elo p h is creative talents by sugges ting methods of im p ro vin g manufacturing p ro cesses in the T u rner workshops. O n 'h is mother 's side of th e famil y hi s grandparents were in th e coach bu ilding busi ness and h is gra n d mother was a member o f th e H illman famil y whose name was lat er to become well-kno wn 'w h en H illman cars wer e m anu factu red in Co ventry. In 1917 Edw ard dec ided to leav e school an d follo w his fri ends into th e war. T his must h ave involved g iving a fa lse age, bu t he was accepted for tr a ining as a radio operator a nd went to sea in a n armed merchant ship for th e rem ainder of th e war. It was a H arley-Da vid so n which first started h is interes t in mo torcycles, and th roug h o ut his ca reer he re tai ne d a specia l a ffectio n for H arleys, His elde r broth er o wned o ne whi ch Ed wa rd took many times to the famous sp eed bow l track at Brookla nds a few m il es west of London , rac ing with th e to p riders of that era . The p ost war dem and for motorcycles was gath ering momentu m and badly needed more than the engineerhaving decided that i t was a good , ing skills of its Chief Des igner Val time to start in the business. he opened Page. He had concentrated mainly a sma ll shop in southeast London for on the design and development of a th e repair of machines , the sale of parallel twin which was introduced used models and parts. The Birming. in 1934. It was th e first of its type but ham Veloce fact ory gave him a deal.it had,in fact been start ed by Page a t ersh ip and th e story is probably true the Ariel factory and wa s' basically that he showed th em how to redesign half of the T u rn er four. It is likely th e overhead ca m shaft arrangem ent that th is wa s done with Turner' s whi ch had giv en epidemic trouble. knowledge but with no thought th at Ce rt ai n ly h e was kept busy with Page might take the project with him Velocettes which wer e brought into to the o p position . It has been recorded h is shop with thi s probl em, and this th at wh en th e new ma chine was anwas probabl y th e time when he denounced•.Turner was angry. H owci ded to go a h ead with his urge to ever , it was destined to hav e a short design his o wn machine. It was a 21 lif e as the Triumph management saw cu bic inc h . singl e-cylinder type with no worthwhile prospects for the moov erh ead ca m sha ft a nd having pro- : torcycle side of the company and duced a ll the detail drawings. he manfinally decided to concentrate entirely ufactured th e engine co m p o n ents uson its car business. ing hi s own workshop tools. most of which he had made by hand. Ir~late 1935 the motorcycle subsidiary became available for purchase From this be ginning he went on to and the shrewd J ohn Young Sangster design a n d build an en gine of the ' sa me capaci ty with a gear-driven ca m made an offer which was accepted. He bought not only the manufactursh aft a nd this attracted the interest of the technical press which published ing rights but the entire Coventry plant and equi pment, and. according detail drawings in 1925. They showed to Turner. at a bargain price. The distinct similarities with the Internaname created for th e new organizational Norton motor which was produced later. The time had 'co m e for tion was the Triumph Engineering Company and its inaugural meeting Turner to close his London shop a nd took place at a Coventry hotel in move to Birmingham. which was the January 1936. Many Triumph dealcen ter of th e motorcycle industry. ers a ttended by in vita tio n. a nd prean d he took with him the date of the sidingover the function was the new ma chine which he hoped would go company Chairman Siegfried Bertinto commercial production. In fact . 'm an n who came to England from it went no further . but its designer had Germany in 1884 and formed the taken the first step along the road Triumph Cyde Company three years which would lead him to th e top of later. using the name Triumph for its the industry. universal interpretation. The first In Birmingham he met John Young . motorcycl e was made in 1902 with a Sangster , the boss of the Ariel factory . Belgian engine and three years later himself an engineer and whose famthe factory made its own. Bettrnann, ily had been associated with Ariel who was to become Major of Covensince the company was first formed. try, built up a high personal reputaWith this m eeting began a partnertion over his man y years wi th th e ship which led th e industry for some company-and it was a clever move by 40 yea rs. The Chief Designer at Ariel Sangster to bring h im back as Chairwas a very a ble m an named Val Page man to inaugurate the new one. When and Turner was a p po inted to assist he retired shortly afterwards. Sangshim as Chief Devel opment Engineer . ter took over and brough i in Turner as This titl e was not as important as it Managing Director and Chief Dea p pea red . for with th e industry and 'sign er. th e co u ntry facing a recession. th ere The old factory in th e center ofthe was Tiule money a va ila ble for n ew city was well equipped , the personmodel s: nel were long exper ien ced iri th e For some time th e new man worked skills of motorcycle manufacture a nd o n improving th e range o f Ari el welcomed th e new leadership which si ngle-cylinde r models but later was quick ly injected th e confiden ce which gi ven th e go -a he ad to design and had been la cking under th e previous develop a four. T he first new engine regime. Production methods were imwas of 30 cu bic-inc h ca pacit y with a proved to a hi gh sta n da rd o f co stchai n -driven overh ead ca m sh aft. It savi ng efficie ncy and th e initial target had a remarkabl y high p ow er-toof output was exceeded ra p idl y. Turnweight ratio but as th e p roduct ion er go t to work o n th e ra nge of singlecos ts of an en tirely new model were cylin de r mach in es. gave th em more proh ibi ti ve. it was ins ta lled in th e p erforman ce w ith more attractive fra me of th e stan da rd 30 cu bic-inc h styli n g. and with th e n ational econsi ngle-c ylinde r m ach in e, a nd put o n o m y looking brighter th e o rde r books the marke t i n 1931. La ter o n th e began to fill. H e rational ized th e Sq uare ' Fou r. as it was known . wa s range to th ree m od els. o f 15. 21. and gi ven its o wn model ide nt ity an d th e 30 cu bic-i nch en gines a n d with his capacity inc reased to 36 cu bic-i nc h flai r fo r names h e ca lled th em th e with p us h- ro d-opera ted valves. In creTigers, 70, 80 and 90. T h ey were ating this m achine, wh ich was wa y h ighly successfu l a n d th e Tiger defia head o f a ny th i ng else in th e indu snition was co n tin ued for many years. tr y. T urner had established imself as Th e Val Page twin had been abanth e o ne man ca pa ble of restoring th e . doned a nd Page re tu rned to his' Ariel sagging fortunes o f th e Ariel co m office to resume his exce llen t work pan y a nd putting it on the so u nd for a furth er 25, years. co m merica l ba sis wh ich mad e possiWith the Coventry factory producble th e subsequent domin ation of the ing the T igers at full ca pa ci ty. Turner mot or cycle bu siness by th e Sangster!had been busy designing the twinTurner partnership. The Square Fo ur cylin de r m achine wh ich was to mak e co ntin ued unt il 1952 a nd with the them obsolete a nd shoc k th e co m p etea rly m otors hav ing been su pe rseded itor co m p an ies BSA. Matchless, AJS . by a 60 cubic-inch unit. Ro yal Enfield a nd Norton. T he 30 cu In 1932 Val Page left Ariel to join bi c-inch en gine had parallel bores of th e T ri u m p h co m pa ny in Coven try an d T ur ne r moved into the vacated 63mm a n d a 80mm stro ke. th e same dimen sions as th e IS cubic- illch T ige r cha ir. To add to th e Sq uare Four he, introd uce d th e range of si ng le cylsingle so as to ut il ize exis ti n g manufacturing eq u ip me nt. Th e h emisin der Red Hunter mod el s which had im media te su ccess a nd mad e ' subpherical cyli n de r .h ead with its 90° sta n tial co ntri bu tio ns to th e profitvalv es, short push rods a nd front and rear ca m sha fts closely resembled th e a bi lity o f th e rejuvenated factory. a rra ngeme nt o n th e en gi ne of the Meanwhile the Triumph compan y was going th e o p p osite way a nd __ Riley car which,Turner ,o,v,:n ~d ll !l~I

• Cover