EHRET VINCENT SERIES C BLACK LIGHTNING
P108
Feature
a couple of nice houses in Sydney
at the time. One of the few riders
with funds to buy the Lightning
was car dealer Jack Forrest, a tal-
ented rider. At the 1951 Australian
TT held at Lowood in Queensland
in June, Forrest was the star of the
show, winning the Junior race on
a Velocette KTT and the Senior
on a Manx Norton. He also raced
a Vincent Black Shadow in the
Unlimited class, and he was out in
front in that race before a split fuel
line sprayed methanol on the rear
tire. Although he controlled the
resulting skid, his race was over.
Forrest had now seen that a
well-tuned Vincent on a fast circuit
was superior to even the best
Norton, so when the opportu-
nity to acquire McAlpine's Black
Lightning came along, it proved
irresistible. He bought the bike
and raced it in the Australian TT at
Bathurst in the Senior Unlimited
TT, but crashed during the race,
without serious injury and with
mainly superficial damage to the
bike. Nonetheless, the experience
seemed to break his love affair
with the Vincent. Forrest set out
to acquire a new Manx Norton
and placed the Lightning for sale
with Sydney dealers Burling and
Simmons. There it sat for months
until bought by Jack Ehret, owner
of two Sydney motorcycle shops.
Ehret wasn't exactly flush with
funds, but knew that if he didn't
get hold of the Lightning, one of
his racing rivals would. And so
F10AB/1C/7305 found a new
home, where it would remain for
the next 47 years.
The original (left) and the French-built replica (left).
Ehret was a ferocious
sidecar competitor and here
he pins the Vincent with Stan
Blundell in the chair.
