Barry Sewell, Ulster motorcycle enthusiast...a selection of his photos

Years back, likely in the mid 1960s I took up a correspondence with Barry Sewell, then living in South Africa and an occasional contributor to "South African MotorCycle News".
Barry hailed from Northern Ireland and was a keen supporter of GP motorcycle racing and had been a dab hand with a camera...He had all these neat pics and negatives, the internet didn't exist, no such thing as emails...aghh!
We resolved the problem with a huge leap of faith by Barry...despite having never met, I recal telephoning him, he posted me many of his precious negatives and photos, half way across the world, and I made prints from the negatives, copies off the photos and then prints...a set for him and a set for me. then I returned the precious cargo to him.
He was delighted...my joy was unbounded!
Well it's time to share some with you and to acknowledge Barry's effort and ownership of these pics that follow in this and subsequent blogs.
Sadly I've lost contact with him...he returned to Northern Ireland when he retired and I regret to admit I don't know if he is still alive....I sure hope so and who knows, a viewer of this blog may put us back in contact again...
Left click on the images to enlarge.
Just so you know what he looked like...first pic is at the 1954 Ulster Grand Prix ( UGP) with what I'm sure is NZer Rod Coleman's factory three valve 7R3 AJS.














The photos in this blog are mostly from the Scarborough circuit in Northern England, with some from UGP.
This next shot is Johnnie Locket on a 348cc Norton, but the date I'm unsure if Sept. 1951 or 1957.


















This shot is M.P.O'Rourke, 348 AJS 7R, Scarborough, Sept. 1953.


















Geoff Duke, works Gilera, Scarborough, year unsure but likely same year as the following photo which is of Reg Armstrong, also on a works Gilera at Scarborough in Sept. 1954.








































Off now to the UGP... Geoff Duke again,works Gilera, 1956.


















Francis Beart the renowned Norton tuner, fettling a 499cc Manx Norton for Terry Shepherd, UGP 1960.
























Another works Gilera rider at the 1952 UGP...Enrico Colnago, seeming stopped with a spot of bother....

A selection of unusual Pre-War IOM TT photographs.....

I've mentioned before of my photographic archive collected over many years and from many sources whose identity is long forgotten.
This selection comes from photos who I do not know the copyright of, although one or two have the imprint "MotorCycling Copyright" and so I duly acknowledge this via Mortons Motorcycle Media, current owners of the former "The MotorCycle" and "MotorCycling".
All of the photographs have pencilled notations on the back, often with comprehensive results and lap times.
Left click on images to enlarge....
The first three pics feature the diminutive Spanish rider M.Simo, who entered 250 and 350 Terrot machines in the mid 1930s.
The one of Simo with riding number 9 from the 1937 IOM TT races is interesting....
"..Junior race 350 Terrot completed two laps and then spilled at Glentrammon corner, Ramsey. Unfit to start in the lightweight race..."














































Rex Judd,later to become a well known London Motorcycle dealer is featured in the next snap... "..19th at 55.09mph, awarded the Nisbet Award for pluck and endurance, 4hrs 38 secs race time. rode in 6 races 1921-25 period, finished in the one illustrated..."















Below is Bob Foster, better known post WW2 for his Velocette exploits, but pictured here on a 1936 TT 250 New Imperial, with his wife beside him. Noted as having ridden in 17 TT races and won 2, finishing in 6.
Another strange penned notation notes that "the chap 3rd from the left is Jack Williams' ( of 7R AJS development fame) father."















From Czechoslovakia, GW Platchett is shown on a Senior TT Jawa at the 1932 IOM TT.
"Rode in 3 races, finishing in one. But not on the machine featured on which he completed 5 laps and then retired."















Pictured below is S.Jackson aboard a 246cc Montgomery-JAP which he rode in the 1928 IOM Junior TT and finished 8th.
"He rode in 8 races and finished in 6."















The final picture is SV Smith on a 250 OK Supreme in the 1938 IOM Lightweight TT during evening practice.
"..finished 15th in the race but disqualified ( lost exhaust pipe).."
Gert Boll, a keen Velocette man from Germany and a reader of my blog picked up the error of the year. I had 1928, when it was 1938, which I've now corrected.
Gert asked then whose Velo is in the foreground?
It seems to be a Mk.7 KTT and a search of the 1938 TT program and the entries reveals #38 is H.C.Lamacraft, entered by the London dealer L.J.Stevens Ltd....look at the front number and you can see the 3 and what appears to be an 8.

Velocette Technical Data....continueing...from a variety of sources

This is another in my series of technical data sheets I made up over the years, collating from a variety of sources.
The Velocette clutch causes much angst to a lot of people.... often a new project is acquired as the proverbial "basket case"...put more plainly " a box of bits"..
Including the clutch....
Assured by the seller as all there and correct for the bike.
But is it?
Velocette made several clutches that all look the same to the casual glance, but on closer inspection aren't...
Below is a chart of the various parts, which you need to look at in conjunction with a Velocette spare parts manual for your model, showing an exploded view of the clutch and listing the part number accordingly.
The UK Velocette Owners Club ran the following chart in their magazine "Fishtail" number 173 of March/April 1981.
Boy is it useful....
Incidently the "I" in the article is not me...
Following them are some sheets from Veloce Ltd in September 1947 to cover the newly introduced Dowty Oleomatic front fork, which replaced the Webb girder fork used previously...
Interesting reading....
Left click on images to enlarge...

"One Man Caravan".....Robert Fulton Jnr's epic around the world trip...

Robert Edison Fulton Jnr......who is this man?

Let me take you back to when I rode overland from Australia to Europe, and now in the UK and settled, for a time, with friends in London, I travelled down to Sussex to visit Charles Mortimer, Snr., who may be known to you as a prewar racer, initially on motorcycles, then with cars, including at Brooklands ( he had a son Chas.Mortimer, who was a successful English motorcycle road racer in the Continental GPs) and Chas.Snr ran a successful old book business and with whom I'd dealt with for some years.

As I was about to leave on my BMW R50/5 motorcycle, he pressed a book into my hand and said I should have it as a gift from him..." the author did a trip like you..." related Mortimer.

Upon reading it I found my trip paled into insignificance.....

Fulton had set off in 1932, a young man who had just completed an architecture degree at the University of Vienna, having been sent there by his wealthy parents from the USA, with a Douglas motorcycle, suitably modified by the Douglas company to his specification, even to the engine number which was RF69 and would no doubt puzzle future historians, to ride home around the world, taking in the various architecture in the many countries he would visit.

I won't pre-empt the story, as you should obtain a copy for your motorcycling bookshelves....it has been re-published within the last 15 years.....

But as always, older original copies seem to enhance the story....

When I returned to Australia in late 1976, having read it several times, I was facinated by the fact that he has shot over 4000' of 16mm movie film...had a documentary been made? How could I find out?

Two major wars had been fought since then...WW2 and the Korean War, one or both of which he could have been involved in, he perhaps now dead...

Flicking through the flyleaf of the book, revealed, "George G.Harrap & Co.Ltd"; London,Toronto,Bombay,Sydney.

Sydney, thats where I live....I checked the telephone directory and a telephone call got me Harrap's address in London.

A letter to the UK brought the response that it was originally published in 1937 by Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.

A letter to them brought a facinating response...a card from Robert Fulton Jnr, with few words...

"My old publisher tells me you are trying to contact me, how can I help?"

I wrote to him indicating my feeble trip and admiring his, via his book, and wondering with all that movie film shot whether a documentary had been made.
I guess I secretly hoped , somehow there was a copy and he may lend it to me...

No response...a year later I wrote again.
Again no response.

I checked with TV stations in Sydney over the documentary aspect, again a blank...

Then in 1989 came a letter from Fulton... "I know it's been a long time..."

Seems his sons, involved in the movie industry had made an autobiography for Fulton and incorporated much of his world trip footage in it.

Would I like to borrow a video copy....?
Would I heck...

When it arrived, in NTSC format, the North American video system, our PAL system TVs wouldn't show it... $100 later I had two copies in PAL made by a professional film unit.

What a video.... Titled "One Man Caravan" it opened Fulton's life as an inventor, author etc with all that great 16mm movie footage taken during his world odyssey...

I've seen it again and again.

In 1990 my family were travelling to the UK and returning to Australia via an around the world ticket.
I could stop in New York.... cheekily I wrote to Fulton, mentioning I'd like to see him..

He responded by telling me he would be waiting at NY Kennedy airport to meet my flight.

I replied that I would be wearing a black sweater with "Velocette" in yellow on it.

We met...he took us to his 45 acre property near Newton, Connecticut..aptly called "Flying Ridge" where his 1938 SR-10 Stinson Reliant high wing monoplane was parked.
The P-51 Mustang he'd owned since 1953 and which I had seen together with the Stinson in his video, had only recently been sold...but would I like a flight with him in the Stinson? Would I like to ride his Douglas?

Talk about Nirvana.....

I subsequently visited him several more times, once with best friend Jim Day and the following pictures show some of that visit...the book and a special book he printed and published himself titled "The Winds of Life" are also illustrated.

Sadly Fulton has passed on in 2004 aged 95 years....

A great innings....

Repeating myself...get yourself a copy of his book- you'll thank me later for suggesting it!

Want to know more on Fulton?

The wikepedia site is a good start...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Edison_Fulton,_Jr.

Left click on images to enlarge......

Robert Fulton on the Douglas....






















 1938 SR-10 Stinson Reliant...














Fulton with the Velobanjogent.....and below Jim Day and DQ....

The Colemans of New Zealand.......

Rod Coleman is one of an illustrious line of a famous motorcycling family in New Zealand....
The family has been in the motorcycle trade since early in 1900s and Rod made a name for himself racing motorcycles, firstly in NZ and then in Europe with factory rides for AJS seeing him take numerous top finishing places on machines, such as the AJS 7R3, AJS Porcupine, that at times had their reliability questioned.






















Rod wrote a book several years back, I can't now quite ascertain the year, titled "The Colemans...Kiwis on the grass in New Zealand ...on the road in Europe", publishing it himself, it was printed in his home town of Wanganui, New Zealand by "The Print Place".
ISBN 0-473-04956-2
It is a book, 9 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 3/4" thick that is unlikely to have made it to Europe or the USA in any quantity, if at all.
But, if you are interested in motorcycle history as I am, road racing history as I am, with this book lavishly illustrated with photos I have never seen before and are from Rod's personal and family collection, then it's purchase is a "must"...
How to get one....
Rod published it and I'm pretty sure he'll sell you one...
Rod Coleman,
P.O. Box 4316.
Wanganui,
New Zealand.
rodcoleman@nettel.net.nz
Left click on the images to enlarge......
Rod of latter years has been an inveterate restorer of the many interesting motorcycles he has collected...the book illustrates some of them, and I've included as the last photo one of the pages.
I've seen Rod's special booklet featuring all his restored motorcycles...there are 106 in all!