Beschreibung:

Gearbox no. XS 4534 (originally 4733) Velocette KTT number ‘266’ was supplied by Veloce Limited on 4th October 1930 to L Stevens & Co, their main London agent, from whom it was purchased by Harold Lamacraft. The Velo was registered ‘GH 5639’ so that it could be entered in Clubman’s races at Brooklands. Lamacraft raced his KTT successfully at the Surrey track until late 1934 and also in the Manx Grands Prix of 1931, 1932 and 1933. He finished 13th in the 1932 Junior race and retired on the last lap of the ’33 Junior with a broken rocker while within ‘Replica’ time. Entered also in that year’s Senior Race, he finished 16th. Harold Lamacraft was killed in May 1943 when his bomber was shot down during a daylight raid on Amsterdam. The KTT was later raced at Brooklands and at grass track meetings by its second owner, A C ‘Bert’ Perryman. In his book, ‘A Clubman at Brooklands’, Bert recalls that he bought the ex-Lamacraft KTT from Ben Bickell of Archway Road Garage and first raced it at the Clubman’s Junior 50 Miles Grand Prix at Brooklands on 28th July 1934. The ex-Lamacraft KTT also features in Jeff’s book ‘The Restoration of Vintage and Thoroughbred Motorcycles’ (page 20) and ‘The First Velocette Scene’. Bert won the 350cc, Unlimited and Handicap races on it at the Worthing Eagles meeting held on 6th April 1935 and the Queen's Cup for winning the Unlimited Solo Race on 5th May of that same year. On 2nd June he won another bronze medal for a heat win and a silver medal for 3rd place in the final. On 30th June he finished 2nd in the 350cc race and won the Unlimited Solo race, going home with two silver cups. Two letters from Bert to Jeff Clew are on file. During the winter of 1935/6, ‘266’ was sold to John Piqnequy (known as John ‘Henry’) of the Worthing Eagles Club, who rode it in grass track events and also at Brooklands. In 1939 the KTT was ridden in the Southern Centre Grass Track Championship at Layham’s Farm by Ted Wilmot, who won one of the handicap races, beating Les Graham of the OK Supreme works team in the process. Thereafter the machine’s history becomes obscure, though it is known to have passed to George Tapp of the Witley & District MCC, who continued to race it on the grass. By this time the Velo had an AMC front fork and been painted red. In 1952 it was reregistered as ‘RPK 735’ for use on the road. When Jeff Clew was given the KTT in 1966 by Les Wise, the husband of Pat Wise (Eric Oliver’s sidecar passenger at the 1958 TT), it had an AMC front wheel and telescopic fork, a four-speed Velocette gearbox, AMC petrol and oil tanks, and was painted fire engine red. After much research - authenticated by its manufacturer, letter on file - revealed the Velo’s history, Jeff restored the KTT as closely as possible to original specification, using strutted Webb forks, 1930 KSS fuel and oil tanks, and a three-speed gearbox from a derelict 1930/31 KTP. The KTP box’s kickstart was removed and a set of authentic close-ratio gears installed. The ex-Lamacraft KTT’s historical significance made it possible for Jeff to regain the original registration number and have the frame number corrected at the same time. In a letter on file to the VMCC Machine Registrar dated February 2007 he writes: ‘The original number had vanished long before the machine passed into my hands as the gearbox supporting bracket from which the gearbox is suspended had broken. It had been repaired by some skilful welding which unfortunately had obscured the number completely. It was not until a few years ago that I became aware it bore an entirely fictitious five digit number on all subsequent registration documents.’ The fully restored KTT was exhibited at the ‘EXPO 68 Sussex’ exhibition held at Ardingly and it was here that Bert Perryman was reunited with it for the first time in 30 years. Since restoration in 1967 the KTT has been ridden on closed roads over part of the Isle of Man TT course for the MGP’s 50th Anniversary in 1973, and has also been ridden at