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Vol.37No.12December2010£3.80

The team; from left Dick Smith,Cliff Rushworth, Kev Rushworthand Roger Munsey.

There was a Le Mans style startfor both races.

Goodwood Revival

64 December 2010 The Classic MotorCycle The Classic MotorCycle December 2010 65

Words by James RobinsonPhotography by Nick Haskell

The Ace Classic/Baron Speed Shop Triumph –featured in the October 2010 issue of

– made its competitive debutat the Goodwood Revival, as did its co-builder.

Overall winner Steve Brogan, whohas since clinched the BritishSuperbike EVO crown.

The Triumph up on the bench.

The Classic MotorCycle December 2010 67

Goodwood circuit, full of hope andexpectation. It was to be the culmination of alot of hard work and the debut for the racer,while it was also Kev Rushworth’s fullcompetition debut too, the 29-year-oldhaving had plenty of track time in the past,being a track-day veteran – albeit themajority of his time having been onYamahaR1s and their ilk.

FRIDAY

First practice took place at 9am on Fridaymorning. Kev was raring to go, though Dickwas reiterating the point it was a longweekend and that they shouldn’t do anyharm to the Tiger in practice. Eventually,they qualified 16th out of the 30; asatisfactory job all round. Others weren’t solucky – the Wayne Gardner Walmsley GoldStar suffered terminal damage (a holedpiston) though the Aussie was givendispensation to race on a G50; admittedlyout of period, but the 1987 500cc worldchamp is one of the stars of the show and itdoesn’t do to disappoint the crowd. He wasto be partnered by John Leigh Pemberton,so bringing back together the winning teamof 2009 – and, as it turned out, the winningmotorcycle too.

machines, including the ‘bobber’ whichfeatured on the cover of our November 2007edition, plus similar machines for movie starEwan McGregor and his continent-crossingpal Charley Boorman.Kev and Dick decided they wanted a piece

of the action, so set about building a bespokeracer, the process of which we detailed in ourOctober 2010 issue. With a bit more testingand a few mods – like fitting a high-levelexhaust system – it was time to head forGoodwood, though first theAce/Baron teamhad to find out who their ‘second’ rider(nominated by the Goodwood organisers)would be... the name given to Kev was RogerMunsey, a man who’ll be familiar to many ofour readers, owing to his long participationon various classics – including, of late, aNorton Domiracer in the Bonhams HistoricGP series, so giving him useful experience ofriding a twin. Roger has raced numerousmotorcycles over the years, includingenjoying success on a Manx Norton, so Kevand Dick were quietly relieved to havesomeone they felt they could trust on theirracer,which had taken a lot of time and effortto construct.The weekend started on Thursday 16

September, when the team travelled to the

SATURDAY

For race one, Roger Munsey – the‘professional’rider in the two-manAce/Baronriding team – was lined up for the Le Mansstyle start, alongwith all the other‘star riders.’Among themwereNorthern Irish former 250and 500cc GP star Jeremy McWilliams(Norton Manx), multiple TT winner CharlieWilliams (Vincent Black Shadow), ex-worksstar Paul Smart (Norton Dominator 99),Scouse BMW superbike ace – and sincecrowned inaugural BSB EVO class champion– Steve Brogan (Manx Norton), former BSBrace winner Scott Smart (partnering his dadon the Dommie), 1970s BMW star HelmutDaehne (BMW RS54), Scottish Ian duoDuffus (Manx Triton) and Simpson (ManxNorton), fast lady Maria Costello (Gold Star)and journalists Alan Cathcart (GileraSaturno) and Michael Neeves (MatchlessG80CS). Other notable names includedBritish Historic GP regulars Glen English(Velocette MSS), Ian Bain (Manx), Seb Perez(Velocette KTT) andAndrewTaylor (AJS 7R).Munsey got off to a reasonable start and

settled into a nice rhythm, gradually easinghimself past a few riders, so that by the timehe came in to hand over to Kev, they wererunning 13th.

Goodwood Revival

66 December 2010 The Classic MotorCycle

The Goodwood Revival meetingcontinues to be one of the mostpopular and successful classic

events in Britain, probably in the world. It’sa race meeting – and a carnival too.Though the cars are the stars, themotorcycles give sterling backup, allsupported by the wonderful efforts madeon the part of organisers, entrants andspectators to‘dress the part’. And, ofcourse, there’s the aeroplanes too, which isfitting since Goodwood is a former RAFbase, used duringWWII.And it was aircraft which led to the

creation of Goodwood as a race circuit.Following the end ofWWII, it was decided torun a few racemeetings atGoodwood,apparently on thesuggestion ofSquadron LeaderTony Gaze (a friendof the ninthDuke ofRichmond –Freddie March – arenowned amateurracer who went onto design bothMarch sports carbodies and aircraft in his capacity as asengineer) whowas based there duringWWII.The motorcycle element has long been a

popular part of the revival, mainly due tothe participation in the early years by BarrySheene. Barry had been away from roadracing for years but began appearingregularly at the Revival, quickly establishinghimself as a firm favourite with the largelycar racing fraternity. Of course, it wasBarry’s personality, combined with hisability on a motorcycle, that led tomotorcycle racing enjoying such popularity

in the late 1970s – and the popularLondoner’s ‘golden touch’ applied atGoodwood, with the motorcycle racesbecoming firmly established.Following Barry’s death inMarch 2003, the

motorcycle events were renamed as the BarrySheene Memorial Trophy races. Ever sincethey had been created, the races had been forpre-1967 Grand Prix type motorcycles; ieManx Nortons, Matchless G50s and AJS 7Rspredominantly, with the odd MV Agusta,Paton,Honda and such like thrown in.Whilethis usually produced some good racing (andcontinued to attract some top riders, followingin thewheel tracks of Sheene) it was decided,in 2008, to try a different format for the two-

wheeled events.It was decreed

that the motorcycleraces should be for1950s typemachines, asmotorcycle racing atGoodwood ceasedin that decade. Thisopened up the racesto a whole differentload of machines,with the organisersseeking a more

diverse grid. It was judged a success – withGold Stars, Dominators and Norton Inters tothe fore – though the SheeneTrophy revertedback to the 1960s machines for 2009 (it wasalways the plan to alternate) so for 2010, itwas back to the 1950s kit.This pricked the interest of Kev Rushworth

(of Ace Classics) and Dick Smith (The BaronSpeed Shop). Kev and Dick are pre-unitTriumph men through and through; AceClassics has long been the go-to place forfans of pre-unit Triumphs while Baron’sSpeed Shop has built some sensational

Famous flypast – the Battle of BritainMemorial Flight does its thing.

The motorcycle

element has long

been a popular part

of the Goodwood

Revival, mainly due

to the participation in

the early years by

Barry Sheene.

Kev flicking through the chicane.

Despite this being hisfirst race, Kev acquittedhimself well.

Goodwood Revival

68 December 2010 The Classic MotorCycle

Kev set off for his stint – and his first everroad race.Though he’s been doing track dayssince he was 18 and is 30 now,Kev had neveractually taken part in a proper race – untilnow. He acquitted himself well, graduallymoving through the field and being classifiedas ninth finisher.Though the Gardner/Pemberton G50

crossed the line first, they weren’t classifiedin the results, that honour going to theBrogan/Ian Bain featherbedManx. Runners-up were McWilliams, partnered by DuncanFitchett,with third the Neeves/StuartTongueMatchless single. Nick Roberts and MickHemmings were fourth on a 99 Dominator,fifth was Cathcart and Tim Jackson on theGilera, from the father-and-son Smart duo,Scott and Paul, who were sixth. Indeed, wifeof Paul and mum of Scott, Barry Sheene’ssister Maggie, complimented Kev on hisriding, which greatly pleased the AceClassics man.The first race had taught the team a couple

of things, namely that they were able to mixit with some of the ‘stars’ and secondly, thattheTriumph needed a bigger engine sprocket.So, Saturday night saw the spanners out andthe gearing altered – the guys were quietlyconfident for Sunday’s race.

SUNDAY

Kev was to take the first stint this time.Withconfidence high, he set off at a rapid pace,scything through the field up to seventh.With its altered gearing, the ton-ten was

much faster than the day before, with Kevgleefully mixing it with the Manx Nortonsand Vincents. However, proving that oldadage about good things must come to anend, it didn’t last.By lap three the Triumph had developed a

serious misfire, which stopped play. It’sthought a broken valve spring was the cause.It was a disappointing end to what had beena good weekend.Reflecting on it, Kev said;“It was all like

some kind of mad, brilliant dream. Iabsolutely loved it. If only we could havefinished, that would have been great.”Still,for a first effort, it wasn’t bad – in fact, it waspretty good. In the final classifications – theaggregate score being taken over the tworaces – despite Sunday’s DNF, the team wasplaced 17th which, all things considered,wasfairly satisfactory.

SO WHAT NEXT?

Kev and Dick had a wonderful time atGoodwood, that much is evident andnaturally they are keen to return. However,next year the motorcycle race reverts back tothe 1960sGP stylemachinery and so theTiger110 won’t be eligible. However, the duo arestill keen to compete – so have startedthinking about next year.“Obviously, because of what we do, if we

build a bike, it has to be aTriumph,”says Kev.“And so thatmeans it needs to be aDaytona-based 500cc racer.We’ve started looking at it,though it’ll be a tough job to have it done for

next year. Really,we’d need it built in the nextsix months, so we have a chance to run it in,which will be pushing it.The machine would be basically a replica

of the racer Buddy Elmore used to win the1966 Daytona 200 and when Kev floated theidea with the Goodwood organisers, theywere keen.Kev is keen to do some more racing,

intending to run theTiger 110with theVMCCnext season, while he’d also like to ride atGoodwood in 2011, even if it’s not possible tohave the 500ccTriumph ready for next year, soin that case he’d be looking for a ride.Meantime, if the Tiger 110 has tickled

anyone’s fancy, the guys are able to build areplica.“We could build a road-going versionif anyone fancied one, with all the bits on buta standard engine, which would cost about£14,000. We could build a racer too, thoughthat would cost a good bit more...”

THANKS

Kev and Dick wanted to thank variouspeople for their help in getting the racer tothe line,with among themGordon and SallyRussell for all their efforts in helping the teamsecure an entry,Will Kingman at Goodwoodand, of course, Lord March for running theevent and Steve Smith of AvonTyres. !

Contacts; Ace Classics,www.aceclassics.co.uk 0208 698 4273,Baron’s Speed Shop,www.baronspeedshop.com 01689 638733

Kev Rushworth in his ‘posing gear’on the Goodwood start-finish line.