For the love of the sport
Velocette, as a manufacturer, has a long and proud history in racing, dating back to when the company (Veloce) was a maker of two-strokes in the early 1920s, the pinnacle being Stan Jones’ third place in the 1922 250cc Lightweight TT. Once four-strokes had been reintroduced, with the superb overhead camshaft model that was so good, dealer (and respected racer) Alec Bennett requested the company let him ride one in the 1926 Junior TT, with nothing payable unless he won (which he did) then Velocette was established as a ‘racing’ firm. There were numerous TT wins (though none in the 500cc Senior category; Stanley Woods came oh-so-close with seconds in 1936 and 1938) and consecutive 350cc world titles (Freddie Frith and Bob Foster) in the first two years of the world championship, 1949 and 1950.
These successes were all achieved with overhead camshaft models, usually of 350cc, though there were also relatively successful 250cc and 500cc variants on the theme. Gradually, Velocette moved away from its ‘cammy’ ancestry and by 1956, the most sporting models in the range, the 350cc Viper and 500cc Venom, were overhead valve, the overhead camshaft arrangement given up owing to expense and complication.
But these two ‘pushrod’ models were
