Hi Folks, later on I may put some more out on this subject if there is
any interest. It is a charming story how two enthusiasts in New Zealand
acquired (Russell Wright bought it and paid for it, just like you and I
might have) the 1954 Black Lightning Show Model from the Vincent
company's display that year in London, and achieved the World's
Motorcycle Speed Record with it. On a narrow two-lane, DAMP, closed
public highway no less.
I possess a copy of Burns' unpublished manuscript, thanks to my old pal
Sid Biberman, one of America's greatest Vincent men, which has
circulated underground for many years in New Zealand and throughout the
world-wide Vincent Owners Club. So between that and other authoritative
sources, some factual stories can be told.
It happens that some still footage of the Burns & Wright machine at
Bonneville in '56 appears in a Videotape entitled "The Hot Rod Story",
produced by Alex Xydias of So Cal Speed Shop fame, and still available
from Alex at P.O. Box 11316, Burbank, CA 91510. Just a short bit of the
bike standing in the pit area, no info is given. The person on the
camera may well not have known he was looking at the Official World
Record bike. This tape is a valuable document on early Bonneville
racing, by the way, shows the Hill-Davis Streamliner on record runs in
'52. The Hill-Davis car is of special interest to Ardun folk because it
contained a Flathead engine converted to OHV with the Moller-Adams
heads, built by C.T. Automotive. Only one set of these heads was made
and today it is in the Smith Museum at Speedway Motors. Cheers Bill
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