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Doug Hele
Douglas Lionel Hele (13 July 19193 November 2001) was a pioneering British motorcycle engineer with Triumph and other firms: BSA, Douglas and Norton. He was born in Birmingham in 1919 and died in Hagley, Worcestershire on 2 November 2001. Career Described as an 'outstanding student' at King's Norton Secondary School. Hele started his career in engineering as an apprentice with the Austin Motor Company at the Longbridge factory in Birmingham where he worked throughout the Second World War. He moved on to Douglas Motorcycles in Bristol in 1945 where he worked as a draughtsman in the motorcycle design team under former Norton chief designer Walter Moore. Moore encouraged him to go to the Norton factory, where he helped Polish engineer Leo Kusmicki design and develop the Featherbed framed Manx Norton single-cylinder racing models that won world championships in the early 1950s. After a short time at BSA where he worked on the 250cc single-cylinder racer with BSA chief d ...
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King's Norton
Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, England. Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council ward within the Government of Birmingham, England. The district lies 6.5 miles south-southwest of Birmingham city centre and is within 1.5 miles of the north Worcestershire border. Kings Norton has been split into two wards, Kings Norton North and Kings Norton South. History There was Romano-British occupation near the later town. Excavations at Kings Norton found signs of a small Romano-British settlement, including Roman pottery and a Roman ditch at Parsons Hill, near Icknield Street. Kings Norton derives its origin from the basic Early English ''Nor + tun'', meaning North settlement and belonging to or held by the king, when Kings Norton was the northernmost of the berewicks or outlying manors of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. Before 1066 these manors with many others in Birmingham had belonged to Earl Edwin, the Anglo-Saxon ...
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Manx Norton
The Norton Manx or Manx Norton is a British racing motorcycle that was made from 1947 to 1962 by Norton Motors Ltd. Norton had contested every Isle of Man TT race from the inaugural 1907 event through into the 1970s, a feat unrivalled by any other manufacturer, and the development and honing of the Manx racing motorcycle was another step in this racing achievement. New Manx Nortons, built to various specifications are still available to buy new, from various suppliers around the world. These should not be confused with Norton production motorcycles even though they suit different categories and definitions of Classic Motorcycle Racing and Historic Motorcycle Racing in different countries around the world. Norton's first use of the name 'Manx' was applied to the 'Manx Grand Prix' model available from 1936-1940, a special racing version of their 'International' roadster, with telescopic forks and a plunger rear suspension, magnesium for the crankcases and cambox, and no provisi ...
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The Motor Cycle
''The Motor Cycle'' was one of the first British magazines about motorcycles. Launched by Iliffe and Sons Ltd in 1903, its blue cover led to it being called "The Blue 'un" to help distinguish it from its rival publication ''Motor Cycling (magazine), Motor Cycling'', which, using a green background colour, was known as "The Green 'un". Many issues carried the strapline "Circulated throughout the World". The covers eventually used a variety of different background colours after 1962, with a name-change to ''Motor Cycle''. Features Noted for detailed road tests of contemporary motorcycles and articles on readers' bikes, the magazine had regular features, including "Current Chat" and "Letters to the Editor" where many of the key issues relating to British motorcycling of the day were debated. The contributors often signed their pieces with pseudonyms such as ''Torrens'' (Arthur Bourne, one of the Editors) and the famous ''Ixion'' (Canon B.H. Davies). Recent history From 1962, ...
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Triumph Bonneville T120
The Triumph Bonneville T120 is a motorcycle originally made by Triumph Engineering from 1959 to 1975. It was the first model of the Bonneville series, which was continued by Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. The T120 was discontinued in favour of the larger 750 cc T140 in the early 1970s. The Bonneville T120 name was revived in 2016 on a new machine with larger engine and updated specifications. One was used as a model for Sirius Black’s Motorbike in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Development The Bonneville T120 was Edward Turner's last production design at Triumph (in retirement Turner designed the Triumph Bandit/BSA Fury which did not pass the prototype stage before BSA went under). The new motorcycle was conceived and developed so quickly that it was not included in the 1959 Triumph catalogue. With a parallel-twin (two-cylinder) engine the T120 was based on the Triumph Tiger T110 and was fitted with the Tiger's optional twin 1 3/16 in Amal ...
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Meriden, West Midlands
Meriden is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Historically, it is part of Warwickshire and lies between the cities of Birmingham and Coventry. It is located close to the Warwickshire border within a green belt of the countryside known as the Meriden Gap and is in the ecclesiastical parish of the Diocese of Coventry. The village is east-northeast of Solihull, west-northwest of Coventry and east-southeast of Birmingham Airport. Birmingham city centre is east-northeast of the village. Known as " Alspath" in the Domesday Book, it was historically thought to be the geographical centre of England until the early 2000s, though after an analysis by the Ordnance Survey this was proved to be incorrect. The village gives its name to the Meriden parliamentary constituency, which was created in 1955 and covers the Meriden Gap. In the 2011 Census, the population of the Meriden parish was 2,719. The population is estimated to have ris ...
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Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest in the north to the River Thames in the south. Dagenham remained mostly undeveloped until 1921, when the London County Council began construction of the large Becontree housing estate. The population significantly increased as people moved to the new housing in the early 20th century, with the parish of Dagenham becoming Dagenham Urban District in 1926 and the Municipal Borough of Dagenham in 1938. In 1965 Dagenham became part of Greater London when most of the historic parish become part of the London Borough of Barking. Dagenham was chosen as a location for industrial activity and is perhaps most famous for being the location of the Ford Dagenham motor car plant where the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 took place. Following the de ...
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Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and luxury cars under its Lincoln luxury brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in China's Jiangling Motors. It also has joint ventures in China (Changan Ford), Taiwan (Ford Lio Ho), Thailand ( AutoAlliance Thailand), and Turkey ( Ford Otosan). The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family; they have minority ownership but the majority of the voting power. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines; by ...
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Plumstead
Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic counties of England, historic county of Kent and the detail of much of its early history can be found in Edward Hasted's extensive history of Kent. In 960 King Edgar I of England, Edgar gave four plough lands, collectively called Plumstead, to a monastery - St Augustine's Abbey near Canterbury, Kent. These were subsequently taken from the monastery by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, Earl Godwin for his fourth son, Tostig Godwinson, Tostig. King Edward the Confessor restored them again to the monastery on taking power, however Tostig saw the opportunity to take possession of them once again after Edward's death in 1066 when Harold Godwinson, King Harold seized his brother's estates. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror gifted Plumstead to his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, whom he a ...
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Thruxton 500
The Thruxton 500 was a motorcycle endurance race for production based road machines, covering 500 miles and ridden by a team of two riders per machine. The first event was a 9-hour race which took place in 1955, organized by the Southampton and District Motorcycle Club (SDMCC) at the Thruxton Circuit near Andover in Hampshire. Two more 9-hour races followed in 1956 and 1957. These earlier 9-hour races resulted in the birth of the famous Thruxton 500 miler, the first taking place in 1958 and the last in 1973. The Thruxton 500 was an endurance race for production based road machines, covering 500 miles and ridden by a team of two riders per machine. There were twelve Thruxton 500 events between 1958 and 1973. During that period, there were four races where the 500 miler had to be run at two different circuits because of poor track conditions at Thruxton. The first rearranged 500 miler race was at Castle Combe in 1965 followed by three other meetings at Brands Hatch in 1966, 1967 a ...
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Associated Motor Cycles
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by the Collier brothers as a parent company for the Matchless and AJS motorcycle companies. It later absorbed Francis-Barnett, James, and Norton before incorporation into Norton-Villiers. Henry Herbert Collier founded Matchless as a cycle company in 1878. His sons Henry (Harry) and Charles (Charlie) joined him and the name was changed to H. Collier & Sons. History AJS had been bought by Matchless's owners, the Colliers, in 1931 and Sunbeam was added in 1937 from Imperial Chemical Industries. The name of the Matchless Motor Cycles company was changed to "Amalgamated Motor Cycles Ltd" in 1937 and "Associated Motor Cycles (AMC)" in 1938. AMC was not a manufacturer in its own right, but rather the parent company of a group of motorcycle manufacturers which included Matchless, AJS, Norton, James, Francis-Barnett, Sunbeam and others. In 1939 a 495 cc AJS V4 was built to compete against the supercharged ...
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1961 Isle Of Man TT
The 1961 Isle of Man TT races, the fourth round of the 1961 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, involved five races on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course on the Isle of Man. Three of the races were won by Mike Hailwood. He completed the six laps of the course in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 2.0 seconds at an average race speed of 100.61 mph to win the Senior TT race, after earlier winning the Ultra-Lightweight 125cc and Lightweight 250cc races''Daily Mirror'' page 23 ''GREAT DOUBLE - HAIL MIKE !'' Tuesday 13 June 1991 " Oxford motor cycling star Mike Hailwood and the Japanese Honda team. Mike 21, notched a brilliant double by winning both the 125 and 250cc T T races at record speeds on Honda machines." Phil Read won the 350cc Junior TT race, while Max Deubel and E.Hoerner won the Sidecar TT event. 1961 Isle of Man Lightweight TT 125cc final standings 3 Laps (113.00 Miles) Mountain Course. 1961 Sidecar TT final standings 3 Laps (113.00 Miles) Mountain Course. 1961 Is ...
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Norton Dominator
The Dominator is a twin cylinder motorcycle developed by Norton to compete against the Triumph Speed Twin. The original Dominator was designed in 1947 and 1948 by Bert Hopwood, who had been on the Speed Twin design team at Triumph. Available for sale from mid 1949, this design set the pattern for Norton twins for the next 30 years. Model 7 The first Dominator, the Model 7, had a 497 cc parallel twin engine with iron cylinders and cylinder head and a Lucas K2F magneto. The crankshaft was of 360-degree layout with two main bearings. A single camshaft at the front of the engine was driven by gears and chain. The rocker box was integral with the head, so there were fewer gasket faces to leak and less valve noise. The engine was a long stroke design with bore and stroke and mild tuning, resulting in more torque low down. For the first few years a plunger frame was used, but in 1953 the Model 7 was upgraded with a single downtube swinging arm frame, 19-inch front wheel and 'pear ...
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