1951 Vincent 998cc Black Lightning

The ex-Tony McAlpine, Jack Ehret, Australian Land Speed Record-breaking
1951 Vincent 998cc Black Lightning
Frame no. RC9205
Engine no. F10AB/1C/7305
Rear frame no. RC9205
Crankcase mating no. SS25

• One of approximately 33 made
• Full matching numbers
• One of an estimated 19 matching-numbers examples still existing
• Five owners from new
• Re-commissioned by Patrick Godet

More than six decades ago, the Vincent Black Shadow delivered the most performance from a street-legal vehicle that money could buy — on two wheels or four. Officially timed at 122mph, it outpaced the Jaguar XK120 two-seater, then the world's fastest production car, making the Shadow the first true Superbike of the modern era.

The ultimate Vincent was the Series C Black Lightning, a production version of the bike Rollie Free rode to break the AMA's land speed record in 1948 on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Available only by special order, the standard Black Lightning was supplied in racing trim with a tachometer, Elektron magnesium alloy brake plates, racing tyres on alloy rims, rear-set foot controls, a solo seat and aluminium mudguards. This reduced the Black Lightning's dry weight to just 360lb/172kg versus the Black Shadow's 458lb/208kg complete with lights and a horn. The Lightning's 998cc air-cooled, overhead valve 50º V-twin engine was given higher-performance racing components including Mark II Vincent cams with higher lift and more overlap, stronger, highly polished Vibrac connecting rods with a large-diameter caged roller-bearing big end, polished flywheels and Specialoid pistons delivering a 13:1 compression ratio for methanol fuel. The combustion chamber spheres were polished, as were the valve rockers and the streamlined larger inlet ports, which were blended to special adapters and fed by twin 1¼-inch Amal 10TT9 carburettors. The Ferodo single-plate clutch's cover featured centre and rear cooling holes, while the four-speed gearbox was beefed up to transmit extra power of at least 70bhp at 5,600 rpm (versus the Black Shadow's claimed 55bhp) and a top speed of 150mph.

The Black Lightning's genesis is the stuff of legend for Vincent enthusiasts, and essentially began with London Vincent dealer Jack Surtees, the father of future World champion and Vincent factory apprentice John Surtees. He'd been racing a Norton sidecar with some success, and in 1947 ordered a Vincent Rapide with special tuning parts. This engine was built at Vincent's Stevenage plant alongside a second such engine, which was loaned to George Brown, Vincent's experimental tester, whose ensuing bike became famously known as Gunga Din and was the test bed for the Black Shadow and Black Lightning.

First shown at London's 1948 Earls Court show, the production Black Lightning caused a sensation despite its then-enormous £400 price tag plus a hefty £108 purchase tax. It is generally accepted that only 33 complete customer versions - all Series C except for one Series D model - plus Rollie Free's first 1948 Series B prototype were ever built (together with anything up to 13 engines for installation in racing cars), before production ended in 1952.

Today, the Black Lightning is perhaps the most coveted production motorcycle ever built. It is believed that 19 matching-numbers Lightnings still exist, making the cosmetically un-restored ex-Jack Ehret five-owner example, with its glorious racing history, a rare and immensely desirable slice of motorcycling history. The first two "Lightningised" engines for Surtees and Brown's Gunga Din were numbered F10AB/1A/70 and F10AB/1A/71, respectively, and the special Shadow sold to US dealer John Edgar in July 1948 was F10AB/1B/900. Subsequent Lightnings all carried the "IC" designation, and the third of these to leave the factory, F10AB/IC/1803, was sent to Sydney, Australi, in March 1949 and purchased by sidecar racer Les Warton. From 1949-1952, six complete Black Lightnings plus one engine went to Vincent agents in Australia, the company's second-largest export market after the USA, with two more privately imported, one via Singapore. One was raced in 1949 by Sydney rider Tony McAlpine, who became virtually unbeatable in Unlimited class events aboard the Black Lightning, winning 12 major races from 13 starts.

For the 1951 European season, McAlpine decided to try his hand overseas, securing an AJS 7R for the 350cc class and finishing 13th in the Isle of Man Junior TT. In between races, McAlpine worked at the Vincent factory at Stevenage, and with the factory's blessing, assembled his own Black Lightning with engine number F10AB/1C/7305 and frame number RC9205. This was completed on June 5th 1951, and tested on July 19th at Great Gransden airstrip alongside Gunga Din, hitting 130mph in third gear and, according to McAlpine, out-accelerating Gunga Din by a clear 30 yards on each standing-start sprint run.

McAlpine's final race in Britain before sailing for home was at Boreham Aerodrome, a very fast circuit, in a programme that included an Unlimited race. For the meeting, Phillip Vincent invited McAlpine to ride Gunga Din, which he did with great verve, sliding speedway-style through the turns to demolish the field. McAlpine then sailed home, taking with him the new, un-raced Black Lightning. He had no plans to return to Europe, but after receiving a sponsorship offer from Shell, plus the nomination as Australian representative for the TT, he decided to return for 1952. To save money and stay clear of injury he didn't race during his brief return to Australia, and put the Vincent up for sale.

The £500 price asked for the Black Lightning would have bought a couple of nice houses in Sydney at the time. One of the few riders with funds to buy the Lightning was car dealer Jack Forrest, a talented rider. At the 1951 Australian TT held at Lowood in Queensland in June, Forrest was the star of the show, winning the Junior race on a Velocette KTT and the Senior on a Manx Norton. He also raced a Vincent Black Shadow in the Unlimited class, and he was out in front in that race before a split fuel line sprayed methanol on the rear tyre. Although he controlled the resulting skid, his race was over. Forrest had now seen that a well-tuned Vincent on a fast circuit was superior to even the best Norton, so when the opportunity to acquire McAlpine's Black Lightning came along, it proved irresistible. He bought the bike and raced it in the Australian TT at Bathurst in the Senior Unlimited TT, but crashed during the race, without serious injury and with mainly superficial damage to the bike. Nonetheless, the experience seemed to break the love affair with the Vincent; Forrest set out to acquire a new Manx Norton and placed the Lightning for sale with Sydney dealers Burling and Simmons.There it sat for months until bought by Jack Ehret, who owned two Sydney motorcycle shops. Ehret wasn't exactly flush with funds, but knew that if he didn't get hold of the Lightning, one of his racing rivals would. And so F10AB/1C/7305 found a new home, where it would remain for the next 47 years.

"Black Jack" Ehret's first major outing on the Lightning was the Australian TT at the Little River circuit on Boxing Day 1952, where he finished second in the Senior Unlimited TT. At that time the Australian Land Speed record was constantly under attack, so in January 1953, Ehret selected a remote stretch of road in western NSW to challenge Les Warton's Vincent record of 122.6mph. Despite a few problems, he averaged an officially timed 141.509mph to smash the record. Ehret claimed the attempt cost him £1,000-plus, but considered it well worth it in sales promotion for his business to earn the coveted certificate from the Auto Cycle Council of Australia.

Over the next five years, Jack Ehret and the Black Lightning were regular fixtures at Australian road race meetings, with the Vincent appearing in both solo and sidecar guise, often in the same day, with Stan Blundell in the chair. Ehret and the Lightning wound up Australian Title points leaders in 1954 ahead of a host of famous names. Undoubtedly its proudest moment as a solo came at the much vaunted international meeting at Mount Druitt in February 1955, where 500cc World Champion Geoff Duke visiting from England was the star attraction with his works four-cylinder Gilera. Duke had demolished the opposition in his previous starts on his Australian tour, but on his home track, Ehret was fired up for action, and fancied his chances in the Unlimited TT. Reporting on his tour in the British motorcycle press, Duke wrote: "Ehret made a poor [push] start in the Unlimited event, whereas I was first away, and piled on the coals from the beginning. Thereafter I was able to keep an eye on the Vincent rider approaching the hairpin as I accelerated away from it. Although he was unable to make up for his bad start, Ehret rode to such purpose that he equalled my fastest lap, and we now share the honour of being the lap record holders." After this scintillating performance, Jack then bolted on the chair for him and Blundell to win the Sidecar race!

One win that had eluded Ehret was the Australian TT at Bathurst, but he put that right in Easter 1956, winning the Sidecar TT with passenger George Donkin. Perhaps with this goal achieved, Jack and the Vincent became less frequent competitors, and when Mount Druitt closed in 1958 the Black Lightning was mothballed for 10 years. In 1968, Ehret made a comeback of sorts at Oran Park, with the Lightning now fitted with 16" wheels and John "Tex" Coleman in the chair. Despite the long layoff, Ehret didn't disgrace himself, finishing third in the Sidecar race. But a further decade passed before he brought the Black Lightning out for one more outing, again at Oran Park. By this time, the Vincent was in a different class - Historic - and Ehret demolished the field to win both his races by almost a complete lap. Its last appearance was at the Eastern Creek circuit in 1993, where Ehret lapped the...