Terrot was a French motorcycle manufacturer based in Dijon, they started building motorcycles in 1902. By 1932 they had won the triple-championship in France having taken victories in the 250cc, 350cc and 500cc motorcycle racing classes. A few years later during the second world war, Terrot supplied thousands of sidecar motorcycles to the French army.
In 1957 the MG Car Company arrived at the Bonneville Salt Flats with an unusually shaped vehicle and legendary racing driver Stirling Moss. The car was called the MG EX 181 and it was entered into the Class F land-speed series for cars with engines between 1.1 and 1.5 litres.
There’s something iconic about racing posters such as this one, it’s almost as if back in the time before microprocessors and Photoshop the only people employed to make advertising materials were real artists, earning their crust. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some magnificent Photoshop work in my time, but nothing as iconic as this 1970 1000 kms de Spa race poster. It’s just beautiful.
Cars like this one are becoming rarer and rarer, this 1953 Nash Ambassador Custom is in immaculate condition throughout and has only 26,106 miles from new. I can only assume that the owner of this Nash is the most fastidious person on the face of the Earth. The exterior, interior and engine bay look almost new.
Having started life as a 1976 Honda CB750 the bike had fallen on bad times and ended up sitting outdoors for over 20 years, 5 of which were in Carpy’s backyard. After receiving a commision for a new café racer build from an anonymous lady-racer in Australia he dragged it onto the back of his truck…
Celluloid doesn’t get much better than this, The Italian Job is essential viewing for any self-respecting red blooded male. Featuring Michael Caine and Noel Coward the 1969 comic caper centres around a gold heist in Turin, Italy.
This bike is, without question, my personal favourite build yet from The Wrenchmonkees. Based on a Norton Commando the minimalist, industrial style appeals to me. Probably because it looks exactly like a stripped down racer you’d have seen parked en masse outside the 59 Club in the 1960s.
This long line of Porsche 917s was taken in 1969, the cars are all awaiting delivery to their respective race teams. The 917 went on to win Le Mans in 1970 and 1971, it was also the car that co-starred in Steve McQueen’s now infamous 1971 film “Le Mans”.
Rat Rods are one of those things that I love in spite of myself. I’d be embarrassed to drive one around town but I’d love to race them on dirt roads, up windswept beaches or across the Bonneville salt flats.
The X-15 Space Plane had a top speed of Mach 6.72 (4,520 mph, 7,274 km/h) a service ceiling of 67 mi (108 km, 354,330 ft) and a blistering climb rate of 60,000 ft/min (18,288 m/min), the space planes were fuelled with liquid oxygen propellant and hydrogen peroxide.
50 internet points to anyone who can tell us the make and model of the bike she’s on.
Das Kleine Wunder or “the little wonder” was the name of the first two-stroke engine used in a DKW motorcycle, by the late 1920s and early 1930s DKW was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world and in 1932, DKW merged with Wanderer, Audi and Horch to form the infamous Auto Union.
