100 YEARS AFTER THE 'INDIAN SUMMER': OLIVER GODFREY

The final chapter in a special series for The Vintagent commemorating the victorious Indian team at the 1911 Isle of Man TT, the winner Oliver Godfrey.   Compiled by the authors of 'Franklin's Indians' and Chris Smith of Motorsport, and edited by Paul d'Orléans:

Godfrey aboard his winning 1911 TT Indian

Oliver Cyril Godfrey was born in London in 1887 to an artist father, a painter and engraver, who decamped to Australia before 1901.  Mrs Godfrey eventually remarried, and as late as his 1911 TT win, he was still living at his mother and step-father's home in Finchley, employed as a 'motor spindler' (ie, machinist).  By this time, young Oliver was a dedicated racing motorcyclist, and began racing at the Isle of Man by the age of 19, first on 726cc Rex twins in 1907 thru '09, then the ubiquitous Triumph single-cylinder in 1910. He at last won the TT in 1911, on his fourth attempt, and raced on the Island until 1914, but didn't get far in 1912, when mechanical trouble at the start line put paid to dreams of a second win.  All his TT appearances from 1911 onwards were aboard an Indian. 

Godfrey at the finish of the 1911 Senior TT

Godfrey was one of five riders supported by the Indian factory to enter the 1911 TT, the other riders being a mixture of English, Irish, Scots and American in the form of Arthur Moorhouse, Charles Franklin, Jimmy Alexander and Jake De Rosier respectively; all these riders are profiled in The Vintagent. The Indian team was managed by UK Indian concessionaire Billy Wells of the Hendee Mfg Co.’s London branch, and “technical advisor” was the great Medicine Man of Indian himself, chief engineer Oscar Hedstrom.

Godfry and his Indian at Brooklands, 1911

Given the unpaved, country roads which comprised the Isle of Man TT course in those days, falls over the dirt, mud, and stones were common; both de Rosier and Alexander had significant crashes in 1911, yet Godfrey rode consistently and well to finish the race without a fall, just ahead of Charlie Collier (Matchless) who was second to cross the finish line. CB Franklin similarly had a straightforward race, and Moorhouse, although he did fall off once, kept his place on the leader board.  Collier had misjudged his gasoline consumption and was forced to take on fuel at an unauthorised filling point, and was disqualified, which elevated Franklin and Moorhouse to 2nd and 3rd places. 

Godfrey just after the 1911 TT win, escorted by Billy Wells and Julia Hedstrom

Godfrey’s winning feat established a number of “firsts”, including the first ever '1-2-3' clean sweep by a factory team, first TT win by a foreign manufacturer (Indian), first Senior TT win, first win on the new 'Mountain' course over Snaefell mountain (the same course used today), and first Mountain course Race record (though Frank Applebee’s Scott set the first Mountain course Lap record). In a rather upbeat TT race report reprinted in the 1912 Indian UK sales catalogue, Godfrey was described as “small in size, but a bunch of muscles and nerves and a magnificent rider”.

Godfrey at the 1914 TT

Godfrey failed to start in the 1912 TT, “Did Not Finish” in 1913, but was able to claim 2nd place in the 1914 Senior TT.  His Isle of Man record and results at the Brooklands Track in Surrey place him at the forefront of motorcycle racers pre-World War One.  Godfrey was a business partner with 1912 Senior TT winner, Scott-riding Frank Applebee, in Godfreys Ltd, motorcycle retailers located at 208 Great Portland Street, London W1. This firm continued trading until the 1960s. A 1920 magazine advertisement laid claim to experience in all aspects of the motorcycle trade “including winning the 1911 and 1912 TTs”.  Certainly a rare attribute!

Godfrey's 1916 flying certificate from the RAC; he was 29 years old.

When war against Germany was declared in 1914, Godfrey enlisted as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. He earned his Royal Aero Club Aviator's certificate in a Beatty-Wright bi-plane at Hendon (now a massive RAF museum) in January 1916. The RFC used the Royal Aero Club for pilot certification through WWI, training about 6300 pilots during the War. In the photo above,  from Godfrey's flying certificate, the wires behind him are likely wing-wires on his Beatty training bi-plane.

The Martinsyde G100 'Elephant'; slow and unwieldy

Oliver Godfrey was posted to 27 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps which first arrived in France in March 1916 and by June was based at Fienvillers, 10 miles west of Albert in the Somme Valley, and 15 miles behind the front lines.  Their “base” used a cow pasture for a runway, where the fliers and ground-crew all slept in tents. The squadron was equipped exclusively with single-seater fighter scouts, the Martinsyde G100, nicknamed the 'Elephant' as it was big and responded slowly to pilot input.  Unsuitable as a fighter, the 'Elephant' had a long flight range, so was redeployed as a bomber and reconnaissance scout, and flew missions up and down the western front, to Bapaume, Cambrai and Douai. 

A Martinsyde 'Elephant' in a muddy airfield...

The bombing success of 27 Squadron became their main role from 9 July 1916 onwards, and enemy airfields at Bertincourt, Velu and Hervilly were added to the list of targets. Oliver Godfrey joined the Squadron at this point, a relatively easy period for British fliers, when the chances of survival were still reasonable. The start of the Third Battle of the Somme on 15 September saw the squadron attack General Karl von Bulow’s headquarters at Bourlon Chateau, followed by more bombing of trains around Cambrai, at Epehy, and Ribecourt. By August 1916 the German Imperial Army Air Service was reorganized, and new “hunter” squadrons were created, becoming the pioneers of specialist fighter aircraft formations and tactics (the 'Dicta Boelke'), soon to be universal. The first 'hunters' were Jagdstaffel 2, formed at Lagnicourt, under the command of Oswald Boelcke, Germany’s top-scoring pilot at the time, and a young Manfred von Richthofen (the 'Red Baron') was among pilots hand-picked by Boelcke for the new unit, and by 16 September Jagdstaffel 2 had received enough of its allotted aircraft to commence operations in earnest. 

The Hunter: Manfred von Richthofen sitting on a downed Martinsyde 'Elephant'

For RFC units like 27 Squadron, their 'honeymoon' in France was definitely now over. It was during a bombing mission by six Elephants to Cambrai on 23 September that Oliver Godfrey lost his life, most likely shot down by Hans Reimann of Jadgstaffel 2, who was himself killed in the same engagement. The events of that day are described in a history of 27th Squadron written by Chaz Bowyer:

"On September 22nd bombing raids were carried out on Quievrechain railway station. One pilot, seeing that his bombs had failed to explode, proceeded to strafe the engine driver of a train attempting to leave the station quickly. Later in the day, fifty six 20lb bombs were scattered in Havrincourt Wood, suspected of harbouring German infantry. The following day 27 Squadron sent six Elephants on an Offensive Patrol over Cambrai, setting out at 8.30 am. All six were attacked over Cambrai by five Scouts of Jagdstaffel 2 led by Boelcke in person - with disastrous results for the Martinsydes. Sgt. H. Bellerby in Martinsyde 7841 was shot down almost immediately by Manfred von Richthofen (his 2nd official victory) while within seconds two more Elephants piloted by 2/Lts. E.J. Roberts and O.C. Godfrey were destroyed by Leutnants Erwin Boehme and Hans Reimann. Recovering from the shock of the first German onslaught, the remaining three Martinsydes continued the fight despite being outnumbered and outclassed by superior German aircraft. Lt. L.F. Forbes having exhausted all of his ammunition made one last defiant gesture by deliberately charging at the Albatros piloted by Hans Reimann, ramming the German scout in a near head-on collision. Reimann spun to earth and his death in a crushed cockpit, but Forbes, in spite of one collapsed wing with aileron controls shattered, managed to nurse his crippled Martinsyde towards base."

A Martinsyde downed behind German lines...

Godfrey had only been in France 3 months, and was one of 252 crew and 800 planes lost during this 4+ month campaign, in which the RFC lost a staggering 75% of its men in the battle...yet on the ground it was far worse, with 750,000 dead in an evil Autumn. Many of the pilots coming to France at that time were relatively inexperienced, deployed to replace downed airmen as fast as they could push them out of the training schools.  German pilots, with vastly superior aircraft and plenty of tactical combat experience as the months went by, racked up hundreds of 'kills', before the tide of the war turned, and they in turn became the hunted.

The Hunted: von Richthofen's plane after being shot down on Apr 21, 1918

When Godfrey was shot down, Cambrai was situated miles behind enemy lines, and its unclear what became of his body or whether, indeed, there was anything left in the burned-out wreck to bury. His memorial is Ref. IV. F. 12. at Point-du-jour Military Cemetery, Athies, near Arras. On settling his estate some 18 months later, the small fortune of £1475 went not to his mother, but to Frank Applebee, Scott-mounted winner of the 1912 TT and Oliver’s business partner in Godfrey’s Ltd, the motorcycle dealership in London which carried its founder's name nearly 50 years after lying down in the green fields of France.

'Franklin's Indians' is now available in the US at Motorsport Publications and the rest of the world at Panther Publishing Ltd.

100 YEARS AFTER THE 'INDIAN SUMMER': CHARLES BAYLY FRANKLIN

As part of a continuing series celebrating the 100th anniversary of Indian's 1-2-3 win at the Isle of Man TT in 1911, the authors of 'Franklin's Indians' and Chris Smith of Motorsport have provided biographies of the Indian team riders from that fateful effort, edited here exclusively for The Vintagent.   Charles B. Franklin was the creator of the legendary Indian 'Scout':

 

Charles Bayly Franklin was born on 1st October 1880 in Dublin, Ireland, and died on 19th October 1932 in Springfield, Massachussetts, USA, at the age of 52. He was descended from English settlers who came to Ireland during the 17th Century to be farmers. His grandfather’s occupation was stated simply as “gentleman”, while his father was a shipwright and a metal merchant. Charles was educated at a good private school where he showed an aptitude for sciences, and proceeded into tertiary education as an electrical engineer.

By the early noughts he was employed as the engineer of the Rathmines Electricity Works in Dublin for his day job, and acquired a brand-new F.N. motorcycle in 1903 which he immediately started modifying and tuning for competition. This coincided with the formation of the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland, and from 1904 onwards the MCUI held speed events almost every weekend during summer on the “Velvet Strand”, a long beach at Portmarnock just north of Dublin. Franklin excelled in speed and reliability-trial events, and was quickly a stand-out competitor in Ireland. His success was attributed to riding fearlessly but carefully, and to his extremely high standard of machine preparation. His skill in diagnosing problems with the early motorcycles was described as “uncanny”, and many others flocked to have him help them get their own machines running properly.

By 1905 Franklin was acknowledged to be the first major star of Irish motorcycle competition, and so it was no surprise when he announced his intention to enter, at his own expense, the selection trials held on the Isle of Man to choose a British team for the International Cup Race in France. His machine was a specially ordered JAP 6hp vee-twin, built into a frame of his own design made from Chater-Lea components (who typically supplied raw frame castings). In the selection trial he was up against top riders like the Collier brothers from the Matchless factory in London. Franklin was in the lead until the fifth and last lap, when valve trouble stopped him from finishing. But he had ridden so consistently well that he got selected anyway, along with Harry Collier and JS Campbell. But in France all three had to drop out with mechanical problems and the race results overall were discredited due to rule-bending by the host-country organisers. Simply by being there, Franklin gained the honour of being first to represent Ireland in international motorcycle competition.

Franklin was selected again for the 1906 British team for the International Cup race, this time held in Austria, and his two team mates were both of the Collier brothers - Harry and Charlie. He rode a giant 8hp JAP vee-twin, and again, the race was plagued with rule-bending and chicanery, but protests were ignored by the organizers. On the train journey back to England the two Colliers, Franklin, their team manager the Marquis de St Maur, and the Auto Cycle Union’s Freddy Straight got to talking. Why not hold a British race? Why not encourage standard road and touring models to enter, instead of freakishly light-weight speed models?

But where? In Britain, motor racing on public roads was explicitly outlawed, and a national speed limit of 20mph was in place. So the ACU went to the Isle of Man, which has always had an autonomous parliament, the Tynwald. Recognizing the economic benefits from the thousands of visitors drawn to such an event, the first “Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race” was announced in 1907. Unfortunately, Franklin couldn’t go; work pressures kept him in Dublin. But he did compete on The Island in 1908, even though his wife had given birth to their first child only 3 days prior! His mount was another JAP single-cylinder machine with Chater-Lea frame, and he did creditably well, coming 6th. The race was won by a Triumph...a fact duly noted by Franklin, as sure enough, in the 1909 TT Franklin appeared on a Triumph coming 5th, and bringing home the Private Owners Prize. Not bad, for an amateur who competed against factory-supported teams! 

1909 was the first year Indian racers appeared in the TT, and the lesson Franklin took from the brilliant ride of Lee Evans against Harry Collier is that if one wanted to do well in this race then one really needed to be riding an Indian [or be Harry Collier! - pd'o].  Thus, Franklin was one of several private owners who arrived at the Isle of Man in 1910 on Indian twins, augmenting the officially factory supported Indian team of Evans, Bennett and Bentley. Billy Wells must have supported all of the Indian riders by giving them tyre inner tubes, and all proved to be from the same bad batch. A rear tyre blow-out on the infamous Devil’s Elbow bend saw Franklin crash into the stone wall, nearly going over it and down a cliff. It was not an Indian day.

In 1910 Franklin resigned his post at the power station and opened an Indian agency at his suburban house in Dublin. He rode exclusively on Indians, and dedicated himself totally to Indian competition, sales and service, from that day forth. This change of career also gave him the freedom to start competing at the Brooklands Track in England, where he consistently did well against the Collier Brothers and other top cracks, billed as “the Irish Champion”. Indian’s luck changed in the 1911 TT race, now run over Snaefell Mountain, which gave Indian a real advantage with their all-chain drive and two-speed countershaft gearbox. Among the British entrants only Scott and P and M (later Panther) could boast similar arrangements. Other brands used direct belt-drives, sometimes with variable pulleys or epicyclic rear-hub gears; all  engineering dead-ends. Franklin rode a steady and flawless race which saw him ultimately take 2nd place, his best-ever TT result. Race reports described him as “a quiet chap” but “a fearless rider with plenty of good judgement” and one who rides “with the regularity of a well-timed express train”. He was also described as “an Indian convert”.

In 1915 Indian’s British concessionaire Billy Wells decided to open a Depot in Dublin for Indian sales and service. He recruited Charles Franklin into the Indian company to be the Dublin manager. But in 1916 wartime conditions and import restrictions forced Wells to close the Dublin end of the British operation. Wells, by now a Director on the Indian board, was able to have Franklin transferred to the Wigwam in the USA where he entered the Design Department. He was the first designer at Indian to have formal engineering qualifications. Franklin’s subsequent achievements at Indian are another story entirely, for it was Franklin who designed the Indian Scout and Chief models. These holistically designed machines are said by many to be among the very first examples of the ‘modern motorcycle’. They were influential models, and their sales saw Indian through difficult economic times in the early and late ‘twenties. In racing too he continued to contribute to Indian glory, this time as race engine designer and tuner, and overseer of the Indian racing effort against the famous Harley “Wrecking Crew” of 1919-1922 and beyond. But by 1931, the start of the du Pont era at Indian, Franklin does not look very well in official company photos. In August of 1931 he asked for a leave of absence to recover his health. He got steadily worse and passed away in October 1932, of bowel cancer.

Franklin was a man with a rare combination of talents. He had the sporting qualities and the moxie necessary to succeed in the cut-throat world of motorcycle racing. And he had the education, intellect and marketing instinct needed to succeed in the manufacturing side of his beloved motorcycle industry. From the 1911 TT race Charles Bayly Franklin went on to become one of the world’s great motorcycle designers.

'Franklin's Indians' is now available in the US at Motorsport Publications and the rest of the world at Panther Publishing Ltd.

100 YEARS AFTER THE 'INDIAN SUMMER': JAKE DE ROSIER

As part of a continuing series celebrating the 100th anniversary of Indian's 1-2-3 win at the Isle of Man TT in 1911, the authors of 'Franklin's Indians' and Chris Smith of Motorsport have provided biographies of the Indian team riders from that fateful effort, edited here exclusively for The Vintagent.   Jake de Rosier was perhaps the first superstar motorcyclist, and the first professional factory motorcycle racer:

De Rosier brought to England the 7hp (1000cc) Indian track racer "Number 21" he'd used to set speed records in the US that the British couldn't quite believe.  He proceeded to remove all doubt by setting them again on British tracks, under British timekeepers, up against the best of British riders.

Born in 1880 in eastern Quebec, Jacob de Rosier was a French Canadian, but his family soon moved to Massachusetts. His two-wheeled competition career began at age 14 as an amateur cyclist at Fall River, Mass., but his talent soon saw him re-designated a professional cyclist, and he pursued pedal power until 1898. That November, he spied the two motor tandems imported from France by Henri Fournier for use as pacers in cycle competition. Jake was immediately drawn to the powered cycles, and proved very good at managing these unwieldy devices. De Rosier was consequently selected as a steersman in the first motor-paced cycle event ever run in the US, held at Waltham, Mass. at the end of 1898, in which he paced the famous Harry Elkes. The advent of motor pacing revolutionized cycle sport in the US, as it had already done in Europe.

An early Anzani-engined cycle-pacing monster!

Operating a motor tandem was not for the faint of heart; keeping an internal combustion engine alive and spinning was a hands-full occupation for a dedicated mechanicién, while a the steersman kept the whole contraption pointed in the right direction.  According to a January 1900 commentary on the new technology, "The experience of running a motor at 40 miles an hour is thrilling, and requires nerve, which is often found wanting if a 'chauffeur' should have ever experienced a fall”.  The ability to ride or race a bicycle was no guarantee of skill at handling a motorized tandem.

The original Oscar Hedstrom cycle-pacing tandem of 1900

The Hendee Mfg. Co. hired de Rosier as a pacer-driver and a mechanic in 1901, but his employment lasted just a few months, and he continued his 'pacer' career for cyclists like Jimmy Michael until around 1905. The pacer crews at cycle races began to stage races with each other, in addition to supporting the bicycle competition. From 1905 de Rosier dropped the trailing cyclists and switched to motorcycle racing which was now gaining ground as a sport in its own right. As a result of various mishaps and spectacular get-offs it is said that, toward the end of the new century’s first decade, small and slightly-built De Rosier had not a patch of skin more than three inches square that had not yet been gouged, cut, bruised or torn. Of broken bones, multiple fractures and missing ribs there was now an extensive catalogue in his weighty medical file. His grit and determination to get to the top of this glamorous but dangerous new sport, and stay there, was evident in his conduct, his competitive spirit, and his refusal to be deterred by the prospect of further physical agonies or months-long spells of enforced idleness in a hospital bed.

In the summer of 1908, Oscar Hedstrom presented de Rosier with a new experimental Indian to take away and test. It looked very different from Indian's first motor bicycles, the 'camel backs'. The new machine had a huge v-twin engine with scarcely any cylinder finning, slung low in a loop-frame rather than perched high in a bicycle frame. Jake spent his summer in New Jersey doing demonstration rides, setting national speed records on a cycle board track, and throwing down cash-purse match race challenges to other motor bicycle competitors. As a result of his successes on the prototype loop-frame racer, de Rosier was again hired by Indian, this time to be their official factory rider, becoming the world’s first professional salaried motorcycle racer. 

The first type of racing Indian, the 'torpedo tank' of 1908

He quickly repaid Hendee’s investment, with interest. By 1910 he held the US records for all distances from one to one hundred miles in the name of Indian. He was firmly established as the major star of US motorcycle racing, among a coterie of riders whose gladiatorial feats had greatly popularized the new sport and of whom it was said “They furnish excitement as thrilling as it is served in any form and cause one's blood to creep every minute they are in action”.  Timber board tracks were now being established all over America by promoter Jack Prince. By early 1911 racing and record-breaking speeds in the USA soon climbed over 90 mph, undreamt-of and widely doubted in Britain where the mid-eighties was the best that anyone could yet manage. When Oscar Hedstrom decided that Indian should go all-out to be “third-time-lucky” and win the 1911 Isle of Man TT race, de Rosier was detailed to show the British what he could do. On arrival de Rosier was treated like a star and became the centre of a media circus; everywhere he stopped, crowds gathered to see and meet him, and his magnetic personality, and modesty about his riding ability, charmed the English and he became very popular.

American track-racing superstar Jake de Rosier here photographed with Billy Wells at the London Indian Depot on the first day of his arrival in England to compete in the 1911 IoM TT Senior race.

 In the TT itself de Rosier struggled, riding valiantly but clearly not comfortable on the rough and loose surfaces of the IoM’s gravel roads. He was leading the race at the end of the first lap, but had crashes and then accepted outside help which disqualified him. Yet he managed to ride the full distance. It was the British Indian riders who secured the 1-2-3 placings, after Charlie Collier of Matchless lost his own 2nd placing due to disqualification for re-fuelling at an unauthorized stop. 

The next day, de Rosier stunned the crowds by winning several sprints held down the narrow and curved Douglas Promenade, in windy and slippery conditions, at 75mph. De Rosier had brought with him “Number 21”, the 1,000cc Indian upon which he’d set all his current US records. He was looking for match races and he found them, for it was arranged that he should have a Best-of-Three with English champion Charlie Collier (builder/rider of Matchless motorcycles) for a purse of £130. This was held at Brooklands Track near London, and the first race was won by de Rosier who slip-streamed Collier and then dashed past in the final instant. In the second race Collier led, and won because de Rosier’s front tyre came off at high speed. Yet Jake didn’t drop the bike, and he motored it back on the bare steel rim. The spectators were astonished by his skill. In the final race Collier again led, until his spark plug wire came loose. While struggling to hold it on with his bare hands, de Rosier came past to win. Before leaving England, de Rosier also broke the existing British one-mile and one-km speed records. But Charlie Collier had the final word after Jake had departed, for Collier next got his Matchless machine to take back all Jake’s records just set and he also became the first man in Britain to exceed 90mph.

Back in the USA, Jake soon fell out with Indian's Board for reasons that are still not clear. For some reason, de Rosier was not presented with one of the new Indian eight-valve racers, which had been released while he was away in England. As a result, Jake joined the race team of Chicago firm Excelsior. But he soon had other problems. A new Excelsior rider named Joe Wolters burst onto the scene and started breaking all of Jake’s US records. Other too, like Erle Armstrong, found that the French Canadian was no longer unbeatable. Newspapers began referring to him in race reports as “the former champion” and “the old war-horse”. In February 1912 Jake and the Excelsior team went out west to compete in events at the newly-opened L.A. Stadium saucer board-track. Promoters played up race duels between de Rosier and Charles “Fearless” Balke as crowd-pleasing grudge matches. It was in one of these that a mistake by Balke saw both bikes go down and, locked together, they dragged their riders along for almost 500 feet. Balke was okay, but de Rosier’s left leg was broken in three places. He underwent surgery to pin everything back together, and then rested for a good many weeks, before further surgery and weeks of bed-rest, and by the time he was able to return home to Springfield Mass, all his savings had been spent on medical bills.  As his leg had not healed properly, in February 1913 de Rosier entered hospital for yet another round of surgery. It didn’t go well, and he died on 25 February 1913.

As de Rosier was quite famous in Springfield, home of the Indian Motocycle Co., his funeral cortege wound through the town, and as it passed, all work at the Indian factory ceased, and their flag was lowered to half mast.  Ocscar Hedstrom tendered his resignation from Indian that very day, for reasons which have never been explained.

'Franklin's Indians' is now available in the US at Motorsport Publications and the rest of the world at Panther Publishing Ltd.

100 YEARS AFTER THE 'INDIAN SUMMER': ARTHUR MOORHOUSE

PART 2 of our exploration of the Indian 'invasion' of the 1911 Isle of Man TT, in anticipation of Dave Roper's lap of the Island.  brought to you by the authors of 'Franklin's Indians' and Chris Smith of Motorsport.

"Arthur J Moorhouse, who finished 3rd in the 1911 TT on his Indian, hailed from Prestwich, Lancashire and died April 20, 1912 at Brooklands Racing Track. Unforunately we know a lot more about his death than we do about his life, for his death was tragic, spectacular and very public.

Moorhouse had entered every TT race since the second event held in 1908 when he rode a Rex twin-cylinder machine and came 7th. In 1909 he was 9th, again on a Rex, but in 1910 he became one of several converts to the Indian cause after witnessing the brilliant ride of Guy Lee Evans in 1909. The Indian twin that Moorhouse rode in 1910 was his personal machine, entered at his own expense, though Billy Wells (the Indian UK concessionaire) did help every Indian in one way or another, including, sadly, providing a faulty batch of innertubes, and this was the undoing of all the Indian entrants in 1910. Consequently his result was “DNF” (Did Not Finish) after being forced to retire in the 5th lap with terminal tyre trouble.

By 1911, Moorhouse was one of England’s most prominent amateur riders, recognized as an expert at difficult corner work on rough road courses. His fine performances are remarkable as he was a big man, fully 60lbs heavier than Oliver Godfrey, whose physique was typical of the slightly-built “horse-jockeys” that comprised most of the top motorcycle racers.

In the 1911 TT, Moorhouse had a relatively trouble-free race, and was the first private owner to finish. He had a spill when another rider fell right in front of him, but got up very quickly and was soon underway again. Were it not for this incident, he would have finished higher up the leader board than 4th place. Yet, to his delight, he was elevated to 3rd place when Charlie Collier was disqualified for an unauthorized fuel stop.

On Saturday 20th April 1912, during a BMCRC [Brooklands Motor Cycle Racing Club] one-hour race, Moorhouse was in the lead on his Indian twin and lapping at about 70mph in front of G. E. Stanley (499cc Singer), Harry Collier (741cc Matchless-JAP) and Sidney Tessier (741cc BAT-JAP). Moorhouse was seen leaning down to fiddle with various adjustments on his engine, while steering with one hand - typical behaviour of his to get the most out of his engine, yet extremely hazardous at high speed on the notoriously bumpy Brooklands circuit. Competitor Harry Bashall noticed (while being lapped by Moorhouse) that the Indian's rear axle appeared to be loose, and the wheel was canted over in the frame, being held only by drive-chain tension. Moorhouse lost control of the machine when diving down off the Members Banking and onto the Railway Straight, the fastest part of the circuit, veering suddenly left, straight into a trackside telegraph pole.

Spectators and officials saw a pall of smoke rising from Moorhouses’s burning machine, and the race was immediately stopped. Billy Wells and Charles Franklin were among the first to reach the scene, where they found Moorhouse had been killed instantly by a fractured skull. The imprint of his goggles could be seen in the wood of the telegraph pole. After Moorhouse’s body had been removed from the scene, his distraught friends and team mates reputedly grabbed shovels and started digging a big hole trackside where his Indian racer lay smouldering. They put it inside, and buried it.

Moorhouse in a studio shot with his personal Indian racer

It’s possible that Moorhouse’s Indian racer is still there, entombed at the edge of the former Railway Straight at Brooklands."

'Franklin's Indians' is now available in the US at Motorsport Publications and the rest of the world at Panther Publishing Ltd.

100 YEARS AFTER THE 'INDIAN SUMMER': BILLY WELLS

As part of the general celebration of racing and history at the Isle of Man TT this June, Dave Roper will ride a replica of the Indian motorcycles which dominated the 1911 TT, in a Centenary parade lap.  As no actual 1911 TT machines exist as far as we know, Pete Gagan constructed this 'TT Replica' from a correct type racing engine he found in Ireland, faithfully copying details from period photographs and searching for correct bits at autojumbles.  

Billy Wells and the Indian with which Guy Lee Evans set records at Brooklands in 1909, after the Isle of Man TT

As part of this Centenary of the only win of an American motorcycle at the Isle of Man TT for nearly 100 years (the next win was an electric bike at the TTXGP in 2009!), the authors of the upcoming book 'Franklin's Indians' (a biography of Charles Franklin, who designed the legendary 'Scout') and Chris Smith at Motorsport, have written a series of profiles on the Indian team riders of 1911, edited by Paul d'Orléans for publication on The Vintagent:

William Huntingdon 'Billy' Wells was born in Winthrop, Maine, on 28 March 1868. As a young man he was a keen bicycling competitor, in those days, before the invention of the 'safety bicycle', he raced dangerous 'high-wheel' cycles, which used enormous front wheels before chain-drive made multiple gears possible.  Wells began working as a bicycle builder in 1884, around the time the 'safety' bicycle was invented - setting the two-wheel pattern we still recognize today. 

The Rover 'Safety Bicycle' of 1885

 In late 1902 he moved to England as an agent for the steam-powered automobile the 'Stanley Steamer'. The car was not a commercial success, and Wells switched to importing German-made Allright/Lito motorcycles which he marketed in Britain as the 'Vindec Special'. With bicycle competition in his blood, he modified a few Vindecs  for competition, some with Peugeot 1,000cc v-twin engines, and gained a reputation for winning in hill-climbs and reliability trials. Wells entered the inaugural 1907 Isle of Man TT race on a Vindec twin, and was leading the race comfortably until the last lap when he had three punctures in quick succession. It was while repairing the third puncture that Rembrandt Fowler on a Norton went past him to win the twin cylinder class of the first ever TT. He regretted ever after not winning the race, and history might have looked slightly different had an American won the first TT!

Wells' import company, South British Trading Ltd, went into liquidation after 5 years in business, and with no immediate prospects in England, Wells returned to the USA in March 1909. He happened to meet an old friend from his bicycle competition days, George Hendee, who had commenced manufacture of motor bicycles under the brand name of 'Indian'.

Billy Wells with his 'Vindec Special', 1000cc Peugeot-engined competition model

Hendee urged Wells to immediately return to England and set up an Indian marketing, sales and service organization for all of Britain, her colonies, and Europe. Hendee termed this entity a 'branch office' of the Hendee Mfg. Co. Ltd.  Thus, the Indian depot in London opened for business in May 1909 at 178 Great Portland Street, in the West End close to fashionable Oxford Street and Soho. Launching an extensive sales campaign, Wells worked hard to set up a dealership network in Britain. Always keen on competition, he began offering Indians to top British racers for events at Brooklands and the Isle of Man TT. 

Billy Wells and Guy Lee Evans entered the 1909 Senior TT on Indian twins. Wells crashed at or very near the start, and was injured. Evans rode a heck of a race and, after the faster of the two famous Collier brothers (Charlie) was forced to retire, Harry Collier had to dig deep and try every trick he knew to stay in front. Harry managed to bring his Matchless twin to the finish line just a minute or two ahead of Evans. It was a thriller of a race.

Guy Lee Evans racing the 1909 Isle of Man TT

The 1910 TT was expected to be a repeat of the excitement in 1909. Indian chief designer Oscar Hedstrom came over from the US to observe. Wells did not ride but entered an official Indian team of Lee Evans, Charlie Bennett, and Walter Bentley (later famous as “W.O.” of Bentley cars). Entrants on privately-owned Indians included Arthur Moorhouse, Jimmy Alexander from Scotland and Charles B. Franklin from Ireland, all new converts to Indian. But a faulty batch of  tire innertubes saw them all drop out, or crash spectacularly from blow-outs. The Collier brothers won easily. The 'Indian Spring' was dismal, although Indians did very well at other events during the year.

The high point of Wells' career was the 1911 TT when, again as Team Manager (with Hedstrom also returning as Technical Advisor) he entered a five-man factory team of star American track specialist Jake de Rosier, along with experienced British IoM riders Moorhouse, Alexander, Oliver Godfrey and Charlie Franklin. The combination of their skilled riding and the fact that Indians used chains/gears/clutches over the new 'Mountain Course' at the TT, meant Indians took an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the Senior TT.

The Indian team for the 1910 IoM TT consisted of (from left to right) Walter Bentley, Guy Lee Evans and Charlie Bennett, seen here with Billy Wells after winning 1-2-3 in a 1-hour race run to TT rules at Brooklands Track as "warm-up" for the TT races.

In recognition of his efforts to boost Indian export sales, Wells was made a member of the Hendee Mfg. Co.'s Board of Directors in 1911, a position he held until the company was reorganized and renamed as the Indian Motocycle Company in November 1923.

In 1914 Wells recruited Charles B. Franklin to Indian as manager of a newly-opened Dublin Indian depot. Business was slow with Europe at war, and the depot was closed down again in 1916, and Indian board president Hendee imported Franklin (a trained engineer) to Springfield on Wells’ recommendation, to start a job in the Design Department of Indian. Wells’ recommendation  had major implications for Indian’s future, for it was Franklin who designed the immortal Indian Scout and Chief models.

The immortal Indian 'Scout'

After WWI Wells supported further Indian entries in the TT, and was successful in gaining 2nd and 3rd placings. But a decreasing volume of Indian business in UK made the effort of racing at this level difficult for him to justify beyond 1923, when Freddie Dixon made 3rd place at the TT on his single-cylinder 500cc Indian.  By 1925, international trade protectionism meant a 33% tax levied on imported motorcycles in the UK, significantly raising the price of his Indians during an already rough period of the British economy, and Wells was forced to shut down his British Indian operation. Out of work again and deeply depressed, but started a motoring accessory business. In 1928 Wells was approached by entrepreneurs who wanted his help to introduce 'dirt-track' (later Speedway) racing to Britain, which had proved wildly popular in Australia.  Ever the team manager, Billy Wells became Secretary of Meetings and Clerk of the Course of Stamford Bridge Speedway Track, organizing the first big speedway event at night under electric floodlights. The experiment worked, and the new sport became hugely popular, and profitable, in Britain from then on, with paying customers in the tens of thousands. He was by then in his mid-60s, so returned to his first love in semi-retirement, working from home as a bicycle repairer.

American track-racing superstar Jake De Rosier here photographed with Billy Wells at the London Indian Depot on the first day of his arrival in England to compete in the 1911 IoM TT Senior race.

Wells passed away in Harrow, England on 15 January 1954, a pivotal figure in Indian’s international sales success and the architect of Indian’s finest international sporting achievement, the 1-2-3 clean-sweep of the 1911 Isle of Man Senior TT. 

'Franklin's Indians' is now available in the US at Motorsport Publications and the rest of the world at Panther Publishing Ltd.

1911: INDIANS SWEEP ISLE OF MAN TT

Lee Evans making 2nd place at 1909 TT on his 750cc Indian

The Hendee Moto-Cycle corporation is over half a century gone, but 100 years ago, they were the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world (lo, how the mighty do fall...), and originators of many 'firsts' in the business.  The first to create a 'works' professional racing team, with the first professional team rider (Jake deRosier), and certainly the first factory racing team sent abroad.  In 1910 Oscar Hedstrom (designer of the Indian) sailed to England to supervise the factory effort.  An Indian had placed 2nd in the twin-cylinder class in 1909 (Lee Evans aboard), and Hedstrom, mindful of potential export sales, subsidized Billy Wells' London dealership, and racing exploits at Brooklands and the Isle of Man TT.

Jake deRosier in 1911, on his personal 'Big Twin', which he raced at Brooklands

The mouse didn't roar in 1910, as the Indian team was plagued with a batch of rotten innertubes, which spat riders off like watermelon seeds.  Two riders were injured in spills, and the rest were exhausted from constantly re-inflating their tires. The best Indian could manage was Jake Alexander's lowly 14th place.

Charles B Franklin, Indian team member, who later went on to design the beloved 'Scout'

1911 was a different matter.  Hedstrom brought his own mechanics (3!) and Jake deRosier on a steamer from New York, determined to have a better result.  The ACU had changed the route of the TT to the 'Mountain' course (over Snaefell, a 1400' climb), in an effort to force English manufacturers to adopt gears and clutches.  The whole 'point' of the TT was to 'improve the breed', and in this, the ACU showed much foresight...if you want to win races, you had better develop your product line.

Oliver Godfrey aboard his 1911 TT winning Indian

Indian was immediately at an advantage, as their machines already had two-speed gears, clutches, and all-chain drive as standard.  English makers scrambled to attach epicyclic rear hubs and bolt-on clutches to their belt-drive machines.  Only the Scott two-stroke twin had a two-speed chain drive as standard, and this revolutionary little machine was certainly a threat, being very quick and with excellent handling. The capacity limit of the twin-cylinder class had been reduced to 580cc, so Indian sleeved-down a few examples of their 'little twin' for the races.

Godfrey escorted by Billy Wells, Indian importer for England, and Julia Hedstrom, with a grand hat!

The result of their efforts could not have been better; Oliver Godfrey rode the first non-English motorcycle to win the TT, and after Charlie Collier (who had been 2nd) was disqualified for an illegal re-fueling, Indians took the top 3 spots - a clean sweep!  The delicate Scott twin had taken the fastest lap, but couldn't keep the pace.  Jake deRosier's velodrome tactical skills proved little use on the Island's goat-path circuit, and he fell many times. Still, he did very well at paved venues, and in a battle of Titans, beat Matchless' Charlie Collier, England's top racer, in a 2 out of 3 race at Brooklands, just after the TT.

The original over-the-fence papparazzi shot; Godfrey inside the Indian team paddock, celebrating.

Indian sent factory racers to England until 1923, when Freddie Dixon placed 3rd on a single-cylinder model, and after that, silence.  No American-sponsored, American-made racers appeared in Europe for nearly 50 YEARS, until the Trans-Atlantic Match Races began in the early 1970s, which saw the likes of Dick Mann, Cal Rayborn, Dave Aldana, Gene Romero, Don Emde, etc, battling it out on H-Ds against Norton Commandos and Triumph Tridents.  A worthy subject for another article!

It took 60 years after Indian's TT win for an American company to send racers back to England...Cal Rayborn in 1972, aboard his H-D XRTT750...what a machine!

THE RAREST OF SPARES

While the Replica Factories pop Indian 8-Valve Board Track racers into our world with stunning regularity, the 'real deal' becomes that much harder to find, and document. On ebay at the moment is what appears to be an actual spare 'small-base' ca.1911 Indian 8-Valve racing engine. The story sounds genuine, but if you're considering a bid, I'd get a money-back guarantee in writing with a notary and a lawyer, as this engine could easily top the $100k mark [I've heard a rumor the seller has had a firm $100k offer, but wants $125k...].

Indian was at the cutting edge of engine technology with their 8-valve racers, a position which they were never to occupy again. The 4 valve per cylinder head technology not only improved the flow of gases into and out of the combustion chamber, but made for lighter valves and an easier time for the whole valve train, as the valve springs didn't need Herculean strength to keep the valves following the cam contours. With the lousy lubrication of the day, less pressure on the cams meant longer life to the components, and greater reliability. Lighter valves meant less likelihood of them breaking and dropping into the cylinder - a real consideration with steels technology of the day, as engineers hadn't perfected which alloys could withstand the nasty combination of combustion heat and quickly reversed inertia, not to mention any lateral forces from imperfect rocker alignment or wear from their exposure to track grit (especially on dirt tracks!).
The seller's description:

HISTORY:
I bought this engine approximately 20 years ago along with other engines and parts. At that time, I was told by the seller these engines and parts were purchased decades earlier from the mother of a early motorcycle racer who lived somewhere in the "desert" and was killed. The racer's mother claimed one of the engines in the group had been raced at the Isle of Man TT. I contacted The Isle of Man TT association and was advised that no 8-Valves were raced there between 1907 and 1930. However, another engine in the group (which I also have) is a 1909 Indian. I believe the 1909 engine is the one the racer's mother was referring to. It appears the 1909 Indian engine was in a bike ridden by G. Lee Evans and finished in Second Place at The Isle of Man TT in 1909. I "speculate" that the 8-Valve engine offered here and the 1909 Indian engine may have been among parts sold at an Indian factory "back room sale" sometime in the late 1940's.
8-VALVE SPECIFICATIONS: The 8-Valve engine offered here is a small base, 1000cc, twin cylinder. It is complete with the exception of the carburetor and one push rod. The engine is in very good condition and still has traces of apparent Indian red paint. The engine was carefully disassembled so as not to disturb this paint and NO CLEANING has been done on any parts. There is no evidence of markings or serial numbers on the outside of the cases and no evidence that any markings were removed. All markings and numbers appear on the inside of the cases. On the inside of the cases are timing marks which look like those used by Indian. See photos. Each cylinder has twelve (12) "ports" at their base for case pressure release. Each cylinder has two (2) threaded sparkplugs holes. The exhaust port spickets are "straight", unlike early big-base and later (1914) small-base 8-Valves which, were "curved" downward.
And if you happen to buy it, let me know!