This blog
relates to Big Al’s (Alan Coultas) original race bike, built in the mid 1960’s.
Alan Coultas
was a joiner by trade and worked for thirty years at De La Pole Hospital at
Willerby, Yorkshire until it closed in 1997. He lived on Kirklands Avenue,
Spring Bank West, Hull and it was here that he built some very interesting
Velocette based specials. Alan was undoubtedly a skilled craftsman, but also
possessed an appreciation and understanding of what was required to make a
successful racing motorcycle. In this quest he made life hard for himself, as
he never raced or even rode his own machines. He relied instead on the feedback
from various riders to develop and improve the bike, all of which was
subjective. However, improve the bikes he did and in doing so carved himself a
reputation as the ‘Big Man’ in more ways than one. A worthy member of the
Yorkshire Velocette Mafia.
Alan was a
motorcyclist at heart, with a great love for the Velocette marque. He used a
Velocette Viper Clubman Mk1 as a means of daily transport, a bike that he
purchased new and one he considered to be of far better quality than the models
that followed. Many years later he purchased a Velocette Venom Thruxton and to
quote Alan’s blunt words “tat from toe to tail, a bitsa using any parts they
had in stock”.
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| MK1 Velocette Viper Clubman |
Having
entered a few races using a STD framed Velocette Venom, he soon realised that
the overall weight of the machine was a big disadvantage on the track. Doubly
so in short-circuit racing where the start is everything and there is very
little chance to claw back time lost. In reading MCN on a Wednesday afternoon,
he spotted a lightweight Velocette frame advertised for sale in London. After
ringing and making sure it was still available, he set off after work on the
Viper Clubman heading south. On reaching his destination and after inspecting
the frame, Alan decided to purchase it there and then, primarily as it was the
lightest thing he had ever felt. He put it on a train at King’s Cross that
evening, to be delivered to Hull Station the following morning. Alan did not
realise it at the time, but he had purchased a Doug Beasley frame intended for
a 250cc KTT engine. This frame formed the basis of the first ‘Coultas Special’
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| Beasley framed Coultas Special |
A mildly
tuned 500cc Venom engine was fitted, along with a Prefix 12 gearbox. Velocette
forks and a twin-leading shoe front brake were also fitted to the machine, but
all the other components used were selected with the aim of saving weight. An
AJS 7R rear hub and brake was fitted, Jim Lee alloy petrol and oil tanks,
Fi-glass racing seat and a Peel Mountain Mile type fairing completed the build.
As a 500 the
bike was very lightweight indeed, in fact time would to show it was too light.
But at the time Alan was very pleased with his efforts and with the step-change
in the results he obtained.
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| Big Al |
In truth the
frame was far too lightly built to handle the torque of a tuned Venom engine
and soon started to show signs of distress. Although the Beasley frames are
well gusseted, the thickness of these plates and of the diameter/SWG of the
frame tubes, were insufficient for its current use. Cracks started to appear in
both the gussets and main tubes of the frame, even the main spine fracturing
mid-way along its length. Even allowing for repairs and additional stiffening,
it was not long before the frame had reached the end of a serviceable life and
as such was retired. This was not however the end of Alan’s racing exploits, in
many ways the experience made him more determined than ever to build a bike
‘fit for purpose’.
So what
happened to this bike?
Alan used
the now much modified engine in his second ‘Coultas Special’ which he built
around a Myers frame. This engine was
virtually the only component used from his original bike and the rest of the
machine was broken up and the parts used elsewhere. The frame was rescued by
Velocette and KTT enthusiast Rob Drury, who being an authority on Beasley
frames, knew exactly what he had found. The frame still showed all the damage
from when it was used in the ‘Coultas Special’ and is most likely the reason it
survived untouched. Rob acknowledged that the frame had no further serviceable
life, but used it to produce a frame-jig and 5 copies to the original
Doug Beasley design.
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| Coultas Special Beasley frame |