The Yorkshire Velocette Mafia - Part3

Shaun Waters

With Mick Grant becoming a huge racing star on top level machinery it was no surprise that he no longer required the use of his Velocette. This was sold in 1972 to Peter Mercer from Allerton Bywater who raced it occasionally, but by late 1973 ended up with Shaun Waters of Sheffield. Shaun did not come from a racing background, but on his first day of starting work at the University of Sheffield he was introduced to Eric Stanbra. A close relationship followed, with Eric encouraging Shaun to start racing on….a Velocette of course. Initially Shaun raced a standard framed Venom for a season, built from parts discarded by Eric.

The ex-Stanbra Velocette

However it was upon the Grant Velocette that he started getting good results. Between 1975 and 1976 the bike was regularly on the leader-board, the highlights being winning the Batley Club 500cc Championship in 1974 and two 6^th places at the Brands Hatch Stars of Tomorrow meeting.

Shaun Waters on the Grant Velocette at Cadwell.

The machine continued to be improved, with the STD Velocette swinging-arms that weighed almost as much as the rest of the frame, being replaced with a lightweight fabricated version. A novel two-plate clutch was manufactured and fitted to the machine, which finally addressed the Velocette Achilles’ heel of both slip and drag occurring at the same time. Shaun sold the Grant Velocette to an enthusiast from Canada mid-way through the 1976 racing season and as he was now racing Yamaha’s, this was meant to be the end of his association with racing Velocette’s. 

However, the fact he remained a close friend of Eric Stanbra meant it would only be a matter of time….and there was something somewhat special brewing.

4v Special Brew

Alan Coultas
Alan was a joiner by trade and long term Velocette enthusiast. He lived on Kirklands Avenue, Spring Bank West, Hull and it was here that he built some very interesting Velocette based specials. Alan made life hard for himself, in that he never raced or even rode his own machines, instead relying 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.

Alan basically built two Velocette Specials, the first based around a very light Doug Beasley frame intended for a 250cc KTT. This machine had a mildly tuned 500cc Venom engine along with a Prefix 12 gearbox, Velocette forks and a twin-leading shoe front brake. An AJS 7R rear hub and brake were fitted, Jim Lee alloy petrol and oil tanks, Fi-glass racing seat and a Peel Mountain Mile type fairing completed the build. 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 and was shelved.

Beasley framed Coultas Velocette

His second bike was built around a frame built by Bert Myers (also of Hull) for a Manx Norton and had been raced by his son Tony. The rolling chassis consisted of the MK2 frame, Norton forks fitted with a Yamaha TD1C front brake and a 7R brake at the rear. The now much modified engine from his first ‘special’ was considerably off-set in the frame to mate with a Norton AMC gearbox and clutch. Other than this engine Alan, used no other Velocette components. Stood on 18” rims, the bike looked very low and mean, to the uninitiated a Seeley MK3 lookalike. He also purchased the Campagnolo front and rear discs brakes that had been used on the Myers Manx. This consisted of a twin disc arrangement on the front and single on the rear, both being mechanically operated by cable. A five speed Quaife gearbox was now fitted and gave a useful improvement in race performance.

Big Al and the Myers framed Coultas Velocette

Over time the Campagnolo brake operating mechanisms were replaced with Lockheed hydraulic calipers and eventually the discs were also replaced with cast-iron items. The original Campagnolo hubs were retained. Alan also made his own drive-side crankcase halves. As you would expect from a joiner, the patterns were made of wood and included a larger main-bearing boss and stiffeners to the crankcase mouth. They also included the required off-set to allow for the AMC chain-line used. As the bike was further developed it became increasingly competitive, even at National level, highlights included Tony Myers lapping the entire field in the E.A. Lavington race at Cadwell and not being asked back! A queue of riders willing to put their leg across the bike included:- John Beney, Trevor Beharrell, Bill Clark, Wally Dawson, Tony Myers, Dave Saville, Alec Swallow and Shaun Waters.

Alan also built two 4valve Velocette engines for his Myers framed machine. The first was fabricated from a stock Venom head and used a clever ‘hinge’ arrangement to operate the pairs of valves via the standard rockers and cover. The second version was altogether more sophisticated and used a purpose made casting, the patterns being produced and pouring taking place once again in Alan’s garage. The machining of this head and associated valve-gear was carried out by his friend and excellent engineer Andy Fraser.

 

Andy Fraser and the 4v Coultas Velocette

The design incorporated many clever features such as a cast-in skull and separate exhaust port for each valve. It gave a useful increase in power throughout the rev range and was tested and raced by both Tony Myers and Shaun Waters. It’s Achilles’ heel however were the rockers and after several unsuccessful attempts to cure the problem, the project was sadly mothballed in favour of a much modified 2 valve Velocette part.