The purpose-built, 1600cc, 4-valve per cylinder Irving Vincent won the 7-round national series with the air-cooled, pushrod motor producing 200bhp, (149kW). Exactly 13-years, (to the month) after the factory closed, intensive and consistent searching paid-off when Ken finally found a Vincent …
The bigger the problem the larger the opportunity, and in Ken’s case, this initiated in the form of a little-known apparatus called an engine air starter. Without knowing it, Ken’s innate aptitude for creativeness and looking beyond existing boundaries of possibilities, plus a strong belief in customer satisfaction, were to catalyse his change of fortune.Good business develops from identifying a problem and offering a viable solution. ‘Girdraulic’ is an appropriate labelling of the perfected front-end assembly, but what lay beneath the name was amongst Irving’s most self-satisfying achievements – the ability to also adjust trail. Choose an adventure below and discover your next favorite movie or TV show.
In doing so, they’ve enhanced the achievements and reputation of all those legendry Aussie racers, engineers and mechanics that paved the road before. One example in Ken’s case was sealing a distribution agreement throughout North America in August 2001 – until the repercussions of 9/11 crippled it soon thereafter. Designated the ‘Series-A Rapide’, with a compression ratio of 6.8:1, performance leaped to 45 brake horsepower (bhp), (34kW) @5500 rpm and a top speed of 110mph, (180km/h). During the event, seven-time World Motorcycle Champion and one-time Formula One World Champion, John Surtees CBE, commended Ken for his intricate advancements made to the ‘Girdraulic’ forks. Ken and Barry Horner’s passion for excellence, speed and individuality, combined with a strong patriotic connection to Vincent Motorcycles, fuelled their desire to see how much further the performance of Irving’s legendary engine could be taken – so the Irving Vincent project was conceived – of which both namesakes would surely be proud.Ken Horner established his second commercial enterprise in 1987 – a general engineering company supplying hand-built machinery for a range of industries and appropriately named KH Equipment. Irving Vincent. The following year Brahham finished second to teammate/ employee, Denny Hulme; earning the Repco Brabham team consecutive Formula One world championships.Ever passionate about Vincent Motorcycles, Phil Irving held the honorary role as Vice-President of the Vincent HRD Owners Club from 1949 to 1979, only succeeding Philip Vincent as President after his passing. Craig McMartin was accompanied by Beau Beaton for riding/show-off duties. The Vincent brand had become the pinnacle of its era and their quest for producing the world’s fastest production motorcycle was realised – setting the standard for all others to follow.
(John’s first professional race was with his father, aboard his Vincent sider. Race 1 – 3rd place. Running a shiver throughout the global motorcycling industry, the magnitude of which remains among the darkest chapters in motorcycling history, refusing to diminish any aspect of quality for profit, Vincent Motorcycles entered into receivership in 1949. A sports version named ‘Comet’ was capable of 90 miles per hour, (140km/h).Within two years, (October 1936) Irving doubled the Comet’s capacity by morphing a duplicate cylinder into the design; creating the milestone of Vincent’s legendary air-cooled, 998cc, 47.5° V-twin engine.
Sadly, the final Vincent rolled of the production line one week prior to Christmas 1955. 1300cc 2-Valve; Bore: 100mm; Stroke: 82.56mm; Compression Ratio:13:1; BHP: 158 at 7000 RPM; Torque: 116 ft lb at 6000 RPM Rebuilding the Rapide for the ‘NorVin’ gave tremendous insight to the motor’s potential, starting with increasing capacity to 1300cc.12 months of dedicated engineering saw the completion of the project with Ken set for the Unlimited Sidecar class, which lead to literally rubbing shoulders, (and fairings) with now Australian legends, the likes of Lindsay Urquhart, Alex Campbell, Ken Rumble and Dennis Skinner.Continually amongst the frontrunners, with many individual wins, Ken’s dedication was also earnt him 3rd place at the 1974 Australian TT at Melbourne’s Calder Park. In the same year, he purchased an existing motorcycle company, HRD Motors, for the princely sum of £450 and set about introducing his own brand of motorcycle to the British public under the Vincent HRD banner.Originally reliant on external engine suppliers, after a disastrous 1934 Isle of Man TT campaign, along with Australian Phil Irving in his employ, the two set out to produce the world’s fastest production motorcycle.Incredibly, only three months later, Irving had completed the design and development on his first prototype engine; an air-cooled, 499cc single-cylinder, pushrod, over-head-valve configuration named ‘Meteor’, which produced 26 Brake Horsepower, (19kW) @5300 rpm. (The moment is captured in 2015 Irving Vincent commemorative calendar offered for sale on this site.)