[John] We're here at the press launch event for the new Triumph Daytona exhibition here at the British
Motor Museum at Gaydon, and it's a fabulous collection of bikes that being displayed
showcasing the history of the Triumph Daytona from start to finish.
And it's at the start, we're here with Dick Shepherd who has helped create this
exhibition with his collection of bikes. Dick, this is really significantly important,
this bike. The original, the first ever Daytona. [Dick] Well this is a real piece of history because
Buddy Elmore never really got the recognition he deserved for winning in '66 because Gary Nixon
won in '67 and Buddy was second. But they weren't expecting to win in '66 whereas in '67 they were.
And the reason for that was, this uses a phosphorus bronze timing side crank bearing. And the oil's
fed through the crankcase through the phosphorus bronze bush into the crankshaft,
and then on to the big ends. And unfortunately at Daytona, with the heat and everything,
they were having issues blowing engines. And of course they're heavily tuned obviously because
they were racing against the Harley-Davidson 750s. So you know, Buddy's mechanic,
swept up all the sweepings from the engines that had blown up, and built the last engine, and
that's why Buddy had to start from 46th on the grid. So even in today's Daytona history, this is
still the most famous win in Daytona history, to come from 46th on the grid and win Daytona,
it's incredible you know. And as I say, the following year the bike
is actually on display with this. It's one of seven Daytonas, and we did a video with yourselves, [John] The Percy Tait one.
[Dick] That's right, and that one Doug Hele the development engineer at Triumph at the time,
he sent seven sets of engine casings out to an aluminium welding company, and they welded up
all the crankcase underneath to give it more material so that they could machine it and
put a bearing. And those seven bikes had a roller bearing on the timing side, so it improved
the problems that they had with the engines. But yeah, this is just an incredible bike and
I would say it's probably one of the best finds I think I've ever found, you know. This
was found in America and a friend of mine was out there buying all sorts of different
off-road bikes, and he went to this guy's house and he rang me up and said 'oh this guy's got
one of the '67 works Daytona bikes'. So anyway he was describing it to me and I thought no that's not, that's
a '66 bike. Because what they've done with this bike, it came back over for the Earl's Court show in '66
and luckily Harry Waldridge, he was in charge of getting it ready for the Earl's Court show, so
he took all the engine and frame number off it and entered it into the records, the factory records,
whereas Doug Hele, because they were swapping bikes all the time, he never really bothered keeping
a note because they were using an engine out of one bike and all this sort of thing. So as I say, when it came back
for the Earl's Court show, Harry made a note in the record so we could prove this was the actual bike.
But the Barber Museum in America, they've just found one of the other six.
Two of the '66 bikes, this and the one in the Barber Museum are the only two that have survived.
[John] And this is the one. 46th to first place. And this is the bike that inspired Triumph to
adopt the Daytona name. [Dick] Yeah, and it's still being used today as you can see with the GP2 bike.
But they even ran a chevy oil cooler on the front here to get the oil
at the right temperature, because it was so hot on the banking of Daytona.
[John] And how long did it take you to restore it to this condition then? What was involved?
[Dick It didn't take really long. Luckily we had quite a few of the original bits
from the bike that came back over. The fairing was in a bit of a state, we had to repair the fairing.
These are the tyres it came back on. They could possibly be the original tyres, we're not too sure.
But we have got a photo of it because Johnson Motors bought it from Triumph, they
then raced it in '67 with the '67 fairing seat hump and tank on. And then they sold it to
the Honda Centre in Colorado where we've actually got the statement of search for it. So it's like a
registration document which is lovely to have, and we also got the photograph
where it was actually in the Honda Centre in Colorado. And what happened was, they raced it
in '68 but the energy transfer coils packed up. So after that it was sold to the guy I bought it off
of. So we know it's whole history. [John] That's amazing. To have that on file as well then because I
don't suppose, like you say, there was six bikes made, only two known to survive. They didn't have a very
high survival rate did they. [Dick] Oh no. They were just blowing up all the time. As I say, in '66
Gary Nixon refused to ride his, and he rode the previous year's bike from '65
because they were so fragile. So Buddy really, you know, what a thing to take
on knowing that the bike could blow any time, you know, and just to win Daytona.
And it's really unfortunate he's not with us today because I would love to have let him have
a ride on a bike, you know.[John] That would have been special. [Dick] And his
dad was, I think his dad, I don't know if he was commentating at the Daytona, but his dad
was a commentator, race commentator. Sonny Elwood i think his name was. So
yeah, just a piece of history and very, very pleased to have it in the collection, you know.
And very pleased to share it with Gaydon as well, you know. [John] Yeah, and that's a fantastic opportunity
to take part of the collection away from the Hinckley Visitor Centre or other sites, and
have it here in what's traditionally always been a car museum. [Dick] The oil cooler is very unique.
The oil cooler there look, the oil cooler, it's got twin GP carbs and then a matchbox float.
And it ran a close ratio gear cluster. Close ratio gear cluster, gallon oil tank, this
is a gallon oil tank for more capacity. And the swinging arm was all braced look. See this swinging
arms all braced. This is all braced here, and it's got these outriggers. This was the first time they
used outriggers. And on the road Daytonas they put it on the road Daytonas to stop that
twisting. [John] So Dick, the fairing on this looks quite a bit different to Percy Tait's bike. [Dick] Yeah well
what happened in '66, because Buddy beat the 750 Harleys, Harley put a protest in and said that
because it had got this nose cone on the fairing, that the bike had cut through the air. So in '67
they had to discontinue this, and if you look at Percy's bike it's got a flat-nosed
fairing. But they still won. The first five bikes in the six placings were all Daytona works bikes.
So it still did the trick you know, it wasn't nothing to do with the fairing. [John] So
again looking at the exhaust and silencers then, they're both on the same side on this. Different to
Percy's bike again. [Dick] Yeah, the reason why Percy's bike was changed because with the silencers on
this side, the mechanics were having a job to work on the bike, the carburettors and everything. So
what they done was, on Percy's bike, it ran one high level this side, and on the other side the exhaust
goes underneath and comes up through the frame, it's got a special frame. But to get the
exhaust through the bottom of the frame and out the back of it, they had to alter the frame. He's
got like a little dent in the frame. [John] Wow. So there's quite a bit of development between these two years
then. [Dick] 100% yeah, because obviously after Buddy won they looked at it and thought, listen we
just need a little bit more reliable engine, we can win in '67. And that's exactly what they done. [John] And
again another difference on this earlier bike then, the front brake looks a little bit different to
the later one. [Dick] Well this brake here, this is a single leading shoe front brake. And this was the
brake that they used on the '65 T120 Thruxton Bonnevilles. And then in '67 they went to a
four leading shoe Fontana. But the tyres were still the same, they were Dunlop Triangle tyres.
Yeah, you're either on the side of the tyre, or on the top of the tyre. There's not much in between
with these. [John] There's an unusual profile when you look down the front. [Dick] That's right, that's why they're called
triangle tyres. [John] Fantastic. So truly historically significant bike. Looks the business. What's it
sound like Dick? [Dick] Well if you'd like we'll start it up and you can have a listen. [John] Brilliant.
[Dick] Are we ready?