Speed is Expensive is a documentary about Philip Vincent and his record-setting motorcycles
The film has been developed from an original concept by David Lancaster and Gerry Jenkinson
We attended the premiere in London and caught up with Philip's daughter and grandson
Our first question was how they felt about seeing the film for the first time on the big screen
[Phil] It's been amazing John. It's been such a, quite a long journey, probably about 10 years since we
started envisaging this film. And obviously there's been a lot of travel and bits in between, so to
finally see it up on the big screen and being sat with my mum and my baby daughter has been hugely
emotional, and really a great privilege, yeah. [Dee] I did have to choke back the tears a few times because
I've seen film and I've heard his voice in that film,
and I didn't even know those recordings existed. I knew somebody had recorded him for a book,
but hearing his voice really sort of choked me up because he died in '79 and where are we now, 2022.
Does this film bring the story of your father to life?
[Dee] It's a complex story and it's been very well told, and I think there will be people
that perhaps aren't even interested in bikes, will find it a very interesting
autobiography of a man and his life. It caught a lot, it captured so much of his life, what he
did, the background to what drove him forward, and the tragedy that was the end of his life.
Does this film bring the story of your grandfather to life?
[Phil] Absolutely. Before we started making this film I'd never heard a recording of my grandfather speaking,
or certainly not that I could remember. So even just to hear the voice recordings of him the
first time, was such an experience because I've only ever known Philip Vincent through
the motorcycles and The Vincent Owners Club. So to be able to delve into the archive and,
you know, hear his voice, hear what he was like, it was such a privilege and a great experience.
In your opinion what makes the Vincent motorcycle so special?
[Phil] That's a tricky question for me to answer because I've grown up knowing
that Vincents are all there is. For me I think it's the sound of the engine.
The sound of the engine, the stressed frame member that the engine is on a Vincent, those are
very unique and special things to the Vincent, and I think they contribute to the Vincent's greatness.
[Dee] I think first of all when you look at it, it's a really attractive piece of engineering.
And if you like bikes you will immediately want to ride one, or at least experience riding it even
if you're on the pillion. And I think it's telling such a deep story that
encompasses more than just the bike itself. You know each one was handmade, there was a lot of
love and passion put into the machine, which you would never get with any modern vehicle.
How did the film come about?
[Phil] David started writing a book which he asked me to write the forward for.
And then he started going around interviewing the factory hands. And from there he started asking
me, "What archive have you got left then? What of your grandfather's films do you think you could
get hold of?" So they were all kept in a lock-up in Sheffield, so it involved organising weekend
trips to go through kind of just tons and tons of stuff in storage, trying to find these films.
Sent them down to Dave, got them digitised, and that was kind of the birth of the film.
Fast forward maybe 18 months or so, and I'd actually been quite ill, I'd had a brain seizure
and I'd been in a coma in East Surrey Hospital. And Dave Lancaster came and visited me and he said,
"How do you fancy going to LA in January? We're going to go visit Jay Leno and we're going to
do this film properly." So we went from it being this, you know, like the film talks about guerrilla
marketing, it was guerrilla filmmaking, and we were literally four blokes in a van taking Marty
Dickerson out to the desert to shoot him and get him saying these famous speed is expensive words.
Sadly a lot of the people that are in the film have passed since we filmed them.
So it was such an important time and a moment to capture those voices and those experiences.
Is this now the go-to film for true Vincent motorcycle fans?
[Phil] Yes I hope so. There is another Vincent film named Chasing Shadows which
I always thought was a little bit technical, and for the enthusiasts.
And I kind of expect that some of the enthusiasts may want to stick with the technical
detail that's featured in the sort of previous film. But this one I think is for a larger
audience. And really the vision with this film is to push the story out there because it's a story
that not many people know, and it's a great story. And to have it in this detail, and to have it now
in a modern format, for me personally, and for all of my family, is so exciting. Really hugely exciting.
Is this film an important legacy for the Vincent motorcycle name?
[Dee] Oh definitely, definitely. I mean there's been nothing really recorded like this before.
There is an autobiography, and there have been books, but it's always focused really on
the bikes and things like that. There's been very little about the man himself, and what drove him.
And you know, also that symbiotic relationship between Phil Irving and Phil Vincent.
You know without that, who knows what would have happened. He might have carried on using JAP
engines and not bothered designing anything else. I think the other thing is what happened then could
never happen now. If you wanted to do something like that you'd have to be friends with somebody
really rich and eccentric, maybe Elon Musk or somebody like that, who who believed in your belief.
But I think otherwise you'd be joining a big company, following all their sort of design
patterns. And one of the things he said and was repeated in the film was that, you know,
those design constructs may be completely wrong and maybe you need to do something else.
But there isn't the opportunity now to do that unless you have a backer who also wants to do that.
So I'm not sure that this could ever happen again. I just think once in a blue
moon two great minds come together and produce something remarkable. And that's what happened.