The DOHC 250 Velo Engine: A Clue to its History?

Historical Contingency is an expression used to describe the concept that the course of history is not predetermined but is the result of essentially random events. For example, if a well-placed bullet had killed Adolf Hitler during WW1, then European history during the 1920s to 1940s would have been somewhat different. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen ….and one could apply the same “what-if” thought process to today.

So, what is the relevance of this? It’s by chance that I was at Founders Day, stumbled across the DOHC engine and then bought it. It is also by chance that the person from whom I bought KTT 305 many years ago also saw the engine at Founders Day, took a few pictures and later sent them to James Robinson, Editor of The Motor Cycle. Sometime later, James was visiting another KTT enthusiast, Rob Drury (see Rob’s blog here), and showed him the pictures of the engine. After a bit of rummaging, Rob came up with this picture.

Acknowledgement to whoever owns the copyright of the above picture

The focus of attention here is not the Velo-engined bike in the foreground but the engine propped up against the van in the background

and which, I would say with 99% certainty, is the DOHC 250 engine now in my workshop. The cambox is characteristic and as far as I can tell unique to this engine - the picture below of the “as-received” engine in my workshop for comparison.

I do not know and have been unable to discover the origins of the race meeting picture. The bike in the foreground is a Beasley raced by Charlie Bruce but it is not known why the DOHC engine in the background is there. It is surmised that Charlie (referred to as “Chappie”) had bought it to race but found that it didn’t fit in the frame (I can attest that the engine is tall - see here). Apparently, Chappie had a reputation for not selling anything so it is unlikely that the engine was there “For Sale”.

For more information about Charlie Bruce and his racing career please visit TheYorkshire Ferret.

Unfortunately, this fleeting glimpse of the engine at a race meeting some 70+ years ago, whilst interesting, doesn’t answer the important questions of who designed/built the engine and when.

Maybe this will jog someone’s memory but unfortunately most of the people that would have had any recollection of these times are no longer with us …nevertheless I’m ever hopeful that something will surface.

Thank You to all involved in finding this picture, identifying the engine in the background and adding context to the imagery.