The Bruce/Wassall 110 mph Matchless/Rudge

[cardan]

On 5 March 1930 a team lead by Alan Bruce set records on the Melbourne-Geelong Road, which was temporarily closed to traffic. Electronically-timed two-way-average speeds for the flying quarter mile were 109.75 mph solo (Jimmy Wassall aboard) and 95.75 mph sidecar (Alan Bruce riding, and "Titch" in the chair) For the sidecar record there was no time to change gear ratios, so the runs were done in 3rd gear.

I know quite a lot about the Rudge engine/gearbox, which came from a racing Rudge imported by Tommy Rogers in Melbourne. I've only just learned from the writings of Alan Bruce in the 1980s that the cycle parts were those of Jimmy Wassall's 1928 Matchless 350 Sports Solo, which Alan had built for him the previous year to ride at the Motordrome, a concrete saucer track in Melbourne.

Anyway, I can see the Matchless frame (somewhat modified with a big curve in the front down tube, and well strutted), Rudge forks, and Rudge motor and gearbox.

Can anyone identify the clutch and petrol tank? The tank has twin filler caps, and might be a cut-down Rudge item. It doesn't look very Matchless.

The bottom end of the motor survives. Has anyone seen the frame? (No pressure, 33d6!)

Cheers

Leon

[33d6]

How many T series frames and forks would you like Leon? I have a bundle of them here and you're welcome to a couple. All I can say is I know why Jimmy Wassall had the bike available for Tommy Rodgers to install his Rudge engine. The T series ohv engine was a short lived disaster and wouldn't have lasted long on the Motordrome.  That's why I have so many frames available. Most T series engines died very quickly leaving a stack of cycle parts behind.
Not that the T series frame is any great shakes itself. Matchless only used two malleable iron lugs in it. They replaced most lugs with steel stampings resulting in a frame that flexed like crazy. Those braces from frame to engine weren't there for show. I can't imagine how Jimmy Wassall could do those speeds on it.
The T series frame is very much based on the earlier Model R frame and would you believe I went to a great deal of bother to fit an Andre aftermarket steering damper on my model R it flexed and wobbled so much.. It's ridiculous needing a steering damper on a 250cc sidevalve.
As for the gearbox used, the clutch as shown is pure Sturmey Archer, standard for all Matchless at that time. I can't really tell if the tank is Matchless but a twin fill tank was a standard fitment on some Matchless at that time. One filler was for an integral oil tank, the other petrol.
Cheers,

[cardan]

That's interesting. You don't have a Matchless frame with a curved front down tube and struts?

Here's a better image of the tank the caps are quite distinctive, but don't look Rudge at all.

Cheers

Leon

[cardan]

Here's the 1928 497cc Matchless that Alan Bruce built to go racing himself, but handed over to Eric Thiele for the solo race at Phillip Island in 1928. Thiele is the rider in the photo.

After the solo race, Bruce fitted a touring sidecar and rode into 4th place in the 200 miles sidecar race, the first 500 home. If the handling was evil solo, I wonder how the outfit steered?

Wassall's Matchless as a 350. In the late 1920s, the Motordrome was too dangerous for the bigger bikes and capacity for the few meetings held on the banked saucer was limited to 350cc. Most of the meetings at the Motordrome were Speedway, held on a flat dirt track at the centre of the saucer.

Cheers

Leon

[33d6]

Unlike later models at that stage the 350 ohv Matchless and the 500 ohv Matchless were totally different bikes. The 350 belonged to the T series and the 500 to the V series Matchless. There was no 500 ohv in the T series. The V series was an altogether sturdier machine, stronger/heavier, frame, forks,wheels, brakes. Nothing in common with the T series. Matchless made the Model V 500 ohv in 1927, V/2 in '28 & '29 and the V/3 in 1930. The Alan Bruce machine can't be compared to the Jimmy Wassall bike as all they had in common was the name on the petrol tank.

All T series were strutted. Struts from the bottom of the crankcase to the back wheel and struts under the tank from the steering head to the saddle pillar. Straight struts on the side valves but on the 350 ohv one of the struts had two dog legs to get around the head while the other one was divided in two to make two head steady's. One from the steering head to the cylinder head and t'other from the saddle pillar forward to the head. Matchless knew they were a handful.

Matchless frames and forks improved in leaps and bounds in the late vintage period. Separating them all out is maddening as they changed so much from year to year. Then again, they needed to improve.
Cheers,
 

[cardan]

Ah... I had noticed that the 350 was devoid of sidecar lugs, but I hadn't appreciated that the 500 frame was so different.

Alan Bruce tells the story of the origin of the Wassall 350 Matchless racer: the bike was unpacked from the original crate, but built up by Bruce as a racer, with all the unusued parts going back to the dealer in exchange for "an allowance". Apparently it was never as fast as the 350 AJS Wassall had ridden previously, although he had a loyal following and the crowds still came to watch him race at the Motordrome.

Here's an illustration of the 500 V2 frame. I'm particularly interested in the strip-steel drilled flats that carried the adjustable foot rests. Were these (or something like them) used on the 350? The reason I ask is that a pair of these strips came from the same shed as the Rudge racing engine. I wonder if it could be from the Pringle Rudge/Matchless?

Still looking for ideas on the origin of the tank.

Cheers

Leon

[33d6]

Hi Leon,
The Jimmy Wassall bike certainly had sidecar lugs. Only the initial T series of 1927 didn't. All other T series did. You have to look in the spare parts book, not the catalogue photos which are often not quite right. The front sidecar lug is mostly hidden by those enormous braces from the front of the frame to the cylinder head and the rider conceals the one on the saddle pillar.  The front of the braces attaches to a 5/16" bolt hole intended for the fork stop so your forks didn't bash the tank, The fork stops are the large disc thing you see in that position on the V/2 picture. The centre hole of the disc was drilled off centre so you could spin the disc around to give you some adjustment.
The long flat steel straps with multiple footrest holes you mention were a feature of the 1928 V/2 frame only. Matchless changed the frame again for 1929 & 30. They liked heavy steel straps under the crankcase at that time but the large number of holes was a 1928 feature only.
 
I can't see why the tank wouldn't be other than the Matchless tank of the day. This wasn't a true saddle tank but a pannier tank with separate halves and a fancy strip down the middle to conceeal the fact. The connecting tubes between the two halves weren't quite big enough for a fast fillup in racing conditions.The fuel didn't flow through from the filling side pannier to the other quick enough hence the two fillers. The rider would otherwise think he had a full tank when it was really only about 3/4 full.

You still haven't said whether you want those frames or not. You could make a nice replica. It would horrify any current race scrutineer wouldn't it. They'd really be spluttering in their beer.

Cheers,

[mini-me]

Didn't that oddball  OHC Matchless with the exhaust out the side have a Brough shape tank with two fillers?

[cardan]

Didn't that oddball  OHC Matchless with the exhaust out the side have a Brough shape tank with two fillers?

Google the 1928 catalogue - Matchless built everything that year, from a veteran-looking Model H sidecar outfit to quite sexy beasts with the Brough-like tankyou mention.

33D6: Yes I see now how it all bolts up. Let me see if I can find a parts list, or maybe you can dig out a frame illustration for me.

This little bit of research is part of a huge thing I'm doing on racing Rudges. I have a 1932 Works Rudge, complete, and I certainly don't want another! However I have the head for the Wassall/Bruce Matchless/Rudge (it's 1928-29 Works only, with longer rocker-plate mounting studs to attach the struts seen in the photos), but the bottom end of the motor is with an enthusiast in Melbourne. It's a late-season 1929 Works motor, and quite different from the Ulster that was the hottest thing available to the public. Because it has no frame, I think building a replica would be a good use of the parts - so don't lose those frame bits!

Re the tank, it has a rather distinctive shape - horizontal for the front bit, then sloping down. Unlike those posted above that slope most of their length? Could it be from something like a 1928 250 R/S? This has the oil tank upstairs, as seen on the Wassal bike.

Cheers

Leon

[33d6]

I think the tank is Matchless of the day with an additional filling point. I presume the Rudge engine had dry sump lubrication by that time so it wouldn't be for an integral oil tank? At that time Matchless were using mostly Best & Lloyd tank caps on both fuel and oil tanks and I would guess those are Best & Lloyd screw down caps rather than the simple push in type used on the road range. The copper pipe extension on the breather hole was typical racing practice of the time.

I believe optical illusions caused by the circumstances of the Wassall photo and studio cleaning up of the catalogue picture are driving your concerns about the tank shape. It really is just a plain Matchless tank although exactly what model Matchless donated it is open for discussion. Matchless did chop them around to suit various applications and there were subtle shape changes from year to year. I've come to suspect the shape changes arose out of the press dies getting tired and Matchless fiddling with the shape to get another year out of them but I don't really know.

If you can come to some agreement about the engine with the owner of the bottom end I could probably donate a period Matchless tank as well as a couple of frames and a set of forks for a replica. I can't help with wheels. The pile of Matchless stuff out the back of the shed ran into serious tonnage at one stage until sanity prevailed. This is the back end of the interesting stuff.

Cheers,