1930 RUDGE RACER

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A picture full of appeal; Vintage-era racing bikes are light and purposeful. Manuel Parra of Spain sent photos of his just-completed restoration of a 1930 'TT' Rudge, which was originally raced in France under pilot Ric Felix Llamdo.  A French collector owned it for many years, and began the process of restoration, and on his death, Manuel purchased the Rudge, and finished the job.  There are quite a few unique features on the racer, added no doubt by the Llamdo during the course of his racing career, including the very FN-like 'pistol grip' fuel tank, and French tachometer and control levers.

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The Rudge 4-valve pushrod engine; note ingenious method of opening two valves with a single pushrod.  The near-side rocker opens the far-side valve via a 'rocker arm' across the top of the cylinder head.  Simple and durable, as smaller valves need lighter springs, with consequently less load on the valve train.

The Rudge 'Ulster' was the top of the range model from Rudge's hottest years on the track; they dominated the Isle of Man TT in 1930, after many years battling with Sunbeam and Norton for supremacy.  Sunbeam had already won their last TT in 1929, taking first and second place in the Senior TT under Charlie Dodson and and Alec Bennett...while Rudge, Norton, Velocette, DOT, Cotton, and Montgomery filled the Top 10 that year, a veritable poem to a lost British motorcycle industry, once world-dominating, now largely forgotten.   In 1930, Rudge engineer George Hicks redesigned their signature four-valve cylinder head for more power, which worked well enough to relegate Jimmy Simpson on his Arthur Carroll-designed Norton, and Charlie Dodson on his Sunbeam, to third and fourth places.

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Graham Walker after his second place the 1930 Isle of Man TT, having a well-deserved smoke!

Little did they all know in 1930 that the Isle of Man TT, the toughest and most prestigious road race in the world, would never again see a pushrod-engined machine win the prestigious 'Senior' race.  By the 1931 TT, Norton had sorted out their engine and chassis issues with the new 'Carroll' OHC motor, which would dominate racing for the next two decades, as the 'International', then the 'Manx Grand Prix', and finally, simply the 'Manx'.

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Wonderful hand-numbered tachometer, which Manuel wisely kept 'as found'

The Rudge 'Ulster' and later 'TT Replica' models were still potent racers, taking many firsts in European road racing for years to come, and

Manuel included 'before' and 'after' photos...and isn't it a pity the machine couldn't be kept in the 'before' state?  Hard won racing patina is a mighty sexy finish...