On March 18 and 19, 1961, a 500cc Velocette Venom averaged 100.05 mph for 24 hours on the banked track at Montlhéry, near Paris. Eight riders took turns aboard one single-cylinder bike. It was close to the Venom that Velocette sold to the public, minus its lights and a list of road parts.
Before that weekend, no motorcycle had averaged over 100 mph for a full 24 hours. The run took the record from BMW and made a British single the first to do it.
In fact, the idea came from France. Georges Monneret, a six-time French champion, managed the attempt, while Velocette’s Bertie Goodman led the riders.
Who rode the Velocette Venom
Monneret pushed off at 8:27 a.m. on March 18, according to Classic Bike’s September 2021 account. Goodman, meanwhile, was the son of Veloce Ltd’s founder. British journalist Bruce Main-Smith rode too, along with six Frenchmen, including Monneret, his son Pierre and Velocette importer Robert Leconte.
The Vintagent names the other three as Pierre Cherrier, Alain Dagan and André Jacquier-Bret. It also says Monneret first approached Goodman in 1960 and then handled the sponsorship and track arrangements.
How standard was this Velocette Venom?
The Vintagent calls the bike “nearly standard” and “not highly tuned.” According to Classic Bike, the engine kept its standard 8.75:1 compression. However, it got a five-lobe shock absorber instead of the usual three. Close-ratio gears matched the MkIII KTT racer, and top gear went to 3.92:1 from the standard 4.87:1.
Most other changes saved weight or fuel stops. The bike ran with no lights, dynamo, kickstart or front mudguard, and an open chain guard replaced the primary chaincase. A 30mm Amal GP carburetor and a short megaphone took the place of the road parts. Meanwhile, an Avonaire fairing from Mitchenall Brothers covered the front, and the tank grew to 3.7 gallons.
On the bench at Hall Green, Birmingham, the engine made 39.8 bhp at 5,900 rpm, Classic Bike says. Before France, Goodman also ran the bike for 2,000 miles at the MIRA test track with the throttle held wide open.
Riding through the night at Montlhéry
At the time, Montlhéry had no track lights. Instead, the team wired dozens of Marchal car headlamps to batteries to light the banking for the 12 hours of darkness.
Each lap covered 1.398 miles along a yellow line painted on the banking. Lap speeds ran 110 to 112 mph by day and about 108 mph after dark, according to Classic Bike. The Vintagent adds that expansion joints crossed the track every 25 meters, “as wide as a fist in some places.”
Still, the riders paid for it. Night sessions brought hallucinations and phantom fog, the Vintagent reports. As a result, some younger riders handed over after only 15 minutes. Main-Smith came in after 60 laps because he feared he would “sabotage the attempt” if he continued.
The numbers from 24 hours at 100 mph
At 12 hours, the average stood at 104.66 mph, and the crew changed both tires and the drive chain, Classic Bike says. Later, the riders’ heavy stamping bent a cheaper internal gearchange part. Fitting a new one then cost 33 minutes.
Even so, the final average came to 100.05 mph, or 161.02 km/h. BMW had held the old record, set by a French team in November 1959 at 96.4 mph. Velocette claimed six world records in total, the 12- and 24-hour marks in the 500, 750 and Unlimited classes.
Afterward, officials opened the engine for FIM inspection, and the Vintagent says they found it “in perfect condition.”
What happened to the record Velocette Venom
The bike survived until 2003. That year, a fire at the National Motorcycle Museum destroyed around 600 of the 850 motorcycles on display, and it damaged the Venom, Classic Bike reports.
Ivan Rhodes restored it. He replaced the crankcase and gearbox shell but kept the original cylinder head with new valves and springs. Spondon Engineering re-brazed the frame, and the bike got a new replica Avonaire fairing.
Then, on the record’s 50th anniversary, the restored Venom made a demonstration run at the Velocette annual rally at Stanford Hall, Leicestershire.
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