The evocative sepia photo shows Graeme Browne racing his ’25 TT Douglas at the Brooklands speed bowl. The color photos below show the same bike at Brooklands, where it now lives in the Museum, still in original condition, after being left to the museum by Mr Browne himself, who retained ownership throughout his life. A remarkable partnership, by any standard.

Graeme Brown racing his TT Douglas at Brooklands c.1928. [The Vintagent Archive]

The Douglas is very interesting, at it was purpose-built by Graeme Brown for competitions and record attempts at Brooklands, using a 1926 TT frame with a 1928 499cc OHV special long stroke engine, and has a cast aluminum sump beneath the engine, and a proper oil pump circulating the oil under pressure. Only the pukka works racing Dougies had this feature; otherwise the bike looks fairly standard compared to, say, my own prosaic machines! A look at the engine close-up reveals the fins of the sump beneath the engine, and an oil pressure gauge on top of the airbox (another unique feature of the Douglas, added by Freddie Dixon). The oil pump proper is visible at the center of the sump; it’s driven by a shaft-and- bevel arrangement inside the airbox.

Brown’s Douglas TT racer as it stands today at the Brooklands Museum. Magnificent! [Paul d’Orléans]

The induction manifolds are wrapped with friction tape to keep them from freezing up when alcohol fuel is used. The engine never gets particularly warm when using alcohol, as it burns much cooler than gasoline. If the manifolds freeze, the carbs can freeze as well and jam the throttle wide open during a race – exciting but best avoided. I experienced manifold frost on the road-test BMW R63 mentioned in an earlier post; the pipes were almost a foot long, and gained a haze of moisture as on a cold drink, almost immediately after starting the engine.

A closeup of the engine’s airbox; the tell-tale of a genuine TT motor is the cast aluminum sump (normal Douglas models had total-loss oiling in the 1920s) and the oil pressure gauge atop the ‘still air box’ that Freddie Dixon innovated. Note the lagging on the intake manifolds (they tend to ice up, on the same principles at refrigerators use – expanding gases (atomized fuel in this case) losing energy as they fill a larger space. Note also the twin AMAC TT racing carbs, and finned grease boxes atop the rocker spindles, to keep them lubricated. [Paul d’Orléans]

From the Brooklands Museum: “Graeme Brown [1903-1996], long-time President of the London Douglas MCC, was a lifelong Douglas enthusiast, owning his first in 1923. Aged 23, he opened a motorcycle business in Godalming, as Surrey agent for Douglas. He raced at Brooklands from 1924 to 1935, winning the Essex Cup in 1925 and the J.A. Prestwich Cup in 1932. When manufacture of Douglas motorcycles ceased in 1957, he bought up the factory spares, and continued supplying these on a world-wide basis.”  A fascinating machine and fellow!

 

 

Paul d’Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
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