The Vintagent Selects: Catalina Grand Prix: A Love Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCisEq9cbzM&t=2s
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
CATALINA GRAND PRIX: A LOVE STORY (2011)
Run Time: 18:05
A Film By: Toast
Cast: Rick Carmody & Elsie
FILM MAKERS
From an interview for the Motorcycle Film Festival (2013)
I always try to make film more sensory by using texture, motion and focus as layers. A film shouldn’t just be just a window that you look through, but light and shadow veils that you can move through… Kind of like the difference between driving a car past a dirt field with the windows rolled up versus being on a motorcycle- then you can smell that it’s actually a strawberry patch!
Rhythm is a valuable tool. Songs are for story telling. I do a lot of in-camera editing. Having a song in my head helps me keep a sense of pace. Cutting to music in the edit room is like collaborating with an old friend!
I enjoy Super 8 for it’s graininess. It’s also a small format that is portable. You know, hidden easily if you have to throw it in your backpack and take off on your bike! A lot of additional personality comes out of the images by altering the speed, double exposing or by making adjustments in the processing.
Hand-developing can be a great tool for the right project. The great thing about film is that there are so many steps along the way during which you can add flavor to the recipe!
SUMMARY
In December 2010, the Catalina Grand Prix was held on a California Island for the first time in over 50 years. Top motorcycle racers from around the world were invited to compete. Although road racer RICK CARMODY had never lined up to compete in motocross, he knew he wanted to participate in this historic event; ideally on a vintage bike. He got the chance when he met ELSIE, a 1974 Honda Elsinore CR125M. Together they took on the challenge: destined for either Glory or Heartbreak...
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The Vintagent Selects: Shutter Speed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJJkBc8dv84&feature=emb_title
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
SHUTTER SPEED (2011)
Run Time: 7:00
Producer: The Selvedge Yard
A Film By: Toast
Cast: Stacie B. London
FILM MAKERS
From an interview for the Motorcycle Film Festival
I always try to make film more sensory by using texture, motion and focus as layers. A film shouldn't just be just a window that you look through, but light and shadow veils that you can move through... Kind of like the difference between driving a car past a dirt field with the windows rolled up versus being on a motorcycle- then you can smell that it's actually a strawberry patch!
Rhythm is a valuable tool. Songs are for story telling. I do a lot of in-camera editing. Having a song in my head helps me keep a sense of pace. Cutting to music in the edit room is like collaborating with an old friend!
I enjoy Super 8 for it's graininess. It's also a small format that is portable. You know, hidden easily if you have to throw it in your backpack and take off on your bike! A lot of additional personality comes out of the images by altering the speed, double exposing or by making adjustments in the processing.
Hand-developing can be a great tool for the right project. The great thing about film is that there are so many steps along the way during which you can add flavor to the recipe!
SUMMARY
The Selvedge Yard presents: a film by Toast. Featuring photographer Scott Pommier and East Side Moto Babe Stacie London. This behind-the-scenes short was commissioned to accompany an exhibition of photographs by Scott Pommier in March 2011. Shot with a Minolta XL601 in Black & White Tri-X and Velvia color Super 8. Music by Makkusu Ensemble, Paper Tulips, Jake LaBotz and Jimbo Goodall.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Selects: Assembling A Black Shadow 1/12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHit7WU95Ik
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
ASSEMBLING A BLACK SHADOW 1/12 (2018)
Run Time: 4:06
A Film By: Tom Grigat
Music: "Parzival" from William Rosati
FILM MAKERS
Scale modelling, Stopmotion, 3D-Animation and Music-Video-Experiments
SUMMARY
A short stop motion story of a little plastic guy who builds his own motorcycle in my man cave: The Vincent Black Shadow from Revell in scale 1/12. I had the chance to film his attempts of getting a cool bike. His girlfriend eventually took some pictures of the finished motorcycle. Apparently some magical invisible hands were involved... The figures are mannequins from Body Kun The colors are from Alclad II (black, chrome, alu, coatings) Some cylindrical details are replaced by rods and tubes from Albion Alloys (f.e. the exhaust system, the wheel spokes, suspension rods, brake linkage).
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The Vintagent Selects: Isle of Man TT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqESWtvzsU
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
ISLE OF MAN TT (2018)
Run Time: 18:21
Director: Chris Kippenberger
FILM MAKERS
Studio Kippenberger assembles the worlds leading automotive filmmakers to bring us Isle Of Man TT.
SUMMARY
A tribute film to all the fallen heros of the Isle of Man TT race since 1907. A look at what drew them to the race and kept them there.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Selects: The MC Collection Of Stockholm // Mecum Las Vegas Motorcycles 2019
https://youtu.be/kvvA1-2vRSg
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
THE MC COLLECTION OF STOCKHOLM (2018)
Run Time: 24:29
Producer: Mecums Auctions
Key Cast: Christer R. Christensson, Paul d'Orleans
FILM MAKERS
For more than 50 years, Christer R. Christensson has been collecting motorcycles, resulting in a world-renowned collection that is both extensive and representative of the very best of the best when it comes to motorcycle design and technology.
SUMMARY
Working alongside his colleague, Ove Johansson, and his highly skilled team of restorers, Christensson has built the MC Collection of Stockholm into a more than 400-motorcycle presentation that establishes the motorcycle not merely as a machine, but as a contemporary work of art and mechanical sculpture
When the Las Vegas auction rolls around this January, one thing’s for certain: motorcycle enthusiasts will have a rare opportunity to take home a piece of this unique and renowned collection with 238 motorcycles from the MC Collection of Stockholm set to be offered on Friday, January 26.
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To view more information and photo of the collection, click HERE.
The Vintagent Classics: The Loveless
https://vimeo.com/304728586
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
THE LOVELESS (1981)
Run Time: 1:22:00
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery
Writer: Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery
Key Cast: Willem Dafoe, J. Don Ferguson, Robert Gordon
FILM MAKERS
THE LOVELESS: WAY BEYOND TORN UP
‘The Loveless’ remains much as its title suggests – unloved and unknown outside a core few who consider it an amazing motorcycle film. The first-time feature for Kathryn Bigelow, who went on to earn two directing Oscars for her meditations on Iraq (Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty), The Loveless bombed at theaters when released in 1981, but showcased Bigelow’s genius twenty years before the Academy realized who they were dealing with.
Ms Bigelow, who co-directed with Monty Montgomery, had clearly studied Kenneth Anger shorts during her film school days, as The Loveless is a visual homage to Anger’s uncanny eye; he understood better than anyone at time - and schooled generations of filmmakers and ad men – that the cine-camera has the power to transform any object into an Icon. While Scorpio Rising brewed up a mind-altered gay/Satanic/biker bacchanal (fueled by the first explicit use of powdered amphetamine in a biker film), Anger’s raw honesty (these were his gay biker buddies in real life) is locked and loaded in Bigelow’s hands for a shotgun blast at Happy Days (the #1 TV show at that time) and Reagan-era lobotonostalgia.
SUMMARY
The storyline is a Southern highway collision of Easy Rider with the Wild One, upping the ante on both films with talk of jailhouse ‘joybangs’, and darkly Faulknerian family drama. The film opens with Willem Dafoe as Vance, in his first big screen role (after being fired from Heaven’s Gate!), an intimidating, greasy, and ultrasexy biker sleeping like Satan in the wilderness, right beside his Panhead. ‘I wasn’t going to be no man’s friend today’, the movie begins, and he shortly proves his point when encountering the mythic Thunderbird from American Graffiti - with, appropriately, a flat tire – complete with a round-heeled beauty waiting for a Real Man to rescue her. Vance is a real man all right, and sees through George Lucas’ cliché script, taking his payment from the Thunderbird goddess in a way we don’t expect.
Vance’s gang soon appears, complaining that a primary chain has snapped; they need to make repairs, so are stuck in a no-name truck-stop town in Florida, en route to Daytona for the bike races. We learn the gang is recently sprung from prison, and tension quickly builds with the locals, echoed by Robert Gordon’s smokin’ Rockabilly soundtrack, as he plays himself, sort of, as Davis, well amped on ‘vitamins’ poured – in a quote from Scorpio Rising – from a salt shaker. The dialogue is as curt and as stylized as the art direction, loaded with Americana and period quotations; yes, you’re in 1962 America … where lynch-mobs cool off with a Coke and a smile.
Vance is soon distracted by a sexy little vixen in a red Corvette, the seriously underage Telena (Marin Kanter, next seen in The Fabulous Stains), who reveals the car as a guilt-gift from her father (J.Don Fergurson as the deliriously despicable Tarver). When Vance meets Telena, the film explodes with anal sex, shotgun blasts, incest, boys with pink underpants, murder, drag races, strippers, and suicide.
Somehow, Bigelow managed to keep these B-movie Bikesploitation plot points firmly steered towards the Art House, while the whole wicked machine flew right over the heads of critics and unsuspecting viewers alike. It still does. The Loveless is triple-clever, deserving multiple viewings to savor the spare dialogue, gorgeous visuals, amazingly hot Willem Dafoe, and superb soundtrack. Watching it, you’ll feel just like Sportster Debbie after a drunk trucker goes down on her – unwashed and nasty, but knowing it was good. - Paul d'Orleans
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the full film at Cine Meccanica
The Vintagent Selects: The Salt Flats - Eleven Ninety Eight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXnKrc11aKM&t=301s
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
THE SALT FLATS - ELEVEN NINETY EIGHT (2018)
Run Time: 16:19
A Film By: Josh Allen
Key Cast: Max Hazan, Gerald 'Gerry' Harrison
FILM MAKERS
Independent filmmaker Josh Allen embarked on a journey to Bonneville Speedway to capture the events as they unfolded. The story follows Max Hazan and Gerald 'Gerry' Harrison as they embark on their first pilgrimage to the automotive destination outside Salt Lake City Utah.
SUMMARY
Bonneville Salt Flats, it’s tough to say something that hasn’t been said about this place by someone at some point in time. It’s usually uttered in the same sentence as “I’d love to...” or “I wish I could” it’s such an iconic place that has never been far from the topic of discussion in an excitable conversation between a gathering of motoring enthusiasts. With that in mind we didn’t even try to say something new, I just set about documenting the experience that two guys had. Two friends fulfilling a life long ambition to set foot on the Salt at Bonneville speedway. They also took a Ducati 1198 with them, just to you know, have a go and I made a film about it. What better setting than the final event of the year, the stage was set, the conditions the best in years. With one man driving a van with the bike over from Los Angeles, the other leaving wife and child behind in Glasgow. Sometimes you’ve just got to ask yourself why not?
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The Vintagent Selects: 2018 Motorcycle Cannonball
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
2018 MOTORCYCLE CANNONBALL (2018)
Run Time: 59:38
A video by: Jerami Johnson
FILM MAKERS
Jerami Johnson has years of experience filming eccentric motorcycle people, starting with two years of shooting 'Monster Garage' with Jesse James. He's also a specialist in skate and music videos.
SUMMARY
Experience in one hour what 106 riders took 17 days to complete! '2018 Motorcycle Cannonball captures the most difficult antique motorcycle rally in the world, a bi-annual ride across the USA, from coast to coast, averaging 3600 miles over 17 miles. '2018 Motorcycle Cannonball' features riders navigating the backroads of America on pre-1929 vintage motorcycles, encountering rain, fatigue, breakdowns, and fires, all with good humor and sense of pleasure at tackling this tough ride.
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The Vintagent Classics: Once A Jolly Swagman
https://vimeo.com/299752402
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
ONCE A JOLLY SWAGMAN aka MANIACS ON WHEELS (1949)
Run Time: 1:38:00
Producer: Ian Dalrymple
Director: Jack Lee
Writer: Montagu Slater (novel), William Rose (script)
Key Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, Bill Owen
FILM MAKERS
The 1949 British film, Once A Jolly Swagman (released in the US later as Maniacs On Wheels) takes it's title from the first line of the Australian song "Waltzing Matilda", and is based on the 1946 novel by Montagu Slater. The film is one of the first to feature motorcycles as a central topic and to portray their riders as dark and complicated characters. Though it would definitely not be the last.
SUMMARY
"I must'a been daft letting you have that motorbike in the first place."
Set in 1937 London, A factory worker is fired from a reliable job and becomes a successful motorbike racer, until his wife threatens to leave him unless he comes to his senses.
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the full film at Cine Meccanica
The Vintagent Selects: Hunt For The Wild - The Trans Euro Trail Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX9-A3wSXY8&feature=youtu.be
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
Hunt for The Wild - The Trans Euro Trail Adventure (2018)
Run Time: 28:47
A film by: Greg Villalobos
FILM MAKERS
Having spent the best part of a year helping to build the Trans Euro Trail website and marketing media, I finally found time to actually go ride a small section of this 42,000km route. This film was made partly as promotion for the TET as well as a test and marketing for the newly released Adventure Spec clothing range. It was also quite a lot of fun!
Greg Villalobos is not only a filmmaker, but a BAFTA award-winning brand builder too. In 2004 Greg co-founded a digital agency in London, but since left London for North East Britain to help smaller organizations communicate their brands. As an outdoors and bike enthusiast, Greg tells stories through his experiences and the experiences of those around him.
SUMMARY
The Trans Euro Trail is a 38,000km dirt bike route through Europe. It traverses mountains, crosses rivers, descends gorges and generally winds its way through some of the wildest that Europe has to offer. It also goes through Holland and Belgium. With only one week on the dirt road, would Greg and his gang in the UK be able to find the wilderness they are hunting...?
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The Vintagent Selects: Hunter S. Thompson on Outlaws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QoKqEHS8s
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
HUNTER S. THOMPSON ON OUTLAWS (2015)
Run Time: 5:07
Executive Producer: David Gerlach
Animator: Patrick Smith
Editor: Kevin Palmer
Audio Producer: Amy Drozdowska
FILM MAKERS
Blank on Blank is a production of Quoted Studios – a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) content studio based in Brooklyn. Quoted is dedicated to using animated journalism to preserve and re-imagine the American interview. Read about the blank on blank production team, watch more episodes, and make a donation on their website.
SUMMARY
“I keep my mouth shut now. I’ve turned into a professional coward.” - Hunter S. Thompson in 1967
As told to Studs Terkel (http://studsterkel.org)
Hear more from this rare interview: http://blankonblank.org/hunter-thompson
In the 1960s, Hunter S. Thompson spent more than a year living and drinking with members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club, riding up and down the California coast. What he saw alongside this group of renegades on Harleys, these hairy outlaws who rampaged and faced charges of attempted murder, assault and battery, and destruction of property along the way--all of this became the heart of Thompson’s first book: Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. Shortly after the book came out, Thompson sat down for a radio interview with the one and only Studs Terkel.
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The Vintagent Selects: Stories Of Bike: Origins
https://youtu.be/UT5kGa0Q7No
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
STORIES OF BIKE: ORIGINS (2013)
Run Time: 4:57
A Film By: Cam Elkins
Key Cast: Brad Coles
FILM MAKERS
This whole thing started, as most personal projects start I suppose, out of frustration. Back in 2012, I had just seen two fantastic short films “Solus” by Lossa Engineering and “Chabott Engineering (Shinya Kimura)” by Henrik Hansen and was simultaneously blown away how well these films were made and frustrated that there weren’t more like them.
Soon after, I found the occasional short bike film. But they tended to be much the same. About a builder, working with his hands and why he or she builds and rides the bikes they do. I could never find a video that went further back than that. I wanted to hear their story that got them there. – Cam Elkins
SUMMARY
It's the little decisions we make and influences of history along the way that determine who we are, what we do and what we create.
For this owner of a custom 1974 Honda CB360 cafe racer / flattracker, incorporating various elements from his own dirt bike and family history of speedway racing resulted in a build of the perfect ride.
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The Vintagent Selects: Stories Of Bike: Peak Hour
https://youtu.be/2cLhOOcQISc
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
STORIES OF BIKE: PEAK HOUR (A HONDA CB125 STORY) (2013)
Run Time: 4:34
A Film By: Cam Elkins
Key Cast: Jordan Kightly
FILM MAKERS
This whole thing started, as most personal projects start I suppose, out of frustration. Back in 2012, I had just seen two fantastic short films “Solus” by Lossa Engineering and “Chabott Engineering (Shinya Kimura)” by Henrik Hansen and was simultaneously blown away how well these films were made and frustrated that there weren’t more like them.
Soon after, I found the occasional short bike film. But they tended to be much the same. About a builder, working with his hands and why he or she builds and rides the bikes they do. I could never find a video that went further back than that. I wanted to hear their story that got them there. – Cam Elkins
SUMMARY
The thought of a commute to the workplace for most people would be met with a mild grinding of teeth and sneer or two. Even for most motorcyclists, it's not a pleasant experience dealing with traffic an hour that brings the worst out in people. But one man's peak hour traffic is another man's bliss. For this Honda CB125 owner, peak hour is pure, adrenaline spiked, fun.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Classics: Biker Babylon aka It's a Revolution Mother
https://vimeo.com/275614812
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
Biker Babylon aka It's A Revolution Mother (1969)
Run Time: 1:13:05
Producer: Harry Kerwin
Writer: Tom Casey
Key Cast: The Aliens, Dick Gregory
FILM MAKERS
Here’s an odd but nonetheless fascinating time capsule of late- Sixties social unrest filtered through the mind of Florida-based sexploitation producer-director HARRY KERWIN. Yup, the man who made Strange Rampage, My Third Wife George, and Girls Come Too - and who was also the brother of Blood Feast star Bill Kerwin wanted to tap into the same youth market companies Like AlP were so good at exploiting. But lacking the funds to make something along the lines of an Easy Rider or a Wild in the Streets, Kerwin blissfully dispensed with both fiction and actors and, instead, went out and filmed The Real Thing. Combining (rough, raw) authentic footage of bikers, peace protestors, and the crowd at a rock festival, he created the mondoesque It’s a Revolution Mother! a self-described "Documentary of Love" tied together with an exuberant (and often hilarious) anti-government-anti establishment-anti-Vietnam-war-pro-rebellion rant -written by TOM CASEY, director of Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things (’71) - delivered by an uncredited narrator who sounds like an AM disk jockey on speed.
SUMMARY
THE ALIENS are a biker gang who let Kerwin photograph them on the highway, inside their squalid headquarters, at a weekend beach party, and a clubhouse ·Wesson Oil party. "They candidly discuss their lifestyle ("I’d say Jesus died so we could ride’"); order drugs ("An ounce of speed and 200 trips’"); bitch about hassles with the cops, the courts, and their landlord; and explain the difference between "mamas and old ladies." One of’ em even pisses in a beer can for us. "Don’t let it snap your mind. You’ve got to groove with the biker crowd to know where it’s really at’"
For contrast, we also join "Five-Hundred- Thousand-Plus Peace Marchers on a Brisk November Day in Washington, D.C." for a 1969 Anti-Vietnam War protest, then billed as "the largest peace march in history," complete with DICK GREGORY telling Agnew jokes (who?):"I look at Agnew as Washington D.C.’s answer to "Rosemary’s Baby!"
In addition, we hang with "Thousands of Music Lovers Getting Together" at a Florida version of Woodstock "where the bugged-out straight world ends and the out -of-sight groovy new world begins: Because of rights, no actual rock acts are seen or heard, but it’s all scored by actor-musician CHRIS MARTELL, best remembered as Rodney the retarded killer in H.G. Lewis ’The Gruesome Twosome.
After this film and the semi-nudist epic Sign of Aquarius, Harry Kerwin continued in exploitation but with more drive-in friendly fare such as God’s Bloody Acre, Tomcats, and Barracuda. Perhaps because of Revolution’s surprisingly militant stand and in-your-face reality - most "youth rebellion" films were actually quite conservative beneath the surface -It’s a Revolution Mother got scant playdates and became an almost overnight obscurity. Nevertheless, here it is, ready to assail you anew. An angry little artifact from a very confusing time, It’s a Revolution Mother is so real, it’s absolutely unreal. From a 35mm print "with no middle-class hang-ups!" - Luther Heggs
RELATED MEDIA
Watch the full film here
The Vintagent Classics: The Leather Boys
https://vimeo.com/295272306
The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us.
The Leather Boys (1964)
Run Time: 1:48:00
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Writer: Gillian Freeman (screenplay and novel)
Cast: Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell, Dudley Sutton.
FILM MAKERS
Toronto-born Sidney J. Furie has enjoyed an incredibly distinguished career that has spanned more than five decades. Having dabbled in every genre, Furie has directed films starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole, Rodney Dangerfield, Barbara Hershey, Gene Hackman, Donald Sutherland, 'Laurence Olivier' (qav) and countless others.
SUMMARY
"The frustrations of sexual conflict . . ."
Based on the novel “The Leather Boys” by Gillian Freeman, this British drama follows the 'kitchen sink' realist movement style of the early 60’s, portraying real people living real lives. No Hollywood epic here. It deals with taboo issues of underage marriage, teenage angst, sexual, moral ambiguity and homosexuality. Pick up the book if you can. It tells an even darker tale culminating in crime sprees and murder.
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Read more about it here
The Vintagent Selects: Why We Ride to The Quail
https://vimeo.com/291756406
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
WHY WE RIDE TO THE QUAIL (2018)
Run Time: 15:29
Producer: Why We Ride Films
Director: Bryan H. Carroll
FILM MAKERS
Why We Ride is a story about who we are. Individuals with a desire to dream, discover and explore. From a kid’s dream come true, to a retiree’s return to freedom. From a family riding together on the sand dunes, to hundreds of choppers carving through the canyons – the bond is the same. It’s about the passion of the riders and the soul of their machines.
SUMMARY
Its for the KIDS!
Why We Ride to The Quail is our annual charity ride thats sole purpose is to raise funds and awareness for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. We made this film to share this adventure with so many fellow riders and fans that could not join us for the ride but still want to help this great cause.
100% of all the donations go to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.
Please watch our latest film and donate what you can. This will stay posted up until the next years charity ride so please share it with your friends and family.
With your support we can continue to give these kids and their families hope.
Thank you
Bryan H. Carroll
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The Vintagent Trailers: Black Lightning: The Rollie Free Story
https://vimeo.com/291731773
The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
BLACK LIGHTNING: THE ROLLIE FREE STORY (2018)
Run Time: 35:00
Producer: William E. (Chip) Connor
Cast: Alain de Cadenet, William Edgar, Jerry Hatfield, Marty Dickerson, Glenn Bator
SUMMARY
The Rollie Free story is one of perseverance, guts and revenge. It is arguably the most famous photograph in motorcycling. In 1948 a man, wearing only a bathing suit and shoes, stretched prone on a speeding motorcycle and set the world’s motorcycle land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. While the photograph was snapped in less than one one-hundredth of a second, this achievement was the product of years of preparation. It was also the product of an unusual union of two very different men. One came from a world of privilege and the other from blue-collar middle-America. Their bond was their fierce determination, particularly a desire to beat the Harley Davidson motorcycle company. This is the story of Rollie Free, John Edgar, and the Vincent Black Lightning.
ROLLIE FREE
Roland “Rollie” Free (November 18, 1900 – October 11, 1984) was a motorcycle racer best known for breaking the American motorcycle land speed record in 1948 on the Bonneville Salt Flats, in Utah. The picture of Free, prone and wearing a bathing suit, has been described as the most famous picture in motorcycling.
After an early career in motorcycle retail, Free became a regional racer of the 1920s and 30’s on Indian motorcycles. In 1923, Free tried out for his first national motorcycle race, the 100-Mile National Championships on the board track in Kansas City, but did not qualify. He developed his career in longer-distance events, and raced in the very first Daytona 200 on the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1937. He also set several American Motorcyclist Association Class C speed records including a 111.55 mph run at Daytona in 1938 on an Indian Chief that he had tuned himself.
He joined the Army Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer during the Second World War; during this time, he was stationed at Hill Field in Utah, where he first saw the Bonneville Salt Flats. In 1945, Free left the Air Force, and resumed racing the soon-to-be defunct Indian motorcycles in long-distance and sprint record attempts, as well as dirt track racing on Triumphs.
On the morning of September 13, 1948, Free raised the American motorcycle speed record by riding the very first Vincent Black Lightning HRD, owned by the California sportsman John Edgar and sponsored by Mobil Oil, to a speed of 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h). Special features included the first-ever Vincent use of a rear shock absorber, the first Mk II racing cams, and horizontally mounted racing carburetors. Free adopted a style used by others of lying flat prone along the machine’s back spine, thereby minimizing wind resistance and placing more weight over the rear wheel. It is generally believed that this bike is The First Lightning though, a custom order from the factory and was some 100 pounds lighter and 25 hp more powerful than the stock Black Shadow. In one of his books, Phil Irving (one of the designers) said that there were only about 16 of the model produced. The Black Lightning is the fastest Vincent ever produced.
To protect himself and allow comfort when in such a position, Free had developed special protective clothing. However, when his leathers tore from early runs at 147 mph (237 km/h), he discarded them and made a final attempt without jacket, pants, gloves, boots or helmet. Free lay flat on the motorcycle wearing only a bathing suit, a shower cap, and a pair of borrowed sneakers – inspired by friend Ed Kretz. This resulted not only in the record, but also one of the most famous photographs in motorcycling history, the “bathing suit bike” shot taken from a speeding car alongside his run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
The Vincent used is sometimes mistaken for a Series B machine, having the stamp BB on its engine casing – but is actually a works-modified machine, and recognized as the first, or prototype of 30 Lightnings. The bike remained racing in the United States until the mid-1960s, and then resided virtually intact in the private collection of Herb Harris of Austin, Texas until acquired by the William E. Connor collection. Free later moved to California and, after his racing career faded, worked in the auto servicing industry. He died in 1984 and was posthumously inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
RELATED MEDIA
The Vintagent Selects: Team Obsolete - A Day At The Track
https://vimeo.com/289315286
The Vintagent Selects: A collection of our favorite films by artists around the world.
Team Obsolete - A Day At The Track (2018)
Run Time: 7:45
A Film By: Sam Russell Films and Team Obsolete
Cast: Robert Iannucci, David Roper, Aaron Frank, Josh Mackenzie, Seth Rosko and Eli McCoy
FILM MAKERS
Sam Russell is a Brooklyn based filmmaker and cinematographer known for his work on By Blood (2015), Papertown (2017) and Umbilical (2007).
Team Obsolete is the world’s first and foremost Vintage Road Race Team and the originator of the first AMA sanctioned Vintage Road Races. During over twenty years of competition, Team Obsolete has entered more than fifteen hundred races worldwide, garnered twenty-two Daytona wins, and is the first American Team to ever win the Isle of Man TT (1984).
SUMMARY
Tuner/collector Rob Iannucci, head of Team Obsolete, had the unprecedented idea to assemble the very best grand prix 350’s from the classic period in a head-to-head test. Having these machines on the track together was really something, highlighting the differences not only in power, weight and handling but also in design philosophy and how that evolved over time. These motorcycles “bookend” the classic period. Having them together for the first time was quite special. Filmed over the course of a single day at Thompson Motorsports Park using on-board, handheld, drone and chase vehicle cameras this video really captures the moment and the philosophy of Team Obsolete. Enjoy!
RELATED MEDIA
www.TeamObsolete.com
www.samrussellfilms.com
@TeamObsolete
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