A Hard Days Fright is a documentary from 1964 by Roscoe Films, it centers on the popular world of club racing in Britain, and in particular it takes a good look into the lives of the trackside marshals.
The film includes a vast array of cars, from smaller amateur-built monopostos with motorcycle engines to a couple of Ferrari 250 GTOs and a Jaguar E-Type powered by a Ford Galaxie V8. The racing is highly competitive at all levels, and it’s clear that crashes and engine explosions were commonplace.
The United Kingdom has long been one of the most critical regions for motorsport and motorsport development, even today 6 of the 10 current Formula 1 teams are based in England. Interestingly the German Mercedes F1 team is based in Brackley, and the French Renault/Alpine F1 team is based in Enstone, both in the UK.
The title of “A Hard Day’s Fright” is a pun based on the Academy Award-nominated film “A Hard Days Night” which had been released earlier the same year, along with the song of the same name.
The heart of the UK’s racing culture is the club racing scene, it’s existed since shortly after the first automobiles were built and it exploded in popularity after WWII, with more than one wartime aerodrome becoming a race track – including both Silverstone and Goodwood.
This film offers a great look back into the heyday of British club motorsport, many of the cars you’ll see racing are either one-offs or the result of very limited production runs from small automakers that are now almost lost to history.
The British Racing & Sports Car Club who funded this film are still very much in operation, if you’d like to read more about the organization and its history you can click here to visit the website.
This is the fastest road-legal bobber in the world, hell it’s probably the fastest in non-road-legal circles as well. This bike started life as a stock 2019 Triumph Bonneville Bobber but it didn’t stay that way for long, it was delivered from the dealer direct to Jody Millhouse and his team who immediately set to work on it.
Millhouse is the founder of Thornton Hundred, a British company that specializes in the design and construction of bespoke motorcycles. Their builds typically include a combination of state-of-the-art engineering as well as aesthetics, and they’re invariably faster with better performance than they were when they left the factory.
Fast Facts – The Triumph Bonneville Bobber by Thornton Hundred
The Triumph Bonneville Bobber was released in 2016 to significant international acclaim, it combined retro styling with modern performance, and it was widely considered to be superior to the then-current offerings from Harley-Davidson – its key competitor.
The Bonneville Bobber uses an all-new frame that appears to have a hardtail, but actually includes a swingarm and monoshock rear.
The 1200cc parallel twin is liquid-cooled, it has a single overhead cam operating four valves per cylinder, and it produces 77 bhp and 78 lb ft of torque in factory trim.
The Thornton Hundred version of the Bobber shown here has been completely rebuilt and now includes a supercharger and NOS-injection – with both of them operating it produces 202 hp and 170 lb ft of torque at the rear wheel.
The Triumph Bonneville Bobber
When the Triumph Bonneville Bobber was released in 2016 it was clearly aimed at the modern classic motorcycle market, specifically in the United States.
The Bobber’s main competition would be the motorcycles built by Harley-Davidson and Indian, however almost all major motorcycle manufacturers now have at least some models designed to fit into the lucrative modern classic genre.
Above Video: If you’d like to see (and hear) the Bobber running this video includes plenty of footage, including some 1/4 mile runs.
Triumph engineers developed the Bonneville Bobber to use many of the same parts as its namesake, the Triumph Bonneville T120 that had been released a year earlier. The engine and transmission are the same with the exception of a few changes to increase torque at the expensive of some horsepower in the Bobber.
The Triumph Bonneville Bobber is powered by a 1200cc parallel twin with liquid-cooling, a single overhead cam operating four valves per cylinder, and it has a 270º crank angle. The engine uses unit construction, with power being sent from the built-in 6-speed gearbox to the rear wheel via a chain drive.
The unique frame of the Bobber is designed to look like a hardtail but it actually incorporates a discrete swingarm and monoshock, paired with standard telescopic hydraulic forks up front. Disc brakes are fitted front and back, and the bike is fitted with a single “floating” seat just like the first bobbers of the 1940s and 1950s.
WFB – The World’s Fastest Bobber By Thornton Hundred
The process of turning this Triumph into the “World’s Fastest Bobber” was no mean feat, it required a full engine teardown and rebuild using components that were able to handle almost 300% the original horsepower without tearing itself apart.
The installation of the supercharger is relatively discrete all things considered, and the two NOS cylinder are fitted to the swingarm to keep them out of the way.
The engine rebuild included new TTS machine cases, forged pistons, a custom camshaft, and a slew of other upgraded internals. A Rotrex C15 supercharger was added along with a NOS-injection system, and it’s all managed by a new ECU that was programmed specifically for this motorcycle.
Once dyno tuning was complete the bike performed a number of test runs, it now produces 165 hp at the rear wheel with the nitrous system turned off, or 202 hp with 170 lb ft of torque with it turned on. The top speed is 150 mph with no nitrous or 170+ mph with, and it’s said to be capable of a quarter mile time of 10.49 seconds.
The engine wasn’t the only part of the bike to receive upgrades, the suspension was improved thanks to the addition of USD Öhlins forks up front with custom triple clamps, an Öhlins monoshock in the rear, Brembo monobloc brakes, Excel rims, and Michelin sport tires.
If you’d like to read more about this unusual Bobber or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Collecting Cars. It’s currently being auctioned live.
