Taken from the current issue of Classic Racer

The thought of riding an MV three would set the spine tingling for any red-blooded race fan. Malc Wheeler travelled to the Manx Grand Prix to do just that, and fulfilled a boyhood fantasy.

The winning team

The Meccanica Verghera project to build a race ready MV three; a faithful reproduction of the all conquering, fire engine red, Grand Prix bike of the 60s, using as many original components as possible, was an ambitious one, but after four years the challenge was completed. And wanting to put their product to the ultimate test engineers Mark Kay, and father Dave, chose the Senior Classic Manx Grand Prix as a debut, and came oh so close to pulling off a fairytale victory.

Expectedly practice, as only practice in the Isle of Man can, threw up a few teething problems, despite the fact that both Spa Francorchamps and the long circuit at Chimay had been used as shakedowns, with Brian Richards, (the man heading up the MV race project), regular runner Phill Sharpe in the saddle.

Pilot for the Manx Grand Prix effort was rising TT star, 27-year-old Gary Johnson, a man more at home on a 1000cc Superbike than anything classic. But with the experienced Brian Richards to offer guidance he quickly adapted to the MV. The gearing the MV was pulling at the Chimay test equated to 165mph, and for the Manx it was raised by a couple of teeth. But the extra speed didn’t come and it was when Brian realised that by hanging on for 12,000rpm, which is maximum revs, Gary was actually going slower than if he had used 11,500rpm as a limit, which is where the dyno says maximum power is developed.

That same dyno shows BHP figures already ahead of the MV factory bikes of the 60s, (MV claimed 78bhp), and Brian is confident that there is another five or six to had without risking reliability. And reliability is something that the team are keen to maintain. The engine fitted for the Senior Classic has now done more than 600 miles and given no problems, in fact the cylinder head hasn’t been lifted since Chimay. History says that the MV factory worked to 600 miles as a maximum mileage for the crank when they were being raced in the period.

The carburation is set slightly on the rich side at the top end, something that Brian sees as no bad thing at this stage, although it wasn’t evident from riding the bike (See box out). The main teething problems while on the Island centred around the ignition system, with a couple of sensors failing, which dropped the motor on to two cylinders. Gary says that in the saddle the symptoms feel much like fuel starvation.

Using the weather limited practice sessions as testing time Gary didn’t post the super quick lap everyone was expecting, saving that for the race. And he obviously had a lot in hand during practice. After just nine miles, at the commentary point at Glen Helen, on lap one of the delayed Senior Classic he had pulled out eight seconds on his main rival Ryan Farquhar, aboard the Paton twin. But further into the lap the ignition gremlins struck again, dropping the MV onto two cylinders.

In the heat of the moment, and in a vain effort to solve what felt like fuel starvation, something which had also happened during practice, Gary lifted the filler cap in case there was an air lock, and in doing lost the rubber sealing ring. From then on all he could do was tour back to the paddock, as fuel sloshed out of the cap each time he braked or accelerated.

A philosophical Richards is already talking about next year: “This has been a useful exercise, but yes we’ll be back, we haven’t done what we set out to do,” he said with a wry smile, “but we’ve learnt a lot. The motor has proved to be totally reliable. There have been issues with the gearbox, and we now wonder if we need to have seven speeds (by 1970 MV only ran six gears on the 500 three) and we may change that.”

With a year of development ahead of them the Kay MV three, with a team headed by Brian Richards, will be the outfit to beat in the 2009 Classic Manx Grand Prix.

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