Pre War Ohc Ajs Supercharged Racer

[Barry Brown]

Can anyone shed any light on this bike? I have a 1933 ohc Ajay dirt tracker that has the same heavily drilled out front brake setup but I think they are 2 different bikes since the blown one has the later primary oil pump and tank. Anyone know the make of the blower?

[23JDCA 808]

From Wikipedia, "In 1939 a 495 cc AJS V4 was built to compete against the supercharged BMWs then dominating racing. The bike was a water-cooled and supercharged. In 1939 the dry-sump V4 was the first bike to lap the Ulster Grand Prix course at over 100 mph (200 km/h). It weighed 405 lb (184 kg). Its top speed was 135 mph (217 km/h). Then the Second World War intervened."
Try googling ohi AJS supercharged racer. There are a lot hits that show. ...bill

[Barry Brown]

thanks but that is a different kettle of fish, the bike I have pictured is a single cylinder with a backyard blower setup. I should have been more specific. However, now that we are on the topic of the vee 4 watercolled factory job, I had the extreme good fortune to be visiting Sammy Miller's Museum ( when it was at it's New Forest location) and Sammy was just rolling that factory blown superbike out of the shops for it's maiden test ride! talk about timing! Anyway, he blasted off down the road with no plates affixed, and of course no lights and surprisingly no helmet, but I imagine he was attempting to hear every decibel of that raucous monster.

[23JDCA 808]

Yes, I was off; I tend to get caught up with an apparent find. They appeared to have used Rootes-type supercharers in the late 1930's. Some of the literature appears to be available.
http://www.britishmotorcyclespares.c...le_Manuals.htm

[23JDCA 808]

Here is a British AJS group.
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/ajs.htm

[23JDCA 808]

This is a Picture Card Company. A lot of times there is information on the back of the card.
http://images.auctionhelper.com/imag.../ajs1000cc.jpg

http://www.atlaspicturecards.com/British_Bikes1.html

[AFJ]

Re: Pre War Ohc Ajs Supercharged Racer

Originally posted by Barry Brown
Can anyone shed any light on this bike? I have a 1933 ohc Ajay dirt tracker that has the same heavily drilled out front brake setup but I think they are 2 different bikes since the blown one has the later primary oil pump and tank. Anyone know the make of the blower?

This is the 1938 AJS 350 cc ohc 7R owned by Herb Jordan of Toronto, Canada after he fitted a supercharger to it for sprint work. Note the small tank which Jordan used to use on all his projects when they were raced in short distance sprint events. Herb experimented fairly briefly with the "blower" on the AJS. The bike was converted back to standard specification, sold by Herb to a friend who used it for road road riding for a number of years. The bike still exists.
Herb Jordan raced this AJS at the 1938 and 1939 Wasaga Beach races and had a sprint speed of 81 mph in 1938 and 82.72 mph in 1939 when the AJS was 2nd fastest 350cc, behind Scott's 350 OK Supreme. Herb on the AJS was 8th in the 50 mile Kaye Don Trophy Race. I do not think that the AJS was run in supercharged form at Wasaga. It did appear in supercharged form at the Windsor Motorcycle Club races with the supercharger on it and your picture may well be from that appearance.

AFJ

[Barry Brown]

Thanks Al. Very interesting! The picture of the blown Ajay is taken from a scrap book which I believe belonged to the Detroit Indian dealer so your pinpointing of the locale makes perfect sense. Here is Herb pictured working in his diminutive cellar on his HIGHLY modified AJS engine for his formula 3 car. He was a genius. ( taken from an article in Sports Cars illustrated , October 1957