Registration No: JO 1170
Frame No: 1030
MOT: Exempt

• Built for, and ridden by, George Brough himself in the 1930 MCC Edinburgh Trial
• Featured in publications and Brough records
• Restored by marque guru Tony Cripps in 1980
• Previously on loan to the National Motorcycle Museum
• Earlier design high-level exhausts on each side

One of the great ‘rider manufacturers’, George Brough was born in 1890 and began competing sixteen years later. His successes helped put his father’s motorcycle business – W.E. Brough – on the map. The latter introduced a new ‘flat tank’ twin-cylinder machine in 1913 which formed the basis of the marque’s offerings going forward. Living in and around Coventry and working for White & Poppe during the Great War, George Brough took the opportunity to buy, sell and assess no fewer than thirty-four British and American motorcycles. This research led him to believe that by assembling the best proprietary components available to his own design he could create something better. Hence the idea of the Brough Superior was born. The very first machine to bear the famous name debuted not at a motor show but on the 1919 MCC Land’s End Trial. Road registered with the Coventry number plate ‘HP 2122’ (which appeared on countless Brough Superiors thereafter), its build quality was as impressive as its performance. Operating from premises on Hadyn Road in Nottingham, George Brough aimed right at the very top end of the market. Handbuilt, his motorcycles were likened to the very best suits or shotguns being tailored to their owners’ physiques. The company’s first Super Sports model, the SS80, debuted in 1924 and was advertised as being capable of accelerating from 8mph to 80mph in top gear. However, it was the follow-up SS100 with its certified 100mph performance which truly captured the public’s imagination. Among the very fastest machines on either four- or two-wheels that money could buy (specially tuned versions were clocked at over 130mph), the flagship Brough Superior was as beautifully styled as it was exquisitely finished. Progressively developed, the SS100 could be had with a sprung Bentley & Draper frame from 1928 onwards and made the switch from JAP to Matchless V-Twin power eight years later. Only ever made in tiny numbers, the Brough Superior Club estimate that 383 SS100s were completed between 1924 and 1940 (281 JAP vs 102 Matchless). Ever the keen competitor, George Brough ensured that his most famous creation was contesting events (often in his hands) up until 1939. Such was his desire to win that when loaned a SS100 Combination for a re-enactment of the MCC Edinburgh Trial during the 1950s he reputedly stripped and rebuilt it before tackling the first stage!

According to the Brough Superior Club, just 21 SS100s were produced in 1930 including this particular example - Frame No. 1030 - which was completed during May for none other than marque founder, George Brough, to ride during the upcoming MCC Edinburgh Trial. Held over June 6th -7th, the two-day event was open to motorcars and motorcycles alike and saw competitors race from London to Edinburgh and back again via a series of demanding road and trial stages (covering the best part of 1,000 miles). A keen participant, George Brough won the Trial in 1910, 1911 and 1912 aboard his father’s machines and knew the prestige it held among the buying public. Brough Superiors in both solo and combination guises were frequent entrants up until the outbreak of World War Two. As with any SS100, Frame No. 1030 was tailored to George Brough in terms of its handlebar layout and seating to ensure motorcycle and rider were as one. The rough nature of the trial sections could well explain why it was fitted with the older-style high set exhaust pipes. The rest of the bike was bang-up-to-date with a Bentley & Draper sprung frame, ‘super heavyweight’ Sturmey Archer three-speed gearbox, Castle front forks and doubtless a slightly ‘breathed on’ JAP 986cc V-Twin engine. Appearing on the Trial with the same Works registration number - ‘HP 2122’ - that had graced the first Brough Superior (and which George Brough appended to numerous machines over the years without always feeling the need to inform the relevant authorities), Frame No. 1030 was ridden with his trademark gusto. A wonderful image of the SS100 skirting a stone wall whilst being gunned uphill was captured by the photographer Bill Brunell and has appeared in numerous publications. Acquiring its current number plate ‘JO 1170’ in August 1930, Frame No. 1030 remained a fixture in and around the Works for the next few years. Part of a winning team in the Inter Club Trial, the SS100 was also snapped on a 1930s Continental Tour somewhere in the Mosel, Freiburg region. Interestingly, Frame 1030 was back at the factory when its own number plate ‘JO 1170’ was briefly appropriated by one of the Austin Seven-engined Brough Superior BS4 motorcycles indicating that its then owner was known to George Brough or at least had ties to the company. Surviving World War Two, the SS100 is known to have belonged to R.A. Bill by 1963. Resident in the Stratford-upon-Avon Motor Museum a decade or so later, it passed to Robert Brown during 1978. Restored by acknowledged marque guru Tony Cripps in 1980 and pleasingly retaining its original JAP engine, Frame 1030 passed through the hands of renowned dealer (and collector) Bryan Verrall before joining the National Motorcycle Museum’s collection where it has been proudly displayed ever since. A reluctant sale but in a very good cause, the Museum are hopeful that they will have ‘JO 1170’ running again by auction day. Any 1930 Brough Superior SS100 is a seriously rare and special motorcycle but to have the very Works-prepared machine which George Brough used to contest that year’s gruelling MCC Edinburgh Trial is something else again!

For more information, please contact:
Mike Davis
mike.davis@handh.co.uk
07718 584217