In the early 1950's despite the Velocette board being divided on the prospect of continuing racing, the then Managing Director, Percy Goodman and his son Bertie hatched the idea of a 500cc 4 cylinder racer to win the 500cc world championship and of course the Senior IOM TT.... something that had eluded the company since its first foray into racing in the 1920's.
The 350cc championships had been theirs on many occasions with IOM TT wins in the Junior class...but never a Senior win, despite coming oh so close.
But Percy's death in 1954 changed all that...the board of Veloce closed the racing shop and any thoughts of the projected 500/4 became dusty artifacts at Velocette.
DOHC operating on buckets, water cooled, shaft drive...if they had built this imagine where we would be today!
