Our very rare 1936 350cc ohc Velocette racer is now back on display after extensive repairs to damage it suffered when fire ravaged part of the collection in 2003. The machine is one of the transitional models known to historians as the ‘KTT MkVI’, built for a few factory-favoured riders. The KTT was Velo’s customer racer and this type came between the 1935 MkV and the 1938 MkVII. Instead of the 1935 engine’s bronze cylinder head, this has a modified version of the alloy casting made for the 1936 KSS roadster. Velo’s race chief Harold Willis used it because deliveries of new aluminium head castings for KTTs were delayed. At the suggestion of factory rider Stanley Woods, the racers’ rigid frame was shortened by 1.5in (38mm) in 1936. Austin Munks won the 1936 Junior Manx Grand Prix on a MkVI and three raced in that year’s Junior TT, where Harold Newman finished 11th, while Billy Tiffen and French rider Roger Loyer both retired. With frame number 6TT6, this bike has the long saddle used on Velo racers of the period, which predated the dualseat. Although it carries the 1936 MGP-winning race number 74, it is not known exactly which of the MkVIs this is.
