Indian TT Twin, 1911
1911 · Indian (Hendee Manufacturing Company), Springfield, Massachusetts · 584cc V-twin road racer
Rotating view of a 3D model built for Manx Road Racer. A reconstruction from period photographs and drawings, not a surviving machine.
The 1911 races were the first to use the Mountain Course. The Auto-Cycle Union moved the races there from the St John's course, and the new route over Snaefell was meant to push British makers towards gears and clutches. Most British machines of the time still drove the back wheel by a belt through a single fixed ratio.
Indian's twins already had what the course demanded: a two-speed gear, a clutch and chain drive throughout. The Senior class limit for twins was set at 585cc that year, so Indian sleeved down its smaller twin to fit.
Indian supported five riders in the Senior on Monday 3 July 1911. Oliver Godfrey won the five-lap, 187½-mile race in 3 hours 56 minutes 10 seconds, an average of 47.63 mph. Charlie Collier crossed the line second on a Matchless but was disqualified for refuelling outside the permitted depot, which moved Charles Franklin and Arthur Moorhouse up to second and third. It was the first TT win by a machine built outside Britain, and the first time one make had taken all three places.
Indian never won the TT again. Godfrey came back to finish second in the 1914 Senior.
Facts
- Race: 1911 Senior TT, 5 laps, 187½ miles, Mountain Course
- Result: 1 Oliver Godfrey, 2 Charles Franklin, 3 Arthur Moorhouse - all Indian
- Engine: 584cc V-twin (3¾ hp rating), two-speed, clutch, all-chain drive
Sources
- Manx National Heritage, iMuseum, "1911 Senior TT" (event record)
- Grace's Guide, "1911 Isle of Man TT Races"
- The Vintagent, "1911: Indians Sweep Isle of Man TT" (2011)
- Motorcyclist, "The First American Motorcycle to Win the Isle of Man TT"
- Olympia Show 1911 report (period description of Indian transmission)