BMCT News Newsletter of The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust
June 2009
MARK ONE EMC IS THE TRUST’S LATEST ACQUISITION Trustees Peter Wellings (Chairman) Malcolm Aldridge Steve Bagley Paul Barnes John Handley Mike Jackson John Kidson Ian Walden OBE Registered Office Rodborough Court Stroud GL5 3LR Registered Charity No. 509420 Administration Andy Bufton/MMS Holly Cottage Bishampton Pershore WR10 2NH Contact details Tel: 01386 462524 Mob: 07754 880116 E-mail: info@bmct.org
Inside this issue: New acquisition
1
Coventry to Brighton
2
1,000 Bikes
2
Banbury Run
2
New Members
2
Stafford Show
3
Lowboy Norton
3
Members’ Bikes
4
Diary Dates
4
The BMCT‟s latest acquisition is an interesting 1947 EMC 350cc Mark I, manufactured by the Ehrlich Motor Co. at Park Royal, north-west London. The founder of the company, Dr Josef Ehrlich, fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazis, bringing with him a Puch based split single two-stroke engine on which he had been working. This engine was to form the basis of the first machines to emerge from the new EMC factory some nine years later, development having been interrupted by the war. The split single was invented by Alberto Garelli in 1912 but very few home manufacturers picked up on the technology at the time and it was left to Puch to develop it further, which they did with some success, actually winning the German Grand Prix in 1931 with their version of the engine. At home, Trojan used a split single layout from 1913 in their two stroke motor car. Briefly, it uses two cylinders with two pistons sharing a common combustion chamber. Externally it looks like a single cylinder engine with one exhaust pipe, one carburettor and one spark plug. The split single system sends the intake fuel-air mixture up one bore to the combustion chamber, sweeping the exhaust gases down the other bore and out of the exposed exhaust port. The split single two-stroke thus delivers better economy than the common forms of two-stroke (and runs better at small throttle openings) at the cost of an engine that is heavier. The lubrication weaknesses of the two-stroke remain, as does most of the pollution. The problem of big-end lubrication in the EMC engine is dealt with by the provision of a pilgrim pump built into the chain case which delivers more oil when the engine was working hard than it does on a small throttle opening. The EMC frame is a neat duplex affair with a bolted-on backbone of manganese bronze which supported the steering head. Dowty Oleomatic front forks are employed, with a rigid rear end, although plunger rear suspension was offered from 1948. A Vincent type dual front brake was also part of the original spec, as was a four speed gearbox. Despite this up to date specification the new
marque‟s sales record in the UK was unimpressive, the oddball looks and the British motorcyclist‟s suspicion of new technology and two strokes in general meaning the EMC wasn‟t that favourably received. There was also an issue with pricing - at £191 it was £12 more than the highly respected Velocette KSS. The model did quite well in the export markets, however, with product-starved post war Europe taking fair numbers of the machines, but this wasn‟t enough, and by 1953 the lack of sales success meant the closure of the Park Royal factory. This wasn‟t the last we‟d hear of Dr Ehrlich, however. He went on to a career with De Havilland but kept his interest in bikes, and the EMC name reappeared on a 125 cc racing two stroke in the late nineteen fifties, ridden by some of the top riders of the day. Mike Hailwood even took one to third place in the 1961 125cc World Championship. Once more, EMC motorcycles faded from sight as Dr Joe busied himself designing and racing Formula Three cars, but in the eighties he was back on the motorcycle racing scene turning the Waddon Rotax machine into a race winner and taking the honours in four Lightweight TT races. In his later years Ehrlich was heavily involved in alternative engine technology, developing the „Environmental Engine‟ with variable compression and capacity, said to improve fuel economy and emissions. He died in 2003 aged 89 without ever seeing the engine adopted for commercial use. Our members can now see the EMC for themselves free of charge at the London Motorcycle Museum in Greenford.
London Motorcycle Museum founder Bill Crosby with the EMC 350, the latest addition to their display.