STRAIGHT TALKING
...And The New Normal? Final Chequers Coronavirus claimed the life of one of motorcycle engineering's great eccentrics with the recent loss of Angus "Ag" McPhail at the age of 79. Attracted by the opportunities offered by sprinting, then drag-racing, he used straight-line sport to pursue a never-ending stream of ideas and theories. Starting with the radical "Ag's Barrow", a methanol-fuelled Ariel Arrow, he later went on to create the legendary "Jade 12
Warrior". Much of this was inspired by racing car practice, as Ag saw a way of using some of the technological advances in four-wheel competition while motorcycling design remained far more reserved in its approach. The three-wheeled Jade Warrior was the result and its radical ideas soon ruffled feathers (If you can't beat them – protest them?) and so Ag then took the bold move of rebuilding Jade Warrior as a two-wheeler. He retained the lay-down, face forward riding
position. Immediately behind the rider, the engine was a fourcylinder combination of homebuild and Cosworth components driving an enormous rear slick. The seven-second performance achieved without nitro-methane more than vindicated Ag's ideas. If you have Internet access, Googling "Jade Warrior" will provide a better picture of the efforts Ag put into his race engineering. Ag was also a third of McCoy Dynamics, a partnership with Mick Hand and Keith Parnell
