Simpson's 1930 Swedish TT winning CS1

From Simon: "Here are a few more photos of this historic machine. The first shows A. Nystrom with it in 1931, the second shows the new owner Rolf Gullick, after it was sold by the Nystrom firm in 1934, while the third shows it receiving some frame surgery in 2002.

This last shot is quite important: here we have a machine of September 1930 with a downdraught head and flange mounted carburetter. I don't think the head comes from a later model. First, Woods' 1930 Ulster GP winner had down draught carburetter and coil springs. Second, because of the 'intermediate' dimensions of cylinder studs, cam box etc. of the early Carroll engines, it was not possible just to fit a later head and/or barrel. One really had to change the whole engine.

Note too the strange gearbox end cover with the unusual (for Sturmey Archer) clutch wihdrawal mechanism. This style of box also appeared in Lacey's '30/'31 Brooklands mounts and was almost certainly still a three speed unit."

Jimmie Simpson, 1930 Swedish Grand Prix, CS1 Norton

From Simon: "The recent Assen photos reminded me I have another which may be of interest, recently sent to me by a Swedish friend. It shows Jimmie on the Works 500 during the 1930 Swedish Grand Prix doing a quick spot of front brake adjustment. Jimmie won the event and the machine concerned reputedly remained in Sweden with the Norton agents, Nystrom of Trollhatten. It was initially raced by one of the Nystrom brothers in the early thirties before being sold. It has been owned for many years by the same chap but is currently in a semi-dismantled state. I also received a copy of the entry form for the event which shows that the bike had 21 inch (front) and 20 inch (rear ) tyres, Amal carb., Sturmey Archer gearbox and clutch and ML magneto. The bike weighed 350 lb and the relatively lightweight Jim a mere 9 stone 10lb.

Incidentally, I was taken to task a few years back by Jimmie's son for spelling his father's name JimmY. His son said his dad always used JimmIE! See the text below, written by JimmY Simpson junior in a 1998 VMCC magazine"