This is great. I was sent this picture of Barry Scully and his 500cc Scott racer.
You can see the amount of work that went on this bike… Is it still around?
4 thoughts on “Barry Scully Scott”
Good to see this picture, there has been a lot of wrong information in the past over Matt Holders developement of the 350cc Scott racer, he only chose this engine size as it was the least competitive class, the outcome of this experience was to develope a 4 bearing crankcase/gearbox combination for a new 500cc Scott using up his stock of Swift barrels/ heads/ pistons etc.
There was never going to be a new 350 Scott. I had a conversation with Ted Murphy back in the 1960s he told me that Matt Holder had just received a large batch of the new 500 frames but they were stored outside going rusty.
The photo shows one of the prototypes , the problem was that at that time nobody wanted a 500cc motor bike everyone wanted 650/750cc. the output was restricted by the tiny transfer ports which had to fit into the overall width of the swift barrel and limited the piston size to 500cc.
Alan, I’m delighted that you could shed some light on it, but I’m confused as to what I am looking at.
Are you saying that this has a different crankcase and four bearing cranks with developed barrels etc? I was struggling to imagine how it could have a drive off the LH crank unless something fundamental was different. There’s a limit to what a button on the end of the big end screw can drive!
So, was this actually a Birmingham Scott factory developed racer with Barry Scully its rider or was this driven by Barry.
When I looked him up online, he comes up on the Moto GP site as having had an entry in the 500cc 1969 Ulster GP. Would that have been on this, or a variation? I don’t even know the date of this picture..any ideas?
I remember when I saw David Holder some years ago, the conversation strayed briefly to racing and he said that his dad had told him never to get involved with it, essentially because it was a great way to spend money.
Hi Richard, this photo was probably taken in the late sixties, Matt Holder had already tried to modernise the Scott by developing the Swift in the late 1950s, this had flat top pistons schnurle loop porting twin carburettors and stronger cranks, but it suffered from being overweight only three speed still fitted with a pilgrim pump and only 500cc and lost its bottom end power. The 350 air cooled racer was a stepping stone to develope a new Scott 500cc road bike, this would have a 4 bearing crankcase, 4 or 5 speed Albion gearbox/ clutch, run on petroil, twin contacts, new frame, probably Norton roadholder forks as these had been fitted to the Swift, and as far as I am aware would use up stocks of Swift barrels heads and pistons. As we all know this bike never went into production but obviously a prototype was available for Barry Scully to play with, I don`t know if Brian Wooley had any input with this machine. In the Holder`s stock of Scott items there must be various parts for the new 500, as I mentioned before I know that dozens of frames were made, maybe everything has been scrapped!
I was at the 1965(?) MPG and was excited to a Scott racer entered in the 350cc race. I think Barry Scully retired with electric problems whilst amongst the top 10. I remember the noise coming down to the Creg! Always wondered what happened Barry?
Good to see this picture, there has been a lot of wrong information in the past over Matt Holders developement of the 350cc Scott racer, he only chose this engine size as it was the least competitive class, the outcome of this experience was to develope a 4 bearing crankcase/gearbox combination for a new 500cc Scott using up his stock of Swift barrels/ heads/ pistons etc.
There was never going to be a new 350 Scott. I had a conversation with Ted Murphy back in the 1960s he told me that Matt Holder had just received a large batch of the new 500 frames but they were stored outside going rusty.
The photo shows one of the prototypes , the problem was that at that time nobody wanted a 500cc motor bike everyone wanted 650/750cc. the output was restricted by the tiny transfer ports which had to fit into the overall width of the swift barrel and limited the piston size to 500cc.
Alan, I’m delighted that you could shed some light on it, but I’m confused as to what I am looking at.
Are you saying that this has a different crankcase and four bearing cranks with developed barrels etc? I was struggling to imagine how it could have a drive off the LH crank unless something fundamental was different. There’s a limit to what a button on the end of the big end screw can drive!
So, was this actually a Birmingham Scott factory developed racer with Barry Scully its rider or was this driven by Barry.
When I looked him up online, he comes up on the Moto GP site as having had an entry in the 500cc 1969 Ulster GP. Would that have been on this, or a variation? I don’t even know the date of this picture..any ideas?
I remember when I saw David Holder some years ago, the conversation strayed briefly to racing and he said that his dad had told him never to get involved with it, essentially because it was a great way to spend money.
Hi Richard, this photo was probably taken in the late sixties, Matt Holder had already tried to modernise the Scott by developing the Swift in the late 1950s, this had flat top pistons schnurle loop porting twin carburettors and stronger cranks, but it suffered from being overweight only three speed still fitted with a pilgrim pump and only 500cc and lost its bottom end power. The 350 air cooled racer was a stepping stone to develope a new Scott 500cc road bike, this would have a 4 bearing crankcase, 4 or 5 speed Albion gearbox/ clutch, run on petroil, twin contacts, new frame, probably Norton roadholder forks as these had been fitted to the Swift, and as far as I am aware would use up stocks of Swift barrels heads and pistons. As we all know this bike never went into production but obviously a prototype was available for Barry Scully to play with, I don`t know if Brian Wooley had any input with this machine. In the Holder`s stock of Scott items there must be various parts for the new 500, as I mentioned before I know that dozens of frames were made, maybe everything has been scrapped!
I was at the 1965(?) MPG and was excited to a Scott racer entered in the 350cc race. I think Barry Scully retired with electric problems whilst amongst the top 10. I remember the noise coming down to the Creg! Always wondered what happened Barry?