Q-ships were, as this Wikipedia article indicates, heavily armed merchant ships that were disguised as unarmed ships with the intent of attracting German submarines and surface raiders and luring them close enough so that the merchant ship could use its armaments to destroy or sink the enemy ship. Britain pioneered the practice in WWI and both Britain and the US used the practice extensively during WWII.
What does this have to do with motorcycling? Nothing, really, it just occurred to me that, with the performance of modern motorcycles being what it is, the opportunity to build a Q-BIKE and go around town destroying the pretensions of the hot car brigade and the rice boys, would be one that somebody should take.
Many years ago my wife and I were travelling on the King’s Highway between Canberra and Batemans Bay. Not far out of Nelligen there is a long downhill stretch followed by a steep climb back up out of the valley. The RTA had recently created an overtaking lane there and I was looking for the oppotunity to dispose of a slow-moving car and caravan combination as soon as the lane opened up.
This I did, but was stunned to see that an old-looking orange-coloured VW kombi van had followed me out into the fast lane and was breathing on my back bumper. Now this just wasn’t right, as kombi vans of that vintage usually ran out of puff pretty quickly on level ground and failed totally to perform when any sort of hill was involved. Yet here was this orange van crowding me in the fast lane.
I moved into the left hand lane and the kombi blasted on by and promptly disappeared, leaving a stunned driver and passenger in its wake wondering what the hell had just happened. All that was left was the smell of burnt fuel and the memory of a most un-VW-like exhaust note.
Oh well, chalk it up to experience I guess. It wasn’t until a number of years later that the matter surfaced again in a most unusual way. Browsing a copy of the “Unique Cars” magazine I came upon an advertisement for a VW kombi van. It was orange and that sparked the memory. What followed was at once a revelation and an explanation. The ad went to say that the van had been extensively modified with better wheels, suspension, etc, and that it boasted a Holden 253ci V8 engine mounted in front of the rear axle, driving through a modified Porsche gearbox and final drive.
The light bulb went, “DING” and I suddenly realised that this was the very same vehicle that had dispatched us to the weeds on the King’s Highway a few years before. No wonder he seemed to have a surfeit of un-VW-like power.
So, if you were going to make a Q-bike, how would you go about it? I know that any standard bike above about 500cc will easily deal with the fastest car in a one-on-one streetfight, but wouldn’ t it be fun to build something that the boys DIDN’T expect, and go out on it and blow their doors in?
Answers, as Bazza used to say, on a postcared, please.
sanoptic says
Hi,
I think it would be fun to supercharge a scooter [ if that is even possible] & beat the rice crackers off the line at the lights,only to the speed limit ofcoarse & see the look on their faces.
More seriously though i have known guys with standard looking & sounding bikes but with mega dollar parts inside the engine cases.
They would come down to the local dragway [the long gone Castlereagh Dragway] & blow off all the guys with their loud 4 into 1’s.
The same guys could never figure out how a ‘Stock’ kawasaki could so easily beat them.
cheers
admin says
In 1978 “The Syndicate” Kawasaki that used to be ridden by “AJ” Johnson, was dyno’ed at Peter Van Muir’s shop at 169bhp at the back wheel!!
sanoptic says
Yes i remember that bike,they say it was a bit [understatment] hard to ride ,wonder why …LOL.
I always followed Ross Hannen’s Kawasaki’s ridden by Graham Grosby ,Ross’s brother Ralph used to tune my Z1 back in the day at his Newtown workshop.
cheers
admin says
I have a couple of pictures of that bike, I’ll dig them up and publish them tomorrow.