A Rare 1967 Triumph Bonneville TT Special – The Steeplechase Racer

The Triumph Bonneville TT Distinctive is just one of the rarest of the Triumph specials from the 1960s. It was developed exclusively for the US market, to be utilised for competing in TT Steeplechase competitors – comparable to flat observe however every single program experienced at least one particular ideal hand corner and a leap.

If you preferred to get a TT Distinctive again in the ’60s you would have to have to method possibly the Triumph Company “TriCor” dealers on the East Coast and Johnson Motors “JoMo” sellers on the West coastline. Quantities have been extremely limited, with just a several hundred generated in complete in between 1963 and 1967.

Quick Info – Triumph Bonneville TT Unique

The Triumph Bonneville TT Exclusive was unveiled in 1963 and sold till 1967 as a motorsport specific intended to race in the wildly preferred TT Steeplechase gatherings held at quite a few flat keep track of circuits around the state.
Every single of the very first TT Specials have been fitted with 12:1 compression ratio pistons, open up exhaust pipes, an ET ignition, larger sized 1 3/16” carburetors, a 17T gearbox sprocket, and a tachometer, with no headlight or lights, and no speedometer.
The specification did transform over the minimal-volume output operate, the compression ratio was minimized to 11:1 for illustration, some ended up equipped with a 19T gearbox sprocket, and there ended up some other small dissimilarities.
The surviving examples of the Triumph Bonneville TT Unique are now hugely collectible having said that there aren’t all that a lot of remaining – many lived difficult lives on race tracks in the 1960s and had been later scrapped.

The Triumph Bonneville

The Triumph Bonneville was produced in 1959 and in the several years because it’s been recognized as one particular of the most vital motorcycles from the mid-20th century.

The Triumph Bonneville TT Particular was stripped again of all superfluous sections including lights, mirrors, exhaust silencers, and even the speedometer – all to preserve bodyweight.

The title “Bonneville” is a reference to the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Triumph chose the name to rejoice the achievements of American land-speed racer Johnny Allen who experienced set a new two-way regular velocity history of 193.3 mph (311 km/h) at Bonneville in late 1955, with his really modified Triumph-run streamliner.

The Bonneville was the leading-of-the-line Triumph motorcycle at the time of its release, able of 115 mph (185 km/h) in manufacturing facility inventory trim – a blistering pace for the period.

Afterwards in 1962 a specially modified Bonneville gained the Thruxton 500 mile stamina race, and Bonnevilles won the Creation Isle of Person TT in 1967 and 1969 – in 1969 Malcolm Uphill averaged 100 mph (160 km/h) close to the Mountain Training course on his Bonneville.

So beloved is the Bonneville identify that Triumph has now produced the design around 3 unique generations in between 1959 and 2016, with creation continuing nowadays in 2022 with the most current 1200cc variation.

The Triumph Bonneville TT Exclusive

The Triumph Bonneville TT Special was a pretty minimal edition manufacturing motorcycle particularly for TT Steeplechase racing. Reality be informed it was additional of a factory-developed racing prototype, pretty several ended up designed but they did see important race track achievement.

To construct a TT Particular a typical Bonneville would have its headlight and other lights taken out, the speedometer was in the same way not needed, a set of open exhausts had been fitted, together with 12:1 compression ratio pistons and greater 1 3/16” carburetors.

The TT Distinctive was equipped with a substantial-effectiveness racing model of the Bonneville motor. They experienced possibly 12:1 or 11:1 compression ratio pistons, greater carburetors, and open pipes fitted.

The specification did improve above time, and there’s no organization settlement from anyone on what the exact specs for every single 12 months was, having said that it’s acknowledged that the compression ratio was reduced to 11:1 following 1963.

Together with their “Desert Sled” California off-highway racing cousins, specifically the Triumph TR6C, the TT Special now occupies a specific spot in the background of American motorcycle racing from the 1960s.

The 1967 Triumph Bonneville TT Particular Demonstrated In this article

The motorbike you see in this article is a 1967 Triumph Bonneville TT Special, this was the last year of output for the reduced-quantity product.

This bicycle has a two-tone fuel tank and it continues to be in remarkably authentic situation throughout, such as its matching-quantities engine and transmission.

It’s staying auctioned stay on the internet by RM Sotheby’s with a value manual of $10,000 – $12,000 USD. If you’d like to examine additional about it or sign up to bid you can visit the listing below.

Photographs courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

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