SURVIVAL OF THE Quickest

TO BE invited to ride what is almost certainly the last 100 per cent original example of the most desirable production racer ever made is an act of unfathomable generosity and implied trust on the part of its new owner Nicolas Dourassoff. So it was important I brought back the ex-Jack Ehret 1951 Vincent Black Lightning in one piece. With just 8682 kilometres on its Euro-spec 300km/h Smiths clock, almost every one of them in anger Down Under, it is living history on two wheels.

Now domiciled in France, those kilometres also include my two dozen laps at the Carole race circuit near Paris, to which Nicolas brought the battle-scarred warrior that had been recommissioned for use by Patrick Godet for me to ride on a regular track day. However, so that I could properly sample how a Black Lightning should perform without paying due deference to its age, Godet also brought along a new Black Lightning Replica which he’d just created for Englishman Peter Fox. Peter had already covered 1200 street miles on it, pronouncing it “huge fun, and incredibly impressive once you get it