Store cupboard special

While James had initially had thoughts of the tank being painted in a bright and vibrant red, he’d finally decided on a more contemporary, and classic, black with gold detailing. And it was up to the team at Vale Paints to deliver the goods, once the tank was levered off the shelf in James’s office and sent to Nottinghamshire.

When it came under James’s ownership, the tank had a BT yellow pinstripe around its perimeter, and the faded TT Winner transfers on each flank too, and the idea was to replicate the style (albeit without any BT sponsorship) with a Velocette logo. But, of course, initially it had to be stripped and checked over to ensure its integrity so that it wouldn’t either be filling up the carb with detritus or splitting