1965 500cc DMW Typhoon
July 9th, 2008
Complete refurbishment of another rare, but very different, 500cc racing machine has recently been completed.
It is believed that only two examples of the DMW Typhoon were made. The tiny factory at Sedgley in the Black Country unveiled the purposeful-looking two-stroke twin in 1965, claiming that it produced 60bhp. It proposed to build a batch of 50, filling the gap left by the end of Manx Norton and Matchless G50 production in 1963.
The first version, track tested by Bill Smith and Jack Findlay, had two 250cc Villiers Starmaker engines coupled side-by-side, while this later Brighton Show model has Royal Enfield GP5 heads and barrels on Alpha bottom-ends. The crankshafts are linked by a DMW-designed central coupling with gears driving an Albion five-speed gearbox via a countershaft.
Oil sealing problems and vibration at the coupling caused the project to be abandoned. Race fans hoping to see a competitive British 500cc machine take to the tracks were disappointed.
DMW, a small Black Country factory, unveiled its 500cc Typhoon racer in 1965 and proposed building a batch of 50. The two-stroke twin was claimed to produce 60bhp which was an improvement of 20 per cent over the Manx Norton and Matchless G50 production racers that had been phased out three years earlier.
There were two prototypes. One, track tested by Bill Smith and Jack Findlay, had two coupled 250cc Villiers Starmaker engines while this example displayed at the 1965 Brighton Show has Royal Enfield GP5 heads and barrels on a pair Alpha bottom-ends. DMW devised a flexible coupling for the crankshafts, with gear drive to the Albion five-speed gearbox via a countershaft. Oil seal problems and severe vibration blamed on the coupling caused the project to be abandoned.
Fire damaged in 2003, this machine has been fully restored and now has internals that were missing for many years. The lost Oldani front brake has been replaced by a similar Grimeca drum.
