The Vincent Nero Special is a 1950s record‑smashing daemon

Made famous by a certain George Brown – holder of 30 national and world speed records over the course of his career – the Nero was, and is, one of Britain’s most important pieces of machinery when it comes to record-breaking engineering. Not least for its spell-binding performance at the hands of George along Brighton’s seafront in 1958, when the diminutive Nero covered the standing kilometre in 19.29 seconds, with a terminal speed of 186mph. It was an accomplishment and a speed record which would make the Nero and George Brown the fastest things on two wheels the world had ever seen.

Built from the charred and burnt-out remains of a Rapide, which cost George all of £5, the Nero is a true work of hand-built, garage engineering brilliance. It’s this DIY charm which makes the record breakers of old all the more fascinating and endearing.

As we walked around the bike, we were joined by a fellow admirer, and the man lucky enough to be taking it up the Goodwood Hill at FOS.

“It's a wonderful machine.” Say Chris Illman with a look of pride in his eyes. “I’ve had a long relationship with the National Motorcycle Museum, and they graciously allow me to take some of their bikes out from time to time. Recently I've been riding Nero.”

“It was developed over a very long period of time, between him and his brother, Cliff Brown. Cliff was a clever engineer. They just kept perfecting it and making it go quicker and quicker. Basically, the frame is home-made, whilst the front wheel and fork are from an AJS Porcupine.”

For a machine built for speed, Chris is quick to point out how well the bike handles too, which when you look at it, is hard to believe. The swept-back handlebars and grips are so narrow, it looks by eye like it would be twitchy and unpredictable. Not so.

“It handles beautifully. It is so balanced. I suspect you could ride it hands off. Not that I'd ever try!”

But back to the speed. We were, after all, celebrating Speed Kings. Powered by a Vincent HRD-Brown, two-cylinder V, four-stroke with a displacement of 986cc the Nero is no slouch, even by today’s standards. And Chris is emphatic when talking about the pure brute grunt of it.

“The power spread is unbelievable. From very low revs it just pulls and pulls and pulls. You can run 12-second quarter miles with half throttle doing 100mph+ without even trying. 4 gears and a lovely gearbox, too. It's just right. You really can't say any more than that. It's just right.”

Finished in bare metal which glistens and accentuates every little ding, dent and bang on the machine, the Nero looks more like a piece of industrial art sculpture in its naked hillclimb specification. Once the famous fairing goes on, the Nero looks much more like a traditional record-breaking land speed bike.

“We've got the fairing here too, so on Saturday, we'll fit it and take it up the Hill with the fairing. Before that, we are running it hillclimb style. It held Shelsey Walsh records in its hillclimb format, which it is in now. I'm just so privileged to have the opportunity to ride it.”

He’s not wrong. But we too are the privileged ones. Without the support and passion of the National Motorcycle Museum, this piece of British history may have ended up locked away in a private collection overseas. But thankfully, the NMM held off stiff competition from American and Japanese buyers during a Sotheby’s auction in 1993, ensuring that one of the most famous record-breakers of all-time stayed in this country. And we’re incredibly thankful they did.

Photography by Pete Summers.