If you’ve ever been to a motorcycle museum and looked at land speed records in our history books, odds are you flipped past a Vincent bike – and with good reason. The brand played a huge part in our evolution of speed.
Back in the day, the series A made headlines by doubling up on cylinders, showing off twice the usual displacement and an insane amount of power compared to the quality of the bike’s parts (via Ultimate Motorcycling).
As the series B evolved into series C, “Robbie Burns set a world sidecar record speed at 163.06 mph, and Russell Wright pushed the solo record to 185.15 mph,” cementing the company’s reputation in our Powersports industry until the brand closed down due to high prices and low sales in 1956.
Today, a 1951 Vincent Black Lightning can go for just under a million dollars; we know this because someone bought one for $929,000 USD at a Bonhams auction in 2018, creating a new world record for the “highest price paid for a motorcycle ever.”
Suffice it to say Vincent’s heady genetics are only appreciating in value, and now we’ve got a documentary to talk about it… with acoustics courtesy of Ewan MacGregor, no less.
Coverage from RideApart tells us that the documentary – written and directed by David Lancaster – focuses on “the makers of the world’s fastest motorcycles” by way of screen time with Vincent’s grandson, Philip Vincent-Day, as well as star appearances from the likes of Jay Leno, Paul Simonon, John Surtees, and Marty Dickerson.
The best part of this, though, for me, is that this documentary has “previously undiscovered archival footage of Philip Vincent himself,” showcasing a rare gem in the whopping ten years’ worth of work that it took to punt this documentary out.
Expect to see Lightbulb Film Distribution in charge of the film in the UK and Ireland, while American markets will be the responsibility of Virgil Films.
The documentary has been out for two days now, so get a gander and let us know what you think!