Vitesse with finesse

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An exhaustive search led to the resurrection of an incredibly rare, but quite fabulous, model.

Vitesse with finesse
Though it has taken an awful lot of hard work and effort to construct, Gernot isn’t afraid to use his Super Vitesse.
Gernot Schuh is nuts about New Hudson.

The 45-year-old Austrian bought the first of his Birmingham-built bikes 16 years ago.

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That was a 500cc OHV single, one of the 1927 models that had benefited from the development work of famous engine designer, tuner and record breaker Bert Le Vack. And he also has a 1925 oily rag 500cc side-valver in Brooklands trim that he enjoys thrashing on tracks such as Varano, Hockenheim and Schotten.

But then he heard about the Super-Vitesse. “As soon as I saw a picture of this model and read about the engine I thought to myself that it must be something very special,” says Gernot.

“Unlike any other New Hudson it has two separate camshafts instead of the usual single camshaft with two lobes. The Super-Vitesse looked like a TT racer, and that is the sort of motorcycle I really like. But it was only made for one year, and there was no trace of any survivors.”

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