TT races: Rare motorcycle from 1913 to go on display in new gallery

Billy Jones rode the bike in the 1914 Junior TT

A rare pre-World War One motorcycle ridden by a "true pioneer" in the 1914 TT races is to go on display in a special gallery.

Built in 1913, the 350cc AJS was ridden to fourth place in the Junior TT by Billy Jones.

Manx National Heritage said the vintage machine "captures the spirit of that era perfectly".

The bike, currently stored in the UK, is on permanent loan from the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust.

The motorcycle was built in 1913

The motorcycle is one of "only a handful" left from the period, curators said.

Social history curator Matthew Richardson said the era was "one of the most interesting in the island's motorsport history".

He continued: "Riders were true pioneers, with no real protective equipment, primitive brakes and riding on roads consisting in many places of little more than loose gravel or rutted cart tracks.

"This 1913 AJS captures the spirit of that era perfectly."

The bike, which has been been off the road for more than a decade, was last ridden around the TT course in a parade lap in 1959.

Built by British manufacturer A J Stevens & Co of Wolverhampton, it was fitted with a "saddle" oil tank to allow more room for fuel in the petrol tank and could reach speeds of up to 70mph (113 km/h).

It was one of five AJS machines to be raced in the 1914 Junior TT but is thought to be the only model to have survived.

Although it remained in private ownership, it has previously been displayed in the Montagu Motor Museum and Stanford Hall Motorcycle Museum.

A spokesman for the trust said the "unique" machine would "now return to its spiritual home".

The new TT gallery is due to open at the Manx Museum in Douglas next year.