Triumph engine design

[don draper <donnydogood@xxxxxxxx>]

     I would like to thank all of the listers who so kindly responded
to my request for information on Hinckley engine design.  There were
at least a dozen responses, both on- and off-list; fascinating stuff!

     I have compiled and summarized all of the replies into a fairly
concise overview which I would like to share with the rest of you, if
only because I find it far more interesting than expected.  Please
bear in mind that I have NO knowledge of any of this and NO opinion
as to it's accuracy, and there was some (but not much) disagreement
among those who responded.  Informed corrections will be welcomed!
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hinckley Triumph engine design has been the work of the engineering
firms of Ricardo, Lotus, Cosworth, Wilcox and (apparently) Ilmor.

Ricardo (with consulting input from Lotus) designed Bloor's original
Hinckley 900 triple (T-3 series), which was a nice link with the
past, since the most famous Triumph of the 1920's was the Ricardo
designed 4-valve model which, of course, is the number of valves per
cylinder in the new engines. But at least now they have put covers
over them!

Cosworth was instrumental in developing the T3 Daytona Super III with
specially cast cases, head, etc. cast by their own foundry, CosCast.

Lotus was instrumental in designing the greatly superior T5 series. 

The new Bonny is a Ricardo design again, according to the magazines.

For the TT600 there were persistent rumours about the involvement of
Ilmor (who build Mercedes F1 engines) in the UK press. 

Wilcox are, for all practical purposes, a relatively small
competition engine builder who are conveniently located on Triumph's
doorstep, where Triumph could make use of their Dyno until such time
as Triumph built their own test facility. Their contribution is best
described 
as one of assisting in development rather than design, although it 
did allow them to develop a wide range of "tuning" goodies.

  The English midlands are rich in small but world class automotive
engineering firms.  That's why nearly all F1 racing teams, and a lot
of Indy 500 teams, are based in Britain, or at least get their design
work done there.

As a result, Triumph are able to produce brilliant bike designs, over
and over again, despite being so small that Honda exceed their annual
production in a single morning!

 They can subcontract their R&D to the best engineers in the world.
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