Brough Superior Austin Four - Development

Development

The star of the 1931 Olympia Motorcycle Show was an Austin-engined four-cylinder motorcycle with twin rear wheels, from George Brough's Nottingham workshops. At the time, a standard 747 cc Austin engine could be bought from a scrapyard for about £1. Brough went to the trouble of making the engines special by increasing their capacity by an extra 50 cc to 797 cc and by adding a well-engineered light alloy cylinder head. He claimed a significant increase in power output, but, as The Motor Cycle magazine observed in a review at the time, it was really built for comfort rather than speed. Power output was actually quite low, and the performance was inhibited by the use of standard Austin rear-axle ratios. The brisk acceleration with a heavy sidecar fitted would, however, more than compensate for lack of top speed.

On sale from March 1932, the Brough Superior Four had been in development for 18 months and brought much needed publicity to the Brough works. Despite the interest, however, only eight examples were actually built. Initially designed for use with a sidecar, the Austin engine was from a well-proven Austin 7 design, which was a side-valve with a low-pressure oiling system. George Brough chose to use also the standard Austin 7 three-speed gearbox, complete with reverse, driving a prop shaft to a crown wheel and pinion mounted in a specially cast housing. The twin rear wheels would possibly have been expected to make it difficult to handle, but Hubert Chantrey successfully completed the Land's End Trail on a solo version. Chantry pointed out that it really was a luxury motorcycle, as it had cost George Brough over £1,000 to develop (which equates to over £50,000 today.) The Brough Superior Four was actually sold for £188 - cheaper than the Brough Superior SS100.

Engine cooling was achieved with a pair of purpose-built radiators fixed either side of the front frame downtube. The Austin Four's greatest success was the publicity generated by the introduction and imaginative marketing of such an unusual motorcycle. Brough Superior was the only UK manufacturer to offer a four-cylinder motorcycle in the 1920s and 30s.

While the Great Depression of the 1930s must have reduced the demand for luxury motorcycles, it should also be noted that in 1932 it was possible to buy an Austin 7 car for £72 less than the Brough Superior Austin Four - and that may be what many potential customers chose to do.