Release date announced - Speed Is Expensive, The Philip Vincent Story

A new documentary film charting the Vincent motorcycle brand’s highs and lows has been announced, and the first trailer for the new movie has been released.

The movie, narrated by the famous motorcycle fanatic Ewan McGregor, features some other big names from the two-wheeled world, including Jay Leno and John Surtees to name just two. Aside from the A-list stars in the film, the story is told by some of those who were there, working alongside Vincent as he built his bikes in post-war Britain. The surviving factory veterans relate how, against all the odds, motorcycles ‘built like Grand Prix machines’ were produced from a leaky factory with antiquated equipment.

Poignantly, the film features one of Surtees’ last televised interviews before his death in 2017. Here he talks about his time at the Vincent factory as an apprentice, his heroic efforts to help win speed records at Montlhéry and how his father foresaw the early demise of the company.

Speed Is Expensive trailer

The film has partly come about thanks to a chance find of some historic colour and black and white film reels, apparently found in his mother’s garage. The films, shot by Vincent himself, chart his life away from the two-wheeled world as he relaxes with family at home and on holiday.

Speed is Expensive: The Philip Vincent Story will be available to stream from 25th September 2023 on Amazon, Sky Store, Apple TV and Google Play.

Full list of contributors to Speed Is Expensive, The Philip Vincent Story

• AY LENO – TV star, Vincent owner and rider
• PAUL SIMONON of The Clash
• JOHN SURTEES – double world champion, an apprentice at Vincents, who set records with Vincent and knew him well
• MARTY DICKERSON – West Coast legend, timed at over 170mph on the bikes
• The remaining FACTORY WORKERS who built and designed Vincent motorcycles in the 1940s and 50s 
• Friends and close family of PHILIP VINCENT 

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