During the 1950’s the prestigious Daytona 200 race was run partly on asphalt and partly on the beach until it was moved to a paved closed circuit in 1961. Like all British manufactures BSA were keen to boost their export sales to the lucrative USA market and so set their sights on winning Daytona.
A team of works prepared 500cc single cylinder Gold Stars and twin cylinder 500cc A7 Shooting Stars entered the race in 1954, with a Shooting Star winning and a Gold Star taking 3rd place. As a result a replica of the works Gold Star was offered to the public. The specification included a rigid frame, which saved about 50lbs over the swinging-arm model and engine modifications included using a 350cc head which had a better downdraught angle, machined to 500cc dimensions and fitted with a large inlet valve, producing aprox 44bhp.
About 300 Daytona Gold Stars were built in the next few years with a swinging arm version known by the factory as “USA Short Circuit” being available in 1956 and 1957.
This genuine and very rare example of a rigid frame Daytona has resided in a collection for the last few years and is in excellent all round condition, having been started regularly it remains in good mechanical order and has just had a check over in our own workshop.
