A Brief History of the Marque
Between 1937 and 1972 the brothers Nougier of St. Andiol in Provence hand-built innovative and quite successful DOHC racing singles, twins and fours, often utilising basic components sourced from Terrot and Magnat-Debon.
Double Overhead Cam
Many variations incuding belt, chain and bevel drive
Jean designed and built the machines, and his brother Henri proved their worth on the racetrack.
Nougier's rather beautiful Tournevis OHC models used hairpin valve springs and a slotted camshaft drive coupling (tournevis=screwdriver), a three bearing crank and a modified separate Terrot gearbox. In 1953 they built a four to challenge Gilera and MV, but lack of developmental funding was a large factor in the unsuccessful venture.
Le musée de la Motocyclette de Marseille houses a collection of Nougier motorcycles, one note stating "all motorcycles Nougier of 1936-1971". [1]
Jean's brother Henri Nougier raced a Magnat-Debon in the September 1945 GP de la Libaration in Nice, and also raced Nougier motorcycles.
Jean Nougier died in 1999 at the age of ninety.
Nougier Four Specification:
Bore and stroke 54x54mm, 496cc. Compression ratio of 10.5:1, max RPM 11,500, delivering around 47bhp. Four 28mm Dell'Orto carburettors, gear primary drive, a dry clutch, cast iron cylinders, alloy heads. Large finned sump held 1.1 litres of oil, magneto ignition. Early versions were 4 speed, later 5 speed.
Notes
1. Wikipedia and JLB Creations state that they were built from 1937 to 1972.
Sources:
Nougier 1932-1972, Le rêve français by François-Marie Dumas
Mick Walker's European Racing Motorcycles
https://www.cafe-racer.fr/nougier-une-histoire-francaise/
http://charlescamberoque.unblog.fr/2010/10/16/petite-visite-a-latelier-nougier/
