Looking at the information on the net about the Minnesotan owner of today’s featured Riley Menasco Pirate one might concluded he was a polymath in the making given that Dr Robin Tuluie is credited with a Doctorate in Astrophysics, he has risen from a position with Polaris Snowmobiles to head the Renault Formula One Research and Development department and more recently has been appointed the Chief Scientist at the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 team.

Along the way Rob, as he apparently prefers to be known, has built a highly acclaimed Tularis motor cycle powered by a 183 hp two stroke Polaris snowmobile motor and the 1929 Riley seen here which is powered by an aircooled 5.9 litre / 363 cui 4 cylinder aeroplane engine built in Burbank, California.

Like the Riley the Menasco Pirate is of inter war vintage and was used to power training and sports aircraft of the day that included the Great Lakes 2T-1MS, Ryan ST, Stearman-Hammond Y-1, VEF I-17 and Willoughby Delta 8.

From the official records it would appear the vehicle was registered for the road in this configuration in August 2010 several weeks before these photographs, with the good Doctor at the wheel, were taken at the VSCC Loton Park meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “VSCC Science” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at five more classic moments from the Silverstone Classic meetings over the years. Don’t forget to come back now !