A day at the races... (UPDATE; single cylinder ?)

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Another photo of the 'Thousand' family album of which we learned through the yes/not 1906 perhaps-no-GP-Mercedes (...check). Not too many questions about this photo. Granddaughter T.L. Thousand writes:"The six-strong line of Indian motorbikes all appear to be of 1915-1916 vintage, which gives credence to dating the photo nearer to 1916 than 1919. My grandfather -- 2nd from the left with no hat, one broken nose and a scar-covered body -- sits astride a modified 1916 single-cylinder Hendee F-head, Model H carburetor (I believe it to be a 2-stroke and probably either a 4hp or 33ci). His modification relocated the gas tank from the right-side rear to the top of the cross-bar, removed the rear-wheel carrier and boasted a right-side perpendicular exhaust. I am guessing that the headlamp mounted on his handlebars means his 'motorrad' saw some civilian street action, too! (editor: what is the last time you heard a girl talk about motorbikes in this way...?) One point of interest: The lone ranger of aerodynamics (the 3rd rider from the right) is the only competitor to have angled his grips downward, forcing his body into a more streamlined position. Juxtaposed against the more formal posture of my grandfather and the gentleman in between them, one really gets a foreshadowing of future things to come -- technologically and competitively speaking!....
UPDATE by Mark Dawber: "The bike in question looks like a regular F-head twin cylinder (four stroke of course) model to me although with the modified exhaust as mentioned. The single cylinder Indians of that era used the rear cylinder of the two only (so it sloped backwards). I would have to check but I think the singles may have been no longer in production. The F-head models were replaced by side valve engined models about 1916. More than one of the bikes in the pic has an extra tank on the top of the main tank. Maybe it is an auxiliary fuel tank to give a greater range for a long race. The original tanks on all of those early machines was usually quite small - usually less than 10 litres. Alternatively they may have mounted the oil tank up on top to allow gravity feeding of oil to the engine to save having to manually pump it up during the race?? Then again maybe it is the toolbox that has been mounted on top? " (next page the rest of the original article)

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