"The C50RC and Editor would like to thank Real Classic for permission to use the information from their web page for this part of the page". Other additions are from the Editors Archives.
|
Born to ride a Minarelli "Scuderia Pantalone" |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Classic
Racing - Fifty at Fifty
No matter what the capacity,
you can have fun on track with all sizes of old bike. He started with a
Tiger Cub but John Lee found true happiness with a 50cc, at fifty...
'Where are you off to this
weekend? Is it old blokes on old bikes again?' This is the summer chorus from
Number Two daughter as I couple the 1971 Sprite Cadet to the rear of the
high-top Escort van. Both of these are huge sources of embarrassment to
the aforesaid sixteen year old, but the high-top means I can chuck a
bike in without removing the screen, and the caravan has a door in the
back which makes carrying a second bike a doddle - and, anyway, it is a
parent's function in life to embarrass their offspring.
|
Sprite Cadet and stable |
||||||||
| Nowadays
the racers tend to be 50cc Minarellis; much easier for a gentleman of my
advanced years to heave in and out of the race transport. 'Scuderia
Pantalone' is about to embark on yet another weekend of high-revving
short-stroke engines, tall stories and late night Old Speckled Hen
drinking. I attended
post-war motorcycle trials in my carry cot and, according to my mother,
the 'motorcycle club boys' were twisting my chubby little fist and
trying to get me to say 'Brrm brrm' before 'Dada.' I didn't quite cut my
teeth on a ball-ended lever but it wasn't far off. My dear old dad, CH
(Bon) Lee rode in trials, mountain grass tracks and park races in the
1930s, mainly on 350cc Velocettes, but for a while on an extremely
quick, home-tuned Triumph L21 which embarrassed the works Triumphs on
more than one occasion. When I
first began to ride in trials, Dad's pep talk consisted of; 'keep your
feet on the pegs son and keep it shiny side up.' Before that, when I was
puffing and blowing round the local cycle speedway track, it was;
'remember. The bloke who wins is the bloke who knows when to shut off.'
Good advice, which I regretted forgetting as I head-butted the scenery
in Aberdare Park in 2002.
|
John before the head- butting session at Aberdare Park |
||||||||
|
|
A
very shiny 125cc BSA Bantam trials bike was bought from Bruce Lewin in
Leicester. It was an ex-Ken Sedgeley scrambler and proved to be a handy
tool... but I did ride it into the canal when I couldn't lift the front
wheel over a tree root in one section. The Beeza was soon joined [In
the canal? Real Mart] by a MAC Velo road bike and later superceded
by a Model 16C AJS. If lifting the front end of the Bantam was a problem
for my seven and a half stones, then keeping the front end of the Ajay
down proved a more exciting one!
A string
of machines followed and I was not without a motorcycle from the age of
fourteen until our twin sons were about ten years old. A friend of mine
had started racing again and the boys were growing keener and keener on
bikes. She Who Must Be Obeyed expressed her concern and with traffic
conditions so changed I did not want to encourage them onto the road, so
I gave up motorcycles and the boys and I became heavily involved with
barn engines. When Number One son announced at the age of nineteen that
he was buying a road bike there was little I could do. After all he was
a man now. 'Why did I
bother to give them up?' I thought. |
||||||||
| Now,
I am very sedate on four wheels but could not make the same claim with
regard to two so I decided to follow in father's wheel tracks and opt
for racing as the safer option. Soon a little 250cc narrowcase Ducati
was tucked up, nice and cosy in the shed. The little Duke was paraded
with the CRMC and hillclimbed with the NHCA. Then in my 50th year I
began racing a Triumph Tiger Cub in the 200cc class with the CRMC. As a
second string I acquired a T200 Suzuki and Number One son's roadgoing
T200 was modified for him to parade. I have
always been fascinated by racing 50s and, as things would have it, the
Racing Fifty Enthusiasts' Club rode in the CRMC 200cc events. When the
Suzuki holed yet another piston at Pembrey, I loaded it into the van on
Saturday night and announced my intention of watching Sunday morning's
racing and then making an early start for home. Someone
said; 'I've got a spare Minarelli rolling chassis with me,' and someone
else added; 'I've got a spare Minarelli engine.' At 06.45 the next
morning we were screwing together a 50cc racer. My contribution was a
pair of exhaust springs! In the pre-practice assembly area I was told
off for revving it below 10,000rpm, and told to; 'go out and try to kill
it.' After one
practice and two races I was hooked. The grin-to-cc ratio is immense!
Now came the quandary. I wanted to race a 50 but I did not want to stop
racing the Tiger Cub and I couldn't ride them both in the same race.
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Before the
start of the 2001 season I noticed a piece in 'Classic Racer' announcing
that the Racing Fifty Enthusiasts Club (now the Classic 50cc Racing
Club, by the way), was to hold a full championship with the Preston
and District Club. I contacted the secretary, Steve Bedford, for more
details and to begin negotiations to buy his air-cooled long stroke
Minarelli as soon as I had sold my Suzuki. About a week before the first
meeting Steve phoned me. 'Are you going to Three Sisters
next week?' 'Yes but I haven't sold my Suzuki
yet so I'm just riding the Cub.' 'Never mind, you can borrow my
short-stroke Min, if you like.' Would I like? He didn't have to
ask twice! Steve was not able to make the first meeting so I took the
bike up to Wigan myself and proceeded to break the screen when I chucked
it up the road at the first corner in practice. Later in the day, when
he phoned to see how things were going, he was told the news and I could
hear him laughing down the phone from ten feet away. They're a great
crowd, these 50cc racers. Steve had not done himself any
favours. I still hadn't sold the Suzuki and once I'd ridden the
short-stroke the lustre went off the idea of buying his long-stroke. The
upshot was that Steve let me use the short-stroke all season; I gained
my national licence; I came second in the air-cooled class, third
overall and second in the Preston and District Club's 50cc championship.
Perhaps still weighing less than nine stones has its advantages after
all!
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Well if you think there is no payback in this sport, I have a bike that's sorted, which gives me great pleasure to ride and the trophies to prove it
|
|
||||||||
| 'Why Scuderia
Pantalone?' you may ask. Well. In the Commedia Del Arte Pantalone was a
comical old fool. Enough said? People To Speak To ·
The Classic Racing Motorcycle Club http://www.crmc.co.uk/
· The Classic 50 Racing Club http://classic50racingclub.co.uk
|
At the end of the 2001
season I bought a well sorted short-stroke Minarelli. What happened to
the Ducati and the Suzuki is a different story. Another trophy for the
2001 season was the 'Ouch!' award, which I picked up for falling off
more times than anyone else. Sorry Steve. The award came my way again in
2002 as a result of the 'Aberdare Tree-butting Incident', this time
falling from a modern 80. I was determined to avoid the
hat-trick and managed to keep it right side up throughout 2003. I like my classic
Minarellis. The shed is a bit cramped, cold and
leaky so if any kind soul can offer the use of a nice cosy workshop in
the Rugby / Hinckley area I should be very pleased to hear from them |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
