80 year old motorcycle racer Ted Fenwick

I think this could possibly be some kind of record. At the recent Barry Sheene Classic Road Race Festival, held on the hillside Oliver’s Mount circuit in Scarborough, 80 year old Ted Fenwick competed in the 250cc races.

For most pensioners the most energetic or dangerous thing they would consider doing is pruning the roses, but not for Ted as he blasted his T20 Suzuki around the physically demanding, narrow, 2.4 mile parkland track, which is often likened to a mini-TT.

Ted Fenwick, a retired engineer from York, has always rated Oliver’s Mount as his favourite track and says: “I reckon I’ve got a bit of skin on every corner there except for Mere Hairpin.” He started his road racing career in 1952 at Brough airfield on a home-brewed 250cc four-valve Rudge. Throughout his extensive racing career, he has ridden all different kinds of machinery. In fact one of the first Triton’s to race in the UK was Ted’s creation, a Tiger 100 unit in a Featherbed Dominator chassis that took him to third spot at Oliver’s Mount. He said: “I had no brakes at all on the last lap and couldn’t stop at Mountside Hairpin, so I went from fifth to third!”.

He tried his hand at being a sidecar passenger for Alwyn Maltby in the early 1960’s. During this period he hit the headlines at the 1961 September International Oliver’s Mount meeting, when multi-World Champion Max Deubel’s passenger fell out of a tree in the paddock whilst collecting fire wood and badly damaged his ribs being unable to race. When the World Champ appealed for an experienced passenger, it was Ted that stepped forward. Ted says: “We won the heat and Fritz Scheidegger beat us by a wheel in the final. Being in a right-hand chair didn’t bother me, but he nearly lost me three times under braking. He paid me a fiver, I’d enjoyed myself and had a good day”.

In the late 1960’s he worked for Aston Martin at Newport Pagnell, test fitting and driving for one of the world’s leading sports car manufacturers. Whilst sidecar racing at a wet Croft circuit in 1972, he aqua-planed into a grass bank which left him with a broken femur. His unsympathetic boss at DAF trucks ensured he got no pay for three months and had to promise not to race again. With a change of job, he was racing again in 1983 making his come back at Donington Park.

During the July 1986 250cc Kenning Classic bike race, at Oliver’s Mount, he scored a second place on a five-speed Ducati. He also had the odd outing on Maxton Yamahas and delighted in showing the way home to youthful head-bangers who thought that a grey-haired old guy couldn’t be serious about riding anything less than a hundred years old.

When asked about other riders he has competed against, he speaks highly of Mike Hailwood, saying: “I had a real scrap with Hailwood at Scarborough in 1958. He was on a Mondial and the carburettor was falling off. I passed him three times on an NSU when he was having trouble but he still beat me.”

In recent years he has been a regular in the top ten in classic races at Oliver’s Mount on his T20 Suzuki and still thoroughly enjoys his racing, that’s what keeps him at it 56 years later!