My £29 TT racer
Having proclaimed he was giving up racing at the TT, Pete Boast has reneged and is already spannering together 2020’s competition machinery. And he’s a bit excited…
After the Classic TT in 2018 I said I was done with road racing. I even wrote in Bike that I’d raced at the Isle of Man for the last time, but I just didn’t realise how much I was going to miss it. I enjoyed the classic endurance racing that we did in 2019, and we’ll race at Spa again next year on the Lincolnshire Classic Suzuki GSX-R750, but I’m afraid that it’s no substitute for the buzz of the roads. So I’m going back to do the Classic again in August. I know, I know, but what can you do?
We’ll take the three bikes that I raced in 2018, Ken Rutter’s 350 Honda for the Junior, D&M Engineering’s 500 Honda for the Senior and my Kawasaki GPZ600 for the Lightweight. Now that I haven’t raced at the TT proper for a few years I can also race a modern bike in Manx GP races later in the week too. Variety is the spice of life, and I really like the look of the Ultra Lightweight Manx GP which allows all sorts to race, so I’d like to enter that too. You can run a 125 two-stroke, a 250 Moto3 four-stroke, a super-sport 400 or four-stroke single up to 750cc. It got me thinking, and it got me looking on ebay.
I reckon a big single is the way to go, and surely something with a 70 odd bhp KTM 690 engine would be on the pace. Most of my other bikes are basically sorted, so my big project for 2020 is to build something that’s competitive for that race. Well, you’ve got to keep busy.
I’ve got started by buying a frame for £29, a swingarm with shock and linkage for £90 and an engine for £634. Though I reckon I’m going to have to spend a lot more on the rest of it. I’ll come back in a couple of months and tell you how we’re getting on.
‘I didn’t realise how much I was going to miss it…’