JACK VALENTINE

A life of fast engines

WHERE IT STARTED

When Jack and his mate Steve Mellor decided to take the plunge into full-time tuning, they set up a workshop in an old mill near their home town of Rochdale. It burned down in 1998 when the dyno caught fire.

MULTIPLE CHAMP

Because of his tuning prowess, it’s easy to forget how good a drag racer Jack was. He won ten national and three European drag racing championship titles over seven years – all on V&M Racing machines, naturally.

MAGAZINE WORK

As Jack and Steve’s fame spread, V&M were featured in dozens of magazines in the ’80s and ’90s. Several of their engines starred in machines featured in Performance Bikes – the one above is the infamous ‘Mission Improbable’.

INTO ROAD RACING

In 1990 Jack retired from drag racing and V&M moved into the world of road racing. They made an immediate impact and were soon tuning bikes for Mick Grant’s Durex Suzuki team, James Whitham (above) and Carl Fogarty.

THE HONDA YEARS

In 1994 V&M became a race team, and were just pipped to the British Supersport Championship. Honda UK were impressed, and asked V&M to run their race teams. Above, Joey Dunlop awaits the start of the Junior TT in 1995.

SUCCESS CONTINUES

This is Michael Rutter on his V&M RC45 in 1997. The highlight of that year was Rutter’s extraordinary ride as a wildcard in World Superbikes at Brands Hatch – he came third, despite using the unfavoured Michelin tyres.

STILL RACING

Jack has managed numerous race teams in British and World Superbikes, and is still hard at work. He currently runs the Quattro Plant Kawasaki outfit in BSB and signed Motogp rider Hector Barbera (above) earlier in 2019.