Mark Purslow, who races a Honda K4 just like the one his dad raced
Mark Purslow lives, works and breathes classic racing – and he’s convinced he knows where he caught the bug from. But pure chance did play its part in pushing him between the hedges...
Do you believe in coincidence? There’s a strong thread of it running through Mark Purslow’s progression from hotel bar manager to artisan alloy welder – and extremely rapid racer (of the classic and modern varieties). If it hadn’t been for the vagaries of chance, I might not be standing in Mark’s spacious workshop. And 27-year-old Mark, from mid-wales, might not be so passionate about racing a bike that’s considerably older than he is. How did all that happen?
“I suppose when dad got into racing, I was always going to want to follow him,” Mark admits. “But how it all happened is strange. Dad had been rallying before he raced bikes. I think he thought bikes might be a bit cheaper. He got into classics because those were the bikes he knew – and he started competing on a Honda K4 because they were an affordable and competitive mount for the 350 class. At that time, he didn’t even know who Terry Baker was and his race bike still had its standard Honda frame.”
But, as Mark’s dad Colin got more competitive, he soon realised the shortcomings of the chassis. “I’ve never raced a stock-framed K4,” Mark explains. “But everyone who has, reckons they flex a bit. Once you’ve picked a cornering line, you’re committed. Anyway, one evening dad called into the local pub with his mate after a pretty unsuccessful day’s racing. Dad was talking about his bike’s handling problems and it turned out the only other person in the bar was Terry Baker [renowned racer and TAB frame maker, see p58]. Terry overheard the conversation, came over and introduced himself, and before dad knew it he’d offered to build a frame for the K4.”
Terry had stopped building frames by then, but he was fired up to help his new friend – and Colin would stop by and help work on the project after work. With the TAB frame, his fortunes on track picked up and he enjoyed several competitive seasons on the bike before selling it to a guy in Scotland in about 2003. By then, he’d got into the Ducati singles he still races today and the demands of work and building a new family home were starting to impinge on racing.
“I remember dad racing when I was really young,” Mark recalls. “Probably when I was only about four. Then he stopped for a while when he was building our house, but he started again when I was around eight. I loved going to races with him and I started racing myself when I was 15 on dad’s Honda CBR400. That was a fairly old bike then and I’ve just got into older and older bikes since.”
After taking a couple of years off when he was 19 and 20 (“girls, going out drinking – you know...”), 2013 was to become a significant year for Mark. “Dad rode in the Classic TT in 2013 and I went out to help him like I had done since 2010,” he says. “The trouble was, my bosses at the hotel where I worked weren’t keen on giving me the time off... but I quit the job and went anyway.” Not only did that trip leave Mark without a job, it also left him with a burning desire to race in the Isle of Man himself.
“A little while after we got back, dad went to TAB for a couple of Ducati tanks and asked if they had any jobs going,” says Mark. “Richard and Ailene (Terry’s daughter), who had carried on the business after Terry died, were looking for someone to help out – and I was in the right place at the right time. Another slice of luck, I suppose. With the help of a grant from the Welsh Government, I started off by cutting out sheet metal panels to the patterns and learning to weld. I haven’t looked back.”
Mark hasn’t looked back in his racing career since then, either. With enthusiastic and supportive employers behind him, he entered the Manx GP in 2015. On his dad’s ‘old’ CBR400, Mark won the lightweight race at his first attempt. It was a stunning debut and one that was to pave the way for further visits to the Mountain Circuit
‘WE BUILT A BIKE AROUND A TAB 350 FRAME DAD BOUGHT, SO I’VE ENDED UP RIDING THE SAME BIKE HE STARTED RACING ON’
– and an enduring enthusiasm for ‘real’ road racing. And the following year, another coincidence was about to tip him towards classic racing. “Dad had gone up to Burgess Frames for something,” Mark explains. “While he was there, he spotted a TAB CB350 frame and asked what they were doing with it. Tony Burgess said it was for sale and dad bought it on the spot. He bought it for old time’s sake, really – but when he got it home, we decided to build a bike round it for me to race classics. That’s how I’ve ended up riding the same bike that my dad started racing on. I rode it in the Classic TT that year, but fell off at the Gooseneck while I was lying eighth. I might have come off, but I’ve been really into the classics since then.”
The following year (2017) Mark combined modern and classic racing. At the Classic TT, he was running well up the field when a footrest fell off coming into Ramsey. In 2018, he built a spare engine for the TAB Honda, but recorded another DNF in the Classic TT. But, never discouraged, Mark bought a classic CB500 racer – a rolling chassis and a stock engine – and started to build a competitive racer for the 500 class over the winter.
“I picked up a race engine for it,” he recalls. “It was supposed to be race-ready, but when we got it fired up for the first time in January 2019 it smoked, had low compression and only just ran really. Dad and I rebuilt it ourselves. The Nikasil liners hadn’t been fitted properly, the head gaskets wouldn’t seal and it was missing a ring on one cylinder. It wasn’t ready for the PRE-TT classic meeting, but I took it to the Classic TT. I finally got a finish in the Lightweight class (in 14th) on the CB350, but a coil bracket broke on the 500. I was unsure about the gearing I was running on the K4 in practice and changed it for the race. I got it wrong and was under-geared. Hopefully, I’ll be back this year with both the bikes, hoping for two good finishes.”
In between Classic TTS, Mark keeps his hand in with a few short circuit meetings – and as many road circuit races as he can – but he admits it’s the roads that really interest him. “I ride at Aberdare Park, and Armoy [Northern Ireland]. I ride the short circuits to keep me sharp, but the roads are what I love. The road focuses your mind.”
And it’s the same with classic and modern bikes. Since he rode that first Classic TT on the CB350, Mark’s been getting deeper and deeper into the classic scene. “When you’re preparing a modern race bike, just about every part has to be the same as everybody else’s to be competitive,” he reckons. “With classics you can do your own thing more. They’re more fun to ride, too. They have less power, so you have to carry more corner speed. They’re harder to ride – but more rewarding. My 350 probably tops out around 130mph on Isle of Man gearing, so to get somewhere near a 100mph lap you have to maintain momentum and corner speed at all costs. I definitely prefer classics now. They have character and, over time, they grow on you. And the sound – there’s no comparison.”
As for riding on the road, though, Mark isn’t quite so sure. “I did have a Kawasaki 600 for a while,” he smiles. “But I ended up getting banned for two months. Then I built a café racer based on a Yamaha SR500. I ride it occasionally, but I never seem to have the time. Dad and I try to do as much of our race prep and bike building ourselves. I get in from work, have a work-out (Mark has a home gym in a room off the workshop) and spend the rest of the evening in the workshop. At the weekends, I’m racing or back in the workshop. I don’t mind, because I love working on the bikes, but it does mean I have no time for a social life – or even a girlfriend. And most of my cash goes on racing, too. We’re having a couple of cams made by Newman Cams and that’ll be about £1000. Racing just isn’t cheap – though classics aren’t as bad as modern bikes.”
It must be worth it, though. Listening to Mark talk about racing in his beloved Isle of Man, I can see the passion in his eyes. He’s a racer – and he’s into his classics for the long haul. “I love it,” he says simply. “I want to keep going for as long as my dad – it’s his fault. I hope to still be racing in the Island when I’m his age. Why not?”
Why not indeed? Mark lives, works and breathes classic racing. He races what he loves on the circuits he loves. He’s quick, talented and dedicated – a fine recipe for a memorable classic racing career.
• Mark will be in action on his TAB Honda this season at: Mallory Park CRMC (May 9/10); Tonfanau, Gwynedd (May 24): Billown Circuit, Isle of Man PRE-TT meeting (May 29-June 1); Tonfanau, Gwynedd (July 5); Aberdare Park, Mid-glamorgan (July 18/19); Armoy, Co Antrim (July 24/25); IOM Classic TT (Aug 22-31).