AT LUNCH WITH...

Peter Collins, speedway star of the ’70s and modest living legend

Aged eight, Peter rides his James 98 around the family farm in Partington

Though no one knew it at the time, something astonishing was happening in a few fields outside Manchester in the early 1960s. There, a young Peter Collins, his four brothers and some mates from the local village were learning to ride motorcycles. Every spare hour was spent sliding a motley collection of adapted road bikes round home-made courses set out around Peter’s dad’s farm. It turned out to be a springboard for talent like few others in motorcycle history – in 1984, for example, four out of five of the England speedway team which came second in that year’s World Team Cup started riding on those DIY ovals near the Manchester Ship Canal.

“It was like a speedway farm,” says Peter, the most successful of the gang, with 10 world championship wins. “Loads of my mates used to keep bikes at the farm and ride round the fields with me and my brothers.” Plenty of them became professional speedway riders: “Chris Morton won the world pairs in 1984, his brother Dave was the number one rider at Hackney, Dave Trownson rode for Wolverhampton, Andy Reed rode for Crewe and Scunthorpe, Steve Mcdermot won the national league grand final in 1983...” And then there were Peter’s younger brothers. Les was the British Under-21 Champion in 1977 and came second