THE LAST WORKS SEELEY G50
That’s what Colin Seeley said when collector Robert Lusk requested an identity check after buying it. It was a real survivor – Dave Croxford’s 1971 ‘works’ Seeley G50
Ex-dave Croxford lightweight single has survived against the odds
To add to his 7R/G45/G50 full house of AMC GP racers, Robert Lusk, the collector featured in this issue, also owns the very last works Seeley G50 bearing chassis number MK4 CS EXPL 152, built in 1971. Dave Croxford raced it for CSRD/COLIN Seeley Racing Developments, with either a 500cc Seeley-built G50 motor installed, or the special 636cc 90 x 100mm long-stroke version (against 90 x 78mm) created by the firm’s engine guru Wally Rawlings (formerly Sidecar Gp-winner Colin’s race passenger)for use in the growing number of 750/1000cc events.
During its seven years of operation – during which as many as 25 employees were working at its Forge Works factory in Belvedere, Kent before the company went into liquidation late in 1972 – CSRD produced a total of 410 Seeley chassis kits. They were almost all to house G50, 7R, Bsa/triumph triple and Norton Commando engines, though there were also the famous Yamsel frames for the air-cooled Yamaha twins, the 500/750 Seeley-suzukis, including the avant-garde monocoque version, and the frames built for the Ducati factory to house its 500cc and 750cc V-twin engines. Including the handful of Condor G50 street bikes produced, Seeley also manufactured a total of 76 7R/G50 engines during that period, many of which are still being used in historic racing today.
Seeley gave the AMC engine a much stiffer chassis with 18in wheels, which carried Dave Croxford to the British 500cc title in 1968 and 1969. “My main focus was directed to saving weight, while ensuring the bike sat lower, and steered and handled properly,” said Seeley before he passed away earlier this year, aged 84. “Dave Croxford was our main rider for five years, and brought us heaps of success.
He was a super guy to go racing with, never a bad word and always tried his hardest.”
But in 1968 the Seeley 7R was coming under increased pressure for 350cc short-circuit supremacy by the lighter, nimbler, pushrod Aermacchis. So Seeley developed a lightweight Mk3 version of his frame design, this time with no front downtubes, a single-sided drum brake and narrower rims, chain and sprocket, plus as much magnesium in the engine as possible. The result weighed 259lb (117.48kg) including a full fairing – 21lb (9.53kg) less than the previous Mk2-framed bike. This was sufficient to put the Seeley 7R back in contention – though not for long, with the 350cc Yamaha two-stokes on the horizon.
In due course this Mk3 Seeley design was adapted to use with the bigger G50 motor, bringing Croxford and Seeley a repeat British 500cc title in 1969, this time riding for the Gus Kuhn dealership owned by Seeley’s friend, Vincent Davey. But Crox failed to make it three in a row in 1970, with Peter Williams winning the British 500cc crown on the skinny, light Arter G50 known as Wagonwheels, with its cast wheels and Grand Prix Metalcraft chassis.
Its design broadly followed the twin-loop duplex cradle format of Arter’s previous Reynolds-built frames, but used slightly narrower-gauge one-inch tubes rather than the 11/8in diameter tubing of the Reynolds chassis. This saved crucial weight – a vital objective for Williams, considering the reduced power of the bike’s single-cylinder motor versus the multis it raced against.
Williams’ success with the Arter G50 prompted Colin Seeley to follow the same path, by producing a lightweight Mk4 version of his frame for Croxford to ride in 1971, using the same-gauge tubing but with a thinner wall to save precious weight. Clothed in a striking bright orange, red and black colour scheme, the new bike made its debut at Good Friday’s Brands Hatch meeting and scored victory first time out in the 500cc support race to the new UK vs USA Transatlantic Trophy series – though only after a titanic battle with Charlie Sanby on the Kuhn Seeley, who passed Crox on the final lap, only for the ‘Ruislip Rebel’ to pip him on the line by half a length.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the new bike, which suffered a troubled season, with engine problems and simple bad luck restricting its success in both 500cc and 636cc form. A big end went on Easter Sunday at Mallory Park with Crox in the lead, though after a hasty engine change he finished second to Sheene’s 350 Yamaha in the BP Challenge. Third at Oulton on Easter Monday, Crox then got collected by a crashing Sanby at the May Mallory meeting, resulting in him sitting out several meetings while he recovered from injury. In October’s Race of the South at Brands Hatch on the full GP circuit, Croxford led Agostini’s MV triple for a couple of laps in the Shell 500cc International before giving best, and actually ended up fifth after being passed by Sheene’s new Seeley-framed Suzuki, Tony Jefferies’ FATH-URS four and Jim Harvey’s G50 Métisse. The times they were a-changing. One month later the lightweight Seeley G50 was sold for £750 in 500cc form to Roger Winterburn, together with the 636cc motor in another frame. Roger raced it for a couple of seasons before passing it on, and eventually it ended up in Robert Lusk’s hands in 2007, after he bought it at an H&H auction.
Robert takes up the story: “I rang Colin up and said: ‘I’ve bought one of your bikes with this frame number...’ and without even checking in his book, he said: ‘That bike’s got no right to exist!’ He couldn’t believe that it was still around, because it had been built from thin-wall Reynolds tubing, which he expected to develop stress fractures over time. He came to see it and confirmed the bike’s history.
“I then started racing it in the Classic club, and did pretty well with it, finishing top three at places like Anglesey and Brands Hatch. But then somebody protested the disc front brake, which you’re only allowed to use if the bike had it in period. I told Colin and he wrote a letter [see previous page] confirming he used it as a testbed for developing the Seeley disc brake – so now I can race it with a clean conscience! It’s such a revelation to ride because of the handling – it changes direction so quickly, it’s like riding a much smaller, lighter bike. Put it next to the RS125 Honda my son races and there’s very little difference in size between them!”
‘IT’S SUCH A REVELATION TO RIDE BECAUSE OF THE HANDLING – IT CHANGES DIRECTION SO QUICKLY’