DOUGIE LAMPKIN
The trials bike legend on his twoand four-wheeled transport
Iwas pretty much born on a bike. My father was World Motorcycle Trials champion in 1975 and I was born in ’76. When my mother announced that she was pregnant, the company that my dad rode for (Bultaco) gifted me a motorbike. The bike actually arrived before I did.
I was big into cars as a kid too. My family have a problem – well, I don’t call it a problem, but some people might do. My uncle Arthur was a scrambles rider back in the Sixties and there was a rumour that he had around 16 cars in two years.
I learnt to drive in a long wheelbase Ford Transit, because obviously I needed it for the bikes. Having that made me very popular with friends. My first car, though, was a Toyota Celica that I bought at an auction. That was the absolute bee’s knees. Just to trump me though, the lad who beat me in the world championship that year bought a Celica GT-Four.
After that I was riding in an event in Monaco and I spotted this funnylooking BMW. Turned out it was the new Z3 and when I got home, I bought one in the same colour. I had to pay over list for it. Being a Yorkshireman, I must have really wanted it.
After the Z3 I had a BMW M3, and then there’s a story about my next car when I was en route to my seventh world championship. It was close that year, a Japanese rider called Takahisa Fujinami had caught me up a fair bit. I was desperate for a 996 Porsche 911 Turbo. I was mulling it over and my dad said, “if you win this year, buy it for yourself as a treat.” I did win and I did buy a 996 Turbo. That was amazing. I was living on the Isle of Man at that time and with no speed limits on the roads you could pretend that you were a really good driver.
When my wife was expecting our first child, I sold the Porsche and we got a Range Rover Sport. That was a bit of a contrast, but we’ve had a few Range Rovers since. My daily driver is now a BMW M4, and my crème de la crème car hiding away in the garage is a 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
My father passed away four and a half years ago and he gifted me his MkI Austin Healey, so that’s pride of place in the garage. Then I’ve also got an Austin Seven Ruby from 1934. That’s not something you were expecting me to say is it? I’m not really sure why I’ve got it, but I’ve always liked them, so I bought one. It’s absolutely original, the paint’s blistering and everything – it’s perfect. I have quite a nice classic bike collection as well and I don’t like anything polished.
The motorbikes are mainly British off-road bikes. I’ve got BSAs, Ariel 500s, a Velocette and a couple of Nortons. My daily rider is a CCM Spitfire. That’s a cafe racer bike that I had built in Bolton.
There are things I’d never sell. Obviously, my father’s car is with me for life. Then there’s a 1923 Douglas 3.5bhp which is actually what I’m named after. My dad bought that bike a year or two before I was born and it’s something I’ll always keep.