STEVE HARRIS – A TRIBUTE

Steve Harris – one of the founders of Harris Performance – has passed away aged 73.

Steve – along with brother Lester and school friend Steve Bayford – formed Harris Performance back in 1972, after time welding tubular chassis for Formula One cars. His skills in this area would soon see Harris making frames for a number of motorcycle racers from the mid-1970s, including frames for Barry Sheene’s Yamahas later in the decade.

A former racer himself, Steve would also, along with brother Lester, end up running a number of race teams, including a Uk-based, Shell oils-backed national team which eventually moved into 500cc Grand Prix racing.

Some of the riders who were given opportunities with the team included the likes of John Mcguinness, Sean Emmett and Andrew Stroud. In 1996 Harris Performance was also asked to run the official Suzuki entry in World Superbikes with riders John Reynolds and Kirk Mccarthy and the following year with Mike Hale and James Whitham.

Harris would also run a British Superbike team in the early 2000s and in 2002 build the chassis for the still-born Petronas Motogp three-cylinder bike. They also built a number of prototype Moto2 chassis around a Yamaha fourcylinder 600cc engine.

By the early Noughties Harris Performance had, according to both Steve and Lester, come ‘full circle’ and were refurbishing their old Harris-framed road machines as well as producing parts for modern classics.

Their work with Royal Enfield was such that the Indian firm bought Harris Performance outright in 2015.

Steve will not just be remembered for his skills in engineering or race team management – but for his humour and passion for all things twowheeled.