Nigel Birkett Montesa Cota 200:
“After my poor run of results on the Montesa Cota 349 importer Jim Sandiford told me in the summer he would not be renewing my contract at the end of 1980. The new white model Cota 200 had been launched mid-season along with the other new models for 1981 and he informed me that I would be finishing the season on the pre-production model 200 which had been used and abused at the European launch in Spain. I spent a few days testing the machine which had obvious signs of use and I did actually tell Jim I could win a National on it as I was very impressed. I used my knowledge to ‘tweak’ the frame geometry and changed the Amal carburettor and made a few more modifications to the motors performance. After these changes I genuinely loved the Cota 200 and most importantly I proved I could win on it”.