“I have no time for armchair race engineers. We proved our engineering skills on the track.”
20 Road Races started
7 x 1st places
10 x 2nd places
1 x 3rd place
2 x DNF
British Historic Racing Champion for the 8th time.
31 Road Races started
16 x 1st places
9 x 2nd places
1 x 3rd place
5 x DNF
1 Crash
5 days in hospital
British Historic Racing Champion for the 7th time.
20 Road Races started
16 x 1st places
2 x 2nd places
1 x 3rd place
1 x DNF
Unfortunately, I missed many races due to injury and didn't win any championships in 2010.
54 Road Races started
33 x 1st places
6 x 2nd places
5 x 3rd places
1 x 5th place
3 x 6th places
6 x DNF
I also surprised myself by winning two flat-track races, but these wins were only due to all the good riders being somewhere else on those days!
“It doesn’t bother me too much that I’ll never make a World Champion, which was my ambition as a small boy. I’m just thrilled to have been one of the few who were out there racing, and not just one of the many looking at them through the fence.”
The racing centred around KTT Velocette Mk.I number 251, made in Hall Green, Birmingham, in 1929. The performance of this bike regularly humiliated modern machines.
After years of success with Mr Cramp snr, who bought the bike in 1948 for £4.10s/0d, Ian started racing it in 2001 and has since won four British Historic Racing Championships. The bike has a 59 year unbeaten record amongst OHC Velocettes.
"My favourite place in the whole world is the Isle of Man; it’s where the greatest names became great. I went racing there three times, coming away with two Silver Replicas and one broken collar bone.”
“It was my first race on the Mountain Course – but it was also a hot afternoon, and I fell asleep by the grid. I don’t do nerves. They made me start right at the back – number 115 – but I still got a Silver Replica.”
