Brunswick Cycling Club

How famous is the Brunswick Enduro?

WORLD FAMOUS

I have just read a fantastic story about Nick Lett, originally from London Nick found his niche in European cycling as a Motor Pace or “Stayer” racer.

His story is awesome, some of my favourite bits are 5 time National 50k Champion (GB), represented Great Britain 3 times at World Championships, winning the National title in 89 at an average of 70kph and his “Favourite” gear was a 57-13…that’s right a whopping 118″

Read his story and seek out the man that is Nick Lett and talk about the exciting world of Motor Pace racing as it used to be.

onya Cam.

Nick Lett – Motor Paced ‘Stayer’ racing in the 1980’s.

I started racing in England in 1972 at the age of 13, living a few miles away from London’s famous host of the 1948 Olympics, Herne Hill cycling track.  I was a member of the Old Kent Cycling Club.  At age 20 I was an average track rider with the ability to pedal fast and hold a wheel.  In 1979 I finished in fourth place in the National 20km Scratch Championship, but I readily admit that in the early eighties I lacked commitment to training and could have done better.

That changed in 1984 when I took up the noisy, crowd thrilling, track discipline of Motor Paced ‘stayer’ racing joining up with friend and mentor, Paul Wingrave as my pacemaker.  The next 7 years were some of the best years of my life.

Motor Paced races start like a procession and were contested between up to 8 pairings who draw for starting order on the track.  ‘Going on the attack’ where one pairing would challenge another pairing for a position in the field could go on for several laps, with the defending pairing having the advantage of the inside line within the ‘Stayers Line’ and ‘clean air’ and the challenging rider having to take the outside line and fight through the turbulent air generated by the pairing in front.  Lapped riders offer little resistance and are quickly passed.  The pacemaker wears full leathers and stands upright keeping their arms as tight to their sides as possible, forming a slipstream behind them, their helmet has cups over the ears which are open to the rear enabling the pacer to hear the rider’s calls.

The rollers on the motorbikes are adjustable and are all set at the same distance from the rear wheel.  Stayer bikes are not standard bikes, the small front forks are reversed enabling the rider to get closer to the motorbike.  Massive gears with a 65 chain ring x14 sprocket, about 125 inches being common, the front wheels were 24 inches diameter, the tubeless tyres were stuck on with ‘shellac’ with cotton bandages glued over the rims and tyre walls as an extra precaution.  Strict bike checks ensured that the front tip of the ‘butchered’ saddle was not permitted to be further forward than centre of the bottom bracket.  Home made supports were fitted under the saddle and stem.

Motor Pacing became my life, with the British National 50km Motor Paced Championship held at Leicester, becoming my main objective of the season.  In the 7 years from 1984 to 1990 we won the National Championship 5 times in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990, and were second twice, in 1984 and 1987. 

We represented Great Britain three times in UCI World Track Championships, in 1984 in Barcelona Spain, in 1985 at Bassano Del Grappa, Italy and in 1988 in Ghent, Belgium, as ‘true amateurs’ we were outclassed against ‘semi professionals’ who were former, current and eventual World Champions.

I rode with Paul my entire career, he was the tactician, and he knew my capabilities, I just sat there, pedalled and tried to keep my head up and get air in my lungs.  My communication with him during a race was either ‘ho’ ‘steady’ or ‘allez allez’.  Our fastest 50km was in the 1989 National Championship, 42 min 41.37 sec, averaging about 70 kph.  My favourite gear was a 57 chain ring x13 sprocket, about 118 inches. After a hard race the body took a hammering, a painful trip to the toilet was jokingly referred to as ‘pissing broken glass’ there was always the inevitable sore crotch, bruised swollen and chaffed.  I had to have stitches down under after the 1987 Championship.  I planned my retirement to finish with the 1990 Nationals which I won.  At 31 years old and with new commitments and plans, I packed my bikes away.

Sadly, motor pacing has declined, the last World Motor Paced Championship was held in 1994, and the last British Championship was in 1999 and was replaced with a Derny Paced Championship.  Leicester track was 333m, outdoor, with a wooden surface fixed over an older concrete track, the 1970 Worlds were held on the concrete track and the 1982 worlds were held on the wooden track.  It is now demolished for housing.  Herne Hill was bitumen, about 500m and was refurbished in the mid 1990’s but is now in a state of disrepair and under threat of closure.  The fleet of 10 motorbikes are now based at Herne Hill and come out once a year at the famous Good Friday International Track Meeting, using Dutch pacemakers due to insurance reasons and European riders with a token English rider for the partisan crowd to cheer on.

I migrated to Australia with my Australian wife and 2 young children in October 1991.  I rode for the Coburg Cycling Club in 1992 and 1995 in criteriums at Calder Raceway and Essendon Airport, and then as my children grew up I did not touch the bike until 2004 when I joined Brunswick Cycling Club after becoming inspired to make a comeback on DISC.  At 51 years old my aims now are to get fit and to turn up to the track consistently.  My advice for youngsters when racing and training is ‘teach yourself to endure pain it will get easier’.  My favourite event is obviously the motor paced, when I get behind the motor bike I remember my golden years following the roller!

This entry was posted by C. McFarlane on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 12:21 am and is filed under Track.