Former TT racer Andrew Davies still feeling the need for speed

Sitting behind a desk by day, working as a finance director at a major Black Country business, Davies then spends most of his evenings and weekends in his shed working on race-winning bikes.

His love of two-stroke TZR 250cc Yamahas has shaped his racing career and he still gets the same enjoyment out of preparing, tuning and riding the classic machines now as he did when he first started in 2003.

"I kept blasting round on the roads and ended up in a hedge one day, so I thought I'd better give track racing a go," says Davies, from Stourbridge.

"After a few track days I got the bug and in my first full season I won the championship, which was the Streetstock 400 for bikes that had an MOT.

"That was when I bought my first two-stroke TZR 250cc Yamaha but I was up against 400cc four-stroke machines.

"I did that for a couple of years but then some riders started turning up with a one-day MOT, which meant they were pretty much proper race bikes.

"I found myself spending a lot of money on the bike and with my budget I didn't stand a chance of winning, despite still coming in the top three.

"I've always done all my own bike prep and tuned my own engines but I was just spending more and more time working on it just to compete, but it taught me a lot."

The 48-year-old, who was works as a finance director at stationery manufacturer, then moved into the Formula 400 class.

"I would usually at least get a top 10 finish but then I had a go at the 250GP race class," he said.

"Picking up another bike and taking it out against the factory-support teams was a real eye-opener.

"Again, I was spending so much money on them, especially clutches and tyres, but I was not getting any battles, which is what you want when you're racing.

"I changed back to the Yamaha Past Masters class in 2007, which is what I've stuck with ever since.

"It's for Rd 350 LC’s, YPVS, and TZR 250 bikes and since entering that I've been in involved with some brilliant racing because all the riders are so evenly matched.

"Everyone brakes in the same places and we all have similar acceleration – and everyone involved enjoys a good craic."

Davies sold that bike in 2009 to Graham Higglet, from Norwich, who went on to win the championship on it twice.

"It was me who was maintaining it for him too," said Davies, who then moved into the F400 Sub-64 class in 2010 – for bikes with less than 64 break horsepower – up to 400cc engine size.

"I went also on to win the Sub-64 class championship and carried on with that for a couple of years.

"I then moved back to the Yamaha Past Masters class and converted my road bike back into a race bike, finishing in the top five.

"I was using old tyres for the races, passed down for Graham, who was leading the championship, but I was always battling against him – and I even beat him one time.

"We used to joke that I should stop tuning his engine and he should stop giving me his tyres!"

But away from the circuits, the lure of racing his prized classic bikes on the roads was soon too much to ignore – and there was no better place to try his hand than at the Classic TT, once it had been launched in 2013.

"I raced short circuit with Pete Moore, the son of Roy Moore who lives on the island, and who commentates on all the racing on Manx Radio from Ramsey hairpin," he said.

"This gave me added interest in doing the Classic TT and with lots of help I got get things organised.

"I had owned a project bike since the 1990s, which had been originally built for the 1986 TT, so I set about building this bike to use on the island again.

"I got a couple of sponsors involved – P J Motorcycle Engineers from Wolverhampton and Gibson Exhausts in Essex – and after testing it out on the short circuits, I entered the Classic TT in 2014.

"The bike had a Spondon chassis with a Yamaha RD350 engine inside, and a Gibson exhaust and P J crankshaft.

"Only half the field finished the race but there I was, racing on a bike I'd built in my own shed. I ended up finishing 12th and even won the sub class.

"As it's raced as a time trial I didn't know exactly how well I was going but because my fuel tank was big enough to race the full three laps without stopping I thought that might give me a bit of an advantage."

Despite winning and clocking an average lap speed of 96mph around the iconic 37.73-mile mountain course, he was refused entry in 2015, and then forced to drop out in 2016 and 2017 whilst undergoing operations.

"I came back this year because I knew I was finally 100 per cent fit again," he said.

"I increased my lap speed to 98mph despite having a rubbish practice week, blighted by the weather.

"After making some adjustments we just had to go for it down Bray Hill but I knew straight away the bike was running better.

"The only down point was the fact the organisers had to decided to remove some of the sub classes, while the professional and amateurs riders were also all tied together, which meant I didn't get a replica trophy.

"However, I would've been second behind the Mayor of Ramsey. I had tagged behind him during practice because he's obviously done a lot more laps of that course than I had."