Mike Moloney

November 12, 2009 by mike.cox

I started riding in 1958 with a Pegaso Sport 50cc autocycle paid for by working weekends in a local pharmacy. In 1961 I sold it to Harold Barrett who raced it in 50cc races at Kyalami and the, um sorry, Kaffirskraal tracks.
In 1964 I bought my Royal Enfield and, while studying at Witwatersrand Technical College, met Pete Stevenson, who started racing a 250cc Ducati Mach 1 with myself as pit crew. While competing in the 1965 Springbok Series in East London, I bought Heinrich Boshoff’s 1962 short stroke AJS 7R.
 I wobbled around on this for about 18 months with conspicuous lack of success and then got married and very busy at work, spending time working on overseas assignments. On returning from the Middle East in 1988, I started racing the Enfield in Classic racing events. Sadly, the 7R had been sold but I still had all my 1960s leathers, boots and gloves and it didn’t cost too much to get going again.
I won the rather poorly supported Lightweight Championship twice, more by reliability than skill and stopped racing Classics with the advent of the new Classic Superbike format. I’d been rebuilding a 250cc Ducati Manxman/Mach 1 hybrid, last raced as a flattracker in Canada and America and was beginning to wonder what I was going to do with it when the Historic Motorcycle Group came along and saved the day.
I’ve consequently ridden the Enfield in most of the events to date and intend to continue with both bikes for as long as possible.
 
1964 Royal Enfield Continental
The bike is mostly standard with a lightened crank and valve gear, a 30mm Amal Concentric replacing the Monobloc, a reverse cone megaphone and reworked ports.
The frame, wheels and brakes are standard with a large capacity fuel tank and single seat being the only modifications. The bike has been raced since 1988 and will be rebuilt in the near future.
 
1961 Ducati Manxman/Mach 1
The bike came as a box containing a mix of parts for two engines and a rat which had done an incredible amount of damage to the steel and aluminium bits. The frame had been modified to race in US and Canadian oval flattrack events by Terry Bride and had been living outside for many years and came with 19” wheels and no front brake. I foolishly set a goal of 2 years to complete the project.
The solid rear end of the frame was cut off and new engine mounts, swing arm and frame rear section were fabricated. A new alloy tank was made and new 18” rims laced onto the original Ducati rear brake and an Italianized 500cc Suzuki front brake. The original front forks were rebuilt and the frame complete was painted by Wayne.
One engine was rebuilt from the bits in the box and parts sourced from England, Australia and locally. The engine is unmodified and runs a 10:1 compression ratio. The bike was run for the first time in the street at home seven and a half years after the project started and cost R15,000-00, excluding my labour, equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes a day over the same period.
The bike will now be refined and ridden in HMG events for as long as I can continue bump starting it.
 Mike Moloney.