Born in Fareham in 1964. During my childhood my
father Mike Lacey, nearly always had a motorbike of one sort or the other.
Growing up with motorbikes it was fairly inevitable that I would be drawn into
the fold. My earliest memory of riding on a motorcycle was in Singapore, aged about
5, sat on the tank of my fathers Honda 90 motorcycle. Teenage
years I rode pillion on my father’s various bikes visiting various motorcycle
shops and shows. By this time the bug had bitten and I just
couldn’t wait for my 16th birthday. I bought my first bike a Puch
Grand Prix, in need of a little bit of TLC, whilst I was 15. On my
16th birthday I remember the exhaust being blocked due to the numerous previous rides up and down the drive . On the first day I covered 100 miles and the next year was full of
the usual thrills and spills of that short insane period of the sports moped.
I started an engineering apprenticeship at the end of that year with
the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority. My official title on my deeds was "instrument maker” which kind of
covered pretty much every aspect of engineering. After completing my
apprenticeship I then continued to work there as a research mechanic for the
next 13 years. During these years I was often very grateful for exceptional
workshop facilities, if you know what I mean!
Over the years I have owned quite a lot of motorcycles and have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as the perfect bike. Even the most derided of motorcycles have redeeming features and a lot of the time the best biking moments for me have been about the riding. My involvement in motorcycles has involved me in commuting, touring, green laning, enduros, beach racing and road racing. My early days of working on motorcycles started with the restoration of my Puch with my father and has continued throughout my life culminating in starting my own business in 1998 specialising in Ducati bevel engines. Never really looked back and now consider myself pretty unemployable!
My first involvement with Mojacar was prior to the formation of the club when I participated in Ken Cravens rally to Mojacar in 1984. I joined the Club in 1988 after its formation having been a regular attendee of Lyme Regis weekends throughout the 80’s. I completed club tours to Portugal in 1989 and 1990. From 1990 the next 17 years were spent heavily involved in Classic road racing and the starting of my business which meant eventually riding on the road took a back seat. I rejoined the Club in 2007 with Edina my partner at the time who is now my wife. Edina, myself and another ex-racer, our greyhound Jude, live in Weymouth, the town where I have lived since the age of 7.
Edina, myself and Black Betty (our 900 GTS) completed the 2009 tour to
Portugal. As far as we know, Betty holds the record for being the oldest bike
(at the time of completing a tour) to complete a Mojacar Rally or Club tour at
the grand old age of nearly 31. We are looking forward to more tours in the
future.
