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The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club at Las Vegas


Most of you know the infamous Cotton Club was indeed in Harlem, New York, not Las Vegas, Nevada. We're talking about a different kind of Cotton Club, one that features the almost forgotten English manufacturer who never made much of dent here in the USA. Yet Cotton, founded in 1919 proceeded to produce a wide variety of machines powered by JAP four stroke V-twins pre-war and Villiers two-stroke engines postwar.

Roadracing in the 1960's on the short circuit's of the UK, the 'works' Cotton, piloted by Derek Minter scored many victories in the 250cc class on the Cotton Telstar. Bernard Hooper designed the Starmaker engine which powered various Cotton machines. About 60 Telstar's were built from 1962 until 1967. The onslaught of Japanese race machines, specifically Yamaha multi cylinder two-strokes proved too much and production ceased.

 But for a time, the Gloucester based Cotton firm ruled the newly created Formula Junior class, with Minter winning the 1964 250cc ACU Star / British National Championship.  The original machines featured twin Amal monoblocs and made 27 bhp. Weight was a mere 230 pounds for the quick-handling, home grown machine with the Armstrong leading-link front forks. The late Bill Ivy was also running a six speed gearbox like Minters works bike and was a top contender too.

I'd long been an admirer of the legendary 'King of Brands', Mr. Derek Minter. His exploits on the Steve Lancefield and later Ray Petty tuned Norton Manx 500cc machines was the stuff of legends. 'The Mint' also rode a variety of smaller machines, like Bianchi and EMC before switching to the Cotton Telstar on which he won the title on. It was one of many for Minter, one of the best English short-circuit specialist in the world. He also faired well at the Isle of Man and the Dutch Grand Prix on the bike as well as his Nortons.

                                                                                       
                                      

 I had just finished Mick Walker's 'Derek Minter, King of Brands' book last week before heading west to attend the inaugural Auctions America Las Vegas  Auction January 12-14. With this fresh in my mind, imagine my surprise to see six Cotton motorcycles of all types, road and track, on offer at the sale. But one bike in particular caught my attention. The Telstar 250cc production racer.

I had no intention of buying, but the little red Telstar 'spoke' to me, you know? I'm pretty sure it said 'buy me!', because that's what I did. This 1964 Cotton Telstar had recently been the subject of a 100% restoration by Bultaco West of Texas. I contemplated purchasing the Cotton Continental as a companion road bike, but felt that may be stretching my budget a bit too much at this time of year.

 I tried to convince a few of my new found friends to join my Cotton Club, but to no avail, they'd spent their cash on other good deals this weekend buying Triumph Tiger Cubs, Russian sidecar unit, Moto Guzzi and a pre-war, tank shift 250cc Rudge. Our new friend Jinx (above, motioning) was determined to convince anyone that would listen, not to buy BSA's. A personal fued of sorts. BSA's will do that to you. That's what this weekend proved in spades. Men are passionate about their motorcycles. Sure, there were ladies there, but this was a guy thing. Whether you could afford $500.00 or $500,000.00 it was offered this weekend to buy. Many did just that: It was the right thing to do.

So the Cotton Club is an exclusive club for now, but we are committed to growth. In the meantime, hand me my pudding basin helmet and pass the Castrol Oil. I've got miles to go.

 

                               1964 Cotton Telstar 250cc Formula Junior Production Racer

 

At the Simeone Foundation Museum for the celebration of two-stroke racers with guest speaker Kevin Cameron

 

Ay Sky Top Lodge Concours 

 

 

 

 

 

I was contacted by the BMCT, the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust about whether the Telstar might be available. After running the numbers, they confirmed the fact that this was indeed an early example of the Starmaker powered proddie racer and would like to see it repatriated. A deal was done and the Cotton was boxed up for it's return to the U.K.

 

 

 

The bike arrive in Gloucester just prior to the Centenary celebration of the Cotton marque and was duly paraded about before being sent off to the Gloucester Folk Museum where it now resides. Details on the bike's arrival back in the U.K. are to be found in the pages of the Cotton newsletter below.

 

 

End of the road for the Cotton /EMC racing crew in 1980

Harley-Davidson VR1000 at Daytona

Not since the late 1960's had we seen such a resurgence in Harley-Davidson factory racers at the famed Birthplace of Speed, Daytona, USA. A lot of time and effort went in to the design and build of the new VR1000. Mark Tuttle and HD engineer Mark Miller contracted Roush Racing to complete the concept and they brought along Steve Schiebe to run the project. From 1994-2001, The Milwaukee-based manufacturer tried it's hand at a return to AMA Pro Roadracing. Miguel Duhamel, Fritz Kling, Tom Wilson, Doug Chandler were among the pilots who threw a leg over the Harley. In the end, they came very close to succeeding with the fuel-injected DOHC V-Twin  racer. Sadly, Tom Wilson suffered a career ending injury at Loudon on the machine just as he was coming to grips with the bike.

Canadian Pascal Picotte on the factory Harley-Davidson VR-1000 at Daytona gave it his best after a stint on the Suzuki GSXR. He managed to grab a podium in 1996. In fact, he led the Daytona 200 for a few laps before a bad pit stop put paid to his chances.

                      A quiet moment during Qualifying at the Speedway. (time-date info incorrect)

                                                                   
                  In the later days of the VR, it was decided that Scott Russel should give it a try, but Russell couldn't get the VR-1000 to add another Rolex to his collection despite his determined efforts.

Chris Carr took to the VR quickly, his flat track skills prepared him well for the job. Amazingly, Carr returned to flat track racing and won a number of Championships before heading to the Bonneville Salt Flats to add his name to the record books. His best ride came at Pomona where he put the Harley on the pole.

A frequent view of the ill-fated VR-1000 in the pits. They suffered their share of DNF's during the AMA pro racing days due to the complexity of design. Handling was sweet, but horsepower was not on par with the increasingly faster competition.

One rider who did enjoy considerable success on his privately sponsored VR was

Pennsylvania based roadracer, Ron McGill. It was too little too late. HD pulled the plug in 2001 and the dream was over.

Will Harley-Davidson ever return to professional roadracing with factory built specials? Not in the foreseeable future, with a spec series filling the need by keeping the H-D name in front of race fans. But someday, they'll return. It's in their DNA. Until then, we can look back on the mid 1990's as the last time they dared take on the might of the Japanese. It won't be the last. Any company with the racing heritage of one hundred years behind it is bound to be back.