A History of Classic Racing 50cc Motorcycles

ANDREW, DESMOND ('Des') BONE

Birth date: May 18th 1940
Birth Place: Nottingham
Date of Death : December 22, 2015
Place of Death : France
Nationality: English
Gender: Male

With Des living in France, it became difficult getting his story through a personal interview and so some of this detail was presented to me through emails, notes, pictures and general chats on the 'phone with the speed rider and engineer Andrew "Des" Bone. A lot of this are his words with some editing, additions and photos by the writer. Des loved 50cc racing, not just the track side but in preparing the bikes and the engineering that went into them. He was never happier that when solving a mechanical problem that had arisen be it through through trial or race track testing.

I will use his middle name as his dad was called Andy. Des worked with his father in the shop, 'Andy Desmond Bone Motorcycles', at Arkwright Street, Nottingham. Andy Snr. was a motorcyclist through and through and his joy was building a shop and workshop where he could be with motorbikes and deal with those of the public that loved them. he covered many makes of the bigger machines but as the need for quick travel to work type machines he stocked and maintained the ITOM marque and the Garelli. (The old shop in its early form it was to have two make overs with new art work for the front of the building).

Des wanted to go racing in about 1955 and as they sold the Itom motorcycles he used one of these as the basis for his first bike. It was the Astor Super Sport, competition model and retailed then at £124.00. The picture shows the bike in the shop with all the general paraphernalia around it. This model already had a good reputation on the UK tracks and it would provide an ideal base.

However Des was just 15 years old at that time and was not allowed to enter for motorsport until he reached 16. it turned out that being in the shop and learning the trade of a motorcycle mechanic, Des did not start racing on the black stuff until August 1958, which was at Crystal Palace, where he came 14th and scored 1 point in the Championship.

The continued building and developing of the Itom went well and by 1958, Des. was riding at the front with the best of them. He rode at most of the circuits and the picture shows the bike at Crystal palace, London with his mates girlfriend on board.

"My first Itom at my first race 1958 at Cristal Palace with my mates girlfriend".

the engine detail of the Itom that Des worked on during his apprenticeship with his Dad.

The Itom, parked up, waiting for the race at Crystal Palace 1958.

Invoice for the Competizione

Des' first bike for the Crystal Palace race. He came 14th from a field of 28

In 1960 Des. decided to enter the 250 mile Chiltern Enduro, use his race bike and pair with a friend, Ian Johnson. They rode well and Ian and Des took the lead from Bill Ivy after the 30th lap and held it until a slowing engine allowed Bill Ivy to pass them on the 59th. Ian and Des. were awarded the 45th lap trophy which is still in his cabin. 'Des' entered the 1961 Enduro, again with Ian Johnson. During the closed season Des had been able to get a little more speed out of the ITOM. He had developed the engine through the year with noting changes that were needed, depending on the track performance, for jet size and sprocket size. But the greatest improvement in performance came from him reading the regulations. Photograph: Ian Johnson testing the ITOM 1960 Snetterton BW

From these, Des' came to realise that the National /International restrictions on streamlining did not apply to club racing and as Ian had purchased a full dustbin fairing to use on the kneeler sidecar outfit he was building, they decided to use it for the Itom in the mean time. This picture shows Ian Johnson with the dustbin faired Itom in the pits. Using this fairing meant that they could pull a higher gear ratio and make quite a difference to their top speed. For the Snetterton circuit and its long straights that was important.

I asked Des if they competed in any other Chiltern Enduros and his reply was: "We did compete in one more Enduro some years later 1964 when Garelli asked us to enter a standard bike for them. The race now had a class for standard road machines as well as racing and they were busy with George Ashton & Paul Marlow’s, machines in the racing class

Des' first Itom 1961 set the lap record Snetterton Rider by Ian Johnson

Second shot of the first Itom in 1961 that set the lap record at Snetterton

As a result we ran a standard Garelli Sports in the road bike class for them. It had all the lights & road silencers etc, any way George won the main event and we won the class for road hikes. So third time lucky for us!" Look in "Articles" and see the write-up of the Enduro and see how Graham Clarke (16) stood tall above the Garelli.

From 1958 Des raced at a number of circuits in the UK and in Ireland. As Crystal Palace has been mentioned as his first race and the map shows the type of track it is, it is worth mentioning some of the other tracks. California in England was a track. Near to Dunstable in Buckinghamshire and was a kart track with an unusual hairpin type bend. the track was 330 yards long and 10 feet wide. It was a compressed dirt track with cinder and only a couple of races took place there. The Gosling Stadium was used after this. The Gosling track was originally cinder and was upgraded to synthetic in 1987.

Des had a bike running at MONDELLO PARK August 1968 but was not able to attend. Some of the following article has been modified by Des to expand on his involvement. Arthur Lawn wrote a small article for the R50MCC magazine which is follows.

Mondello Park International Race Circuit is the only FIA Licenced Motor Racing circuit in the Republic of Ireland and was opened in its original layout in 1968. Prior to the opening of the circuit all racing in Ireland had taken place on closed public roads but with safety becoming a big issue the days of the street circuit were numbered and with the demise of the last track at Dunboyne a permanent circuit was badly needed.

Arthur Lawn - Des Bone.

"For the geographical minded this new and only Southern Ireland short circuit is situated approximately 15 miles inland from Dublin very close to Naas. The circuit is in its present form less than 1 mile in length with uphill and downhill terrain. But into this distance is fitted two hairpin corners as sharp as Cadwell's, two right hand corners and a set of Esses. Thus straights are quite short and it is in my opinion the most ideal circuit ever opened for 50cc machines. However I understand an extension is proposed in the future. The surface is good, smooth tarmacadam. Amenities are good for both spectators and competitors. The paddock is in the centre of the circuit, very spacious and comfortable". Arthur Lawn Holding the 1935 Dutch TT trophy won by Graham Walker father of Murray which was presented as 1972 overall Emborcorum MCC Elvington Races Champion.

The Mondello Park short circuit, Ireland.

Arthur Lawn - cabinet of my motor cycle racing trophies 74 in total

"This meeting that Charlie Wright, Mick Poxon and myself attended was run by the Blackchurch Racing Association of Ireland and included both 10 and 15 lap scratch races for 50cc motorcycles. Charlie Wright had borrowed Des's air-cooled Itom MkVIII with the 5 speed gearbox". From the start Charlie led the race, but on the last few laps the engine started to tighten up and loose power. It had got so hot that the performance was impaired. Chris Gooson, on the works Garelli, passed Charlie with 2 laps to go and so the Bone air-cooled Itom came second.

Organisation was excellent although I must admit that the organisers in Ireland do not have the amount of entries to cope with as our organisers being about 100 entries. This appears to be because there is no sidecar, 125cc and unlimited classes and everybody appears to enter all races they are eligible for.

Unfortunately the boat trip from Liverpool is both long and crowded at this time of the year and it takes some seven hours. A word of warning however for anybody contemplating competing in Southern Ireland. A carnage document for unregistered racing machines is necessary and the Irish customs will not allow machines in without it. We took four machines without documents and were asked to deposit a bond of £150 cash, no cheques accepted. However everybody was most helpful and luckily Chris Goosen who collected us and laid transport on for us, turned up in the middle of the confusion and persuaded the B. & I. Shipping Line to pay the £150 bond for us.

However we all enjoyed an excellent weekends racing and thanked Chris Goosen and friends for the excellent hospitality extended, the organizing club for laying on an excellent meeting followed by a really good prize giving in the evening and the circuit owners for supplying a circuit really suitable for 50’s and one deserving every success in the future.

Charlie was awarded the second prize shield and presented it to Des, as it was his Itom that had achieved the place.

John Foot, Des continued: "It must have been in mid August 1967, and a Saturday when John Foot first walked into the shop, he was dressed in the most immaculate hand made suit I had ever seen, (apparently he worked for the best tailor in town) "Des Bone" he said I said "yes what can I do for you" (thinking he was a prospective customer)

I'm entered at Brands Hatch in October as passenger in the side car race, and there is a 50cc event at the meeting and I wondered if you had a bike you could lend me to ride. Well as luck would have it we did, it was an ltom Mk8 that had been an H.P. return, and it was a complete rusty wreck, and after a discussion with Dad we decided that the most economic way we could get any money back on the bike was to re-build it as a racer, so John got his bike to ride.

A Note From John Foot "Des gave me the opportunity to test and ride his Itom racer in 1967, I was already competing as sidecar crew with a former school chum Graham Clarke on the ex Ian Johnson outfit that we purchased from Ian's widow Christine who incidentally taught me to play the violin at Redhill school. Ian and Christine were already long standing friends of Des and Jill Bone, Ian's welding business was just down Arkwright street as was the fibreglass moulding concerned of Brealy Smith. As an established road racer Ian was first pick to ride Des's first forays into 50 racing in 65 and 66. So it was that I became a 50cc jockey, lucky me. A large group of road racers grew in Nottingham with Des as a very valued member of the community. I always felt very privileged to be part of that fraternity, Des' was a few years older than me but I always viewed him as an older brother whose opinion was valued on just about any thing, a naturally modest man, he had a generosity of spirit that you could only admire, like so many others, I miss him more than you could possibly imagine".

Over the last few years there had been such advances with many new racing machines coming out, that the Itom had, we thought, been totally out classed in performance, so when John finished 6th at Brands we decided to through the winter to develop the bike further. I acquired a 5 speed gear box that fitted in the same space as the Mk 8 4 speed (Don Chisholm could not get it to stay in gear so it was cheap) I modified it and made my own foot change.

I was at that time also looking after an ex works 'Derby' that Bill Smith had loaned Charley Wright, so had some idea of the port timing to use, and we had in stock the Dell'Orto 21mm race kit carburettor, so putting it all together with an exhaust I had knocked up we went to an old air field to test it, and it absolutely flew well it would have done except that the clutch could not cope with the power. We had to squeeze an extra plate in and double the springs, before we stopped it slipping. The two pictures are of the broken air cooled Itom with clutch trouble.

That next season 1968 John rode it to 1 win, 6, 2nd. 1, 3rd. and 1, 4th Actually most of the races John had led, but the engine got so hot that it lost power as the race went on, and in the end we used to start with a cool engine, by not warming it up so much before the start as is most common. That was the reason for us water cooling the engine which cured the problem, but that was not done until the winter for the 1969 season.

This was the race at Cadwell Park on the 20-04-1968. John was riding the Bone Air Cooled Itom.

John was also 6th in the 50 race, and came 2nd in the Duckham's Trophy race for three-wheelers with Graham Clarke as his passenger.

With mentioning the name of Graham Clarke we move into the pre 1969 period, The '68' bike was fast and Des knew that with minor improvements in tuning and a little frame geometry they could hold their own at the beginning of a race but as the race went on the engine became overheated and she began to lose power. The decision was made to go water-cooled and try to improve this situation. Picture: Des looking at the completed water-cooled machine.

Des looked around at the progress of other engine developers in the 50cc arena and noted that the Simmonds brothers had fabricated their barrel with a sleeve put over the barrel that had the fins cut off. Dave and Mike had stuck fins on the outside of the sleeve to aid cooling. Ian Ager's was a copper jacket that had been silver soldered to the barrel casting. Graham, who was a good engineer was asked to work on an approach with the cylinder where we fabricated a water jacket out of thin mild steel plate and then welded it to the cylinder. The movement of the water would be by the thermo-siphon approach. This cured our over-heating problem and we had a good 1969 season. John Foot was always in the top three and George Ashton ( a master rider of the Darley Moor circuit) had great difficulty either trying to pass him or in keeping him behind once he was in front. Picture: Trying for size. This is Arthur Hancock on the Water-cooled Itom. The twin disc brakes were a great improvement.

A number of lads used to come into the shop and John Mephan was one of the group and he wanted a bike that was the image of the water-cooled Itom, an absolute replica. You can compare this picture with the one above of our bike. John built his replica of our bike himself from parts such as the pieces to make up the water jacket and exhaust etc, but he cut and welded it all together. Des supplied him with the alloy rims and built the wheels for him with the double front, cable operated disc brake.

The full blown water-cooled Des Bone machine

John Mephan on the water-cooled Replica of Des's Itom

As you will se from the picture of John Mephan's Itom it was a complete replica of Des's first water cooled bike, but with four speed box (The Des Bone bike had five). The picture was taken at Darley Moor with John accelerating away from paddock bend. The bike is nearly doing a wheelie and the rear suspension is fully compressed with the front forks fully extended. It was faster than a CR110, but John was really too big and heavy for a fifty racer and lost out on acceleration.

As Des was well into the 50cc racing scene, aspiring riders would find themselves under his wing This was the case with the Rushton brothers. The photographs are of Jim and his brother and their bikes. They would ride them to work during the week and strip them for racing at the weekend.

Des continues his story:" A few weeks before the Darley Moor September 1st 1969 meeting, I got a phone call from George Ashton asking if he could ride my bike at the meeting, as he had fallen out with Agrati (the Garelli importer's). I said that as I already had a rider John Foot he would have to ask John.

George said he was very glad to hear that because that was the reason he had fallen out with Agrati as they had let Stuart Aspin ride his bike in the Irish Gran Prix without asking him, so he had ended up saying let Stuart ride the bike, and he would go and ride another bike. George then went on to say that my ltom was the only bike he had trouble in keeping in front of and said he had already asked John, and John had said yes he could as long as I agreed, so that is how George came to be riding my bike.

So we turned up at Darley, George never having ridden the bike before. Practice went fine George was very pleased with the bike, but when he came to the start of the race for some reason it would not start (I think George had flipped the battery switch off).

Anyhow, he was last off the grid and into the first corner, but by the time he got to the hairpin he was in the lead, he had gone from last to first in half a lap unfortunately he was carrying too much speed going in to the hairpin and ran on the bank on the way out, but there was a concrete post lying in the earth bank, and that put a great dent in the rim, and George ended up on the ground with the wheel so badly damaged he had to retire from the race, so ended our racing debut - a disaster!!.

Darley Moor 1-9-69

However it was not the end of our relationship and George rode for me many times as I developed, with Brian Woolley the Woolley-Bone Itom (More about this in another page). More about this in another page.

Three photographs that Andy sent to me: