He was Britain’s most versatile racer for almost three decades, winning on roads, short circuits, speedway and flat track. We grab a sandwich with the unstoppable Pete Boast
Pete Boast is surely Britain’s most multi-talented racer.He got top tens in British Superbikes, out-qualified Joey at the TT, raced professionally as a speedway rider, took British and European flat-track titles and won at ice speedway. But it’s the TT that’s always been his biggest love, despite having the most stressful debut imaginable.
“It was like something out of a George Formby film,” he says, sipping tea in the British Superbike pit garage of his young protégé Franco Bourne. “Looking back at it now, it was unbelievable. It started when I got sponsored by a bloke called Andy Farrer, who was a big Ducati man. He’d bought a Formula 2 rolling chassis off Tony Rutter and put his own engine in it. It wasn’t the best motor, but I got some top three and fours [on short circuits], so I thought I’d do the TT on it.
“The first race was the Formula 1 in 1985, but I hadn’t got a bike for that, so I thought I’d just use the Ducati to get a few laps in. The night before the race, Andy says he needs to drop the engine out to check it. He strips the motor, then says he’s off to the pub for a pint while we [Pete and his dad] clean a few bits.
“But he never comes back. Me and my dad are looking at this engine, with its Desmo valves, thinking: ‘How the hell are we going to rebuild this?’ But we had no choice and by 2am we’ve finished it. Or we think we have. We decide to leave starting it until the morning.
“Of course, it won’t start. We’re pushing the thing up and down pit lane and Andy turns up – he’d got hammered, met a girl and forgotten about us – and says: ‘You’ve got the belt timing wrong, you’ll have to drop the engine out’.
“By now I’ve got my leathers on and it’s about 20 minutes till the start. Dad tells me to go to the control tower and ask for permission to start from the back. By the time I’ve sorted that, bikes are lining up on Glencrutchery Road.
“As we work on the motor, we can hear bikes going off down Bray Hill. It’s my first TT – you can imagine the state I’m in. Eventually, we push it and it fires up and there are literally five bikes left on the grid. I jump on the bike, ride onto the grid, ignoring some ACU bloke trying to stop me – I’m having none of that – and am the last bike
