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Classic Contender
Dave Cole has been a stalwart of the NZ racing scene for over 20 years, but the last few years his racetrack duels have been aboard classic machinery. We caught up with him before he, Ross Graham and his McIntyre G50 replica depart for Europe for a series of classic events.
For those that have the pleasure of meeting, raced against or had work done on a bike by Dave Cole, they will know that he’s a modest man to say the least. The Waiuku resident is holder of many track records in NZ and Australia on classic machinery and is a highly respected mechanic and mentor to up-and-coming stars Sam Smith (2007 600cc Sport Production champion) and Jayden Hassan, although you’d never know it thanks to his self effacing nature – Dave Cole is possibly the most modest achiever in New Zealand motorcycling. In a career spanning over two decades, the specialist mechanic has won three NZ Formula 2 titles aboard a range of bikes (TZ250, Ducati 748, YZF600) and a 600cc Sports Production Championship, all while preparing other riders’ bikes to perfection both for dealers and as an independent specialist. However, over the last eight years it has been racing classic machinery that’s kept him at the race track.
Now at the ripe old age of 40, Cole’s career has origins as humble as the man himself. Growing up in the little town of Eketahuna, after leaving school he started an apprenticeship at Valley Honda (now Carian Honda) in Pahiatua (he stared racing around the same time), before moving to Auckland a couple of years out of his time to work for Bob Haldane at Haldane Motorcycles in 1991.
"I stayed there for 11 years and then got sick of commuting from Waiuku into the city, so thought I would start my own gig. So pretty much I have my own workshop set up at home and just contract work from there.”
Thanks to his racing accomplishments and relationship with former Yamaha NZ National Service Manager, Phil Winter (he won his first National title on a TZ250 and two more on a YZF600, before riding a R1 in 1998) Cole gained a lot of work from Yamaha on top of his loyal Ducati customer base, which he developed during his time at Haldanes (being a Ducati/Yamaha dealer at the time). He now spends half his working time on Ducati road bikes and the other half preparing race and press bikes for Yamaha NZ, although being a mechanic he doesn’t just do engine work.
“I like to focus on the whole bike. Engine work is quite satisfying, preparing engines and seeing the before and after effects, but I like to be able to set up a complete package. I pretty much do anything.”
Cole’s racing career emulated his professional career and shortly after staring his own business in 2002 he made the transition from F2 to classics, after an offer from long-standing classic motorcycle bike builder Ross Graham to ride his Matchless G50.
“I had pretty much been spending everything I earned for that whole period of time on racing and just thought it was time to settle down a bit and focus on other areas. Ross Graham sort of offered me a ride on his G50 classic bike that year. Ken McIntosh had been trying to get me to ride on one of his bikes a few years before that. But I didn’t want to ride a classic bike while I was riding modern bikes. I wanted to separate them because I thought I would have a bit of trouble getting my head around the gear change on the wrong side and having no brakes and stuff, but as it turns out it was a pretty painless transition. The first classic race I competed in I won and have been riding for Ross ever since.”
And the pair have been a winning duo ever since too, with an impressive four Australian classic titles and a slew of track records (Phillip Island, Eastern Creek, Barbagallo, Winton, Macnamara Park and Symmons Plains) to their credit. Cole describes their relationship as one in which they both work well together. “He’s up with the play on technology and does all the bike prep himself, so I just get to just show up and ride for a change.” Cole still remembers vividly the first time he rode one of Graham’s bikes.
“The first major meeting was when George Beale brought over the InCA bikes (International Classic Association). There was a heap of guys come over from Europe, with hotrod 500 replica things that weighed nothing for the Classic Festival. So basically (New Zealand) 500 owners wanted some younger riders to ride their bikes. Jason McEwen was riding one of Ken’s bikes, Tony Rees and Steve Bridge were also riding Manx bikes and I was riding Ross Graham’s G50 Matchless. There was a bunch of us trying to take on these hotshot Europeans.
“Well, Tony’s bikes blew up, Jason’s bike blew up, so it was just me and Steve Bridge left behind. We got a couple of podiums. But since then, Ross has always been changing stuff with the bike, making the suspension better, the engine has been slowly getting better, gearboxes, brakes, etc. The current bike is a Macintyre G50 replica, based on a 1961 bike that Bob Macintyre built and raced. It’s a pretty good package.”
So good a package in fact it’s been pretty much the same for the last few Australian meetings and this year’s Classic Festival at Pukekohe where Cole raced against a few past legends including Hugh Anderson and former 500cc word champion Kevin Schwantz, although a few changes were required to keep him on the pace as he recalls. “We did start out with a G50 chassis and then the Macintyre G50 as well. But we ended up riding the G50 on Saturday and the Macintyre on Sunday because the G50 is a bit heavier and it didn’t stop, and I didn’t quite handle it good. To try and get a bit closer to Kevin, we needed to try something else, so we rode the Macintyre.
“I did underestimate him a little bit, which was a bit naive on my part, because every time he jumped on that thing (Ken McIntosh’s Manx Norton), he was faster and faster and faster. When I thought I had the answer to him, he stepped it up a bit more. He was quite cunning.” The racing between the two was so tight at one point they had a coming together at the end of the back straight.
“I was covering my line coming into the hairpin, I was going in quite tight which ended up making me quite slow mid-turn and I exited the corner mid-track. Kevin was coming through in a big sweep and got a better drive out than I did and we had a little touch, which caused a bit of humour. We were parked next to each other in the pits and chatting the whole weekend and winding each other up. He’s a real awesome guy.”
Four months down the track from that memorable weekend, Cole (accompanied by his wife Sue, Daughter Georgia, and of course Ross Graham and his wife Carmel), are off to Europe to compete in five events over a six-week stint, the first of which is the Bob McIntyre Memorial on June 13 at East Fortune - a little circuit about 10 miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland. Two weeks after that, the team armed with their McIntyre G50 and 350cc AJS 7R head to Donington Park for the Classic Revival, a similar event to our own Classic Festival at Pukekohe, followed by Cadwell Park the following week for a bit of a low key club racing before making their way to Brands Hatch the week after. Finally it’s over the North Sea to Belgium to do Chimay, a very fast road circuit that is 9.45km per lap and has been hosting motorcycle racing for over 75 years – “I told Ross we might need a fairing for that one, but we couldn’t fit it in the box!” Of all the events planned, one in particular holds a special interest for Cole.
“Donington, because it’s a pretty big affair, and it’s a circuit I’ve always wanted to have a crack at, but never thought I would get the opportunity. But saying that, racing is the same deal everywhere and after Pukekohe where I was banging fairings with Kevin Schwantz; it’ll still be just a race.
Cole’s biggest competition will come from Lea Gourlay who he reckons everything Gourlay rides historic bike-wise he wins on. Gourlay usually rides a Summerfield Manx but at Chimay he runs a Paton 500, a 500cc twin cylinder pumping out over 70hp, which Cole reckons will be a bit of hard work.
“I like to think our bikes are good enough to compete with any equivalent over there, so it’s just up to me to learn the tracks. But we will just rock up and have a crack at it.”
It’s not all racing for the Coles when they get to Europe, Dave and his wife breed Highland cattle (big-horned, hairy coos - Fraser) at their Waiuku property. “Yeah, we are hoping to do a bit of ticky touring around, have a good look around Scotland. The big Royal Show is on one of the weekends we have off, so we’ll go have a look at that and check out some cows. Hopefully maybe midweek, we will jump on a plane and spend a couple of days in Italy.”
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