Andrew French was among the best road racers of the 1960s and he endorsed this status during one of his career highlights, when he beat Mike Hailwood’s team-mate, the Swiss world champion Luigi Taveri.

The maestro Taveri was on a works four-cylinder Honda, during the 1965 post TT International at Mallory Park. Andrew was on a CR93 125 twin cylinder Honda (which he had purchased from American film and TV star Richard Wyler). The bike was simply not in the same league as Taveri’s machine and, as such, it created a classic ‘David and Goliath’ battle.

Born into a motorcycling family, Andrew’s father, ‘Froggy’ French was a pre-war grass track champion and a great friend and competitor of Stan Hailwood, father of the legendary Mike. My father used to tell me how his friend Bill had raced grass track with ‘Froggy’ French and Stan Hailwood, during the 1930s. Bill’s lifelong handicap of only having one leg, did not make any difference to his ability and I gained a lot of inspiration from both him and my father.

While running his own motorcycle business at the tender age of 18, Andrew got to know Jim and Barbara Pink, the Wallingford motorcycle dealers who raced motorcycles and sponsored many riders at the time. They sold him an Italian 50cc Itom racer which seized up in his first race but gave him a win in the second event and a subsequent passion for the sport thereafter.

After a few races in 1963, he decided to step up a class and with the help of his father, bought the CR93 125 Honda. He tried a couple of club races with it and finished second each time behind Rod Scivyer, who later became British champion.

As the two friends were streets ahead of the opposition, Andrew decided that national and international racing would offer the best way to gain experience by competing with the best riders in the world at the time.

Andrew also had the honour of beating another well known works rider, Derek Woodman, who rode for the East German MZ factory. This victory at Brands Hatch in 1965, was recorded for posterity in a chapter dedicated to Andrew’s achievement in Mick Walker’s book Japanese Production Racing Motorcycles (Redline Books, 2003. ISBN: 0954435702).

During 1965, the lure of the Isle of Man was too much to resist and his entry for the September Manx Grand Prix was made riding a 250cc Aermacchi Ala D’Oro. Unfortunately the Manx was a disaster — the Aermacchi had many problems, culminating in a crank pin breaking on a fast left-hander going around the mountain section of the 37.75 mile circuit. Although as a complete ‘rookie’ on his first acquaintance with the TT course (having managed to complete only one lap without problems), he still qualified in 12th place. Unfortunately he had not completed the prerequisite number of full laps and was unable to take part in the race.

A bad accident while dicing with the British champion, Jim Curry, at Brands Hatch at the end of the 1965 season, gave him time to consider his future. Motorcycle racing was not a lucrative sport and having got married in 1966, it was time to press on with a career.

But the sport was always in the blood and throughout the years Andrew always had a motorcycle and among other things he won the long distance 24-hour Lands End Trial in 1979 on a Triumph Trophy 500.

With a certain amount of encouragement from David Lock, another friend and racing personality, he went to see a classic parade of racing motorcycles and was hooked on speed again. He bought a Ducati 350cc and then an Aermacchi, which he raced with the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club.

After another accident he decided to let the younger riders race his machines and eventually became interested in the Grand Prix Yamaha TZ250cc racers from the mid-1980s. Burning the midnight oil throughout the winter, they had many successes and wins with riders Mike Russell and Nigel Palmer. Competing in the International Classic Grand Prix series, ‘Team Froggy French’ won, with rider Eric Saul from France in 2007, and in 2008 the team riders Eric Saul and Nigel Palmer are lying in first and second places and are unbeatable for the European Championship title this year — a real French Revolution again!

My own memory of meeting Andrew French for the first time was in 1966, when I was 17. My father and I visited his showroom in Park End Street, with the intention of purchasing a 250 Royal Enfield Continental GT. The only problem was the cost of the fully comprehensive insurance, which was £35. His CR93 Honda and the 250 Aermacchi were in the window for sale. Today, Andrew is a regular correspondent for Classic Racer magazine, a highly recommended read.

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