For ten years it was left to rack and-ruin in his cellar – now it is back in pristine condition.

Phil Petty has completed a nuts and bolts restoration of his treasured Yamaha 350LC, once used as his boyracer runabout and then abandoned.

The bike – which took Phil, an engineer, two years to complete with the help of friends Gary Parker and Ian Lennie – has just won an award for its re-build at an international bike show in Stafford.

The 1982 model was the best Japanese-manufactured bike entered in the 31st Carole Nash International Classic Bike Show.

Phil, who rides a Yamaha R1 for pleasure, bought the 350cc motorcycle for £1,100 about 20 years ago. The restored “classic” is now worth about £6,000.

“When I got the prize I went numb – I was so ecstatic. It was the first time I had entered a show,” said Phil, 47, of Long Lee, Keighley.

“Since the award, I haven’t had it out on the road again.”

The prize was the reward for a painstaking restoration, which included sourcing every part from nuts and bolts upwards.

He spent hours scanning the internet and combing ebay for the parts, many of which were no longer manufactured.

“It was a long job and very intense. It’s not like a book which you can pick up and put down – this is constant. It’s a passion – you could say an obsession,” he said.

And he can’t shake off the bug. Phil is now in the middle of another restoration of the 350cc’s little brother, a Yamaha RD 125 LC.