Bradford Motor Club's Artie Ratcliffe, who has died aged 83 in an Isle of Man nursing home
Former Bradford international trials motorcyclist Artie Ratcliffe has died in an Isle of Man nursing home aged 83.
The passing of the Bradford Motor Club member marks the end of an era in British motor-cycle manfacturing.
A winner of the Scottish Six Days Trial – the Scott Trial – in 1957 and the inaugural Manx Two-Day Trial in 1955, plus countless national events, Ratcliffe retired from competition in the sixties.
He was riding Triumph factory machines at a time when the Japanese were making inroads into the British bike market.
Ratcliffe’s career spanned two decades. He also rode factory- owned and prepared AJS machines and moved to the Isle of Man, where his hobbies included bee-keeping and mineral mining.
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