The ex-works, Dave Croxford, 1971 Seeley 499cc G50 Mark 4 Racing Motorcycle

Frame no. MK4 CS EXP 152

• Prototype Seeley Mark 4
• Raced by Dave Croxford during the 1971 season
• Present ownership since circa 2009
• Fully restored 2009-2011
• Offered from an important private collection


Many-times British sidecar champion Colin Seeley bought Associated Motor Cycles' racing department when the company went into receivership in 1966. The previous year he had constructed the first Seeley racing frame to house a Matchless G50 engine, and the AMC purchase enabled him to produce complete Seeley G50 and 7R machines. With their improved frames, the ageing four-stroke singles enjoyed renewed competitiveness, Dave Croxford winning the British 500 Championship on a Seeley G50 in 1968 and '69.

"Our association with him over two years had been just brilliant," recalled Colin in the first volume of his autobiography Colin Seeley Racer ...and the rest. "Dave was a real trouper and an entertainment on and off track. He had achieved so much in two seasons, winning races, circuit titles and two British 500cc championships on his Seeleys. Croxford's contribution to the Seeley Racing Company was considerable."

The Seeley frame progressed from the duplex cradle original to the similar but lighter Mark 2 before the down-tubes were abandoned with the Mark 3, the headstock and swinging arm pivot of which were linked solely by tubes running diagonally above the engine. Introduced in May 1971, the Mark 4 featured a revised tubing layout and continued in production until 1973.

Having enjoyed what by his standards was a rather disappointing season riding Yamahas, Croxford returned to the Seeley team in time for the 1970 August Bank Holiday meeting at Oulton Park to ride the prototype Seeley-QUB and was back in the Colin Seeley Racing Developments team full time for 1971. His first race was at the Transatlantic Trophy meeting at Brands Hatch riding the prototype Mark 4, the machine offered here. Colin recalled: "For the 500 race Dave Croxford came to the line with my new Mk4 Seeley G50, painted in a striking colour scheme of red, orange and black." Croxford scored a sensational debut win on the new Mark 4, pipping Gus Kuhn's Charlie Sanby on another Seeley. However, by this time over-bored Yamahas were beginning to assert themselves in the 500 class and wins would be ever harder to come by. When Seeley and MRD (parent company of the Brabham Formula 1 team) agreed to merge at the end of 1971, the Seeley motorcycle racing team was stood down and Croxford was left unemployed, though he swiftly found another job as Peter Williams' team-mate at John Player Norton.

At the end of the 1971 season Seeley sold the prototype 500 Seeley G50 to Roger Winterburn, as confirmed by the original sales invoice (dated 13th November 1971) and Roger's 1995 letter to subsequent owner George Goldie, both of which are on file. The current vendor, a well known historic racer with an important private collection, purchased the Seeley circa 2009 and had it restored, including an engine rebuild over the next couple of years, with most of the work undertaken by Roger Titchmarsh. Since then this historic machine has been raced and paraded at various historic meetings, as evidenced by scrutineers' stickers to the fairing. Accompanying documentation consists of press cuttings, correspondence and bills.