Chas Mortimer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Charles Mortimer (born 14 April 1949) is an English former professional motorcycle short-circuit road racer and race-school instructor. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world championships from 1969 to 1979. [1] He remains the only competitor to have won FIM Grand Prix races in the 125, 250, 350, 500 and 750 world championship classes. [2]
Born in Shere, Surrey, UK, Mortimer is the son of Charles Mortimer Senior, a former motorcycle road racer and proprietor of the Charles Mortimer Race School based at Brands Hatch race circuit, Kent. The school was originally named in 1963 as the Beart-Mortimer racing school, with engine tuner Francis Beart being a partner to Mortimer Senior which ended in 1965 due to Beart's other business involvements. [3] From 1966 the venues included Cadwell Park, Silverstone and Mallory Park. [4] [5]
Mortimer began racing in 1965 on a Greeves Silverstone as used by the race school. [6] At 18 years of age in 1967, Mortimer was one of the school's instructors, with Paul Smart being another. Both were competitive riders sponsored by Charles Senior, riding from a stable of machines consisting of RDS Greeves 250s, a Bultaco 125 and an Aermacchi 350. [7] He competed for most of his career as a privateer riding Yamaha motorcycles. When Mortimer won the 1972 500cc Spanish Grand Prix on a Yamaha, it marked the first 500cc Grand Prix victory for the Japanese manufacturer. [2] He had his best Grand Prix season in 1973 when he finished second to Kent Andersson in the 125cc world championship. [1] Mortimer also competed successfully at the Isle of Man TT, with eight victories at the event. [8] [9] In 1976, he won the Macau Grand Prix.
In the 1970s Mortimer operated a race school and ran a business in Reading, Berkshire importing motorcycle parts . [10] [11] As of 2013 he is running a transportation company specialising in transportation of motorcycles. [6] His brother Robin Mortimer had a long career in motor sport. When he died in 2007, he was manager of RPM Motorsport with his son Alex as driver in GT class. [12]
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Points | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Points | Rank | Wins |
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1969 | 125cc | Villa | ESP - | GER - | FRA - | IOM NC | NED - | BEL - | DDR - | CZE - | FIN 6 | NAT - | YUG - | 5 | 32nd | 0 | ||
250cc | Yamaha | ESP - | GER - | FRA - | IOM NC | NED - | BEL - | DDR - | CZE - | FIN 9 | ULS 5 | NAT - | YUG - | 8 | 22nd | 0 | ||
1970 | 125cc | Villa | GER - | FRA - | YUG - | IOM NC | NED - | BEL 6 | DDR - | CZE - | FIN - | NAT - | ESP - | 5 | 31st | 0 | ||
250cc | Yamaha | GER 3 | FRA - | YUG 7 | IOM 4 | NED - | BEL 8 | DDR - | CZE 6 | FIN - | ULS - | NAT - | ESP - | 30 | 6th | 0 | ||
350cc | Yamaha | GER 3 | YUG 8 | IOM NC | NED - | DDR - | CZE 10 | FIN 10 | ULS - | NAT - | ESP - | 15 | 15th | 0 | ||||
1971 | 125cc | Yamaha | AUT - | GER 7 | IOM 1 | NED 5 | BEL 5 | DDR - | CZE 7 | SWE - | FIN 6 | NAT - | ESP 2 | 48 | 5th | 1 | ||
250cc | Yamaha | AUT - | GER - | IOM NC | NED 5 | BEL 5 | DDR 7 | CZE 4 | SWE - | FIN 4 | ULS - | NAT - | ESP 3 | 42 | 8th | 0 | ||
1972 | 125cc | Yamaha | GER 2 | FRA 2 | AUT - | NAT 2 | IOM 1 | YUG 2 | NED - | BEL 2 | DDR 2 | CZE 2 | SWE 3 | FIN - | ESP 2 | 87 | 3rd | 1 |
250cc | Yamaha | GER 7 | FRA - | AUT 5 | NAT - | IOM 14 | YUG - | NED - | BEL - | DDR - | CZE - | SWE - | FIN - | ESP 4 | 18 | 14th | 0 | |
350cc | Yamaha | GER - | FRA - | AUT - | NAT - | IOM NC | YUG - | NED - | DDR - | CZE - | SWE - | FIN - | ESP - | 0 | - | 0 | ||
500cc | Yamaha | GER - | FRA - | AUT - | NAT - | IOM - | YUG 2 | NED 5 | BEL - | DDR 5 | CZE - | SWE 8 | FIN - | ESP 1 | 42 | 6th | 1 | |
1973 | 125cc | Yamaha | FRA - | AUT - | GER - | NAT - | IOM - | YUG 2 | NED 3 | BEL 3 | CZE 2 | SWE 3 | FIN 5 | ESP 1 | 75 | 2nd | 1 | |
250cc | Yamaha | FRA 7 | AUT 3 | GER - | IOM - | YUG 5 | NED 5 | BEL 7 | CZE - | SWE 10 | FIN - | ESP 3 | 40 | 6th | 0 | |||
500cc | Yamaha | FRA - | AUT - | GER - | IOM - | YUG - | NED - | BEL - | CZE - | SWE - | FIN - | ESP 4 | 8 | 24th | 0 | |||
1974 | 250cc | Yamaha | GER - | NAT - | IOM 3 | NED 6 | BEL - | SWE 4 | FIN - | CZE 8 | YUG 1 | ESP - | 41 | 6th | 1 | |||
350cc | Yamaha | FRA - | GER - | AUT 2 | NAT 5 | IOM NC | NED - | SWE 6 | FIN - | YUG - | ESP 5 | 29 | 5th | 0 | ||||
500cc | Yamaha | FRA 8 | GER - | AUT - | NAT - | IOM NC | NED - | BEL - | SWE - | FIN - | CZE 10 | 4 | 28th | 0 | ||||
1975 | 250cc | Yamaha | FRA 7 | ESP 4 | GER - | NAT - | IOM 1 | NED - | BEL 7 | SWE 10 | FIN - | CZE 8 | YUG 2 | 46 | 6th | 1 | ||
350cc | Yamaha | FRA - | ESP - | AUT - | GER 7 | NAT 8 | IOM 2 | NED 9 | FIN - | CZE - | YUG 3 | 31 | 6th | 0 | ||||
500cc | Yamaha | FRA - | AUT - | GER - | NAT - | IOM 3 | NED - | BEL - | SWE - | FIN 4 | CZE 6 | 23 | 11th | 0 | ||||
1976 | 250cc | Yamaha | FRA 12 | NAT 4 | YUG 5 | IOM 3 | NED - | BEL - | SWE 5 | FIN - | CZE - | GER 10 | ESP 12 | 31 | 7th | 0 | ||
350cc | Yamaha | FRA - | AUT 8 | NAT - | YUG 2 | IOM 1 | NED 3 | FIN 4 | CZE 4 | GER - | ESP Ret | 54 | 3rd | 1 | ||||
500cc | Yamaha | FRA 13 | AUT - | NAT - | IOM NC | NED - | BEL 7 | SWE 3 | FIN - | CZE 9 | GER 9 | 16 | 14th | 0 | ||||
1977 | 250cc | Yamaha | VEN - | GER - | NAT - | ESP - | FRA - | YUG - | NED - | BEL 13 | SWE 6 | FIN 15 | CZE - | GBR - | 5 | 27th | 0 | |
350cc | Yamaha | VEN - | GER - | NAT 10 | ESP 14 | FRA - | YUG - | NED 12 | SWE - | FIN 12 | CZE - | GBR - | 1 | 36th | 0 | |||
1978 | 250cc | Yamaha | VEN - | ESP 10 | FRA 7 | NAT - | NED - | BEL - | SWE 8 | FIN - | GBR - | GER 7 | CZE - | YUG - | 12 | 18th | 0 | |
1979 | 250cc | Yamaha | VEN 9 | GER - | NAT - | ESP - | YUG - | NED - | BEL 2 | SWE - | FIN - | GBR - | CZE - | FRA - | 14 | 13th | 0 | |
1984 | 250cc | Yamaha | RSA 23 | NAT - | ESP - | AUT - | GER - | FRA - | YUG - | NED - | BEL - | GBR - | SWE - | RSM - | 0 | - | 0 | |
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