Chas Mortimer

Charles Summers 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. He remains the only competitor to have won FIM Grand Prix races in the 125, 250, 350, 500 and 750 world championship classes.

Motorcycle racing career

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. From 1966, the venues included Cadwell Park, Silverstone and Mallory Park.

Mortimer began racing in 1965 on a Greeves Silverstone as used by the race school. 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. He competed for most of his career as a privateer riding Yamaha motorcycles. When Mortimer won the 500cc Spanish Grand Prix on a Yamaha, it marked the first 500cc Grand Prix victory for the Japanese manufacturer. Mortimer also competed successfully at the Isle of Man TT, with eight victories at the event. 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 . As of 2013, he is running a transportation company specialising in transportation of motorcycles.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

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 125cc Villa ESP- GER- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN6 NAT- YUG- 5 32nd 0 250cc Yamaha ESP- GER- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN9 ULS5 NAT- YUG- 8 22nd 0 125cc Villa GER- FRA- YUG- IOMNC NED- BEL6 DDR- CZE- FIN- NAT- ESP- 5 31st 0 250cc Yamaha GER3 FRA- YUG7 IOM4 NED- BEL8 DDR- CZE6 FIN- ULS- NAT- ESP- 30 6th 0 350cc Yamaha GER3 YUG8 IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE10 FIN10 ULS- NAT- ESP- 15 15th 0 125cc Yamaha AUT- GER7 IOM1 NED5 BEL5 DDR- CZE7 SWE- FIN6 NAT- ESP2 48 5th 1 250cc Yamaha AUT- GER- IOMNC NED5 BEL5 DDR7 CZE4 SWE- FIN4 ULS- NAT- ESP3 42 8th 0 125cc Yamaha GER2 FRA2 AUT- NAT2 IOM1 YUG2 NED- BEL2 DDR2 CZE2 SWE3 FIN- ESP2 87 3rd 1 250cc Yamaha GER7 FRA- AUT5 NAT- IOM14 YUG- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP4 18 14th 0 350cc Yamaha GER- FRA- AUT- NAT- IOMNC YUG- NED- DDR- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP- 0 - 0 500cc Yamaha GER- FRA- AUT- NAT- IOM- YUG2 NED5 BEL- DDR5 CZE- SWE8 FIN- ESP1 42 6th 1 125cc Yamaha FRA- AUT- GER- NAT- IOM- YUG2 NED3 BEL3 CZE2 SWE3 FIN5 ESP1 75 2nd 1 250cc Yamaha FRA7 AUT3 GER- IOM- YUG5 NED5 BEL7 CZE- SWE10 FIN- ESP3 40 6th 0 500cc Yamaha FRA- AUT- GER- IOM- YUG- NED- BEL- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP4 8 24th 0 250cc Yamaha GER- NAT- IOM3 NED6 BEL- SWE4 FIN- CZE8 YUG1 ESP- 41 6th 1 350cc Yamaha FRA- GER- AUT2 NAT5 IOMNC NED- SWE6 FIN- YUG- ESP5 29 5th 0 500cc Yamaha FRA8 GER- AUT- NAT- IOMNC NED- BEL- SWE- FIN- CZE10 4 28th 0 250cc Yamaha FRA7 ESP4 GER- NAT- IOM1 NED- BEL7 SWE10 FIN- CZE8 YUG2 46 6th 1 350cc Yamaha FRA- ESP- AUT- GER7 NAT8 IOM2 NED9 FIN- CZE- YUG3 31 6th 0 500cc Yamaha FRA- AUT- GER- NAT- IOM3 NED- BEL- SWE- FIN4 CZE6 23 11th 0 250cc Yamaha FRA12 NAT4 YUG5 IOM3 NED- BEL- SWE5 FIN- CZE- GER10 ESP12 31 7th 0 350cc Yamaha FRA- AUT8 NAT- YUG2 IOM1 NED3 FIN4 CZE4 GER- ESPRet 54 3rd 1 500cc Yamaha FRA13 AUT- NAT- IOMNC NED- BEL7 SWE3 FIN- CZE9 GER9 16 14th 0 250cc Yamaha VEN- GER- NAT- ESP- FRA- YUG- NED- BEL13 SWE6 FIN15 CZE- GBR- 5 27th 0 350cc Yamaha VEN- GER- NAT10 ESP14 FRA- YUG- NED12 SWE- FIN12 CZE- GBR- 1 36th 0 250cc Yamaha VEN- ESP10 FRA7 NAT- NED- BEL- SWE8 FIN- GBR- GER7 CZE- YUG- 12 18th 0 250cc Yamaha VEN9 GER- NAT- ESP- YUG- NED- BEL2 SWE- FIN- GBR- CZE- FRA- 14 13th 0 250cc Yamaha RSA23 NAT- ESP- AUT- GER- FRA- YUG- NED- BEL- GBR- SWE- RSM- 0 - 0 Sources: