Barry Sheene’s Seeley-Suzuki TR500 – Hitting A Restoration Jackpot

No such fear this year thankfully, and the bike paddocks are bristling with angry looking race bikes ready to show their four-wheeled cousins what’s what about this going fast around a motor circuit lark.

One bike that immediately catches our eye is a stunning Seeley-Suzuki TR500 glistening in the spring sunshine, as its owner Terence Williams lovingly polishes up its already shining fuel tank. A tank which is adorned with the name of Mr Barry Sheene himself. A Goodwood favourite, and a man, nay, a giant of the bike world, who the entire two-wheeled paddock will be honouring this weekend.

For regular eagle-eyed readers of GRR, you’ll notice we’ve talked about this beautiful Seeley-Suzuki TR500 before, when it made an appearance at the 2018 Festival of Speed; we delved into its illustrious racing career and list of exceptional achievements. But forgive us, as after talking to Terence, we had to share more details about what must be one of the best restoration/barn-find stories we’ve ever heard.

“The reason I own this bike is because of my son. He spent his 18^th birthday getting his racing licence at Brands Hatch. He was keen on getting into racing so I went to see an old friend of mine who used to race in the ‘70s and ‘80s to get some hints and tips. 

I popped in to see him and he said, ‘oh I've still got my old bike up in the loft in bits' and he wanted to get rid of it as he didn't have the time to put back into it”.

The bike in question was the Seeley-Suzuki stood here in front of us, and today, it’s hard to believe it used to live a part of its life broken down into some cardboard boxes.

“I went home and told my son about it, and immediately he was on his phone researching and looking at photos, and he sounded very keen. Despite having no real time to commit to restoring another bike, I thought it might be a nice thing to do together, because by the time they are 18, they don't really want to know you anymore!”

With renewed interest, and a will to keep his son knocking about the place a bit longer, Terence returned to his friend to purchase the box of bits, not expecting much more than a fun project for his son.

“We were loading the parts into my van, and my friend said, 'oh yeah, look at this'. He picked up the engine, gave it a wipe and it had ‘Barry’ engraved across the back of the engine. He said 'Yep, Barry Sheene has ridden this bike. I don't know much of its history, but I met him once and he confirmed in 1981 that it was one of his bikes. It was the bike he first beat Agostini on”.

At his point, most bike or restoration fans would probably be doing cartwheels down the street, if they were still conscious, yet somehow Terence made it home in one piece. And talking to him, you get a real sense of the responsibility and pride he feels for owning this incredible example of motorcycle history.

Once the box of bits was home and safe with Terence, it was now time to dig deeper into the possible history and try to confirm its famous connection. And who better than Colin Seeley, the famous rolling chassis designer whose name is forever associated with some of the periods fastest racing bikes.

“Luckily, a friend of mine stays in touch with Colin Seeley, and he offered to get Colin to check out the frame numbers and the history of the bike. A week or so later I got a letter back from Colin, saying how sad it was to see a bike with such an illustrious career in pieces”. 

And there was Terence’s confirmation. Following this letter from Colin, he spent two further years researching and restoring the bike to exactly the spec it was when Barry had ridden it.

“As it turns out, this bike is one of the most successful bikes of his career. For the World Championships in 76' and 77' he only had to win six races. On this, he won 26 races, four track records, beat Agostini, and used it in a lot of the Formula 750 races for the Championship which he won”. 

“It's one of the most important bikes of Barry Sheene's career which no one knows about. If you read all the books, they all skirt over this period of his career, and no one seems to talk about it, so I feel like the luckiest man in the world. Chancing across this bike because my son fancied a go at classic bike racing. It’s incredible”.

“I loved restoring it. It's the last year that he worked on his bikes himself. Both him and his dad. There are so many marks and bodges that you can still see on the bike. It has Barry's personal input and touch all over it”. 

Sadly, the bike won’t be racing this weekend, as Terence understandably, wants to keep it safe and sound and out of any racing trouble after such an intense restoration period. But he will be starting up the wasp-like, tuned-up 2-stroke throughout the weekend, which will be a treat in itself.

Looking at the bike in the Saturday sunshine, Terence and his son should feel vindicated in the blood, sweat and tears which have been put into building this iconic piece of racing history back to its former glories, and we’d like to think, Barry himself will be enjoying all the attention his old favourite is receiving from fans and racers alike.

Photography by James Lynch.