Author Topic: Brian Cartwright Bridgestone 350 Race Bike  (Read 1182 times)

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Offline anthony c

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Brian Cartwright Bridgestone 350 Race Bike
« on: January 20, 2025, 08:09:07 PM »
In late 1968 Brian Cartwright had been running his Motorcycle Shop in Belfast for most of the sixties.

He had the local Agency for Bridgestone Motorcycles and thus had many dealings with Bill Smith - The UK Bridgestone importer.

Brian had been a road racer, but was retired several years at this point.

When he first had dealings with the 350 it occurred to him that the engine had a lot of potential for a race bike.

He contacted Bill Smith and soon had bought a brand new engine complete with ignition from Bill for the pricely some of 100 pounds sterling.

Brian had a 3/4 year old 250 Bultaco production racer in his shop that the 350 Bridgestone engine was to be fitted to.

This bike was built up over the winter of 68/69 ready for its first test run at Kirkistown in March of 69.

In those days this circuit was not locked and the Bridgestone and 3 people were there to test it. The circuit was otherwise empty. Brian Cartwright, Ivor Greenwood and Ronnie Weatherall

All 3 tried it out with Ronnie getting a little excited and failing to take the fast left hander and taking to the grass.

Ivor Greenwood had been calling to the shop through the winter to observe the bikes build and was dead keen to get the first race on the bike.

The first race meeting of the year was at Maghaberry, a local short circuit.

Ivor raced this meeting and indeed Ivor was dicing at the front of the field but eventually fell off due to an exhaust pipe strike on the ground.

The bike however had ran very well and showed a lot of potential.


Offline anthony c

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Next race up was the Leinster '200' on the 18th May 1969. This was a short circuit track " Mondello Park " in Southern Ireland.

Brian Cartwright finished 4th on the bike in the 350 class but had a very good start and arrived into the first bend leading the field. Bill Smith had past Brian Cartwright at some stage in the race to finish in the top 3. After they had stopped in the pit lane Bill and Brian had a conversation about how well the bike was going and Brian agreed to bring the bike up to the official Northwest 200 practice night - the following Thursday - for Bill to give it a try.

Bill rode two laps of the Northwest 200 before pulling in. The bike was over revving in top gear despite doing will over 130 mph. The bike was fitted with the tallest gear they could fit plus there was concern over whether the tank was big enough so Bill decided to stick to his honda race bike.

The clip below at 47 seconds in shows the start of the 350cc class at the 1969 Leinster '200'. The no 56 Bridgestone is seen making a very rapid start. Its a pity that this documentary on the Mondello Park circuit only put in a 2 second snippet of the start.




Photo of Bridgestone racing at the 1969 Cookstown 100 ridden by Brian Cartwright.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/202148737@N05/54287269196/in/photolist-2qHbrMW

« Last Edit: January 28, 2025, 11:26:46 AM by anthony c »

Offline anthony c

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Re: Brian Cartwright Bridgestone 350 Race Bike
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2025, 08:21:41 PM »
place holder

 


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