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Hi Andrew,
Yes you are right. Mike Erskine was an unusual combination of an ex Eton turned speedway champion !! After he became a member of the Wembly Speedway team and achieved major success up to national level.
He had a radiator factory in Southampton in the 1940s repairing and new build so he had the facilities. When he felt that the standard speedway bikes didn't suit him he designed his own to suit his build. This was when he started to win regularly up to national level.
Other riders noticed his 'bespoke' bike and started to ask if he would build one to suit them - and made a killing using brazed Renold 531 tube in his Southampton workshops.
In about 1951 he had a couple of bad speedway accidents and retired to build more bikes, but wanted to keep in a competitive sport and found the 500 cc F3 cars.
Here again he felt the cars he tried out could be bettered so with the help of the designer from Keift Cars who had just redesigned a car for Sterling Moss that had been very successful, they came up with the Staride Car....he built about 10.....Clive.
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