Les Archer Jr, son of, unsurprisingly, Les Archer, was perhaps destined for motorsport from the beginning, in 1929. Son of a racer and born in his grandfather’s garage in Farnham, England His earliest memories were of roaring engines and the smell of Castrol R.
As a teenager, he had his first taste of racing, and was third at the 1948 250cc Clubman’s TT, before his Manx GP bow later that year, which ended unsuccessfully; but he did win the Hutchison 100 on one of Joe Ehrlich’s EMCs.
Les competed in the FIM European motocross championship finishing in 10th-place in 1954, improving to 5th place in1955. He’s best known for winning the 1956 500cc European Motocross Championship on a highly modified Manx Norton, but also rode for the New Imperial factory at the 1947 Isle of Man TT, competed in the 1950 International Six Days Trial as a member of the British Army team, and was a member of the victorious British teams at the 1952 and 1953 Motocross des Nations events.
Archer was known for competing in long distance speed trials, road racing and scrambles (motocross), riding/racing/winning in Algiers, France, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Sweden and England. Off-road was his domain. “When I tried to catch Geoff Duke on the hard stuff I fell off but on the rough stuff he was no trouble, so I took that as a message!”
A crash on a borrowed Triumph-powered Rickman Metisse, resulting in a busted collarbone and finger, made him decide to call it a day after 21 years of racing. He retired to Spain to enjoy the rest of his 90 years.