Cotton 1964ca Telstar prod. racer 247cc 1 cyl TS 3603

Cotton 1964ca “Telstar” production racer 247cc Villiers “Starmaker” two stroke single

In the years after WWII Cotton left the triangulated frame principle and scored successes in moto-cross and road racing. Cotton’s Telstar road-racer made its debut in 1963 fitted with the then-new Villiers Starmaker engine. Designed by Bernard Hooper, the Starmaker was a purpose-built 68 x 68 competition engine and quite unlike anything Villiers had been producing hitherto. The new engine was first seen in moto-cross form in 1962, the road-race version appearing the following year in ‘clubman’s racers’ from Cotton and DMW. The higher compression ratio of 13:1 raised the power output to 32 hp @ 7500 rpm.
Derek Minter won the 1964 British 250cc championship on a Telstar, racing for the Cotton factory, and the Cotton proved competitive at national level races. Production ceased in 1968 when the supply of Villiers engines dried up, by which time around no more than 60 examples are believed to have been made.
In 1964 also a road-going version was introduced, the “Conquest”, of which 185 were constructed.
The road racing version of the engine unit was provided with a tachometer drive, plus an attachment to the timing side of the crankshaft that carried the ignition points in a separate bearing support that provided for better spark control for the ignition system at the higher engine speeds used for road racing. The Telstar has Armstrong leading link front suspension, alu cylinder and head, and 6-inch brake drums with two-leading front brake. The petrol tank is made of fibreglass and further specs include Dunlop WM 2 alu rims, racing tyres, Ceriani rear shocks and Kröber 10,000 rpm rev counter. This interesting British racer from the sixties has been part of a private collection for quite some time and some recommissioning will be at hand.