It’s not often a member of the trade sits down to write a book. Engine tuner and former dealer Stan Stephens, however, has cleared the bench to raise the literary exhaust port on an amazingly crazy lifestyle.
The 338-page hardback rips into top gear and never slows down. He lets nothing get in his way. For example, driving back from a party with his wife in her Mini he found himself heading the wrong way into London’s Blackwell Tunnel.
“I thought that the best idea was to go as fast as possible, that way we would meet fewer cars!” he writes in Stan Stephens: The Autobiography. “I stayed in the fast lane going the wrong way and held my nerve as cars came towards us swerving to miss us.”
Awaiting him at the end of the tunnel was a road block, but there was a gap just big enough for the Mini to slip through, so he stayed on the gas and headed into the night. But at other times his wings were clipped – slightly – by four bans.
His racing career on two and three wheels included several trips to hospital. So he started to sponsor riders and his tally amounts to helping more than 160 competitors.
Renowned for his two-stroke tuning, when the stroker phase began to dwindle, he moved on to four-strokes. He started by turning a single-cylinder Yamaha trail plodder into a TT winner, Jim Moodie winning the supermono TT races in 1994 and 1996 on it.
The Stephens sense of humour and fun permeates the book and has obviously been instrumental in getting him through the hard times that faces any businessman and injured rider. You will be amazed that he has reached his 68th year after all the scrapes and business ventures he has been through.
In a magazine Q&A session answers to two questions sum up the man and his passion
Q: Are you troubled by guilt?
A: Definitely not.
Q: What is your ideal breakfast?
A: Swarf.
Next year Stephens (featured BDN October 2010) celebrates 50 years in the trade. He’s still working on two-stroke engine preparation from his home workshop for selected customers, and has just taken up playing the bass guitar.
His self-published book costs £16 plus £3 postage.
Stan Stephens
01732 760337
[email protected]
www.stanstephens.com.
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