100-year-old racer Les Harris leads a final lap from a ute, surrounded by family and fellow riders.
NZME’s On The Up is a national campaign showcasing amazing stories of inspiration, success, courage and possibilities. Today, journalist Danielle Zollickhofer talks to motorcycle racer Leslie Harris, who is still out on the track at age 100.
It is almost quiet at Taupō International Motorsport Park – lunchtime break for the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Racing Register – but somebody in front of pit garage 14 is causing a bit of a buzz.
A crowd of people are gathered around a black Ford Ranger, cameras and phones out, and some of them have a felt pen and their event programme in their hands in anticipation of an autograph.
Harris turned 100 at the end of February, just weeks after competing at the APS Classic Festival in Manfeild in the regularity class for the most consistent lap time.
Unfortunately, Harris is too unwell on this day in Taupō to ride his beloved 1950 BSA Bantam 175, but that doesn’t stop him from going out on the track – it just has to be on the back of a ute.
Sitting in a camping chair, dressed in his racing leathers and helmet, one hand on the Bantam next to him, Harris watches a group of more than 10 racers, including his sons Rod and Tim and his granddaughter Olivia, follow him around the track.
He looks right in his element, but at times, there is a glimpse of regret shining through – one can tell he wishes he were on two wheels instead of four.
Born in Te Awamutu and growing up on the Harris family dairy farm in Pokuru, Harris had to overcome a few challenges in his youth.
He was a sickly child, suffering from pleurisy, pneumonia, appendicitis, undiagnosed dairy and gluten intolerance, and dyslexia.
On the Up: Leslie Harris is still racing motorbikes at 100 years of age. He was crowned the world's oldest still competing motorcycle racer (male) by Guinness World Records at the age of 97. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
“I ... couldn’t handle school learning. I was always at the top of the class – at the wrong end. Leaving education with no School Certificate, I made my way by observing, listening and taking my time with literature,” Harris says.
“You have to be determined ... At one point, I couldn’t see a future for myself, but then I got into motorbikes and [country] music. I taught myself how to play the harmonica and button accordion.
“Motorbikes and music are the reason why I am still going at 100 ... [although] I don’t really feel like I’m 100.”
Leslie Harris was born in Te Awamutu and is now living in Auckland. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
He says another secret to his longevity is keeping active and following a healthy diet.
“It’s the same with motorbikes – you gotta look after your chassis and put in the right fuel.”
He says he doesn’t remember how his love for motorbikes – or things with wheels in general – started, but believes it must be in his blood. His grandfather was a wheelwright.
When he learned that his father’s close friend and mechanic Clive Langmuir raced Harley-Davidsons in grass paddocks in his spare time, Harris became hooked – much to the disappointment of his father, Sydney.
Les Harris' granddaughter Olivia giving her poppy a boost before he goes on the track. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
“He said if I ever brought a motorbike home, he’d kick me off the farm.”
That didn’t bother 18-year-old Harris, though, because he didn’t like farming anyway.
He says he talked Langmuir into bringing a motorcycle home – and to talk his father down. From that moment, “I was bitten by the motorcycle bug.”
His first motorbike (of roughly 50 that he would own over the next 80 years) was a 350cc 1926 New Imperial.
He gathered some initial racing experience on grass tracks in Ōhakea and surrounding districts in 1953, before his first official race entry at the Whanganui Cemetery Circuit.
He entered the junior clubman’s class and ended up finishing third, despite having little experience.
Harris eventually escaped from the family farm and went to the South Island, where he made a living doing anything but farming: working at the freezing works, in the ship docks and driving trucks.
And he continued racing. One of his most treasured memories is from a grass track race meet in Timaru.
“I bought a Norton Dominator off my friend, and we raced against each other. I beat him on his old bike.”
After an accident in Foxton in 1954, he stopped racing to focus on his family of seven and his first wife, Annie. Together, they won the tender for the refuse collection in Waihī and Thames.
Les Harris at Manfeild Circuit in February 2025. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Following the marriage’s end after 26 years, Harris kept himself busy. He built a house, started socialising in the Variety Artists Club and eventually remarried singer and entertainment agent Mary Throll.
Harris also bought a trailerload of Bantam motorbike pieces to restore.
He wasn’t too fussed about the model – he mainly bought it because it was cheap.
But he soon fell in love with it, saying it made for “fantastic riding”, and he also broke several Bantam speed records.
He competes with the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Racing Register and, at the age of 93, won a trophy for the most consistent lap time.
After a visit to Cemetery Circuit in 2022, the first since 1953, Harris was adamant he was going to win the trophy back.
Poor health prevented Les Harris from competing at the NZCMRR race meet in Taupō last month. But he still went around the track with his BSA Bantam – on the back of a ute. About 10 family members and supporters followed the ute. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
His son Tim jokingly said it would make him the world’s oldest racer and suggested making the feat official.
At the Classic Festival at Pukekohe in 2023, Guinness World Records certified that Les, aged 97, was indeed the oldest competitive motorcycle racer (male).
