If race bikes are motorcycling in its purest form, speedway machines must be akin to holy water. They have no brakes, just one gear, and drink neat methanol.
They?re also rather squashed-looking machines, with stubby hardtails and forks raked steeper than the most extreme sportbike. But this creation from England?s Wreckless Motorcycles is a thing of strange beauty.

The unusual story starts with Wreckless founder Rick Geall, who has a passion for oddball two-wheelers and is probably the only man to ever customize an Aprilia Moto 6.5.
In the 1970s, teenage Rick went to Denmark on holiday with his family. ?I got hooked on speedway,? he reveals. ?Riders like Ivan Mauger, Peter Collins and Denmark?s own Ole Olesen were dominating the sport, winning multiple world titles.?
Fast forward forty years, and Rick finds himself in possession of a rather pretty 450cc Ducati single?the sought after Desmo version.
?It was in of a jumble of vintage Ducati parts from the early 1970s. I said to Iain, my collaborator in Wreckless: ?I want to build a speedway bike?.?

Iain, despite questioning Rick?s sanity and knowing little about speedway, tracked down a vintage race frame and swingarm from the same era as the Ducati engine.
?It?s a Jawa, we believe,? says Rick. ?It competed at some point, but we don?t have the specific history of it.? Iain started altering the frame to accept the motor and create a rolling chassis.

Things moved slowly as Wreckless focused on their core business...