I was born and brought up in South Africa into a family with a strong interest in racing motorcycles and engineering. My father had his own engineering business in South Africa as well as in the UK; so when I was 14 the family moved to England. When I finished my education here, I went to work in the family engineering business which continued until it closed in 1976, mainly due to motorcycle racing taking priority.

My first involvement with motorbikes and in particular racing motorcycles was a 350KTT which my father Doug Aldridge acquired. I was lucky enough to be involved from a very early age, as my Dad had a succession of Norton's and Bultaco’s, on which he sponsored many riders; mostly South African.

My first taste of success in racing was at 16 years of age preparing the Bultaco on which John Samways won the 1967 clubmans championship. I tried my hand at racing in the early 70's firstly with a 500 Manx and then a TR2B Yamaha but with no success.

Kork Ballington then arrived to stay with my family. My time as a racer was up when I was easily outpaced by Kork who was on an elderly 250 Bultaco while I tried like hell on the 350 Yamaha... I then turned to being a mechanic and spent the rest of the year helping Kork prepare his bikes.

I was still running the family engineering business but also helped Kork with preparation of his bikes at all events in the UK during the year. With the closure of the family business in 1976 I then became involved with car racing and spent the year working in both types of racing.

In 1977 I decided I a would set up as a full time GP mechanic and started with Alex George at the Swedish GP. It did not work out for personal reasons, but it did put me in contact with Jon Ekerold and I was then assured of a job at the start of 1978.

Being full time mechanic to Jon Ekerold was hard work, but rewarding as we had many successes at international level. This included one weekend when we won 2 races in Holland, a quick overnight drive to Austria where we gained another two race victories. My highlight of those years spent with Jon was to win the German 350 GP at Hockheim 1979. During this very busy, but enjoyable, time I worked closely with engine tuners Helmut Fath and Harold Bartol.

At the beginning of 1981 I worked back in South Africa for Trevor Van Rooyen and was responsible for the preparation of the engines for his Formula 2 car which won the SA drivers title in 1985. We also did engine work for many racing bikes and cars and included were engines for David Emond and Dave Petersen.

In 1986 I returned to the UK and went to work in F1 having secured a job at Benetton. The introduction came from Rory Byrne who was the chief designer at Benetton F1. I worked as a race mechanic to; Teo Fabi, Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen and Nelson Piquet, Alessandro Naninni and Johnny Herbert.

In 1992 I became the Test Team No 1 Mechanic, built and ran cars for Martin Brundle, Ricardo Patrese, Joss Verstappen and Michael Schumacher.