Andy Bates of AB Engineering Ltd is pictured in Buxhall. He appeared on the Dragons Den TV showand raised £50,000 for his business.

SUFFOLK entrepreneur Andy Bates is today hoping business success is a racing certainty after persuading BBC “Dragon” Peter Jones to invest £50,000.

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Mr Bates, who runs AB Performance from Buxhall near Stowmarket, was the only candidate to persuade any of those on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme to open their cheque books.

And he got offers from both Mr Jones and Duncan Bannatyne, before opting for the partnership with the multi-millionaire businessman.

Mr Bates, 44, from Walsham-le-Willows, began his company which builds and prepares specialist vehicles for track day events after an injury forced him to stop being a firefighter.

He was injured in a serious accident while on a motorcycle and sidecar in 2002, and was eventually forced to leave his job at Thetford Fire Station.

He said: “My injuries were pretty serious. I broke several bones in my back and it was a long time before that healed and by then it was clear that a serious injury to my knee, the cruciate had broken, meant I could no longer carry on as a firefighter.”

He had been involved in motorsport as a hobby for many years, and once he realised he could no longer continue as a firefighter brought his expertise at preparing track vehicles to create his company.

It now specialises in producing lightweight track-day cars that are powered by high-perfomance motorcycle engines.

Mr Bates said: “They are becoming quite increasingly popular because they give you supercar performance from a vehicle that costs only a fraction of the cost.”

The track cars are built to individual specification, and can cost from £10-£12,000 up to £25-£30,000 for a fully race-tuned vehicle.

They can be made road-legal, but most people want to use them for track days or racing.

Mr Bates said: “You will find people buy them for the road and then want to take them for track days and want them tuned for that.

“Then as they get into that many get frustrated at the rules which govern track days like no overtaking on corners and want to go on and get racing licences – then the cars have to be race-ready.”

The combination of a lightweight body and a powerful motorcycle engine brings great performance.

“The fully race-tuned cars we supply can beat anything else there is in these classes. We always say if people don’t win in those circumstances it is either because the car is not set up properly or because the driver is holding back.”

His vision persuaded Mr Jones to take a 35% stake in the company for his £50,000 investment.

Mr Bates said: “That was filmed in May and I’m now in touch with Peter Jones’ investment division.

“They are there to offer support when you need it, but they are not there to wet nurse us – they are there to help get the best return on the investment.”

That investment should allow the company to step up production of its “Sabre” track cars and also to develop its engine tuning and preparation work.

It also repairs and prepares cars which have been involved in accidents.

And Mr Bates said the interest in his company has shot up since the Dragons’ Den appearance.

He said: “We’ve had loads of enquiries, at one stage our e-mail crashed! We’re now trying to sift through them all.

“We’ve even had an offer from one group that wanted to buy the company, but were not at that stage! We’re going through all the people who have contacted up to sort out those enquiries worth following up.”