Derek Minter (27 April 1932 – 2 January 2015) was an English former Grand Prix motorcycle and short-circuit road racer. A versatile rider, he rode a variety of machinery between 1955 and 1967 at increasing levels of expertise and in varying capacities and classes. His best season was in 1958 when he finished the year in fifth place in the 500cc world championship. In 1960, Minter won the North West 200 race in Northern Ireland. In 1962, he won the Isle of Man 250cc Lightweight TT

Derek Minter was an electrician who worked evenings and weekends as a farm labourer to earn the extra money needed to buy his first bike in 1948, a 350cc BSA which he also used for trials riding.

After National Service in the Royal Air Force, Minter worked for motorcycle dealer Ray Hallet at Hallets of Canterbury.

Hallet had been a road race and grass track rider and Minter accompanied him to the Isle of Man as his mechanic for the Manx Grand Prix. Hallet provided Minter with a CB34 500cc BSA Gold Star which was prepared for racing and stripped of unnecessary weight, but retained the standard, roadster-based equipment and had no race fairing

Minter raced the Gold Star in 1955, initially entering non-expert races then progressing to expert races where the competition rode Manx Nortons and Matchless G45s. His performances in 1956 impressed Ron Harris, MV importer and proprietor of Wincheap Garages, who employed Minter as a car mechanic and created a team providing Minter with 350cc and 500cc Manx Nortons

Minter's success continued with Steve Lancefield preparing his engines until 1960 when he became the first rider to lap of the Isle of Man TT course at over 100 mph on a single cylinder machine. This led to other rides with Bianchi, Moto Morini and MZ

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