HAILWOOD OBJECTS D’ART

Ever wondered what Mike the Bike’s collection of memorabilia looks like? Stafford gave a glimpse, but for a more encompassing and permanent record, check out this new book

Mike Hailwood. The bike stats we know. But just for the record: nine world championships, 76 GP wins, 14 TT victories, his TT victories separated by 18 years – the first in 1961, the last in 1979. No wonder he was known as ‘Mike the Bike’.

His car racing career was similarly impressive: Third at Le Mans in 1969 driving a Ford GT40, winning the 1972 Formula 2 European Championship and competing in 50 F1 Grands Prix – his debut in 1963, his last in 1974. He was also awarded the MBE and then the George Medal for his bravery in rescuing fellow F1 driver Clay Regazzoni in 1973.

But what of the man? ‘Mike Hailwood in 100 Objects’ gives a unique insight into his racing career from an absolute treasure trove of memorabilia he collected over the years. His son David admits in the introduction to the book that, as a family, the Hailwoods never threw anything away – but it is only now, through this book, that we get a glimpse of what was stored in boxes, bags, cabinets and files that hadn’t seen the light of day in years.

David has now allowed access to these personal artefacts, ranging from the mundane to the magnificent. Together they add an altogether different aspect to the Mike Hailwood story.

It’s interesting enough to see the George Medal, the MBE and countless FIM medals, but what’s more interesting are the more esoteric items like the telegram from Honda’s General Manager, Hideo Sugiura Sekiguchi congratulating him on his 1966 250cc world title; his 1968 Honda contract with its ‘paid-not-to-race payments’ deal after Honda withdrew from GPS, pages from the Mike Hailwood Story comic book which included his bike career and early days in car racing; Mike’s diary from 1980 with notes of deaths per mileage on the TT course compared to the road (presumably details he was researching for a talk). You can see much more in this absolutely fascinating piece of work.