ROBERT DUNLOP
Recovered from horrific TT injuries. Lost his life as a result of those injuries
there cannot Be a BiGGer story of sporting triumph and tragedy than the story of the Dunlop family.
three of the Dunlop road-racing greats are dead: Joey, younger brother robert, and robert’s middle son william. only robert’s elder son, michael, continues to race at the top.
robert Dunlop did not win as many tts as his big brother but he made the mightiest of comebacks from a horrific accident during the 1994 tt to win again on the isle of man.
the crash was not his fault. his marvic rear wheel had collapsed, throwing him into a wall and nearly killing him. his right arm and leg were so badly mangled that doctors said he would never race again.
two years later, after multiple operations, he tried returning to racing with a specially modified honda rs125 (he knew he was not strong enough to race anything bigger). Dunlop could operate the throttle but not the front brake, so he moved the brake lever to the left handlebar, alongside the clutch. But he was told his right arm was still too weak to race.
in 1997, he was passed fit to race at the tt and took third in the ultra-lightweight race. the next year, he won the class, a mindboggling achievement, considering his considerably weakened body and his unique brake/clutch set-up.
‘it’s brought me back from the brink of despair,’ he said. ‘it’s been a bridge over troubled water for me.’
in may 2006, Dunlop took his 16th victory at the north west 200, once again on the 125.
two years later, he entered the 250 class at the event. During practice, his engine seized at 240 km/h. Dunlop grabbed the front brake instead of the clutch, which flung him over the handlebar. he died instantaneously when he was hit by another machine.