Best of British!
Mick M Hemmings 1944-2021 1
While this is a magazine largely looking at the Japanese and European classic scene, mention has to be made of the passing of o f Mick Hemmings.
Mick was full of life, quick-witted, ch c harming and damn quick on two w heels. He joined the motorcycle trade i n 1959 and worked at a number of N orthamptonshire motorcycle dealers. In 19 1 969 he bought his first Norton
Co C ommando – it was a crashed and so s orry-looking machine, but he rebuilt it, made m it into a production race machine and won on it.
In the early 1970s he worked in advertising for the motorcycle press, but by 1974 he’d set up Mick Hemmings Motorcycles in Northampton, eventually running Norton, Triumph and later Suzuki franchises. By the 1990s Mick was concentrating on classic Triumph and Norton machines, developing his own range of performance/upgrade parts. He carried on racing, too. Mick won the inaugural Goodwood Revival meeting in 1998 beating Barry Sheene. He would win it again in 2000, adding to his victories taken around the world in a long and distinguished career.
Mick was a bona fide legend in both the British classic race and road bike scenes, so much so that Peter Williams would choose Mick to build the motors for his limited-edition John Player monocoque racers in 2014.
Even when he passed away on May 17, he still had that Norton Commando production machine, and many happy customers had bikes blessed with the Mick Hemmings touch.
Racing commentator and ex-racer Keith Huewen paid his own tribute: “The first time I saw Mick was at Chris Curve at Cadwell Park, I never knew who he was at the time but he certainly knew how to slide a Commando on TT100S! Mick was a man with the sharpest wit and an instant comeback: he was never malicious, but bloody funny! He didn’t suffer fools, know-it-alls or self-important people, so you can imagine how much fun he had at my expense over 40 years! I made the tea at his shop, bought motorcycles from him, and ran miles with him around the lanes near his home in Sywell while training as a fledgling Grand Prix rider. He was a good friend and, like many more than he might imagine, I will miss him massively.”
Everyone at CMM sends their condolences to wife Angie and son Steve.