Whatever happened to...? BOB ANDERSON

Originally an agricultural engineer from Haynes in Bedfordshire, tall and good-looking and the epitome of the modern gladiator, Bob started racing at Cadwell Park in 1953 on a 500 Triumph Special.

He started to get promising results in 1955 on an ex-ted Davis G45 at Crystal Palace and Castle Combe and finished eighth in the Senior Manx GP. Riding Nortons in 1956 he won the 500cc North West 200, after race leader Bob Mcintyre was flagged off one lap too early and was second to Jimmy Buchan in the Senior Manx. For 1957 he rode Nortons for Geoff Monty and Dudley Ward and established himself among the top National riders with wins at Snetterton, the 350 North West 200 and 350/500 double wins at Brands Hatch, Castle Combe and

Crystal Palace. In 1958 he was second to John Surtees in the Senior TT, winning the ‘Motor Cycling Trophy’ for his entrant Reg Dearden. He also rode in Classic GPS, finishing fifth in the 350 West German GP at the Nurburgring, second to Geoff Duke in the 350 Swedish GP and fourth at Monza in the Italian GP. He was also sixth in the 500cc Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps. By 1959 Bob was often seen in combat with established stars such as Mike Hailwood, Mcintyre, Alastair King and Derek Minter. A classic example was the 500cc Championship Race at the ‘Silverstone Saturday’ meeting in April 1959, regarded as one of the best races at Silverstone during the late Fifties and early Sixties, which Bob won after a race-long battle with Mcintyre, King and Hailwood, during which the lead changed several times with the four riders locked together in close formation and just 4⁄ of a second 5 covering all four riders at the finish. Mcintyre was second, King third, Hailwood fourth, John Hartle on the MV fifth and Minter sixth. Bob was also second to Surtees’ MV in the 350cc race. On Nortons again in 1960, on the 350 he was sixth in the Junior TT, third in the 350 Dutch, fourth in the Ulster and fifth in the Italian GP at Monza, which earned him fifth place in the 350cc World Championships. He also rode a 125 works MZ to fifth place in the TT and was fourth on a 250 Benelli at Imola. During 1960 he also rode 125 and 203 MVS on British circuits for Ron Harris at MV Concessionaires, with the occasional top three places on the 203cc version. Bob retired from motorcycle racing at the end of 1960 while still at the peak of his career in order to race Formula One cars, but he returned to two wheels briefly in 1966 with a one-off ride in the 1966 Dutch TT on a works 250cc V4 Yamaha, on which he finished fourth. He lost his life after a crash in a Formula One car at Silverstone in 1967.