MICK’S LAST LAP…

Mick Hemmings 1944-2021

Mick Hemmings, legendary racer and tuner, passed away on May 17, 2021 and still managed to get a ‘final lap’ in of Silverstone circuit in June.

Mick’s final lap was in a private ambulance, driven around Silverstone for two ‘spirited’ laps on Friday June 4. At the wheel was his best friendtim Abbott and also aboard were son Steve and Mick’s great pal Keith Huewen. Wife Angie looked on, happy that one of Mick’s wishes would be fulfilled, one which was made more than 30 years previously withtim at a clay pigeon shoot.

Mick was a legend. He joined the motorcycle trade in 1959 and worked in a number of Northamptonshire motorcycle dealers. In 1969 he bought his first Norton Commando – it was a crashed and sorry-looking machine, but he rebuilt it, made 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 real character and a man who loved a laugh. Racing commentator and ex-racer Keith Huewen paid 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 ontt100s! 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! He was a good friend and, like many more than he might imagine, I will miss him massively.”