Seeing Agostini and Hailwood fall off in the TT

Back in the 1960s I started going to the Isle of Man TT races. Sometime around 1965 – I’m not sure, it could have been 1966 – my pal and I were looking for a place to watch the race. Along came the marshal and told us to get off the road as the racing was due to start in five minutes. He told us to put our bikes by a farmer’s gate and if we went to the back of the trees we could walk into a clearing and sit on the edge of the wall. This we did. There was another couple already there, so it was just four of us.

The first sound we heard was a Honda. It was Mike Hailwood. He came around the bend and dropped the Honda no more than five feet in front of us. The Honda spun around and around and came to rest on its left side facing the oncoming bikes. Mike jumped up, picked the bike up, bumped it, turned around and was gone.

No sooner had he gone than Agostini came round the corner and came off in the same spot! His bike was facing in the right direction so he picked the MV up, bumped it and was away. Most people who I have asked think it was the MV that Mike was on but it was a Honda. This was in or around the Laurel Bank, Glen Hellen area. I have always wondered if anybody had heard about it happening. The couple next to us had a camera, so maybe there might be some photos out there.

I spoke to Charles Mortimer at the Stafford Show; he had lived in New Zealand with Mike and his family and had not heard of this story and he also said he did not think Agostini had come off his bike in the TT. This was a long time ago and I am now 76 but I can see it all happening as if it was yesterday. Any information would be good to hear about.

Happy days.