PHIL READ MBE:
A life in pictures
1: The boy racer.
2: An early victory for 21-yearold Phil Read as he lifts the 350cc trophy at Oulton Park in 1960, the same year he won the Junior Manx Grand Prix.
3: It wasn’t all road racing; here Phil competes in the 1960 BMCRC Trial on a 497cc Ariel.
Photo by Nick Nicholls
4: In 1961, Phil returned to the Isle of Man to win the Junior TT. The little lad in the cap is a 10-year-old Barry Sheene, while kissing Phil is Barry’s sister Maggie and to Phil’s right is his mum, Doris.
5: Competing in the Thruxton 500-mile Production Race on June 23, 1962 aboard a Norton 650SS.
6: Phil working on the oil tank of his Norton in 1963.
7: Already 23-year-old Phil was showing his love of style and fashionable clothing, even working on the engine of his Bedford van. 8: How it used to be done... Phil loads the Norton into the Bedford van.
9: Phil with his mother, a keen motorcyclist herself who bought Phil his first bike, a 350cc Velocette KSS, when he was 16.
10: At Daytona in 1964 with Don Vesco (far left) and Alan Shepherd.
11: A little more sedate than the machines he was used to, Phil on a 1912 490cc Norton in the 1964 Pioneer Run.
12: At the Isle of Man TT in 1963 with Czech Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Franta Stastny.
13: Nick Nicholls photographed Phil many times throughout his career and here Phil clowns it up for the camera on a 125cc Yamaha during practice for the 1966 TT. Photo by Nick
Nicholls
14: Phil just after winning the 1967 Isle of Man TT 125cc. 15: Phil Read at Assen in 1970 with Joe Henderson.
16: The Team Read empire.
Phil always liked flash cars – after his first TT win he bought a 3.8-litre Jaguar Mark 2 which was followed by an E-Type and many more fancy motors.
17: While in 1971 John Player sponsorship was a big deal, Phil, customary cigarette in hand, looks less than happy at having to wear a red leather team jacket. Geoff Duke is seated on the Norton while Peter Williams (centre) talks to Tony Rutter.
18: Five men on a motorcycle in June 1974. A fur coated Phil Read is on the front mudguard, Barry Sheene is at the ’bars, which behind him are Pete Williams, Paul Smart and Gianfranco Bonera. It was a light-hearted moment but by the following year Read and Sheene’s friendship was over for good.
19: All smiles – Phil was the British captain of the 1976
John Player Transatlantic Trophy team and is pictured with his opponent, American Kenny Roberts.
20: Dedicated follower of fashion.
21: Ever an eye for a pretty girl, Phil poses with a model perched on a Suzuki at the 1980 Motorcycle Show.
22: Phil Read and Barry Sheene, seen here on the start line of the 1976 Post TT International Race at Mallory Park.
23: With Mike Hailwood, the man in whose shadow he spent much of his career.
24: Aboard a Triumph Speed Triple at the Past Masters Race at Mallory Park in 1997. Photo by Nick Nicholls
25: Phil Read telling Allen Millyard (left) and editor of The Classic MotorCycle James Robinson how it’s done at the Bristol Classic Show earlier this year.