MikeHailwood,1961TT
It was 40 years ago this year that Mike Hailwood, arguably the greatest motorcycle racer who ever lived, was killed in a road traffic accident. To mark the occasion, we look at his TT efforts of 60 years ago.
On Monday, March 23, 1981, at 3.20pm, Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, MBE, George Medal, died, eight days shy of his 41st birthday, the result of a road accident two days earlier, which had claimed the life of his nine-year-old daughter Michelle. Mike, Michelle and six-year-old
David Hailwood were travelling in the family Rover SD1 to collect fish and chips when a lorry performed an illegal U-turn across their path. Michelle died instantly and Mike two days later, while David survived with minor injuries. The death of ‘Mike the Bike’ left the two-wheeled world reeling.
The greatest of all time? Well, others will have a claim and their supporters, but to many, Mike was the best bar none. His reputation was cemented by his incredible 1978 comeback when this legend from another era – the days of pudding basin helmets, black leathers and sponsorless racing motorcycles – came back and won a TT, now in a full-face crash helmet, red and white leathers and his Ducati covered in sponsorship logos. It was a different era – and a victory which transcended time.
In the beginning
The rise to greatness for Mike Hailwood began early. In fact, it started before he was born with his father Stanley William Bailey Hailwood, known as Stan. Born in the north west of England, Stan left school at 13, working various jobs before joining King’s of Oxford, aged 21, in 1924. This determined young man who walked with a profound limp (the result of a childhood accident), though he didn’t let that hinder him, quickly revolutionised not just King’s but in essence the motorcycle trade (it was all to do with available credit) and by the time Mike was born in 1940, the family were comfortably off. In fact, they were rich.
Mike’s parents divorced when he was young, leaving him and sister Chris with Stan, who employed nannies and various staff to see to it that the children were well cared for. Stan remarried to Pat while Mike went to boarding school, though he had already started riding a motorcycle at the family home. By now, King’s of Oxford was a gargantuan enterprise, with a reported 50 sites in 21 towns and cities throughout the UK.
At 16, Mike left school – he didn’t like it – and Stan employed him at King’s and then found him a job at
Triumph, though it was racing where his aspirations lay. At 17, he had a racing licence and not for him a grotty old pre-war hack or converted roadster, but a 125cc single overhead cam MV Agusta – a machine beyond the dreams of many clubmen in the UK, let alone 17-year-old debutants.
Rapid rise
The thing was, it was immediately clear that Mike had talent. In abundance. And while Stan was brash and confident, Mike wasn’t, although he clearly inherited the old man’s tenacity and determination. Stan knew he was onto a good thing and ensured Mike’s efforts were supported as best they could be. The Hailwood equipe was always immaculately turned out and ultraprofessional, while Stan courted the Press, too. In his book Mike Hailwood – A Motorcycle Racing Legend,
Mick Woollett, then sports editor of Motor Cycle News, remembers some advice given to him by Stan: “Keep an eye on young Mike and give us a good write-up… and remember, I’m one of your paper’s biggest advertisers.” The message was loud and clear.
But as Woollett remembers, it wasn’t necessary to heed Stan’s veiled threat and intimidation. Quite simply, Mike had the talent and soon it was this being talked about rather than the wealth of his father. Works machines were on the horizon but in 1961, the focus of this article, Stan was still very much in the frame, though, ironically, it was despite him, rather than because of, that Mike was able to win the Senior TT race.
Ecurie Sportive
From the start of Mike’s career, his father ensured that the best equipment was available. Once it was evident that Mike had skill, his father took care of the rest. And while Stan was clearly intent on creating a superstar (Stan had raced himself in his younger days and was not without ability), he was also the fixer – not just through the size of his wallet, but also through his patience and persistence. Mike had something of a short fuse, while Stan didn’t. He was intent on getting what he wanted, often in terms of machinery.
For the 350 and 500cc classes, it was reasonably clearcut what the sensible choices were; Manx Nortons or the 350cc AJS 7R/500cc Matchless G50, which were
“The greatest of all time? Well, others will have a claim and their supporters, but to many, Mike was the best bar none.”
basically the same machine in different capacities. The Hailwood team favoured 500cc Nortons and 350cc AJS, for the most part. Many riders would use two models from the same stable as it meant having to carry fewer spare parts, but this wasn’t a concern for the Hailwoods; otherwise, they were largely in the same boat as the competition.
It was in the smaller classes, though, that the Hailwood team showed financial muscle. The array of machines Mike raced or tried early on was dizzying. There were – deep breath – Ducatis, Mondials, MVs, NSUs, MZs, REGs, Patons, EMCs and Morinis to name a few. But by 1961, there was really only one machine to be on to win the 125 and 250cc TTs – Honda.
Plans put into place
By 1961, Mike Hailwood – in his 21st year – was well on his way to being a superstar. He had been on the TT podium four times, with his best result third in the 1960 Senior race, ‘best of the rest’ behind the two MVs of Johns Surtees and Hartle. Mike had also recorded a third place finish in the 250cc Lightweight race (1958, NSU) and 125cc Lightweight (1959, Ducati) so it’d be nice to take top spot in those.
Japanese firm Honda had appeared in the Isle of Man in 1959, came back better prepared in 1960 (fourth in the Lightweight and sixth in the Ultra Lightweight), and it was well-known that by 1961, one needed a Honda to win. Even MV Agusta, previously dominant in the categories, knew it and had pretty much packed up competing in the lighter classes.
There was a major problem, though. Honda was contracted to Castrol, while Mike was a Shell/BP man and, at that time, the oil companies were the biggest players in the racing game. A way round the situation was devised – Mike would ride a private Honda, supplied by British importer Hondis. King’s of Oxford, meanwhile, would also sell Hondas…
Mike would now have access to the top machinery for the Ultra Lightweight and Lightweight TTs in the form of the twin-cylinder 125cc RC143 and four-cylinder 250cc RC162 Hondas. The plan was starting to come together.
In the 350cc and 500cc categories, there was only one winner: an MV Agusta. After Gilera, Moto Guzzi et al withdrew from GP racing at the end of 1957, MVs were simply dominant, winning every world championship and TT in the 350 and 500cc capacities. But there was, as yet, no MV Agusta available to Mike – and not even Stan Hailwood could do anything about it.
So what to do? Earlier on, Stan had employed Brooklands legendary record-breaker and engine builder Bill Lacey, an old acquaintance of Stan’s from the 1930s. Bill had retired from motorcycle racing but Stan lured him back into the game. The partnership was immensely successful but the there was an acrimonious parting – though for 1961, Stan contacted Bill again. Bill, speaking to Classic Racer magazine in the autumn 1987 edition, explained.
“I said, ‘Stan, you ask my wife. Phone her and if she says yes, then I will [build a Norton] – for Mike.’
“Half an hour later it was agreed. But I insisted on such conditions – that there would be absolutely no interference; that I would have a free hand, and that no limit would be placed on the cost of the engine.
“Stan agreed and when I got home that night my wife, Mae, had been delivered the biggest bunch of flowers I have ever seen.”
So how much did the engine (the spec of which included a one-piece crank machined from a billet of KE 805 steel and a D-type Jaguar conrod) cost?
“About £3000,” reckoned Lacey. A brand new Manx Norton was listed at £496-19-6d, the 1961-introduced Jaguar E-type £2097…
TT time
It’s the Lightweight 125cc race – Monday, June 12, 1961, 10am, three laps (113.2 miles).
The 125cc contest was billed as Honda versus MZ, with a raft of experts on Hondas – Hailwood, Luigi Taveri, Tom Phillis and Jim Redman among them – up against Ernst Degner and Alan Shepherd for the East Germans. Added to the mix were Suzukis and Yamahas (the latter with an all-Japanese team of riders, but the former with Alastair King, Paddy Driver and Hugh Anderson entered, though none of them actually started the race). Gary Hocking also scratched his MV entry.
King had been due to go off as number one, but his absence meant it was Jim Redman first away, in
“By 1961, Mike Hailwood – the rich kid with the overbearing father – was well on his way to being a superstar in his own right.”
brilliant sunshine, though it wasn’t long before Taveri (number five starter) had passed him on the road, with Hailwood (number seven) also ahead of Redman. By the end of the first lap, Hailwood had the lead, his lap of 88.05mph a new record. Indeed, second place man Taveri and third runner Phillis were inside the lap record too.
At the end of lap two, the MZ challenge had faded to nothing – with both out – and Hondas filled the top six, with Redman fourth and Japanese riders Shimazaki and Taniguchi next up. It was a fair display of strength.
By the final lap, Hailwood and Taveri were dicing on the road – Mike reflecting post-race it was intentional to slow Taveri, with Hailwood safe in the knowledge that if they were together, he won; which duly occurred. Hondas boxed off the first five places, Taniguchi fading to eighth.
At just 21 years old, Mike Hailwood had his first TT win. Stan Hailwood launched his hat into the air, in what was to become a familiar trademark celebration.
Lightweight 250cc race – Monday, June 12, 1961, 3pm, four laps (188.7 miles)
After a few hours rest and recuperation – during which the sidecar race was run – many of the riders who’d been out in the morning returned to the track for the 250cc race. The official first-string works boys – so Bob McIntyre, Tom Phillis and Jim Redman had six-and-a-half-gallon fuel tanks, as did Hailwood.
First man away – though on the number three, with numbers one and two, Taveri and Shepherd’s MZs, having withdrawn – was Bob McIntyre, while Hailwood and
Gary Hocking (on the 250cc MV twin) started together, very much a case of the old guard (MV) against the new dominant force (Honda). And while Hocking hung in there for two laps, running as high as second, his MV cried enough, leaving the Hondas way out on their own.
Thing was, though, it was McIntyre who was the dominant Honda, the first man to record a 100mph lap of the TT (1957, 500cc Gilera) almost doing the same on his capacity Honda on his second tour, at 99.58mph. But Hailwood was still there and he too lapped quicker (98.91mph) than the 350cc lap record of John Surtees.
McIntyre, with a healthy lead, had slowed on the third lap – Hailwood was pushing on, recording a 99.28mph lap and maintaining a healthy advantage over third place man Phillis. The Hondas of Redman, Takahashi and Tanuguchi were next up. As he passed his pit, Bob McIntyre made a definite thumbs down gesture – and he was soon clearly slowing.
During the fourth lap, the Scotsman’s Honda seized, allowing Hailwood (who, like the Honda riders with the big tanks, went all race non-stop) to come through and claim a second win in five-and-a-half hours. Stan’s hat, once again, was sent sailing into the Manx sky.
Junior 350cc race – Wednesday, June 14, 1961, 11am, six laps (226.4 miles)
The one that got away. Hot favourite for the Junior TT was of course Gary Hocking on the MV four, but Hailwood shouldn’t have been overlooked, though, in truth, it’d have probably taken some ill luck for the Italian fire to be beaten.
Hailwood was aboard an AJS 7R, the single overhead camshaft single, though his machine was no ordinary, over-the-counter racer – the engine was apparently a ‘pet’ of Jack Williams, AMC’s race boss, and something special. While it wasn’t perhaps in the same category as the Lacey-prepared Senior Norton, one can be sure it was a ‘hot’ motor indeed.
Hailwood reportedly had two 7Rs with him, choosing his favoured mount for the race – though the day started badly, as the Hailwood van ran out of petrol en route to the start. A disaster was averted when a passing motorcyclist stopped and siphoned off some petrol to replenish the van.
Starting number seven, Hailwood was the first AJS to go, with Gary Hocking’s MV in front of him, as well as
“At just 21 years old, Mike Hailwood had his first TT win. It was to be the first of 14.”