Isle of Man
ISLE OF MAN
Italian and Japanese machines continue to dominate the most significant event in European road racing.
B. R. NICHOLLS
MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, this was Mike Hailwood’s T.T. All other performances, record breaking though they may have been, were absolutely eclipsed by this brilliant twenty-three-year-old Oxford rider who from the first practice period seared his way round the thirty-seven miles odd that make the most famous road racing circuit in the world. Every time he took the 498cc M.V. Agusta out in practice he lapped at over the “ton” (100 mph) and on Senior race day, from a standing start, broke the lap record with a speed of 106.30 mph! But the sad note is that this may well be his last T.T., for the day after winning the Senior race he won a Formula Junior car race in his Brabham which may well set him off on the road to fame in the car world.
Like last year, practice week was bounding in good weather, so good in fact that photographers could not believe the meter readings at 4:40 AM, five minutes before the first practice session started. Prophetically, Hailwood was the first away and then Phil Read to give the Island its first dose of Güera music since 1957. Bob Knott, one of five Americans in this year’s races, will remember that first session well, for his sump plug came out at Kates Cottage smothering the rear tire with oil, which he discovered when cranking over for the slow right hander at Cragny Baa. He suffered facial abrasions in the ensuing fall and went on to gain a finisher’s award after a very steady ride in the Senior race. Harry Webster achieved a life long ambition setting off on the T.T. course with the roads closed but was beset with mechanical problems which precluded him from qualifying for the race. Stanley Brassey also finished in both junior and senior races to gain finisher’s awards, but most proud of the American contingent must surely be forty-year-old Jacques DuPont of Newcastle, Delaware. On his Aermacchi he finished eleventh in the 250cc race and gained a bronze replica and got another bronze as passenger to Maurice Candy when they brought the C & D special chair outfit into twelfth place in the sidecar race. This was a truly magnificent performance for the engine is virtually a home made special.
The T.T. practice always brings its anecdotes and hard luck stories but for Florian Camathias trouble started this year when he was still over a hundred miles from Liverpool when his car burnt the clutch out. Nothing daunted, Florian loaded his racing sidecar outfit with essentials and passenger, fastened Swiss trade plates and drove to Liverpool with open exhausts. Take a good look at the photograph of his outfit and then imagine how you would feel if overtaken by it on the open road. It is small enough to give the impression of being a scooter and sidecar, and it is powerful enough to overtake almost anything on the road. What a start to a journey that was to end in victory in the sidecar race and give him a clear lead in his class of the world championship. But Florian was to hit the headlines again during practice when, at one session, he rushed off down Bray Hill only to find he had left his passenger on the line. For Max Deubel, the reigning sidecar champion, T.T. practice could mean the end of his chances of retaining his title this year as he crashed and his passenger, Emil Hoerner, was not fit to ride in the race. With a new passenger Deubel was never in the race and finished eighth, almost ten miles an hour down on the winner. To veteran Australian rider Jack Ahearn fell the distinction of being the first rider of a single-cylinder machine to lap the course at over the ton during practice, when he lapped at 100.54 on Thursday afternoon.
Of the spills during practice week the luckiest was Franta Stastny, whose 350 Jawa punctured a rear tire at 120 mph and threw him off right in front of Ellis Boyce who was following on his 499 Norton. Jet black tire marks on the road bear witness to the avoiding action taken by Boyce in earning Stastny’s grateful thanks. Stastny was virtually unhurt but not so lucky was Hans Butenuth who hit the kerb at the bottom of Bray Hill and was thrown from his machine, sustaining a broken leg. So practice week ended as it had begun — in sunshine and good weather; all hopes were now pinned on the race days of the ensuing week.
MONDAY, JUNE 10th
The biggest crowds for many years had arrived in the Island over the weekend, drawn no doubt by the prospect of the M.V. vs. Gilera vs. Honda battle. But on this, the first of the three race days, it was the sidecars and 250cc runners who were to do battle. At this point it would be as well to mention the starting system employed in the T.T. races which involves a partial seeding of the runners. The top ten competitors have their start number balloted and then they start in pairs at ten second intervals. So if number three in a race catches number one on the roads he will know he has ten seconds in hand over number one. If, however, he suddenly finds number eight passing him then number three will realize he is twenty seconds down on number eight. This system gives an obvious advantage to the higher numbers as their rivals are always in front, waiting to be caught, whereas early numbers never know what is happening behind them unless they have efficient signalling points round the course. A mass start is out of the question in the Isle of Man on the grounds of safety, with the electrifying descent of Bray Hill at well over one hundred miles an hour less than half a mile from the start and only one racing line through the section. It is difficult to visualize the course without actually seeing it but perhaps a little idea can be gained from the Canadian rider who came to race one year, looked at Bray Hill and said “Gee, I’ve never raced downhill before.”
SIDECAR RACE
The sidecars started the day's sport and soon Fritz Scheidegger on his B.M.W. riding number five had caught Florian Camathias, number three on the roads. But Florian was keeping a careful eye open for the melting tar which could cause trouble. On the second lap he pulled away from Scheidegger and went on to complete the three laps at a record race speed of 88.38 miles. In third place were a British crew, Allan and Peter Birch who have come to the forefront this season with a B.M.W, outfit. B.M.W. of course dominate the sidecar field in the classic races but once again it was Colin Seeley and his passenger Bill Rawlings who broke the monopoly by bringing their Matchless outfit into sixth, so gaining one championship point. To Matchless also went the team prize.
SIDECAR RACE RESULTS: 1. F. Camathias/T. Herzig, F.C.S. 88.38 mph 2. F. Scheidegger/A. Robinson, B.M.W. 87.66 3. A. Birch/P. Birch, B.M.W. 83.52 4. 0. Kolle/K. Hess, B.M.W. 82.75 5. G. Auerbacher/E. Dein, B.M.W. 82.56 6. C. Seeley/W. Rawlings, Matchless 81.52 12. M. Candy/R. J. DuPont, C & D Special 73.73 *—Record
250cc RACE
The 250 race followed the sidecars and what a machine killer it was. Fifty-three riders started but only eighteen finished and although Redman’s time was well below the 1961 Hailwood record, only the first four home qualified for silver replicas. The race was spoilt by lack of entries from Suzuki, whose four is not expected to be out before the Ulster Grand Prix in August at the earliest, and also M.Z. who once again were the victims of politics. From the start Tommy Robb was in trouble on the Honda four, a fact borne out by Takahashi on a production twin catching him within five miles of the start. Very soon Redman was leading on the roads but it was soon obvious from the amateur timekeeping that both Tony Godfrey and Fumio Ito on works Yamaha twins were ahead on corrected time and at the end of the first lap it was confirmed that Ito was leading at a speed of 95.93 mph. Godfrey was second and reigning world champion for the class, Jim Redman, was third. Redman’s philosophy to the Island circuit is that he wants to be= the oldest T.T. rider, not the fastest, but he must have forgotten this for a while as he fought back on the second lap to cut his thirteen second deficit down to 1.8 seconds: then, on the third lap, he took the lead that he never relinquished.
It was on the third lap that Jacques DuPont came onto the leader board at twelfth place, moving up one on the ensuing lap and holding eleventh place on his push rod Aermacchi to the finish. Ito threw away any chance he might have had of catching Redman with a bad pit stop of 57 seconds. This was twenty seconds longer than that taken by Redman and as Ito lost the race by twenty-seven seconds it underlines the importance of good pit work in these races. In thirty seconds a rider should be able to change goggles, refuel and have a drink if he wants it, but to attain this, rider and attendant must work as an efficient team. The third lap also spelt disaster for Tony Godfrey for he crashed just outside Ramsey fracturing his skull. He was removed to hospital by special helicopter laid on by Shell-Mex and B.P. specially, for the races. So the pattern of the race fell into finishing order with Bill Smith, despite a fall at Governor’s Bridge, taking third place on a production racer Honda in front of Hiroshi Hasegawa, the only other Yamaha rider to finish. Feature of the race was the performance of Jack Findlay on the D.M.W. Hornet who got it into sixth place on lap three only to crash on his next lap, luckily without injury.
250cc RACE RESULTS: 1. J. Redman, Honda-4 94.85 mph 2. F. Ito, Yamaha 94.55 3. W. A. Smith, Honda-twin 91.10 4. H. Hasegawa, Yamaha 88.39 5. T. Robb, Honda-4 82.75 6. J. Kidson, Guzzi 82.74 11. R. J. DuPont, Aermacchi 79.19
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12th
The weather turned sour. Mist had come down overnight and it was obvious that the 125cc race would not start at the advertised time of 11 o’clock. In fact it got away almost two hours late and in no time at all Kiwi Hugh Anderson had taken the lead on his Suzuki and this he held to the finish, setting up a new lap record of 91.32 mph on his second of the three laps. It was Suzuki all the way for his teammates Frank Perris and Ernst Degner finished second and third to give the Japanese two-stroke concern the team prize. Last year’s winner, Luigi Taveri, was fourth on his Honda and looks like saying goodbye to his world title although still second in the championship table. It was not an easy race, for mist still caused trouble on the mountain but not as much as it was destined to do in the Junior T.T. which followed.
125cc RACE RESULTS: 1. H. R. Anderson — Suzuki 89.27 mph 2. F. G. Perris — Suzuki 87.74 3. E. Degner — Suzuki 87.61 4. L. faveri — Honda 86.99 5. B. Schneider — Suzuki 86.30 6. J. Redman - - Honda 86.26 Record lap: Anderson, 91.32 mph
350cc RACE
Conditions at the start of the Junior T.T. were not too bad and in fact some parts of the course actually had the sun shining, but as the race progressed conditions worsened. The fog thickened on the mountain and elsewhere it was raining but before the bad weather really clamped down, Jim Redman joined the “ton up” boys with a lap on his Honda works fourcylinder machine at 101.30, which probably gave him as much pleasure as winning the race itself. Jim’s second victory in the week did not come easily as Mike Hailwood put up a wonderful fight on the slower M.V., pulling back ground that he lost on the fast stretches by superb riding ability on the nadgery sections of the course. But it was a losing battle as one cylinder died on him during the fourth lap and he had to retire.
This let in John Hartle, but his Gilera never looked like challenging either the Honda or the M.V. He lost third gear early in the race and then on the last lap had to nurse the bike home on three cylinders. Franta Stastny on his works Jawa twin repeated his third place of last year but only just. He had a non-stop run whereas Sid Mizen, riding an ex-Hailwood six-speed A.J.S., who was fourth, eleven seconds behind, had to stop for fuel. That he got so close to the Czech at all was due to his local knowledge, being a Manxman, which enabled him to tramp on through the mist over the mountain when others were shutting off. Jack Ahearn on his Norton and Mike Duff (A.J.S.) both rode with the utmost respect for the condition to finish fifth and sixth. So we had the unusual occurrence of five different makes in the first five on the leader board — if Hailwood had not retired it would have been six.
350 RACE RESULTS: 1. J. Redman — Honda 94.91 mph 2. J. Hartle — Gilera 90.58 3. F. Stastny — Jawa 89.76 4. S. Mizen — A.J.S. 89.65 5. J. Ahearn — Norton 89.35 6. M. A. Duff — A.J.S. 87.59
FRIDAY, JUNE 14th
The day started dull but there was the promise of better weather to come later on; in fact it looked as though conditions would be ideal by the time the Senior race started. And so it was, for Friday proved to be a day of records in both the smallest and largest of the capacity races held.
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50cc RACE
Will there be another 50cc T.T. race? That was the question being asked after the farcical race this year. Thirty-six entries, eighteen starters and eight finishers tells its own story. the race speed of the first five was better than last year’s lap record and Ernst Degner set a new record lap at 79.10 mph before retiring with electrical trouble. History was made in this race, though; for the first time a Japanese rider won a T.T. race when Mitsuo Itoh took the winner’s flag at a record speed of 78.81 mph. There were four Suzukis in the first five, split at third place by Hans Anscheidt on the works Kreidler. The first five gained silver replicas but no bronze replicas were awarded as the sixth man home, Ian Plumridge on a production Honda, was almost twelve miles an hour down on the fifth place man.
500cc RACE
One race to go and that the blue riband of the motorcycle road racing calendar. The Senior T.T. of 1963 promised to be a cracking battle between Mike Hailwood (M.V.) and John Hartle and Phil' Read on Güeras. But there never was a battle. Brilliant “Mike the Bike” completely massacred the opposition with a first lap at 106.30 mph, which broke the lap record from a standing start. Hartle on his first lap got within 2.6 seconds of the late Gary Hocking’s record of 105.75 but was beaten at the end by one minute, 13.04 seconds. Hailwood went on to win at a record average of 104.64 mph and set a new lap record at 106.41 mph. Third man home was Phil Read and fourth Mike Duff on the Matchless
The first four all did at least one lap over one hundred miles an hour and held their positions throughout the race. Alan Shepherd was in fifth place on a Matchless up to the last lap when he retired, giving fifth spot to last year’s Senior Manx Grand Prix winner Joe Dunphy, riding a Beart-tuned Norton. He was but 2.2 seconds in front of sixth place man Fred Stevens (Norton) at the finish.
So ended a wonderful week’s racing with no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mike Hailwood has no equal over the mountain circuit of the Isle of Man and little to fear in defending his 500cc world championship title. •
