Isle of Man Tourist Trophy
ISLE OF MAN TOURIST TROPHY
B. R. NICHOLLS
MAX DEUBEL, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Jim Redman and Luigi Taveri are all old stagers and past winners in the Isle of Man. They are also the men who won in 1965 and in winning put new records into the book. To Redman must go the greatest laurels, for no man has ever before won both 250 and 350cc races for three years in succession. Phil Read on the Yamaha pipped him to the first-ever 250cc “ton up” lap when he clocked 100.01 mph from a standing start. But the fastest lap of the race went to Jim at 100.9 mph. That was in Monday’s 250 race. On Wednesday Jim set a race record speed of 100.72 mph in winning the 350 after Hailwood had put in a record lap at 102.85 mph from a standing start. Then on Friday Mike won his third Senior in a row and Taveri his first 50cc T.T. on a day when the start was delayed for half an hour because of rain and mist on the mountain. So the week of racing ended with drama just as it had begun on the Monday when the sidecars pushed off to start the 1965 series of races.
Before the week of racing there was, as always, a week of practice which started on the Whitsun holiday weekend. For this the Isle of Man was in full holiday mood with festival cricket and field hockey matches being played. Everything in fact to distract the rider from the task at hand. But if there were distractions for the riders, imagine the horror and feelings of a hockey player wakened suddenly at 4:15 a.m. as a couple of MVs and a brace of Nortons chugged by on the way to the start for practice. The first practice session this year was held on Friday evening and although it rained it did not deter the newcomer to the MV team, Giacomo Agostini, from putting in three laps and he did the same again Saturday morning in similar weather. Not the best way to find the line round Mona’s Isle but it could have been a blessing in disguise for it kept speeds well down and meant that newcomers got a chance of seeing the course under all conditions.
Things brightened up for a few days after the initial two wet weather sessions but then the last Friday evening session was curtailed by rain and the Saturday morning sidecar stint cancelled with visibility less than fifty yards at the start. This happened when many riders had failed to qualify although some were allowed to race because of their previous experience on the circuit. Highlight of practice week was the fastest-ever practice lap of 104.97 mph put in by Mike Hailwood. Training finished without any serious injuries except Jack Ahearn, who was cursing his bad luck. A spill in the rain Friday evening had given him a nasty gash on the back of the head which put him out of the 250 race.
The chances of anything but a BMW winning a classic sidecar race are remote and even the British hopes of Harris, Vincent and Seeley were placed in the Munich twins, but few really expected them to offer much of a threat to Fritz Scheidegger, Max Deubel and Florian Camathias who had headed the practice leaderboard, and neither did they.
By Ramsey, which is approximately two-third$ distance, on the first lap Camathias, Harris and Vincent were all in trouble so that at the end of the first lap Scheidegger led by three seconds from Deubel with Georg Auerbacher third and Heinz Luthringhauser fourth. Seeley’s fifth place was short lived for he retired at Braddan Bridge on the second lap, pouring smoke from one cylinder with suspected piston ring trouble. A lap record by Deubel on the second lap gave him a 3.2-second lead over Scheidegger, and Seeley’s retirement let Terry Vinicombe (BSA) into fifth place. And so to the third and last lap with Deubel and Scheidegger three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the third place man and Deubel trying to such effect that he set a new lap record of 91.80 mph and a race average of 90.57 mph which was faster than the old lap record. Meanwhile Vincent after three stops on the first lap had started motoring and worked his way up to fifth place ahead of Charlie Freeman (Norton), the first non-BMW rider to finish. Results:
1. M. Deubel/E. Hoerner........ BMW (Old Record 89.12 mph) .90.57 mph. Record 2. F. Scheidegger/J. Robinson BMW 98.11 3. G. Auerbacher/R. Rykers. BMW .84.45 4. H. Luthringhauser/H. Hahn BMW 84.11 5. C. Vincent/T. Harrison. . .BMW . .82.59 6. C. Freeman/B. Nelson. Norton . .80.90 Lap record: Deubel 91.80 mph. Old record: 90.70 mph
With sidecars setting the pace, everyone expected the first-ever 100 mph lap from the 250s. Phil Read had whistled his Yamaha round in practice to the tune of 99.38 mph, almost 2 mph faster than Redman who in turn was similarly ahead of Jack Ahearn’s best time on a Suzuki four. Downfield interest was focused on Bill Ivy, tipped last May in “Continental Report” for a factory ride, who had been given a works Yamaha and was sixth fastest in practice. Everything pointed to a cracking race with works machines aplenty and near-ideal racing conditions.
As most readers know, a staggered start is used for all the T.T. races with riders despatched in pairs at ten-second intervals. Numbers one and two this year were Redman and Provini so the Honda six and Benelli four burst into song together to excite the enthusiast and gladden the heart of Gordon Pitt, recording noises for Schofield Sound Stories, as this race was an audiophile’s dream.
From the start Phil Read really got the Yamaha twin tramping, eager to make up the twenty seconds that Redman had on the road. He went about it in such determined fashion that at the end of the first lap, from a standing start, he had broken Bob McIntyre’s 1961 lap record and made the first-ever 250 lap over one hundred miles an hour — at 100.01. He was a mere four seconds behind Redman at the end of that meteoric first lap which meant on corrected time that he led the race by sixteen seconds. In third place was Bill Ivy, really going to town on the Yamaha. Bill moved into second place at the end of the second lap for Read’s machine had cried enough, going out with a broken crankpin. By that time he had overtaken Redman on the road and the “experts” nodded their heads, saying, “he should have sat on Jim’s tail once he caught him.” This would normally be sound advice but the Yamaha was being driven inside its limit and it’s thirstier than the Honda so would require a longer pit stop. Besides, imagine the dreadful noise if that two-stroke twin had stayed with the four-stroke six!
So at the end of lap two it was Redman, Ivy, Duff (Yamaha), Provini (Benelli), Perris (Suzuki 4) and Stastny (Jawa) making up the first six. Poor Derek Woodman was busy changing plugs on the first lap so the MZ got no higher than eighth by the third lap before going out at Sulby fourth time round. Then disaster struck Ivy when mist descended on the mountain. He rushed into the left hander at Brandywell only to find a slower man bang on his line and violent evasive action left him sitting down watching the bike rush up the road without him. Bill was not seriously hurt but a broken carburetor put him out of the race. And so the finishing order was virtually decided after four of the six laps, but Bruce Beale running out of gas on the last lap let in Dave Williams (Mondial) as the first non-works runner. Highlight of the race without doubt was the scrap which had Frank Perris and Tarquinio Provini riding together for the latter half of the race in the duel for third place easily taken by Perris as he had started forty seconds after the Italian.
Results: mph 1. J. REDMAN...... Honda____97.19 2. M. DUFF........Yamaha____94.71 3. F. PERRIS........Suzuki____93.99 4. T. PROVINI ...... Benelli____93.57 5. F. STASTNY........Jawa____90.34 6. D. WILEI AMS ... Mondial____88.23 Record lap: Redman 100.09 mph. Old record: 99.58 mph.
The 125s started off the next day’s proceedings and the shattering performance given by these machines must lead one to ask, how long will it be before they have a proper race of six laps? Phil Read’s winning speed of 94 mph would have given him fourth place in the succeeding 350 race and even though Phil’s engine and that of Mike Duff would not have done another lap, there is no reason to think Taveri could not have continued. His speeds also bettered those of the fourth man in the 350 race. The other question that must be asked is, how long will it be before the 125s put in a lap over 100 mph? This is largely dependent on the weather and the development engineers getting just that little extra power. But Hugh Anderson, one of the most modest men in the game, was genuinely surprised to hear he had lapped at over 96 mph and on that basis reckoned 98 was within reach.
Bad luck struck very early in the 125 race when Frank Perris (Suzuki) retired at Union Mills with a broken crankshaft, the same fate as last year. And then his team leader Hugh Anderson had to change plugs on the mountain when probably well in the lead. At the end of the first lap Read, averaging 94.09 mph, led by under three seconds over teammate Mike Duff’s 93.97 mph with Japanese ace Yoshimo Katayama (Suzuki) at 93.74 mph third, less than six seconds behind Read. All three broke the lap record from a standing start, an incredible performance especially by Katayama, racing for the first time in the Island. His challenge was cruelly brought to a close on the second lap by a tire puncture. In the second lap Read extended his lead over Duff and Taveri with Ernst Degner (Suzuki) running fourth, Ivy fifth and Derek Woodman (MZ) sixth. The third lap saw that brilliant effort by Hugh Anderson streaking round at 96.02 mph to haul himself up from tenth on the first lap to fifth at
the finish. For Yamaha it was a storybook win as Read was riding a brand new, never before raced, water-cooled 125, as was Duff who finished third. And with Ivy finishing seventh on an “old” aircooled model, Yamaha took the team prize. Such was the pace that the first four home all beat the previous race record. Both Read and Duff finished on one cylinder but Read’s never-let-up tactics in this instance paid off, for his lead over Taveri was sufficient to give him a six second win. Results: mph
1. P. READ ........ Yamaha... .94.28 record (Old record: 82.14 mph) 2. L. TAVERI ....... Honda____94.15 3. M. DUFF ....... Yamaha. . . .93.83 4. D. WOODMAN ...... MZ____92.19 5. H. ANDERSON____Suzuki____91.62 6. R. BRYANS.......Honda____90.89 Lap record: Anderson 96.02 mph. Old record: 93.53 mph.
With the crowds of spectators all around the course still buzzing with excitement over the 9.6 mph plus lap that Anderson put in, the 350s started warming up and so conversation changed to the expected Redman versus Hailwood duel — a fascinating four-and-three-cylinder battle with few realizing just how little experience Mike has of racing the device. He blew it up in practice for the West German and did only three laps training at the T.T. This makes his race performance all the more amazing and illustrates what a good rider he is, a point that was to be even further illustrated in Friday’s Senior race.
From the start it was obvious that Mike intended to use the tactics so successfully employed when beating Hartle (Gilera) in the 1963 Senior, i.e., catch the opposition and stay with him. Having starting number 14 as opposed to the 7 of Redman meant a thirty-second interval between them, so if Mike caught Jim then all he had to do was tail him. At the end of the first lap he had made up twenty of the thirty and so from a standing start set a new lap record of 102.85 mph and naturally was the leader. Redman was second, then Read on a 254cc Yamaha, Giacomo Agostini (MV) fourth and Derek Woodman fifth on another oversize two-stroke, a 251 MZ, and sixth Franta Stasny (Jawa). On the second lap Woodman sneaked a two-fifths of a second lead over Agostini; otherwise the leaderboard was unchanged.
Redman and Hailwood were together for the third lap, Mike staying quite comfortably (it seemed) on his tail but then as the two came into the pits together to refuel at the end of the lap it was obvious Mike was in trouble. The chain had taken such a hammering that it had stretched and an oil leak covered one side of the machine. The mechanic worked furiously to take up as much slack as possible and Mike saw his twenty-seven second lead fade as Jim topped up and was away inside twenty seconds. Mike eventually got going after nearly three minutes in the pits but with the chain still jumping the sprockets giving him a hairy ride. He retired ten miles out at Sarah’s Cottage. This left Jim well in the lead with Giacomo a brilliant fourth behind the big 250s of Read and Woodman. Even more surprising was the fifth place of Gilberto Milano on a pushrod Aermacchi while the first six was completed by Bruce Beale (Honda 4) riding with the handicap of an injured hand received in a crash during the 125 race. Beale moved ahead of Milani on the fifth lap and Agostini sat on Read’s tail to get ahead of Woodman, who disappeared on the last lap when he ran out of fuel. Griff Jenkins (Norton) took fifth place on the last lap when Milani made an extra precautionary fuel stop on the fifth lap. Results: mph
1. J. REDMAN..... Honda. . . .100.72 record (Old record: 99.59 mph) 2. P. READ ...... Yamaha.....99.35 3. G. AGOSTINI......MV.....98.52 4. B. BEALE........Honda.....93.29 5. G. JENKINS.....Norton.....92.61 6. G. MILANI . . . Aermacchi.....92.49 Record lap: Hailwood 102.85 mph. Old record: 101.58 mph.
“The start of the 50cc race will be delayed fifteen minutes because of mist and rain on the mountain.” That announcement was greeted by the crowds around the course with groans of disappointment. Those on the mountain wondered whether there would be any racing at all that Friday, for conditions at eleven o’clock when the 50s should have gotten away could only be described as diabolical. There was a further delay of fifteen minutes and eventually the little ’uns got off half-anhour late at eleven-thirty. Comparing practice times, there was only one possible winner and that was Ralph Bryans on the fabulous little twin-cylinder Honda who had rattled up a practice lap of 82.46 mph. Not much chance of speeds like that on race day though, for the roads were still wet and the wind on the mountain was blowing machines all over the place. From the start the works Hondas of Bryans and Luigi Taveri were in trouble, though Taveri’s soon cleared. But it was Suzuki rider Mitsuo Itoh, the winner in 1963, who led at the end of the first lap with Taveri second and Anderson third. Itoh lost all chance of winning with a plug change for his little two-stroke twin at the end of the second lap which dropped him to third place before retiring on the last lap. Taveri soldiered on magnificently to take the flag almost a minute in front of Anderson while Ernst Degner (Suzuki) was third after lying fourth for the first two laps. These three riders were the only ones to gain silver replicas and no bronze were awarded at all for it was fifteenand-a-half minutes after Degner finished that the fourth man came home.
Results: mph 1. L. TAVERI.........Honda____79.66 2. H. ANDERSON____Suzuki____78.85 3. E. DEGNER........Suzuki____77.04 4. C. MATES........Honda____65.51 5. 1. PLUMRIDGE____Derbi____63.43 6. E. GRIFFITHS____Honda____61 35 Fastest lap: Taveri 80.83 mph. No records broken.
There never has been a racing certainty, although Mike Hailwood on the MV in present-day 500cc class racing must be the nearest thing to one. But on a Senior day with roads both wet and dry, with the sun shining in some places and it raining in others, with cloud and mist on the mountain, the scene was set for action. All eyes were on the MVs of Hailwood and Agostini, the latter having proved that he knew his way around with a brilliant third place in the 350 race on Wednesday. In previous years the battle has been for second place with only one MV in the race, but this year it looked as if the fight would be for third berth. The end of the first lap seemed to confirm this, for Hailwood had a twenty-four second lead over his teammate and Derek Woodman (Matchless) was another eighteen seconds away in third spot. But then at Sarah’s Cottage, the nasty right hand turn up the hill from the end of the Glen Helen section, Agostini lost it. Although he was not hurt, the machine was too badly damaged to continue. So at the end of the second lap Hailwood led by over two minutes from Woodman with Joe Dunphy (Norton) holding third position.
By this time Minter had retired; so had Cooper and Ivy. Then, having claimed Jack Aheam in practice and Agostini already on Senior day, that spot at Sarah’s Cottage struck again and Hailwood was on his back. The first thing he saw when he stopped was his teammate sitting on the bank. Fortunately for Mike he was able to continue, though the screen was shattered, handlebars bent, fairings damaged, a peg twisted and the megaphones on one side bashed in. A few quick kicks and Mike was off again and at the end of the third lap he still led by nineteen, seconds over Woodman. He spent almost seventy seconds at his pit refueling and straightening things out with the mechanic making a lightning check. The pace for second place hotted up on the third lap and Dunphy knocked back some of Woodman’s lead with Duff and Driver, both Matchless-mounted, fourth and fifth. The sixth place man was Selwyn Griffiths on his Matchless who won last year’s senior Manx Grand Prix, and knocking at the door was Ian Burne (Norton) holding seventh spot.
But it takes more than a simple spill to stop Mike Hailwood, especially when a hat trick of senior race wins is at stake and on the fourth lap he again drew away from Woodman and Dunphy. The order was the same at the end of the fourth lap put then things started to happen. Driver retired on the mountain and Woodman went out up there too with a broken crankpin. Burne, riding terrifically, had all the South African hopes pinned on him as he moved into fourth place and Hailwood ran into more trouble. At Sulby the machine went onto three cylinders; it seemed that the spill was not as simple as at first thought for a stone had jammed a throttle slide in one of the carbs and the undue wear on its connection to the throttle linkage broke the cable. Then the stone fell out and the slide dropped shut, effectively cutting out that cylinder. A nearly seventy second pit stop at the end of the fifth lap enabled the mechanic to change the plug on that pot and remove the slide completely, so for the last lap one cylinder was on full chat. Dunphy made a determined bid to catch Mike on the last lap, going around less than nine seconds slower than Mike, but it was of no avail and Hailwood came home nearly two-and-one-half minutes ahead.
Results: mph 1. M. HAILWOOD.......MV____91.69 2. J. DUNPHY........Norton____90.28 3. M. DUFF........Matchless____88.09 4. 1. BURNE .........Norton____87.63 5. S. GRIFFITHS . . .Matchless____87.00 6. W. McCOSH.....Matchless____86.90 Fastest lap: Hailwood 95.11. No records broken.
So ended another T.T. with no serious accidents though there was the usual drama and hard luck stories. Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was the broken leg áüstained by a marshal when a rider fell at Glentramman and his bike spun up the road causing the injury; poor reward for turning out night and day all practice week.
