T. S. Shepherd, Rr.D.

T. S. SHEPHERD, RR.D.

FEW AMERICANS RECOGNIZE THE NAME TERRY Shepherd, but that is not because cw's Isle of Man Team Manager has done nothing of note in motorcycle racing. Quite the contrary. Born 56 years ago in Liverpool, Terence Sagar Shepherd has succeeded in just about everything in roadracing from riding for the factories to building his own racing bikes—including the engines. So he deserves, as few others do, the title “RR.D.—Doctor of Road Racing.”

Shepherd did his undergraduate work as a works rider for the Norton and MV teams in the Fifties, graduating to car racing and race-car design in the early Sixties. Further graduate work came as he set up Shepherd Engineering Development in 1965, deriving his income solely from solving roadracers’ equipmental problems.

His doctoral thesis was the design and fabrication in the late 1970s of not one but 12 Shepherd Grand Prix roadrace bikes, using liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder, two-stroke engines of his own design in his own single-shock, cast-alloy frames. Some of these innovative machines are still active in racing today. Shepherd himself also is still active in racing, as a consultant, tuner, designer/engineer and official in the FIM (Federation Internationale d’Motocycliste).

As TT Team Manager forcw, Shepherd set up the Suzuki GSX-R750, tuned it to the limits of the severe Production-class regulations maintained by Britain’s Auto-Cycle Union, and with his son Richard personally maintained it. He also managed all team activity, from rider training to planning team strategy and tactics. Without him, it is doubtful that our Island adventure would have been nearly so successful.

—Steven L. Thompson