When the Gods Were Not-So-Young

Mike Hailwood and the Isle Of Man, 1978

Imagine this; the greatest bike racer of his generation – some would say all time - has been retired for 11 years. He stopped at the peak of his profession and went car racing instead. He didn’t do too badly. Then he had a bad accident and that was the end of his racing career.

Four years later rumours start to circulate that he is going to make a comeback at the greatest, most difficult, most deadly circuit there is; The Isle of Man TT. The rumours turn out to be true. He does come back. And he wins; beats some of his old adversaries and all the new bloods who have assumed his mantle in the intervening years.

To prove it wasn’t a fluke, he comes back again the following year – without having ridden competitively in the interim – and wins again. This could only be the story of one man; Mike Hailwood.

Practise in the rain at Oulton Park on the Sports Motorcycles
Ducati 900SS

At the end of the 1967 season, Honda, for whom Hailwood was riding, announced their decision to pull out of competition; they had achieved all their goals, won everything. They paid Hailwood to not ride for any other manufacturer and thus drew the curtain on a stunning career; 9 world championships, 76 GP wins and 14 TT wins.

With the bike world closed to him he turned to four wheels. He was good, too; in Formula 1, Sports Cars, and Formula 2. Then came the accident at the Nurburgring in ’74 which smashed his right foot and ankle and that was it.

Living in New Zealand and bored as hell, the seed of a mad idea started germinating in his mind. He was still fit, young – only 38 – and possessed of a desire get back to what he did best. There was only one place to do this; the Isle of Man, where the legend had been built all those years ago.

By 1976, the Isle of Man TT was gasping for air. Top GP riders, such as Agostini and Sheene, had boycotted the race and the FIM finally revoked its World Championship status, leaving the TT as a shell of its former self. The organizers were quick to realise that the re-appearance of Hailwood would be the lifeline they sorely needed and lost no time in agreeing terms for his return.

Mike practising on the 500cc Yamaha

With a minimum of fuss, wheels were set in motion. Bikes had to be found as a matter of first importance. The year before, 1977, a Ducati 900cc twin had come within a whisker of winning the Formula 1 event, entered by a small Manchester bike shop called Sports Motor Cycles. They were denied victory only by the poor timing of a decision by race stewards to halt the race following torrential rain.

Cautiously, Sports Motor Cycles were approached; would they be interested in providing a bike for Hailwood? You bet they would and it would be the best decision they ever made. Yamaha were also approached and agreed to supply a 350cc, a GP 500cc two-stroke and a fearsome OW31 – the TZ750 two-stroke.

News of Hailwood’s comeback spread like wildfire and record crowds made their way to the Island for TT week. Hailwood’s appearance had already paid off, no matter how he did in the races.

But, whilst there were those who knew he could still do it and would win, there were just as many who feared that he was going to make a fool of himself. The bikes had changed out of all recognition since he last raced; the power they developed; the handling; massive advances in tyres and brakes. Even the circuit had changed. He might as well have been riding on another planet.

Until official practice on the Island, no-one, except perhaps Mike himself, knew if he could pick up where he left off – winning. ‘If he finishes any higher than fifth in any of the races against the current lot of TT riders, I’ll be very surprised,’ said Steve Parrish. Tommy Rob, one of Mike’s old adversaries, had a different view; ‘He’ll go well, I’ve no doubt. And I fancy him to take the Formula One race on the Ducati.’

After the first practice sessions all doubts were dispelled and his rivals knew they were up against it. On the 500cc Yamaha he broke the official standing start record by nearly a second; on the Ducati he lapped nearly two seconds faster than main rivals Tom Herron and Phil Read, both on Hondas. Neither rider felt they could go any faster without sticking their necks out further than they wanted.

The moment of the 1978 F1 TT as Hailwood closes on Read at
Parliament Square

For one practice lap, Mike pushed off the line in company with Mick Grant, holder of the lap record and favourite to take the Classic on the 750 Kawasaki. Grant was following closely in Mike’s wheeltracks when, approaching the sharp right at Ballacraine, Mike suddenly sat up and grabbed the brake a good thirty yards before he needed to. Grant was so surprised he nearly rammed him. Something must be wrong, but it happened again and again; ‘It took me some time to realise that he had no idea of braking points,’ said Grant later. ‘He was riding as if the machine still had drum brakes, and here we were on the most sophisticated discs, the best stoppers you could get.

‘It suddenly dawned on me just how good his riding had been all week if his braking was so bad…..I couldn’t get over how he had got round so quickly….on machinery worlds apart from that which he used to ride. All of it underlined to me just what a genius of a rider he was.’

TT week involves several races across all capacities; the Senior for bikes of 500cc – Grand Prix class; the Formula One race for bikes up to 1000cc; the Classic, which is a free for all plus several smaller capacity and sidecar races. The Formula One race was first on the agenda and was the setting for one of the best races in TT history.

During the 1978 Senior TT on the Yamaha

A TT race is not like a short circuit race. Riders set off in pairs at 10 second intervals and race against the clock, not side by side on the track. Mike was due to set off 12th, with main rival and reigning Champion Phil Read, on the factory Honda, setting off first, 50 seconds ahead. Immediately, it was obvious that Read couldn’t match his practice pace, but Tom Herron, on a privately entered Honda was looking threatening. Hailwood played himself in gently, but not too gently; he was the fastest man on the track from lap one! Then, as they crossed the start/finish line for the second time, the news everyone yearned for came from the timekeepers; Mike was 9 seconds ahead of Read, albeit 41 seconds behind him on the road.

Disaster in the 1978 Senior. Mike stops at
Parliament Square with a seized steering damper. 

By now, Hailwood was flying and at Ramsey, halfway round the third lap, the crowd got what they wanted; Read and Hailwood within yards of each other. Read had no idea Mike was so close, but when he saw the crowd at Parliament Square erupting in mad delight, he knew it could only be one man.

‘To say I was surprised when he caught up with me,’ said Phil, ‘is putting it mildly.’

Mike’s comment was; ‘It was lovely to see him just ahead of me…I followed him uphill out of Ramsey towards the mountain. We passed and re-passed each other [but] I wasn’t too bothered about rubbing it in or trying to get away too far.’

He had no need to. He was now effectively 50 seconds ahead of Read and, although Tom Herron had closed to within 4 seconds of Hailwood, he was out on the next lap with mechanical troubles. The race was Mike’s unless the bike let him down.

Champagne to the victor of the 1978 F1 TT

‘I couldn’t see anything to stop him,’ said Read. ‘I could not have gone any quicker…I was right on my limit and there was nothing, not a mile an hour more, left.’ The only way to stop Mike was to try and break him. In a last desperate bid to force the Ducati to go faster than it wanted, Read sent the tacho needle of the Honda way past the red-line and dragged a burst of speed out of it that it was not designed to give. An oil seal blew and the bike clanked to a halt, spewing oil and blue smoke. Hailwood was too old a campaigner to fall for Read’s tricks and went serenely on his way. He crossed the line 2 minutes ahead of second placed man, John Williams.

‘[That last lap] was by far the longest lap I’ve ever known at the TT,’ said Hailwood afterwards, ‘I couldn’t wait for it to end…as I got closer to the chequered flag the tears started to stream down my face. I was so full up with the emotion of it all… I couldn’t help myself….I’ve had some wins, here and in the rest of the world, but for sheer emotion this beats them all.’

Not one of his rivals begrudged him the victory. All were magnanimous in defeat; ‘It’s a pleasure to be beaten by a man like that,’ shouted John Williams, stepping up onto the podium. Phil Read; ‘He deserves it; there was nothing lucky about it. Even if I’d kept going there was no way I’d have got away from him.’
The Senior was an anticlimax. At Mike’s suggestion, the mechanics had fitted the steering damper from the big Yamaha onto the 500. Running fourth on lap two, the damper seized and he could only trundle back to the pits, falling two minutes behind the leaders in the process. He rejoined, but ran out of fuel on the last lap, eventually finishing 28th.

Mike beats Read again at the Post-TT Mallory Park meeting

So the 1978 TT drew to a close. Mike was happy; but was there more he could have achieved?

Part 2, to come; keep an eye out.