I posted this in the 4 wheel nostalgia page - perhaps I'll hav more luck here !! Anway cut and paste.

I raced motorcycles in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa in the early to mid 70's. Although this was a short time after Gary 'Sox' Hocking's untimely death in 4 wheel practice in Natal I have heard many stories (some probably embellished as time moved on !!) about this great (and much loved apparently by all who knew him) charachter. A few comments: His retirement from motorcycle racing appears to have been a spur of the moment thing after the death of his friend Tom Phillis at the TT. Cosidering he was a 'favoured son' in Count Agusta's MV team at the time and was succeeded by greats Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, who knows how many World titles he would have added to the two he had won at the time if he had stuck with it. I believe he also showed tremendous potential in 4 wheel racing before his accident.
Some stories I heard about him: He left the UK in his mid teens under quite extraordinary circumstances. Apparently he and his younger sister were orphaned when his parents died at this time. His sister and himself were assigned to different orphanages. Not wanting to split up what was left of his family - he ran away with his sister and somehow made it to Rhodesia where Gary was able to make a life for the two of them. I dont know the details of this story but would love to hear from someone who knew him and could verify (and clarify) the circumstances. Also I met many people in my racing days who had known him and I never heard a bad word spoken about him - in fact his many kindnesses were almost legendary !!. From everything I have heard about him he was a man of extraorinary integrity and generosity. As I say I would love to hear from anyone who knew him.

I may be wrong but I believe that Gary's mother survived him. I am pretty sure that a friend of mine met her when he went to visit Hocking's grave in south Wales.
It was not all sweetness and light with Count Agusta. When Count Agusta tried to sign him from MZ, Hocking asked for a fortune, Agusta blew his top so Hocking told him to keep his ride. Hocking won on the MZ (at the Ulster, from memory) and so Agusta relented and signed him up.
But Agusta had a long memory. When Bob Mac on the 350 Bianchi was challenging Hocking in 1961, Hocking complained that the MV was too slow. Agusta's response was to tell him to leave the girls alone and concentrate on racing - and then he signed Hailwood to add some spice to the team.

I wonder if your conflating some of the Jim Redman story with Gary's ? There's a fair amount of info on Gary on the '49 thread. My recollection: he was taken to Rhodesia from Newport Wales by both parents when around primary school age, and stayed on there when the family returned. His body was returned to Britain in '62.

While researching motor sport in Northern Rhodesia/Zambia I stumbled across this portfolio of pics of bike racing including Gary Hocking in Southern Rhodesia as was now Zimbabwe, afraid I know sod all about any of the tracks or participants beyond what is captioned, but believe you may well find it makes interesting viewing :-

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1035493379010215637RcGUpy

Interesting, thanks. A rare shot of Lutonboy out there in about '62. I think Tom Kirby loaned him bikes for this stint. I think too, that Readie was a bit underwhelmed by the reception he received from the colonials.

Well spotted Russell :-)

As a ten year old I remember Africa being a bit of a culture shock can you point to anything anecdotally or in writing to suggest Phil was underwhelmed by his reception from the colonials ?

Phil wrote about his adventures in Southern Africa - can't really remember where though, presumably in one of his biogs. My memory is that he fell out with some of the locals after inspecting some of their racing irons a bit too closely for their liking. Perhaps this was connected with Phil wanting to convert Kirby's bikes to run on alcohol? I think too that for whatever reason, Jim Redman, or was it wife Marlene, were not too impressed with Lutonboy and showed this by being less than hospitable.

That's a shame.