ok i know it's back to front :\ but my old dad developed his own pics,and this is the only version i have of this one.
i think it's from the same meeting,but not sure

Back to front, inside out......the 'ol G50 still looks great.

In case some of you readers of the motorcycle threads have missed these, Norman Hayes has posted a few of his bike pics on his own "60s photos" thread



And I have taken the liberty of reversing renzo's dad's photo

And I have taken the liberty of reversing renzo's dad's photo

Even better this way round!

You beat me to it Alan!

Here are a couple more from the Hocking collection.

great,iv'e never seen it like this before!,i think it was the winners machine (wonder who?)being held while he was getting his laurels on the old tower.

ok,another one of me(sorry )brands hatch 1969 a few weeks before i had a bad one there
bemsee meeting if i recall.
those were the daaays my friend

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Maridadi
[B]You beat me to it Alan!

Here are a couple more from the Hocking collection.



Blimey!. Looks like it's taken outside the TT garages. I wonder if it's the bike that burst into flames after John Hartle stepped off it at either Waterworks or the dip onto the Glencrutchcery Rd in 1960? Or did that happen to him in both places?

Is that you keeping inside a line of cement dust there Dennis? What was your favourite bit at Brands? .....the circuit that is.

yup,55 is moi.
i think the rise upto and into druids was my favourite.

Do you remember seeing Dave Degens there - he would often take a radically different line by running up the inside on the approach, and then force his way through. Less unusual nowadays, but I think he peed quite a few people off at the time as things were a bit more gentlemanly then ?

nah,did it myself if needed,bit dangerous tho

tonight i am being....sophisticated.....i am having a few glasses of.....sherry
it'll be dressing gown and slippers next!

same bend..25 years later

Is that your CB350 Dennis ? Looks like a Peter Keyte tank, mate.

yup,it's my k4 and your'e spot on mate,it is a keyte tank

as a bit of interest,the bad crash i had in 69 was caused by me being knocked off the bike just after the start.
i went straight into the lead,but as we approached paddock i was hit by a td1 yamaha,i think it was a bloke named richard parfitt(ok mate i forgive you now )
anyway i tumbled down the track taking out most of the plastic cones you can see on the right,and then i hit that unprotected breeze block marshalls post you can see there breaking my pelvis,right ankle and a couple of vertebrae
sidcup hostpital here i come!

On the thread "A sample of my early 1960s photographs" is some MC pics too , incl. a great one of S.Schauzu !

Very nasty Dennis. Did the guy ever explain how he hit you? And didn't someone once hit that and not survive ? You have a pm Dennis.

So when did straw bales start to be used then? or were they only used at "big" meetings? that is unbelievable that the Marshall post is not protected!!

Hi Graham, I don't know if that ridiculously sited marshall's post was ever protected. The armco shown in the picture was of course all around the circuit and up until the early 70's I cant recall straw bales being used for that either, at any sort of meeting ! Paddock, I think, had a single armco barrier kind of embeded into the bottom of the bank all the way around.

apparently when my dad asked why there was no straw bales there,he was told"nobody ever crashed there before!" i believe they removed it soon after.
as i said this was a *bemsee* meeting and i was kept in the ambulance on the infield untill the race was finished!.even tho i was badly hurt no one from the club(officials) ever made enquiries how i was.
they didn't give a toss about riders then.
i still have back problems to this day.
did't stop me racing tho

oh and also,after i hit the wall i bounced into the middle of the track where the first rider on photo is.
i was conscius? and i remember a marshall standing astride me waving his arms as because i was in a dip,the other riders couldent see me.

I watched the "backwards" Hutchinson 100 from Paddock bend in the sixties and always remember Martyn Ashwood on his G50 running wide on the uphill exit - ever so close to the barriers! He used to hang off in great style and he nearly came a cropper (I bet he stiil remembers that one!). Other recollections from the same meeting was John Blanchard giving a demonstration lap on the Seeley/Fath four, and Diana Dors doing "winner's garland" duties in the open top car. Were any of you there too?

Hi Barry yes I was there I always thought the 'Hutch' was one of the better meets I wonder who thought it out to run backwards .The winner of the 'Melano' ?? trophy was the race winner who came closest to or beat the race record I believe from memory I remember Luton Boy winning it in 67 or 68 the other phil

Just noticed we have been "merged" on here, what with Stuart if your looking in!!?

wev'e been merged with the*1600-1949* thread as there wasn't much going on then..........

You still got the top off that sherry bottle Dennis!!?

Deja'vu again.

perhaps I am off topic but bought the Italian review Motociclismo d'epoca issue july 2008, there are beautiful articles on the MV 500 sei of 1957 and on Honda CB500R of 1972

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Russell Burrows
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Maridadi
[B]You beat me to it Alan!

Here are a couple more from the Hocking collection.



Blimey!. Looks like it's taken outside the TT garages. I wonder if it's the bike that burst into flames after John Hartle stepped off it at either Waterworks or the dip onto the Glencrutchcery Rd in 1960? Or did that happen to him in both places? [/QUOTE]

It's the MV that Gary ran into the back of his Norton mounted Rhodesian friend Graham Smith while practising for the '62 Senior TT.

It seems like this thread has dried up. Anyhow here are another couple from the Hocking collection.

Unfortunately, we are a bit outnumbered by the other lot.....so it does go quiet sometimes. Your shots though are greatly appreciated. I can't place either of these two?

ps Jim would liven things up a bit !

Goes quiet from time to time, but then flares up every now and then.
Any info on those last two pics? IOM I would guess, but where?
Russell had a great suggestion. Any chance of getting Jim on here to give us what would be some incredible insights?
One last thing, looking back at the previous lot of pics you posted, other than the info you gave us about the burned out MV, you haven´t said anything about the other two. Do you have any details?

Are they from the 1961 Senior TT ?

Unfortunately there is nothing on the last four photos to identify either where or when they were taken. Apart from agreeing that they all look like the IoM I can't relly help. We were hoping that the brains trust here could come up with something!

Jim is on the move in Europe at the moment so I can't contact him although I have to say that I doubt if he would participate anyway. I will give it a try however when the right moment presents itself.

Did any of you read the following letter in the July Classic Motorcycle:

"In the text under the above heading on page 10 of the April issue of your fine magazine, the Classic Motorcycle, Ago is referred to as "the World's Greatest Motorcycle Grand Prix Racer". While I have great admiration for Ago I feel that the claim of the "greatest" should only be applied to he who was truly the Greatest, Mike Hailwood. Giving due respect to his fifteen World championships a more appropriate title for Ago would be "the Most Successful".

Why should Mike with nine championships be held to be the greatest? Analysis of 500 cc Grand Prix in which they opposed each other produces some interesting facts. The first one of these is that, in 1965 when they were equally mounted team mates at MV, in races where they both finished, Mike won six to zero from Ago.In the 1966 season when Hailwood was mounted on the terrible handling Honda, again in races in which they both finished, Hailwood beat Ago 3 to 1. In the 1967 season, yet again in races in which they both finished, the score was Hailwood 3, Ago 2. In the 6 years following 1967, the year that Mike set the lap record in the Island, Ago did not come close to Mike's record lap, a lap time that was not improved upon until nine years after the record was set.

If we consider the period to and including 1972, a period during which he won ten of his fifteen World Championships, Ago had essentially no competition from either another factory or a team-mate which rather detracts from their value. It is of course no fault of Ago's that he had such an easy time for so long.

When MV took on Phil Read as their second rider in 1973 Read took the 500 cc World Championship with 84 points to Ago's 57.

To sum up "Ago the most successful", "Mike Hailwood the GREATEST".

In conclusion I must again say how much I enjoy your fine magazine."

Are they from the same race? Aren't the goggles different in each pic?

An earlier model three fifty - different faring, front brake, mudguard, around '60/61, not the Island though.

The second is Gary taking a wide line at the Ramsey Hairpin either 61 or 62.

I'm kinda with you but I suppose Ago fans could justifiably claim that Hailwood had retired before Ago's career peaked; Mike was a world champ before Giacomo had even stated racing.

Interesting argument on the comparison between Ago and Hailwood, but an issue of the greatest ever is never going to be simple. To add a few more into the mixing pot, what about Jarno Saarinen or Jimmy Guthrie. Anyone that has seen Saarinen race could see that he was on a different level to the likes of Ago, Read and Hailwood. There has never been such an awe inspiring rider. Jimmy Guthrie although never mentioned much now was surely the classiest rider ever. Bob McIntyre could also be thrown into the ring. Bob was not a 'Championship style' rider, but there has very rarely been anyone so fast and committed on a motorcycle. To quote Mike Hailwood about Bob McIntyre, "Take him outside the Isle of Man and Ireland and he is just as fast as the rest of us" - high praise indeed.

In support of the "Mike Hailwood the greatest" argument I would throw in that no one has ever made a comeback, and never will, like the one that he made. After an 11 year layoff to be able to return to the Island to win the Formula 1 race at the age of 38 followed by setting the 500 cc lap record the following year with a time that was not bettered for a further three years and then to get within 3.4 seconds of Alex George's race winning time on a 500 versus a 998 in the Classic race of that year is, to me, absolutely stunning. I think that this negates any argument that he had retired before Ago had peaked.

I asked Jim a few years ago who he thought was the best ever to which he replied, without hesitation, Mike Hailwood.

Good spotting, Russell. Not unknown for riders to change goggles at pitstops though, or maybe one pic is from practice. One thing's for sure though... like photos of Pasolini, every pic of Gary Hocking looks like he really is "on it".

Joe, you'll have them choking on their afternoon tea and bickies.....someone not only better than Hailwood, but on a 'different level' !
Mmmm...as you imply, oh so difficult to make those judgements when they didn't compete simultaneously as it where. A thought though: it's not uncommon for a rider to burst onto the scene, win everything in sight, be hailed as the greatest thing since ...well the last greatest thing, but then later settle into a career that, while still hugely successful, isn't quite as sensational as when they first arrived.

Yes true we were robbed on seeing Jarno's full potential due to the Monza tragedy, so we will never know. There are few that saw Jarno that wern't amazed by him. I think Phil Read said that he would have had to retire early if Jarno wasn't killed.
One example of Jarno's skill was when he went to Oliver's Mount in 1972. He had never raced on or seen the track before the meeting, so to learn it he did a few laps on a Suzuki roadbike the day before the races. Jarno had the 250cc and 350cc Arwidson Yamaha's at the meeting. He set both 250cc, 350cc and outright lap records at Olivers mount and by a long way. On his 350cc Yam, he bettered the outright lap record by 3.6 seconds! In one race by the end of the first lap Jarno was round Mere haipin before the others were past the finishing straight. He was so far ahead that the commentator actually missed him and called him a late starter! At that meeting all the top names were there including Ago on the Works MV's, Phil Read, Barry Sheene, Mick Grant etc etc, but Jarno really was on a differerent level. Jarno produced other awesome performances that year winning at Silverstone and Mallory.

I'd love to know how Jim rated riders such as Read and Minter?

Doesn't he....and looks so brilliantly tucked in and tidy. For me, there is also something about the relative proportions of bike to rider that is aesthetically pleasing, as well as being suggestive of the power of the bike and vulnerability of the rider .........

Your'e right of course, could easily be the same race.

That was beautifully put Russel. Exactly right. Gary always evoked emotions in me that no other rider ever did. I remember watching him and thinkling, "poetry in motion". The only other rider that gave me the same feeling was someone that no one on here has probably ever heard of. His name was Tommy Johns, the 1967/8 South African 250 champion. He was sublime.

Rhodie, check your e-mail!

One more of Gary:

remember frank cope?,died from a fatal crash whilst in his seventies.
used a *sleeved* manx 250cc if i remember right.

Hello Dennis yes Frank Cope certainly do --a legend who as you say used a sleeved down Manx . It must have been the early 70's I guess when he had that crash cannot remember where ?? perhaps mid 70's ??