I have a question, which I cannot solve with the sources I have access to. Maybe somebody with period magazines, or with a very looong memory can help? 
The 500cc sidecar TT race in 1974 was won by German veteran Heinz Luthringshauser in 1:13'36.2", from Britons George O'Dell (1:18'46.4"), Mac Hobson (1:19'35.0"), Dick Hawes (1:22'30.8") and Trevor Ireson, pushing in at 1:22'37.2" - that's how the results were reported in all the papers the next day, and in (almost) every book or website that deals with the results of that race, including some very fine work like Volker Rauch's Motorrad Weltmeisterschaft annual, Peter Carrick's Encyclopedia of Motor-Cycle Sport, Maurice Büla's Continental Circus or Vincent Glon's Racing Memory website. But, there are a few exceptions, like the Nick Harris History of the IoM TT Races or the extensive data bases at www.iomtt.com and www.iomttraces.com, who often don't agree on much between them, but in this case all three have Hawes finishing third, and Hobson back in fourth with a time of 1:22'35.0" - BUT - incidentally, getting the average speeds of the two mixed up - i.e. Hawes is listed with 85.33 mph, corresponding to Hobson's original race time of 1:19'35.0", while Hobson is now listed with 82.30 mph, which corresponds to Hawes's (unchanged) time of 1:22'30.8"!!
So, what happened? Obviously, not a timing error as that would not have taken so long to resolve for the papers to miss out on it, especially when it involved three outfits finishing within little more than six seconds, and two of them just beating the time of a crew pushing in (admittedly, Ireson had started behind Hawes and Hobson to the tune of 80 and 20 seconds, respectively, so he wasn't so much 'beaten to the line', but factually failed to finish in time - still, with a close finish like that, it can't have taken hours to put a possible mistake of that magnitude right). On a very few occasions, competitors were credited with a time bonus when stopped by the travelling marshal for safety reasons, but that can't have applied here unless there was a bonus that was later rescinded (an even rarer occurrence, and one which should have attracted comment at the time, methinks). So, a later penalty? these things usually don't get reported in newspapers, and the 'foreign press' may have not taken note since by then, the TT was no longer relevant in World Championship matters - Hobson did not compete in any other WC races, while Hawes never finished higher than 12th in the other races). Maybe, if there was a penalty, it was surely reported in one of the 'comics', can somebody remember something like that?
Or, is it possible that the reputable Harris made a simple mistake, and the two data bases (which are hardly beacons of accuracy, for what it's worth) just followed along?
@tonyed), consider this entry for David Nixon, who (as we have learned in post #2 by ensign) died during the Production Bike race on the morning before the Sidecar event. According to 
