1965 Isle of Man TT - 8-Page Vintage Motorcycle Racing Article

Description

1965 Isle of Man TT - 8-Page Vintage Motorcycle Racing Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
LONDON, England: When Mike Hailwood threw his
big MV down the road at Sarah’s Cottage, in the senior T.T.
he did more than find out where his team mate Giacomo
Agostini had crashed. He also got rid of the playboy tag,
which some foolish people had thought fit to tie on him.
For Mike, picking up the battered “four”, roared round
to the pits for repairs in a display of determination and
courage seldom equalled in the long T.J. history.
Less windscreen and with the handlebars and footrests more
or less in place. Hailwood went on to win at well under 100
m.p.h., the last time that happened in a Senior was in 1959.
On lap five, the “four” became a “three” and Mike called in
for investigation. A throttle slide had stuck, throwing a tre-
mendous amount of extra work on the brakes. And all this time.
Mike was battling against shocking weather conditions which
° included cold, driving rain and even sleet at one time.
Unfortunately, there was no-one sufficiently in touch with
Hailwood to takeo advantage of his adventures. I cannot help
feeling that a few years back a number of riders would have
hurled their “singles” around to make a real race of it. But
the Nortons and Matchlesses are getting a little long in the
tooth, and I suppose we must face the fact that they will go
a little slower each year. In any case, considering the difficulty of
obtaining the costly spare parts, people are jetting and gearing
to finish — and who can blame them for that?
Not that the placemen can really be criticized for not going
hard after Hailwood. The weather conditions were, of course,
the big enemy and racing became riding on a knife's edge. The
wet going caught out a lot of riders who took tumbles, their
number including Hailwood and Agostini. Supposing Hailwood
had been unable to restart, it would have been the biggest Senior
upset in years. So riders like Joe Dunphy (Norton) and Mike
Duff (Matchless) were wise to pace themselves to finish second
and third without trying any of the heroic stuff.
SIDECAR SENSATION
If no records were broken in Friday’s Senior, it was a different
story for the Sidecar race which started 1965 T.T.° proceedings
the previous Monday. Both race and lap records were shattered
in the BMW procession and once again World Champion Max
Deubel proved whqt a wonderful tactician he is.
After holding second place to Fritz Scheidegger on lap one,
Max moved into the lead on the second lap. Then getting the
§wiss rider in his sights, the champion tailed him home without,
one feels, making a real effort to pass. This sort of tactical
racing is possible in the island where massed starts are not used.
Riders start in pairs at ten second intervals and provided a com-
petitor makes up his starting deficit, he need not necessarily pass
the man in front to win. In the 3-lap race Max started 20 seconds
behind Fritz, finished just under six seconds behind on the roads
but corrected time gave him victory by 14 seconds.
What a fantastic duel the two continentals put on; Both shat-
tered the lap record, held by Deubel since 1962. The German
now went round al 91.73 m.p.h. followed by Scheidegger with
90.74 m.p.h. Then with a superb last lap, Deubel rocketed the
lap figure at 91.80 m.p.h. and set a race record over the “90"
for the first time.
American entries, Maurice Candy and Jack du Pont did well
to finish 12th with the MJC special, powered with a Norton en-
gine. A pity the Candy d.o.h.c. twin cylinder engine did not put
in an appearance, but it was held up in the States for cams.
Continued on Next Page...
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