 
( FROM THE VAST COLLECTION ARCHIVE ) The 1960 TT Series sticks in my mind for a number of reasons..... ALL the races would be run on the 37.73 mile Mountain Circuit, the 10.79 mile Clypse Course receding into history.. Honda would bring their new 250 cc FOUR cylinder machines to contest the Lightweight TT after taking home the 125cc Manufacturers Award the year before.. M.V.Agusta would win ALL four solo classes, and Stan Hailwood, father of Mike, would put up a challenge with a £100 prize for the first rider on a solo machine who would crack the 100 mph barrier in the Senior Race !! The 1960 Racecard showed a top class entry of 80 riders (with no number 13) but with a strange gap with no one assigned to the no.29 spot with Norton as the machine...... THREE M.V.Agustas were entered in the hands of 1959 TT winner John Surtees at No.3, Umberto Masetti at No.11, and Bruno Spaggiari at No.16. The rest of the field was mainly Nortons with Matchlesses ridden by Bob Anderson at No.2, George Catlin at No.8, Alan Shepherd at No.19, Tom Thorp No.21, Sid Mizen No.24, Derek Powell No.25, Tommy Robb at No.28, Louis Carr ("our" rider) at No.33, J.Bullock at No.35, Steve Murray No.68, F O Fagerstrom No.72, and Peter Chatterton and J C Simmonds at 80 and 81. To this happy band of Non-Nortons was added the 349cc AJSs of Arthur Wheeler at No.32, D Jarman at 42, W R Prowting at 44, Canadian J D Heanski 69, and Billy McCosh at 78. A 493 cc BMW to be ridden by FUMIO ITO of Japan was on the card, as was L G Povey and his Povey/BSA. H Grant, J Glazebrook, G A Northwood and A E Shaw were entered on 348cc Nortons....
So, at 11 am on Friday 17th June 1960 (late that year wasn't it !!!) Bob Brown, No.1 pushed off to contest six laps with No.2 Bob Anderson (who had changed camps from Matchless to Norton in between the card being printed and the TT) to start an exciting race, followed ten seconds later by the yowl of John Surtees setting off flying down Bray Hill just leading No.4 Mike Hailwood who was tipped to win his old mans prize. All the top riders of the time pushed off in pairs at ten second intervals, including Minter, McIntyre, Terry Shepherd, Dickie Dale and Eddie Crooks.... However it was John Hartle on M.V. No.11 and his machine screamed off in pursuit of those ahead of him a number of yards ahead of Tom Phillis who had started with him.... No 28 was now Ray Fay who had taken over Tommy Robbs ride and he set off with Bill Smith. Our rider Louis Carr set off 2 minutes and 40 seconds after Bob Brown but by himself since Rob Fitton was a non-starter...... D Jarman had obviously entered the wrong bike in the Senior and he started out on yet another Matchless.. We then noticed, as the field got under way, the addition of another rider not on the card. This was Jack Brett, on a Norton who would start last, 6 minutes and 50 seconds after Brown, alone....... John Surtees led the race from start to finish, putting in the fastest lap (a record) and his race average was also a record. Hailwood DID do the 100 mph lap but one lap AFTER his arch rival Derek Minter had jumped to the occasion and stormed round with a second lap at 101.05 mph !!! (You must note that after Minter had done the "ton" he did not feature in the results, whereas Hailwood finished the race in third place. Perhaps Stan should have tightened up the criteriae a bit more ??) RESULTS 01/ J Surtees MV 102.44mph (record lap 104.08mph) 02/ J Hartle MV 03/ M Hailwood Norton 04/ T Phillis Norton 05/ R H Dale Norton 06/ B Brown Norton 07/ T Godfrey Norton 08/ B Anderson Norton 09/ P Driver Norton 10/ R Rensen Norton 11/ J H Lewis Norton 12/ R Ingram Norton What a result for Norton !!! Our rider, Louis Carr, unfortunately retired on lap four............. I would like to know some facts: 1/ What happened to the Spaggiari (MV) and Ito (BMW) entries ?? In my scorecard I have no record of whether they started or not-- I think they failed to show--Fumio Ito would eventually turn up in 1963 as works rider for Yamaha with Tony Godfrey as team-mate.. Ito would "worry" the Honda team and poor Tony would be the first rider to have to use the newly-introduced Helicopter service after crashing heavily at Milntown just before Ramsey ! 2/ Did Ekstrom and Fagerstrom start and finish the race ??? 3/ Did the American Krupa take part ?? Anybody please help ?? Thanks to Amulree (Mr Snelling) I now have had the reply I needed... Here are the answers:- 1/ Neither Spaggiari nor Ito arrived on the Island that year.... 2/ Both Ekstrom and Fagerstrom retired on the second lap... 3/ Krupa did ride and finished 34th at 85.05mph just missing a bronze replica.. An extra fact from Amulree is that only 40 riders finished. Thanks again
|
BACK TO INDEX PAGE