Mike
Hailwood

Mike Hailwood was born on 2 April 1940 in Great Milton, Oxfordshire. He rode his first motorcycle race at Oulton Park in 1957. In 1961 he rode for Honda. At the Isle of Man TT he became the first man to win three races in a single week, in the 125, 250 and 500 cc classes. He also won the 250 cc world title with Honda that year. In 1962 he moved to MV Agusta and became the first rider to win four consecutive 500 cc world championships. After going back to Honda he added four more titles in the 250 and 350 cc classes in 1966 and 1967. In all he was motorcycle world champion nine times, with 76 Grand Prix wins and 14 victories at the Isle of Man TT.

Hailwood made his Formula One debut at the British Grand Prix on 20 July 1963. He drove for Lola and Lotus that year, and for Lotus in 1964 and 1965. He then stepped away from Formula One and finished third at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ford GT40 shared with David Hobbs.

He returned to Formula One with Surtees in 1971. At the 1971 Italian Grand Prix, in a race where the first five finishers were covered by only 0.61 seconds, he took fourth place, 0.18 seconds behind the winner Peter Gethin. In 1972 he finished eighth in the championship for Surtees, his best final position, and won the European Formula Two title. At the 1973 South African Grand Prix he went to the aid of Clay Regazzoni after the two collided and Regazzoni's car caught fire, even though his own driving suit had ignited. He was awarded the George Medal for his actions. In 1974 he drove for McLaren and finished eleventh in the championship. After suffering a serious injury at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, he left Formula One. He started 50 races without a win and reached the podium twice.

In June 1978, aged 38, Hailwood made a comeback at the Isle of Man TT and won the Formula I race on a Ducati. After the 1979 TT, where he won the Senior TT on a Suzuki, he retired. He died on 23 March 1981, aged 40, following a road traffic collision in Warwickshire.

Source: Wikipedia, “Mike Hailwood”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.