It was news that sent shockwaves through the motor racing community; Mike Hailwood was dead at the age of 40, killed in a car crash near his home at Tanworth-in-Arden after going to fetch some fish and chips.
Retiring to Warwickshire after biking exploits
He’d not long moved to the area – in 1979 after his second (and final) retirement from motor sport, he’d set up a motorcycle dealership in Birmingham. Tanworth, a leafy idyll sandwiched between the urban metropolis, seemed the ideal place for a motor racing superstar to retire to.
His career prior to this was sensational. Viewed by many as the best rider of his generation, Hailwood had won numerous world championships for MV Augusta before being poached by Honda for a huge sum to spearhead their challenge. Despite inferior machinery, Hailwood proved great competition for Giacomo DeAgostini until Honda chose to pull out of Grand Prix racing, paying Hailwood the then sizeable amount of £50,000 to not race for another team.
An F1 career
It was then that Hailwood switched to cars, where in F1 he managed two podiums, and was agonisingly close to a win at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix. Although fourth, the top five cars were separated by a mere 0.61 seconds on crossing the finish line. His F1 career ended with a bad accident at the 1974 German Grand Prix (after which he was replaced by Leamington born David Hobbs), but that set him up for a much anticipated biking comeback, with his appearances at the Isle of Man TT being rapturously received.
Retirement curtailed
His second biking retirement, then, had seemingly set him on a path to a slower pace of life in the leafy part of Warwickshire, seemingly untouched by the industrial progress that had carried on around it. Alas, this was not for long. Seen as a safe rider who considered the dangers on the roads to far outweigh those on the race track1 Hailwood encouraged young riders who bought a bike through his dealership to ride defensively, “as though everyone else is an idiot.” Hailwood was ultimately cleared of all blame in the accident and seen as powerless to avoid it. However the lorry driver, Raymond Whitmore, was convicted of careless driving2 To find the lorry driver held culpable was little consolation however as it couldn’t bring Hailwood back.
Still remembered
Memorial runs that saw on occasion over 400 riders travel from the former Norton works in Aston to St. Mary’s Church in Tanworth kept his memory alive. It’s fair to say that his records, his races, and his legacy means that Mike the Bike’s exploits will never be forgotten.
References
1 The Final Irony, Express and Star 24th March 1981, P5
2 Stratford-upon-Avon Herald 30/10/81 P30
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