Examples of the smallest and one of the biggest motorcycles that Mike Hailwood ever raced will be present at a 60-year tribute to the ten-times world champion at Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire on July 9.
The biggest machine that will be present in the Mike's Bikes Parade is the 864cc Sports Motorcycles V-twin on which Hailwood won the 1978 Formula 1 TT after an 11-year absence from the Isle of Man. Steve Wynne himself is flying to the meeting from his home in New Zealand to attend to the Ducati, which is now owned by an American collector. The littlest piece of Hailwood history is a 50cc Itom two-stroke similar to the bike that he rode twice during his first season of racing in 1957.
The two machines bookend a fantastic selection of bikes associated with Mike, who rode almost 50 different types of machine in his vivid career from 1957-1979 (with a retirement in the years 1972-76). Highlights include Guy Martin on a 297cc Honda six replica built by George Beale and owned by Honda UK, a 250cc Honda four ridden by Stuart Graham, the 650cc Triumph T110 that Mike rode to victory, with Dan Shorey, in the 1958 Thruxton 500-miler, and a 500cc Honda RC181 replica ridden by Freddie Spencer.
The parade will also feature a replica of the 125cc Honda twin on which Mike won his first TT, the 1961 Ultra-lightweight race, the 125cc MV that Mike raced at the Combe in 1957, in only his second race meeting, ridden by his son David, and a copy of Mike's 500cc Lancefield Norton.
Steve Parrish will ride a 500cc RG Suzuki to represent Mike's last TT win in the 1979 Senior.
The Hailwood celebrations form part of a North Gloucestershire club meeting on July 8-9, which includes rounds of the 125 and 250cc British championships, the Bonhams Lansdowne historic series for pre-1963 bikes, and parades for classics and specials.
Rodney Gooch, organiser of the Hailwood tribute, is gathering personalities and bikes from the 1950s to the 1970s who will offer a fantastic taste of an era when riders would often hop between four different bikes in a day, and raced on circuits and surfaces that were shocking by today's standards.
