“A rash of chain breakages hindered his title aspirations – luckily the TT one happened at the right moment!”

Born in Liverpool on September 1, 1928, the most memorable, enduring image of Reg Armstrong is of him crossing the finishing line to win the 1952 Senior TT, just as his Norton’s primary chain snapped, falling like a dead snake onto the tarmac. It was his only TT win, but part of an interesting career and life.

Though he was born in England, Armstrong’s parents were Irish and returned to Dublin in the early 1930s, where his father, Fred, established a motor factoring business. Reg’s older cousin Harry Lindsay taught him to ride a motorcycle, the